“Gotta Get a Gimmick”: The Burlesque Career of Millie De Leon

Abstract

can pull all stops out Till they call cops out Grind your behind till you're banned But ya gotta get a gimmick If you wanna get a hand .... You Gotta Get a (Sondheim) Although Stephen Sondheim's lyrics were sung by a fictitious burlesque performer of late 1920s in musical Gypsy, they may have just as easily come from mouth of Millie De Leon several decades earlier. De Leon, billed as Girl in Blue, would have been more accurately billed as Gimmick Girl. Arrested numerous times from 1903 to 1915, Mlle. De Leon was a master of stirring public scandal and thereby gaining free publicity at a time when newspapers were clamoring for sensational stories. Over seventy-five newspaper clippings at Theatre Collection of New York Public Library (NYPL) chronicle De Leon's success at attracting both press and an audience with her controversial behavior inside and outside of theatre. Extolled as the first real queen of American (Toll 230), burlesque's first truly national sex symbol (Toll 226), the reigning burlesque 'classic' (Zeidman 13), and the best in her line (New York Clipper 30), De Leon is too often forgotten by theatre and dance historians.1 Well before Gypsy Rose Lee started stripping with style, Millie De Leon became a prominent figure in battle over public decency in entertainment. Among other interesting facets, Millie De Leon's career provides a provocative glimpse at character of burlesque dancing in early twentieth century, limits of so-called public decency at that time, and use of newspapers as a tool for sensationalistic self-promotion. More importantly, this study demonstrates that De Leon deserves to be remembered for her role as a figure (quite literally) in public spotlight. The Origin of Cooch Dancing in Burlesque history of American burlesque begins with a Greek classic and ends with a leg show, according to Bernard Sobel (Burleycue 3). Although parody, original intent of burlesque, can be traced back to Aristophanes, nearest cousin to modem burlesque is linked to Lydia Thompson and her British Blondes, who brought Americans a combination of clever parody and shapely feminine legs in 1860s and '70s. As with music halls and vaudeville, burlesque of 1890s incorporated a variety of entertainment, including comic sketches, songs, and dances. However, by turn of century, became scandalous, with advent of belly dance, or dance, as it came to be called. The advent of cooch was integral to decline of burlesque; by mid to late 1920s, burlesque had degenerated to little more than raunchy jokes and striptease.2 Cooch dancing first caught attention of American audiences when Little Egypt and others danced at Chicago World's Fair of 1893. The fair featured exhibits of various world cultures, ranging from primitive African and Indian cultures to civilized White City. Somewhere in between lay Middle Eastern and Asian exhibits, complete with belly dancers. In his book Horrible Prettiness, Robert C. Allen explains what made cooch dance taboo to American audiences: The cooch, or cootch, or hootchy-kootchy phenomenon-as belly dancing quickly came to be called-points out contradictory nature of fair's construction of femininity. Inside White City, women's accomplishments were granted a more prominent place than at any previous international exposition.... At same time, on other, side of fair, all that had been suppressed in White City's representation of female body as frozen, solemn, and chaste reemerged in undulations of cooch dancer... a reminder of atavistic nature of women in a semi-civilized state. (228) Burleque and cooch appeared to be a perfect match. Very quickly, cooch dancer became a highly popular feature of burlesque, and imitators of Little Egypt flourished with their Oriental dances and Salome dances of seven veils. …