and he still can not make it with my goodness that would not have the most bizarre thing i've ever seen but you worked so hard on this and you did it for me and i cannot wait to marry you no thank you baby i love you now yeah craig i'm going burlesque originated in seventeenth century italian theatre as a type of comic interlude between acts it derives from the italian word burlesque oh or broad meaning a joke ridicule a and clubs as well as theatres it featured bawdy comedy and female exotic dancers star strippers included sally rand gypsy rose lee tempest storm and blade star danny kaye red skelton sophie tucker and lenny bruce the fame movie critic roger aber once said burlesque was born and thrives in a time when america was engaged in the early stages of the current moral revolution when the rural puritan ethic and the sophistication of the cities discovered each other burlesque was essentially vaudeville plus sex and the early days the sex was direct naive and almost innocent the only twenty century was also the beginning of mass commercialized leigh's or activities in america and new york city as usual was at the heart of this new culture and for many new yorkers this meant wholesome family orientated activities such as vaudeville shows movies and trips to coney island there was also another option growing burlesque now one of the most famous american versions of this period was the one patrice in the movie the night they raided minsky's it was a fictional account of the invention of minsky's she's pursued for her attentions by two comics in the in the company visited by her bearded fundamentalist father who wants to bring her home challenged by the police and the more reformers of her day and in the final wild scene she accidentally inadvertently and charmingly invents the striptease the free flow of liquor and the uninhibited atmosphere of burlesque was dealt a serious blow during the one nine hundred twenty s and thirty's with the enforcement or prohibition new york city mayor look warney and further clamp down on it in the early forties effectively putting it out of business but since the one nine hundred ninety s there's been a tremendous revival and we're nude in prison burlesque on both sides of the atlantic a new generation it seems the stoutly for the spectacle and glamour of the classic american burles experience our guest today on the radical imagination is one of the major new and young forces in this revival she touches all the bases in the age of aquarius that is the new american burlesque she hails from upstate rural new york came to the big city at eighteen and is the only child from a traditional irish catholic family she considers herself and empowering feminist is a town's an art actress comedienne and trained dancer she's now appearing on the lower east side at the classic burlesque box theater on christy street in the powerful off broadway play about the iconic lenny bruce i'm not a comedian it's been created by and is starring ronnie marmo lenny himself felt at home and did some of his best work performing at burlesque houses his wife honey the great love of his life was also a burlesque performer and show girls on top of that our guest is miss coney island of two thousand and nineteen here to explain this wonderful phenomenon or tame it that we now know as the revival burlesque in new york you're in the forefront of this what is it about the sum of their lives sketchy  i hope they do work were sketches like that i think that was one of the best ones i've seen them do absolutely yes absolutely and now you're only work takes off on the historical foundation of burles are you're trained dancer yes that was my first foray into performing was dance i had a lot of energy as a little kid and soon as i could my mom put me in dance classes because you're up in rural new york york so shout out it's like a new york they have a wonderful new festivals or fourth year doing it and they have x from all over new york and international acts come in and they perform burlesque in upstate new york for you know that crowd and so i've been really who is a harlem native and that's from his debut album so shout out to danny wellington for that version of that song and he's a wonderful he has a wonderful band and he is very new york and i love his version of that song because i think it really captures the sweetness of the children and i just love how light it was and that costume is inspired by lana turner and  wonderful so but but again there's so much going on there what are you attempting to accomplish what are you trying to do there as a performer in reaching out to the audience and connecting what's  your my my goal well when i when i'm on stage i like on that particular number or just general sure i want to make people feel good and to bring joy to their lives i mean there's so much going on in our day to day that i think can be of a bit of a downer i mean the current state of our world is a little crazy so i like to bring people back to a more simple time and to really bring you  to their lives and so you're the character that you are presenting stage very much who you are at heart yes i really do  interesting when i got into burlesque and then when i got started doing it full time a lot of people asked me if i was going to keep my you know my real person name and i was like you know no because i think that this is actually really who i am like pearls is really who i am pearls meaning how did you choose a pervert at the time i was working at a really wonderful old store on the upper west side called off broadway are you familiar  just did her show yeah progress very network has gone in there a number of times i have her so that was it still there unfortunately you know a little she passed away a couple years ago now and that's three in particular because you go back again to the sweetness of in a way a bygone era yet you're trying to bring back the seventy second street was one of those streets there was a was there was  jewish deli and bakery oh yeah and so on and  known i was going to live in new york i would read about it and if i could get my hands on to read about you know new york i would i just that's where i'm going to live that's where going to go is just