Bettie Page, Tempest Storm, Lili St. Cyr, and Many More Strut Their Stuff in Classic Burlesque Triple Feature
DIRECTED BY IRVING KLAW/1954-1956
BLU-RAY STREET DATE: JUNE 25, 2024/KINO CULT
All too often, the experience can’t live up to the luster. More to the point, allure is not only subjective, but also forever a cultural moving target. For some things, this movement has been wildly varied. Take, for example, the non-explicit 1950s burlesque showcase films of glamour and fetish photographer/distributor Irving Klaw. These days, it’s largely hard to relate to the original draw or even intent of these three plotless films (1954’s Varietease, 1955’s Teaserama, and 1956’s Buxom Beautease), as physically colorful and outwardly buoyant as they can be. (And looking more colorful and buoyant than ever, thanks to the exquisite new 4K transfers on display in this two-disc Blu-ray set).
The immortal Bettie Page takes center stage, appearing in two of these three titles. Then just another aspiring young model from the lens of cheesecake photographer Bunny Yeager, it is her and her alone on the cover of Kino Cult’s impressively thorough two-disc collection of Klaw’s vintage curios. There’s a fine reason that Page, represented with that mischievous gleam in her eyes and trademark bangs, graces the front of this triptych of crowded showcase ensembles. Heck, she’s also the probable top reason the UCLA Film & Television Archive saw fit to partner with Kino Lorber to present the outstanding 4K restorations reviewed here.
Once one strips off the formfitting slipcover, it so attractively adorned with the afore-noted newly rendered artwork of Ms. Page, certain imperfections become apparent. But ain’t that just life? In this case (literally), the first thing one will notice is that the Blu-rays’ labels are mixed up. Totally swip-swapped, I tell ya! So, if you wanna watch these movies (though somehow, “movies” doesn’t seem like the right describer) in order of their release, beginning with 1954’s sixty-eight-minute Varietease, you need to throw in the “Teaserama” disc. And vice versa.
With that human error sorted out (one likely corrected in future pressings), we get to the action! Varietease, full color and fully chaste, opens with a few minutes of Bettie Page in the flesh (incorrectly credited here as she almost always was as “Betty Page”), dancing in a sequined harem girl getup. Her act, Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils (a bit of an ironic selection, considering her later Christian faith), sheds maybe half of those veils. Hence, this striptease is effectively more “tease” than an outright strip number per se, though the innocent-yet-sexual enigma of Page fully shines through. And then, just as soon as she came on, she’s gone.
Following an interminable run of corny ballroom dance acts and cringeworthy comedians (all part of any typical burlesque experience), Lili St. Cyr steps onto the cramped hastily dressed soundstage to undress. Trumpet music accompanies the blonde St. Cyr’s alluring dance number as she provocatively works her way down to a skimpy translucent scarlet bikini and fishnets. But high-definition fidelity brings to light what was intended for the dark… St. Cyr’s makeup appears yellowish and blotchy. And egads- those aren’t pasties under her top… it’s thick, white tape. Yowch! In terms of screen time, it’s St. Cyr, not Page, who is the star of Varietease, as the film repeatedly checks in on her “backstage” changing outfits behind a modesty screen with a little lounging about in her lingerie.
Another highlight performance comes well into Varietease as a charming fiery redhead struts about a cafe set in a glittery ball gown for her appropriately stiff, blank-faced date. There’s more to that date, however, than meets the eye. It’s burlesque performer Vickie Lynn (in drag one way or the other), just waiting for the chance to one-up this gal in the glam department. One segment interruption later, she does just that. In Teaserama the following year, she pushes things even further.
As pointed out by film historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on her fascinating and engaging Varietease audio commentary, burlesque performer Vickie Lynn broke ground as an early (if not the first) transgender burlesque performer to appear on film. That Klaw was keen to photograph and promote performers like Lynn (who was then relegated to the confining label “female impersonator”) surely added fuel to the societal fire against him as morality crusaders worked to paint him and his wife as degenerate makers and peddlers of smut. Closer to the truth is that Klaw enabled Page (going back to his most famous subject) to emerge as “the face of the post-feminist burlesque renaissance,” wherein the appeal of the form extends far beyond (and perhaps moves entirely beyond) the gaze of straight males, appealing more so to straight women and LGBTQ individuals.
The set’s other headlining film, 1955’s vibrant Teaserama, not only opens with another Bettie Page performance, but features her throughout as the reoccurring “card girl”, briefly and silently introducing each act of the burlesque program. Additionally, Page turns up in Tempest Storm’s boudoir set to help her get all dolled up. This one is basically the same as Varietease, but with a varied assortment of talent. Again, the set looks cheap and confining, and synch sound is reserved for comedians sentenced to painfully performing to an imaginary studio audience. Besides Storm and Page, Teaserama’s dancing girls include Chris La Chris, Twinnie Wallen, Trudy Wayne, and more. Refreshingly, the chauvinistic comedians are kept to a considerable minimum in this film. (Yes, surprise… they’re chauvinistic).
