Sex Sells bonus
For the title sequence to Pretty Things I wanted to pay homage to Busby Berkeley, the famous director and choreographer who was known for elaborate musical numbers featuring dancers in a kaleidoscope of patterns and often shot from above.
Berkeley first experimented with this overhead technique in a film for my grandfather, Whoopee (1930) for which he was the dance director. It was his first time working on a film in Hollywood, having come from doing musical theater on Broadway.
The film starred comedian Eddie Cantor and a bevy of “Goldwyn Girls,” my grandfather’s take on the Ziegfeld Girls. “Goldwyn Girls” who later became huge stars in their own right included Betty Grable, Paulette Goddard and Lucille Ball. Here’s Lucille as an uncredited “Goldwyn Girl” in a still from the 1933 Goldwyn film Roman Scandals, which was also choreographed by Berkeley.
Below the paywall are film clips from my documentary on the last generation of American burlesque queens, Pretty Things (HBO, 2005) which is currently not available for streaming or viewable anywhere else but for paid STARF*CKERS. Plus stories about stripteases choreographed by Bob Fosse and George Balanchine; tales of comedian Lenny Bruce and his mega-babe wife, stripper “Hot Honey Harlow” and more…if you are a burlesque fan; dance, fashion or costume aficionado or a film buff, this one’s for you xx