what i always told people and what i was always going to do i've never wanted to live anywhere else and so you've tried to capture that in the starter and bring back a bygone era as we've said and again the persona of a more innocent time maybe a coke perceive yourself as a performer who is what telling us about what it was to be a little more innocent and yet we're not all of this and are we and this mean i'm you know as the opening i we had how does sort of the puritanism if you will of america meet with the if you will the more sophistication of the city and the diversity and so on does burlesque private help us understand that the modern world and the enormous diversity and conflicts are going on yeah i think the thing that's great about burlesque is that it's no matter what it's it's very authentic you know when you go to a burlesque show you're seeing a real person doing a real dance a doing a real it's you know nothing can be photo shopped there's you know nothing false about it and i think i think that's why it appeals and intrigues more people you know than the people who who are more conservative you know it's authentic it's not and that's that's what's so  explain a lot more because we're not talking now about images of of guys in the rain coats coming in right i mean try all the old forty second street sure i mean there are fellas that come out there or there are  but i think that you know i wasn't looking for role models or in power yeah i mean because not everybody is a supermodel not everybody is you know seven feet tall and a size zero you know and i mean there's a place and there's a beauty with that too but i think that it can be really discouraging to a lot of women who don't see themselves in you know print ads in movies and t v and film and  e pop culture so i think that burlesque you know there's a lot of different body types there's a lot of different cultural backgrounds and you can find representation in that and then when you see somebody who you identify with being confident on stage you know and being being sexy and really owning who they are i think that it in turn you think you believe that you can do that whether it's you know and you know  or just for you for you so you do get pushed back by some of the women feminists who say well look you're just again selling sacks and you're i mean what what does some of the women who oppose this forcing my arm i love i love what i do right and to be honest i've never felt more free doing burlesque than i have any other job that i've ever had obviously you were having a lot of fun and you could tell it wasn't as you but now what was what we were attempting to do there what was that routine about so that routine was very gatsby inspired because the whole party is a great gatsby party so they wanted high energy they want something that really captured you know that time but also kind of with a modern twist so it's like the music that i was using is it was actually a remakes to version of you know an old timey song right yeah this is at the capital yes which is a club down  on the gets the parties a special thing that that pops up about one see a year for them but there's all kinds of you know then to events if you will and even not just like vintage i mean there's a lot of you know burlesque happening in the city and things like that so there's there's a new york we have a great scene you know you can go out and see a burlesque show or somebody last every night of the week in this is almost like stand up comics to that around in various venues and and so on so it's sort of it's underground and yet it's also out there for the public to to view oh it's everywhere in the sense there is this there's been a few you know mainstream burlesque things that have happened that have piqued the interest of people so people come to new york a lot of people want to see burlesque so you know that's that's been great yeah now you're you're now working and doing your work your routine and in lenny bruce yes i'm not a comedian i'm lenny bruce this fabulous  production that will be and i've seen that twice and this and ronnie doesn't incredible job but you were added just recently now and it adds a tremendous dimension bringing back again that that feeling you're back in the forty's and fifty's in these burlesque houses so how do you see yourself there because lenny bruce again was this iconic rebel rebellious comic iconic figure  you know everything is police and i i feel like we are absolutely at the forefront because you're doing it you know i'm every day going on stage being a then connect to people as you say bring a certain joy to their lives and as you were saying before to increase the feelings of sexuality if you will to yes about life that this is a world to enjoy to get pleasure from yes and whatever that the tales you are attempting to get us to understand that that is a big part and should be a strong when i perform too that's so obvious i mean i also have is that you're just it's just overcomes you right when you're on the stage where you're you're taken with the feeling from the audience too because you can tell that the oil is is really getting into it as well yeah i think so different i feel my strongest when i'm on stage because i really tap into that part of myself and i think that i always aim to like bring that out in people and i also think it's really interesting you know with burlesque pacifically because you get to see a really strong person i don't want to see just women because you know more than just women perform burlesque but for my sake you know as a woman i think that it's interesting to see to see somebody be really powerful and really strong and really fierce and not have them be frightening you know what i mean not have been threatened or you know or threatening or you know violent anything of that nature i think that that's a really beautiful thing to tap into so i always loved to be that you know for people and i hope and i hope that people get that when they see me because i think we need more of that i think there's this crazy thing where you know you can be where everyone and i think you should but i don't think there's nothing wrong with like wanting to be sexy and wanting to be really