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Spectacles of Agency and Desire: Dance Histories and the Burlesque Stage

How To Strip For Your Husband Volume 1

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How To Videos Many burlesque performers created and sold How To Videos for women. These videos taught women how to please their man sexually and how to perform similarly to the burlesque dancers in order to please their husbands. The women that purchased these videos tended to treat their purchase “in a don’t ask, don’t tell type way”. They didn’t want people to know they were seeking help in this category of their life. The purchase of How To Videos is another example of how women were watching and enjoying burlesque in a product consumer type way.

Ann Corio's video "How To Strip For you Husband" produced in 1963 is one of many How To videos that have been aiding women since the 1940s. These videos helped to "heaven" up the bedroom. "Corio positioned herself as a new form of Burlesque professional- not an erotic distraction from marriage, but a counselor who will share her skills with women for the betterment of their relationship." (Vogt 189).These videos are package as female self-help products. The performers angle themselves as trained professionals. In the special instructions attached to Ann Corio's How To Video, she writes, "I've been keeping men up nights for twenty years; and, believe me, there's nothing I do that you can't...with a little professional help" (Corio Special Instructions).

These videos encouraged and empowered women. The performers wanted the women to feel the best they could about themselves and to feel wanted and loved by their husbands. They reemphasized the fact that the everyday, average women were able to do different aspects of burlesque and that a sexual being was inside every woman. On the album cover of Corio's second volume she writes, "This album takes another turn at mixing the wonderful zest of burlesque music with the belief that beneath the average woman's exterior there beats the heart of a frustrated ecdysiast (strip-teaser for you)" (Lester Vol. 2).

In the interviews in the McCaghy Collection, one anonymous performer discussed if women were able to fulfill their man’s needs at home, the men would not attend a burlesque show. She went on to state that she knew that if women were fulfilling their man’s needs, it would cause her to lose her client base. She respects women and their marriage and was encouraging of women purchasing her How To videos.

These How To Video albums discuss every aspect of burlesque. First dim lighting is suggested with a suggestion of pink/red shading. The music on the album always begins slow and picks up speed and intensity. Corio writes that it is important to be slow and methodical during your striptease by remaining true to the tempo of the song. "Make sure that every move you make counts and that your man is counting" (Corio Special Instructions Vol. 2). Corio's main piece of advice is to "never get completely to the point of complete undress, leave something to the imagination" (Corio Special Instructions Vol. 2). This advice is crucial to burlesque dancer's success. Burlesque is not about the stripping but about the lure of being naked and flirting that idea to the audience. Ann Corio also suggested the following artists as performers to watch to learn from example and to gain more information and experience. She suggests Lili St. Cyr, Gypsy Rose Lee, and Tempest Storm.

How To Videos were self-help videos that allowed women to feel empowered, in control, and sexy to their partner. The tips and tricks shared with the women viewers help the average women transform into a burlesque performer. These videos also caused women to become more comfortable with burlesque and watching performers.

Works Cited:
Corio, Ann. “How To Strip For Your Husband Special Instructions. Roulette Records, 1963. Print. Series 8, Box LP, Folder 21. Ann Corio Collection in the Charles H. McCaghy Collection of Exotic Dance from Burlesque to Clubs. Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theater Research Institute, Ohio State University Libraries, Columbus, OH. 25 Nov. 2015.
Corio, Ann. “More How To Strip For Your Husband Vol. 2 Special Instructions. Roulette Records, 1964. Print. Series 8, Box LP, Folder 22. Ann Corio Collection in the Charles H. McCaghy Collection of Exotic Dance from Burlesque to Clubs. Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theater Research Institute, Ohio State University Libraries, Columbus, OH. 25 Nov. 2015.
Lester, Sonny. “Ann Corio presents How To Strip For Your Husband Music To Make Marriage Merrier”. Roulette Records, 1963. LP. Series 8, Box LP, Folder 21. Ann Corio Collection in the Charles H. McCaghy Collection of Exotic Dance from Burlesque to Clubs. Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theater Research Institute, Ohio State University Libraries, Columbus, OH. 25 Nov. 2015.
Lester, Sonny. “Ann Corio presents More How To Strip For Your Husband Music To Make Marriage Merrier Vol. 2”. Roulette Records, 1964. LP. Series 8, Box LP, Folder 22. Ann Corio Collection in the Charles H. McCaghy Collection of Exotic Dance from Burlesque to Clubs. Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theater Research Institute, Ohio State University Libraries, Columbus, OH. 25 Nov. 2015.
McCaghy, Charles and James Skipper. Binder of interviews. Series 6, Box 7. Charles H. McCaghy Collection of Exotic Dance from Burlesque to Clubs. Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theater Research Institute, Ohio State University Libraries, Columbus, OH. 25 Nov. 2015.
Vogt, Julie N. Woman to Woman: Ann Corio and The Rehabilitation of American Burlesque. Diss. University of Wisconsin, Madison. 2010. ProQuest. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.