If I say “burlesque” what springs to mind? Gypsy Rose Lee? Dita Von Teese? Sally Rand? Blaze Starr? Lili St. Cyr?

All lovely and talented ladies indeed. Does the world need another book all about Gypsy Rose Lee? Not really.  I’ve read and reviewed them all. But there is a whole history and other people in the burlesque world whose stories need to be told. Luckily Leslie Zemeckis is among the few who are willing to delve down and let the ladies talk. Behind The Burly Q: The Story of Burlesque in America  is a solid but fast read. First the basics, burlesque is more than some hard body bleached blonde grinding away on the pole and showing almost everything…okay is some cases everythangggggggg. Burlesque was a world with singers, comedians, dancers, novelty acts and yes, ladies who might remove a garment or seventeen all in the name of entertainment. The Alan Alda all our moms swooned over back in the day when M*A*S*H ruled the airwaves? Raised backstage as his father Robert worked as a “tit singer”. Yes a “tit singer” is a real thing. I swear. Stop giggling Blacklight. I mean it. Everyone else? Read Chapter 12 starting on page 72.

The genius of Behind The Burly Q: The Story of Burlesque in America, is the ladies themselves telling their stories. The stories aren’t pretty. Some of the women are proud of their pasts and eager to help Zemeckis with her project. Others are reluctant. One former dancer had a picture of herself in her prime hanging in her agency and no one thought to connect the lush girl in the picture with the elegant lady at the desk. Another is the last of three sisters to grace the stage and is let with just her memories after her last sister dies.

But burlesque isn’t just the ladies. Each chapter brings you deeper into the burlesque world from working around the censors to getting booked for an indecent act to the decline of the burlesque world into straight “get on the pole and work it nakey” stripping. By the middle of the book, you’re ready to powder up, slip on your costume, do your set and then wait in backstage until the next show.

You want to know more? Please scamper damper to Amazon or your local bookstore and pick up Behind The Burly Q: The Story of Burlesque in America. Sure it’s $24.95 and you might be on a budget. Go to your local library if they have it and if they don’t ask them to order it. Why are you still reading? Go get Behind The Burly Q: The Story of Burlesque in America NOW!