Though only the previous two films command title space on the package, this set rounds out with a third Klaw film of ample interest, 1956’s Buxom Beautease. Rendered in cost-cutting black & white rather than the popping color of Varietease and Teaserama, the formula otherwise remains the same. The famed Blaze Starr performs a sultry and delightful number early on and again later, followed by a playful Dorian Dennis, a barely contained Eve Adams, a fine feathered Patti Paget, Evonne, Trudy Wayne (both appearing in weathered filmstrips shot handheld and elsewhere), the Marilyn Monroe-esque Rita Grable, and Tempest Storm to take us out. With Buxom Beautease, the number of striptease acts far outweighs the bad comedy acts eleven to four.
For those nostalgic for the standard definition patina of these films as presented on VHS in the 1990s by Something Weird Video (SWV), those transfers are provided as alternatives. The SWV versions of both films offer vintage audio commentaries by self-proclaimed “trash-movie king”, filmmaker David F. Friedman and Something Weird mastermind Mike Vraney. Though both men are at least several years dead, their sparks continue to crackle here. Friedman sounds downright grandfatherly as he goes on about filming gory Herschell Gordon Lewis movies and increasingly explicit sex films… the kind of stuff that makes Varietease and Teaserama pop as positively antiquated. It’s easy to hang on Friedman’s every word as he regales Vraney with his firsthand accounts of interactions and tales from back in the day. It’s shocking to hear him besmirch Bettie Page as untalented and “not as attractive” as, say, then-headliner Tempest Storm. But for the most part, it’s all very cordial.
Meanwhile, the 4K transfer of Teaserama comes with another contemporary hindsight-20/20 commentary, this one by Jo Weldon, author of The Burlesque Handbook. Weldon makes it known from the very start that she is no stranger to various sex performer occupations (under the name “Jo Boobs”), a life that led her to acquaintances with all manner of key figures of the scene. It’s fun to listen to Weldon identify with and root for the women on screen. Unlike Friedman, Weldon completely gets the appeal of Bettie Page, contextualizing the nature of her expanded presence in Teaserama. On a broader level, she talks about the shifting perception of these films, once considered underground and taboo but now looks upon as quaint, almost innocent, and even “dad jokey.” This smart, crackling commentary is a major highlight in a set full of terrific audio bonus content.
Burlesque and burlesque-adjacent, this threefer of Klaw films mildly titillate while remaining miles from his more notorious “B&D” (“bondage & discipline”) work. While there will always be a market for Bettie Page material just as there will always be a market for Marilyn Monroe, many today are quick to condemn these films on charges ranging from “tame!” (an unfair condemnation) to “booooring!!” (okay, that’s fair). At the time of this writing, the once hush-hush and risqué Teaserama rates a lowly 4.8 out of 10 on IMDb, with the top five featured user review headlines proclaiming, “So bad it’s bad” (2 stars out of 10), “Could probably be shown in network TV today” (4 stars), “Tosh!” (1 star), “Erotic? Only if you’re living in the past…” (no stars), and “Unintentionally funny, but still kinda sexy…” (6 stars). Of those five selected amateur critics, only the last seems to come close to gauging these films on their own terms.
In any case, unless you’re some kind of vintage burlesque connoisseur who’s been counting the days until these particular cultural artifacts would emerge in high-definition courtesy of full-on 4K restorations from the 16mm and 35mm camera negatives (here they are!), the experience of these films- then or now- cannot, cannot live up to the luster. But that too can be taken as part of the authentic burlesque experience. Like this pored-over Blu-ray release, it’s not intentionally backwards, it’s simply considered antiquated by many. In other words, the thrill ain’t truly gone, it’s simply not as sweepingly blue as it once was.
Special Features:
• 4K Restorations of Teaserama and Varietease from the 16mm Original Camera Negatives
• 4K Restoration of Buxom Beautease from the 35mm Camera Negative and 16mm Materials
• Includes the Something Weird Video Editions of Varietease and Teaserama in HD
• Audio Commentary for Teaserama by Jo Weldon, Author of The Burlesque Handbook
• Audio Commentary for Varietease by Film Historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
• Audio Commentaries for the SWV Versions of Teaserama and Varietease by David F. Friedman and Mike Vraney
• Theatrical Trailers for All Three Films
• Optional English Subtitles
The images and promotional material used in the review are present only as a reference to the film and are not meant to reflect the actual image quality or content of the Blu-ray.