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

Women in the Audience

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Women were not seen in burlesque theaters primarily until the 1960s. At this time many theaters, performers, and show managers were reaching out to female in the community and creating promotional activities to attract a female audience. Prior to the 1960s, men had been the target audience of advertising and women were not encouraged to attend shows. In a December 1967 Los Angeles Times article, 3 female critics of Burlesque stated "they'd not been encouraged to go to burlesque theaters in their youth and that now they were surprised to find what they'd been missing" (Coe). Ann Corio started the movement towards women attendance in the theatre by changing the performance venues, tweaking the content in the shows, and distancing the Burlesque strip-teaser from prostitution (Vogt 124). According to a New York Times article in December 1963, Ann Corio's show This Was Burlesque, "has been doing well, even bringing in suburban woman by the bus for Wednesday matinee" (2D Burlesque). 
 
Many of the pictures I found throughout magazines and Internet sources depict women in a primarily male heavy audience. The women are often showed snickering, uncomfortable, and curious. From my personal observations of the pictures, the women seemed to show enjoyment from the performance. I have not seen a photo of a women looking mad or upset about the performers. The performers themselves are often shown more focused on the male audience members than the female.  They view the men in the audience as their main audience and tend to construct their performances to cause a male response. However with the increase in women in the audience, some performers have began to change their acts. Ann Corio states in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 1967, "so now we find that women are 60% of our audiences and sometimes it takes me a while to locate a baldheaded man to pat" (Coe). 
 
In the picture of Dee Light, you can see women snickering together and women looking intently at the performer. You also see a well-balanced mix of women and men in the audience. You can see what looks like couples in the theatre together, as well as, see big groups of women. Once women began to feel more comfortable attending the theaters. Women began to attend in big groups and without any male escorts. The women all seem to be enjoying themselves and no one seems upset, mad, etc. 
 
The Donna Mae Brown photo is an example of an all male audience. This would be an example of a theater that mostly males attend. You can see that Dee Lite and Donna Mae Brown are seemingly doing similar movements even though their audiences are made up of different people. This shows that the performers are mostly focused on their male audiences and tend to perform to this male type of audience no matter the actual make up of the audience itself. 
 
Helena Gardner is shown in the next photo. You can see her looking down on a smiling couple. Both members of the couple look to be enjoying themselves and seem to be connecting to the performer. Couples often attended shows together. Women were often curious about what their husbands found so interesting about burlesque and the theater. It was a form of entertainment that couples were able to enjoy together. 
Works Cited:

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.

Coe, R. L. “Ann, burlesque---stripped for action.” Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) 19 Dec. 1967. ProQuest. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.

“2D BURLESQUE SHOW IN DOWNTOWN BOW.” New York Times (1923-Current File) 12 Dec. 1963. ProQuest. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.

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  1. Women Watching Women Harmony Bench

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  1. The Burlesque Audience Rachel Sigrid Freeburg
  2. Margaret Morrison Margaret Morrison
  3. Gender Roles Rachel Sigrid Freeburg

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