really strong i don't think they have to be separate things what would you say to the in this me t generation here in terms of we're having all kinds of issues difficulty with one's public sexual feelings shortened truthers and we're not  how you're doing perhaps in light most well i think i think there's a lot of great things about the me too me too movement i think with burlesque you know burlesque is to create education  boundaries and i think that's what the me too movement is you know one of the main things is people who cross boundaries and inappropriate and he ways you know i think that you can enjoy your sexuality i think you can enjoy other people's sexuality but you shouldn't make them feel bad and there has to be about in the end of the boundary you know and i think that burlesque actually communicates that very well it's like you're looking at me you're enjoying this moment but you're not taking anything from me i'm giving it to you and we're having this exchange and giving us out of this puritanical box yes that america has put itself in a lease you know that's part of our heritage in the sense so when we have a vice president that can have dinner with you know another woman out of this is wife i mean  what would you try to say to him i think that nudity empowers some people and modesty you know empowers some people and i think it comes down to just respecting who who people are and i think when you're an authentic person you know there's nothing to fear right you know so you would offer him hate if you come on down and see the show if you don't want to if you don't want to come you don't have to think that another live and let live  now what what the president came down and because as we know he has difficulties with boundaries that's sort of man approaching approaching you or within this environment i play those sort of bad i don't know if i say anything because i don't engage with them so they know you out oh absolutely absolutely as you can feel it you know it when i when i'm in the zone i have a i'm a pretty good judge of those things i know who i can mess with who i don't you know things like that i'm like whoa i'm just going to i'm just going are going to go there you know with more women really knew themselves more and felt more empowered and so on as you're saying here to be less problems i mean i couldn't agree with you more i mean you don't it's that thing where i'm not responsible for other people's intentions i'm not responsible for other people's actions i'm responsible for myself  and what i how i treat people and how i treat the world and what i you know what i give in my job in my art you know and that's and i have nothing but good intentions with everything that i do and i just i want people to feel good i want people to feel empowered you know you're also involved with tell me a little about this project with the comic actress for a comic book called make you would cock the the girl who handcuffed houdini and it's a wonderful comic series created by cynthia of on buehler and it's with titan comics who is based out of london they they publish it and produce it she create she created this wonderful character theater experiences for people very lavish stories and shows and the first show i ever did with her was a me immersive theater so basically it's a show it's a play excepted but it's kind of like sleep no more in that sense where you walk into the story and you walk into the world so you're not sitting and watching the show you're part of the show so it moves you know sometimes you play a character sometimes you're more of a voyeur but you're in it if you want to have those that when they come into th oh yeah oh yeah you don't know that they you know you can bring it on people voluntarily coming to and they don't know what parts are what's going to happen the say or do they say well it depends on the show but with cynthia it's you have some famous show girl who died of poisoning and it was one of the first hollywood scandals because they don't know if she was poisoned or she committed suicide so the whole night revolved around this and i played i don't know it's a game place but they have the old marquis there and there's a gorgeous old like ziegfeld theater still there yes if you saw yes it's like a rented this theater for this show so this is my first time meeting her so i did this show with her and i'll never forget this we were getting close to words the end of the run she got my attention backstage after  the shows and she was like pearls i know you know this about me but i'm an illustrator and i was like yes i'm familiar with your work listen i've created a comic a graphic novel and you're the star it's about a red headed  detective in the one nine hundred twenty s who solves crime and i could see that i was like oh ok i want you to model for it you're going to act out you're going to act out the scenes and i'm going to draw you and i was like ok sure and she goes what are you doing tomorrow and it's like i will be home so the next day she came over to my apartment with another actor friend of mine and we started the early stages of this comic book like i tied him up in this whole thing in my apartment she took photos and then she started sketching from it and it was like an ongoing thing and then a couple months in her story and her sketches got picked up by titan comics so they got a whole series and so the first mystery and around houdini right which is really really cool skateboard yes yes and so i in the in the comic i go undercover as his assistant and it's just it's this great series so basically the comic does really well and it got picked up we did a show we did a live version of the show this last fall and it was terrific and it's actually there's going to be another adventure coming up in the ok wonderful whole set up is that i play this young gun gumshoe if you will my father in the series is a very famous  detective and so on actually it's like indicated that sherlock holmes is the character of sherlock holmes is based on my father and the whole because the whole thing is sir arthur conan doyle comes to my father to help him with a case and my sad and you know at a bar drinking and i be friend bess houdini who just so happens to