In 1982 I happened upon a black and white photograph in a magazine. It was an old Hollywood publicity shot of Grace Kelly, who had recently died, taken very early in her career. I was only twelve and at the time had no idea who she was, but I thought she was the most stunning woman ever; forever setting the standard for my idea of beauty and class. It was around that time I started getting into old black and white films and the classic art deco styles of the depression/World War II era. To this day, all the suits I own are double-breasted and pin-stripped, despite my tailor’s strenuous objection, referring to them as “old-fashioned”.
There is a resurgence in the old thirties and forties art form of burlesque, with some artists adding a modern touch (neo-burlesque), and others going over-the-top with something called “gore burlesque”; but for me it is the more traditional style that captures my attention.
I sat down with Montreal’s most popular practitioner of vintage burlesque, Scarlett James, at an east-end Italian restaurant one warm and humid July evening to discuss the renaissance of the art of seduction. I had met Scarlett briefly twice before, and each time she was in character with full makeup and costume. I expected to sit across the table from a mysterious femme fatale who looked like she just stepped out of a classic film noir flick, or a blonde bombshell seductress who lives in a fabulous pink-coloured penthouse, and is carried around on a rickshaw by two musclemen in Speedos. Instead, I discovered a very complex and infinitely interesting person whose story was not quite what I had anticipated.
“I could do something bigger and grander!”
When I found out that she had only been into performing for four years, you could have knocked me over with a feather (or a yellow ostrich feather, to be more burlesque). It began for Scarlett one Halloween when some friends took her to a modern burlesque show. What appealed to her the most at the time was how the art form was “a union of everything I like in life”, having studied as a teenager ballet and modern jazz dance as well as working as a makeup artist and painter.
“I had an epiphany,” she said with her sultry French accent, “I looked at (the show) and thought: ‘I could do something bigger and grander!’”
It was not long before Scarlett began putting together The Montreal Burlesque Festival and The Grand Burlesque Show, now annual events in Montreal, a task made even more difficult considering that she had no prior business or marketing experience.
“I had to learn how to start a business, that was not always easy,” she said, saying that at first finding sponsors proved problematic, “they thought it was like pole dancing and refused to have anything to do with that (even though) the show I do is PG-13 and has nothing to do with pole dancing, which I have nothing against.”
“When we first started we had trouble filling the room at $10 admission, and only a few years later we have three hundred people a night at around $40 each…(and) it is better with the sponsors so I must be doing something right.”
The Montreal Burlesque Festival is more than just a parade of pin-up girls in pasties and g-strings. Scarlett describes it as something “for all your senses” that takes you to “another world,” adding “I don’t want to shock…I want to take you to another place…a place where you can dream…a lot of burlesque today is underground, (my festival) tends to be more high-end, selective and glamorous…(designed) for a more mainstream audience.”
Unlike The Grand Burlesque Show in the spring, which is more like a revue (the show is the same all three nights), The Montreal Burlesque Festival is a variety show and exhibition hosted by bilingual stand-up comic Benjamin Marquis, who began as a featured performer until Scarlett “burlesquerized” him (as she puts it), transforming his persona into something more befitting a retro show. Along with numerous local and international burlesque stars, it also features magician Sebastien Louis-XVI and psychic entertainer Mysterion the Mentalist (himself promoter of Toronto’s Burlesque Festival 2011), both of whom are throwbacks to the old vaudeville style with a few up-to-date twists.
The True Art of Seduction
The festival features workshops where pros can polish their skills, and amateurs can learn how to do it as well. Scarlett describes many who come to the workshops as “women who want to learn some seduction tricks for their husbands or reconnect with their own sensuality, sexuality and femininity in a safe environment…so they can feel more comfortable in their own skin.”
In her new book Burlesque: The True Art of Seduction (co-written with Michel Grondin), Scarlett tries to undo lingering stereotypes and prejudices some people still have about her craft. In it they detail the rich history and heritage of burlesque from its early days through to modern times, and pay homage to legendary performers like Gypsy Rose Lee, Lili St Cyr and Mata Hari.
One such misconception concerns the audience for today’s burlesque shows (who often attend in clothing, hair and makeup appropriate to the era). “My audience is sixty percent female. My show empowers women…we don’t have a line-up of twenty-five Victoria’s Secret models,” she said, adding that her performers “are not all in one box…we all have different qualities,” and “most women leave (my events) feeling better about themselves.”
The Montreal Burlesque Festival runs from August 25th to the 28th at Club Soda. The Grand Burlesque Show 2012 runs from March 29th to the 31st at the same venue.
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