Behind the Burly Q [DVD] [2010] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

In the golden days of entertainment when it appeared that the moving pictures were threatening to kill the live vaudeville show, the answer seemed clear. Give audiences something they couldn't see in the movie house. And so burlesque was born. Keeping the variety and comedic elements so crucial to vaudeville, burlesque merely upped the skin quotient by adding a strip, a tease, and a striptease. (The film taught me the three didn't always go together!) And a new era of entertainment and a new style of celebrity were born. The colorful documentary "Behind the Burly Q" examines this historical phenomenon and stands as a unique and important look back through history. Filmmaker Leslie Zemeckis deftly weaves archival footage with contemporary interviews to give an exclusive peek at a nearly forgotten art form. And now, if ever, is the time--while there are still first hand accounts to add depth and dimension to the discussion.

Although there were some downbeat components to burlesque--in fact, many of the earliest performers hailed from difficult or abusive backgrounds--the film doesn't' wallow in negative. The ladies interviewed seem to be proud of their status and contribution, as if the stage offered them an escape and not merely exploitation. In those days, it could lead to power, fame and (most importantly) financial stability. And it wasn't just about baring it all, there was an artistic component and outlet involved. I kept thinking about the musical "Gypsy" and the number You Gotta Get A Gimmick (and indeed, the real Gypsy Rose Lee is featured in the film's background material), and the individual ladies often did have a singular claim to fame. One example is the acrobat who moved to the burlesque arena that eventually went on to be the first theme park Tinkerbell flying over nightly crowds at the country's largest attraction (hint, it involved a Magic Castle)!

The real treasure with "Behind the Burly Q" is the preservation and assembly of the performances. The film is noteworthy for that alone. But to get the feedback and additional insight provided in the interviews, this presents an element that might have been lost without this documentary. Even Alan Alda chimes in, his father Robert was big on the vaudeville circuit and was present for the transition into burlesque. The contemporary influence that burlesque has had is unquestionable, and this film is an insightful and entertaining look back through entertainment history. KGHarris, 3/11.

Behind the Burly Q (First Run Features) is quite simply the best and most complete history of America's lost art form. Burlesque, as wonderfully explained here, was not just a matter of T&A, but of glamour, comics, style, wit, a soupcon of raunch and heavy dose of showmanship. Live entertainment in general is eroding away, but the first modern victim, Burlesque, was lost about 50 years ago . . . lost to porn and expenses and lack of youngsters wanting to learn the art. Leslie Zemeckis should be given praise, awards and recognition for this incredible piece history preserved at the last possible moment, while a few or the artistes are, or at the time of the filming were, still with us. More than that, Zemeckis should be given more and more assignments, for as this documentary proves she is nothing short of brilliant.
Zemeckis, wife of producer/director/writer Robert Zemeckis, replaces anything that could be called judgmental with love. As she interviews these ladies, shows lengthy clips from their past and explains in a seemingly relaxed, but actually a strict and inclusive narrative, each element of life connected with this art form, this world of glamour and glitz comes back with a rosy hue. Yet Zemeckis never turns from the darker side of this life: exploitation, drug addiction, the mob, alcoholism and suicide. When one of the ladies is asked if she'd do it again or if she'd change anything as she looked back on what must be three quarters of a century, she explains with a gargantuan smile that she'd do it again . . . and not change a thing. That's love, commitment to art, and certainly a life well spent.
Alan Alda, whose dad Robert spent the early part of his career in Burlesque before conquering Hollywood and Broadway (notably with playing Nathan Detroit in the original Guys and Dolls), acts as a sort of chorus, speaking of the life of performers and remembering being mothered by the ladies of the chorus.
But the draw for this documentary are the ladies themselves---strippers with golden, and perhaps slightly tarnished, memories of past triumphs and defeats, memories of the glamour and the pain, the glory that was burlesque. Ann Corio, Tempest Storm, Gypsy Rose Lee, Lili St Cyr, Sally Rand, Margie Hart . . . all the wonderful performers are here, in clips and contemporary interviews. Behind the Burly Q is a slice of Americana in a near-forgotten memory of show business as it once was.
And never will be again.

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"Behind The Burly Q"
Directed by Leslie Zemeckis
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This bare-bones documentary (no pun intended) looks back at the golden years of American burlesque theater, a low-rent, erotically charged offshoot of the world of vaudeville, where comedians and musical acts shared the stage with young girls who did striptease acts and pushed the envelope of social propriety. Director Leslie Zemeckis (wife of mega-producer Robert Zemeckis) conducted several years of first-person interviews with a number of veteran performers, including many of the most famous striptease artists, along with club owners and other performers, telling their own stories about the glories and the misery of their profession. They are pretty frank about the downsides -- alcoholism and drug use, grubby venues, sexual harassment, legal hassles -- but most also look back fondly at the camaraderie and air of genial competitiveness, and at the excitement of being in show biz and finding a way out of the economic hard times of their Great Depression backgrounds. There are also connections to the wider world of famous entertainers: Alan Alda recalls being on tour with his father, actor Robert Alda, who worked as an emcee in the burlesque circuit, and at the decency and kindness of the performers he met as a child; others recall the days when Abbott & Costello warmed up the crowds with their comedy act. It's not a rosy-eyed, nostalgic look back, but even in their seventies and eighties, the interviewees have such large, generous personalities that it's hard not to be drawn in and charmed by their stories.

The heyday of burlesque was in the early 20th Century -- by the 1950s and '60s it had become a socially and economically marginal artform, under pressure by law enforcement on one side and a booming porn market on the other. A handful of performers made the jump into the celebrity culture of the postwar era, and even these women only got so far in the Hollywood and Broadway scenes. But when it was in full swing, burlesque was a popular artform, frequented by a wide swath of the public, ranging from drunks and roughnecks to families with children who came to the sometimes-cleaner matinee shows. Zemeckis has done a great service capturing the stories of these aging performers and preserving our memory of what was a very significant though largely forgotten part of American popular culture. (Many of the interviewees passed away before the film was finished; Ms. Zemeckis got there just in time.) I would have liked additional information about the project itself -- why Ms. Zemeckis took it on, how she tracked down all these old-timers -- but the film does a good job of speaking for itself. (On a tangential note: it would be interesting to see a similar film made about 19th Century minstrel shows, which is another big slice of American entertainment history which due to its racist content has been labelled as socially inappropriate and thrown into the trash bin, despite its enormous influence on vaudeville, blues, jazz and other American art forms... ) Anyway, if you have an interest in either American pop culture or in changing attitudes to sexuality and eroticism, this is certainly a film worth checking out. (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue film reviews)