be drinking at this bar and she thinks her husband is you know harry harry houdini  on her and she just fired his current assistant and so she then you know we strike up a conversation and so i get my my second case of all time is going undercover as harry houdini's assistant what it is it is there's a lot of interesting things around and around harry houdini is death you know what he did he died because he was punched or you know or was he poisoned there's a lot of if you look at up on line there's a lot of interesting little you know if you am serious about his yeah life and death yeah so so the case and it's you know actually becoming that which is interesting right so in a way that this about cynthia is she loves to hire burlesque artists for her work and one thing she she talks about and i appreciate is because you know as a burlesque artist there's a certain level of confidence that you have with your body and with yourself and putting yourself out there in a way that i don't know if any other performance art has and so getting to play this character and having a burlesque background i definitely utilized all the tools in my tool belt to kind of create this character and to you know tell the story in a really fearless way that i don't know if i would have done had i not had the experience that i have and burlesque i also really love the show because i it was exciting to have like there's a few scenes in it like there's a scene where i seduce harry and i think that having the experience and having that confidence really kind of brought it to a different level that people really understood and that i you know i was really proud of there's also this you know there's also a scene in the play where i'm going undercover as an art model so i'm completely nude and i'm getting information from these from these kids who you know are roommates with the guy who punched houdini so i'm like i'm like modeling for them and getting information from them you know while i'm completely nude and so to have you know those two scenes alone are very different usages of nudity in a way which are really powerful interesting  one is you know the scene where i'm art modeling it's almost like the nudity is just like this it's not a big it's like not a big deal and that's what makes it so funny is that i'm trying to get this information and i'm completely naked and it's just it's a riot and then the other one is actually using nudity as it means of seduction and getting what you want so i think within the play like having those two moments are really powerful and also you know it's an interesting conversation about and so i'm really i'm really proud of that also with the comic book element being able to reach people all over the world and tell that story and to be a strong female character and so also in real life be a burlesque person like when you open the comic you know i'm featured i'm in there and it's interesting because you know some people are like oh you know i don't know if burlesque is a legitimate form of entertainment and if you do that you know what else background high school i yes i you know i grew up in a traditional irish catholic you have that sort of strength always or this was something that i've i've always been to the city i've always been this way and i lucked out because i have really supportive artistic parents ask you yeah you know they're very creative people and i think from a young age they saw that i wanted to be a performer so they encouraged me to be who i was they didn't force me to do anything and we have great communication you know i've never hidden anything from them and you know it's all been out there they've seen like my whole journey and they're really you know their their the my my parents are artists there really were working artists that's that was really who they were i think it was more you know my father had had even more traditional you know irish catholic upbringing so i think that that kind of peppered how he raised me but i think at the same time you know it's like you he took all the good things about that right you know and share that you know share that with me to me that you want to be a dancer i didn't know what kind but presumably might have been a burlesque dancer her grandfather world said absolutely not but she turned to art and became you know did portrayed and so on to people and explored the human body in a very natural way and so i thought it was very healthy growing up in that in that in that sort of world it wasn't something that was you know been horrible it was it was part of life in fact in her yeah her first name was luba lu boffin russian is love and so this is and in fact her purpose in her art was to create beauty and love and she had the positive strong energy too that you're exhibiting so i think that we shouldn't be afraid of that sort of world and powerful and it's really what we need today much more  if you go through the freak show the freak yes right which is where the ten and one happened to side show so i feel like every you know every since hurricane sandy they've been you know kind of having their struggles and they've been slowly renovating but i really really want to get that roof on them so it is going to go to the boardwalk we don't know what you're talking about yeah you go down the coney island yes right you go to the boardwalk and you go to the freaks yeah the free the the side show so i have a whole donate to coney section and you can see how much has been raised so far you know and things and so that's just you know my my goal for the year is to you know raise money for them and to keep new york we me and lenny bruce starring in the wonderful running marmora one and we are running thursdays through sundays at the box at the check but check the website for the schedule because sometimes there's variations with the show schedule but i am not a comedian i'm lenny bruce it's been incredible right yeah the laurentian i began so everything's coming around everything's coming around and i'm so glad you came around to the radical magination today to thank you so much they were a joy rented by the day she died the neighbors came to snicker well that's what comes from too much pills in looks but when i last saw her la