Gypsy: The Art of the Tease (26 page)

women, 4, 126

Algonquin Round Table, 23, 55, 56,

Augustin, Genevieve “Jean,” 90–91, 93

126

Auntie Mame,
178–79

Ali Baba Goes to Town,
88–89

American Guild of Variety Artists,

Baker, Josephine, 63, 65, 176

159–60

Balanchine, George, 60–61, 65, 113

The American Language
(Mencken),

Balliett, Whitney, 97, 174

104

Ball of Fire,
127

American Mercury,
118–19

Barthes, Roland, 5

Ames, Elisabeth, 101

Batman,
181

Atkinson, Brooks, 101, 108, 118, 124,

Battle of Broadway,
93

174

Beaux Arts Ball, 80–81

audiences and fans: American
versus

Belle of the Yukon,
147, 148–49

European, 164–65; Burlesque, 25,

Berlin, Irving, 141

53–54; giving them what they

Between the Covers,
150

want, 71, 76–78, 107–8; Gypsy’s

Billboard,
57

211

Index

Blitzstein, Marc, 77, 101, 158, 179

La Guardia and, 32, 84, 96, 165;

Blondell, Joan, 143, 144

in the Midwest, 23–30, 31, 35;

Bochert, Charles, 80

and Minsky’s, 32–35, 40–41; and

The Body Beautiful
(Rossen), 58

striptease, 1, 24, 33–34, 92; unions,

Bolger, Ray, 61

159–60; writers/intellectuals and,

Boston, Gypsy banned from, 40–41

23–24, 49–51.
See also
striptease

Boston Daily Record,
41

Burlesque,
100

Boston Post,
143

Burlesque Artists’ Association, 53

Braun, Eddy, 40

Brecht, Bertolt, 77, 179

café society, 54–55

Breen, Joseph, 86, 87

Café Society (nightclub), 55, 97

Brice, Fanny, 19, 41, 58, 65, 66, 71,

Candygirl: A Year in the Life of an

136

Unlikely Stripper
(Hunt), 6

Bridges, Harry, 121

Cantor, Eddie, 88

British War Relief, 119

Capalbo, Carmen, 179

Broadway and off-Broadway:
Auntie

carnivals, 11,
152,
153–55

Mame,
178–79;
Burlesque,
100; cos-

Casino de Paree, 41

tumes, 82, 132–33;
Darling, Dar-

CBS television variety show, 151–52

ling,
156;
Du Barry Was A Lady,

censorship, 86–87, 88, 96, 140,

101, 102;
Gypsy
(musical), 10,
167,

148–49, 151–52, 165–66

168–74; Gypsy imitators, 58–59,

Chase, Stanley, 179

60–61, 83–84, 141–42, 150,

Chase, Stuart, 104

170–71;
Happy Hunting,
163–64;

Chatfield-Taylor, Otis, 74–75

Hot-Cha,
36–37;
Melody,
37–38;

Chauncey, George, 59

The Naked Genius,
142–45, 156;

Cheever, John, 59, 133

“Of Thee I Spend,” 70–71,
72;

Chicago Daily Tribune,
81, 87

Star and Garter,
129–33,
130;
“A

Chicago Tribune,
168

Stripteaser’s Education” (Gypsy’s

“Christmas on the Keith Family Cir-

signature number), 62–63, 66–69,

cuit” (Lee), 125–26

71, 73, 131, 133–34;
Threepenny

Church, Sandra, 170

Opera,
179;
Twentieth Century,
156;

Churchill, Allen, 167–68

The Women,
156; Ziegfeld Follies

civil rights, 78

(1936), 62–73,
64

Clamage, Ed, 158

burlesque: Casino de Paree, 41;

Clark, Bobby, 71,
72,
107

costumes, 28–29, 45, 46; Gypsy’s

Clark, Gladys, 27

arrest, 34–35; Gypsy’s first bur-

Coca, Imogene, 58

lesque scene, 25; at Irving Place

Cody, Diablo, 6

Burlesque Theatre, 43–49, 53–54;

Cohn, Art, 109, 136

212

Index

collages, 136–37

Eisenstadt, Alfred, 74, 155

Collier’s,
75

Elisofon, Eliot, 122, 156, 160

Collyer, Martin, 34

Eltinge, Julian, 59

Columbia, David Patrick, 175

Emerson, Faye, 155

Communists, 52–53, 96–97, 97–98,

Ernst, Max, 134, 136, 137–38

121, 157–59

Erskine, John, 7

Cooper, Gary, 127

Corio, Ann, 34

Fadiman, Clifton, 124, 152

costumes, 28–29, 45, 46, 82, 132–33,

Farrar, John and Margaret, 37

149, 157

Faye, Joey, 107

Crane, Hart, 22

Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women

Crowther, Bosley, 144

and the Rise of Raunch Culture

“A Curious Evening with Gypsy

(Levy), 7

Rose Lee,” 174

female impersonation, 59–60

feminism, 5, 7, 43–44, 47

Daché, Lily, 105–6

Fiske, Dwight, 55–56, 60

Daily News,
84, 124

Flanner, Janet, 12, 113

Daily Worker,
84, 124

Formfit Merchandise Clinic, 163

Dali, Salvador and Gala, 99–100

Fosse, Bob, 173

Damn Yankees,
173

Fractured Flickers,
181

Darling, Darling,
156

Fried, Albert, 36

Davis, George, 19–20, 60, 113, 125,

179

Gershwin, George, 65, 70, 71

Davis, Richard Dixie, 37

Geva, Tamara, 61

de Diego, Julio, 160–62

Gilbert, Allan, 45

Dews, Carlos, 114

Gilbert, Douglas, 24, 94

Dickstein, Samuel, 85

Gilbert, Edwin, 62–63

Dies Committee, 98

Gingold, Hermione, 155

Doll Face,
143

Gosford, Earl of, 73–74

domestic arts, 155–56

Great Depression, 29–30, 31, 46, 55

Drutman, Irving, 38

Group Theatre, 76

Du Barry Was A Lady,
101, 102

The G-String Murders
(Lee),
112,

Duke, Vernon, 65

116, 119–20, 122–24, 125, 126,

127, 139, 145

Early Havoc
(Havoc), 174

Guggenheim, Peggy, 134, 137

Ebersole, Christine, 170

Gypsy
(autobiography), 166–68

ecdysis/ecdysiast, 104–5

Gypsy
(musical), 10,
167,
168–74

Eco, Umberto, 7

Gypsy Rose Lee Show,
180–81

213

Index

Halem, Red Tova, 53

Hovick, June.
See
Havoc, June

Happy Hunting,
163–64

(Gypsy’s sister)

Harper’s Bazaar,
56, 113, 126

Hovick, Rose (Mama Rose): child-

Hart, Lorenz, 61, 117, 118

hood, 14–15; companion’s suicide

Harvard Lampoon,
41

scandal, 90–91, 93; complaint let-

Harvey, James, 61

ters to Gypsy, 94, 149–50; death

Havoc, June (Gypsy’s sister): child-

of, 162; and decline of burlesque,

hood, 12, 15–16, 18; as director,

92–93; Gypsy and June’s births and

156, 179;
Early Havoc,
174; elope-

childhood, 11, 12–13, 15–16,

ment, 20, 78–79; on Gypsy, 19, 40,

18–19; Gypsy on, 12–13, 145–46,

53–54; on Mizzy, 91, 120–21;
More

162, 184; and Gypsy’s striptease

Havoc,
40, 185, 186; portrayal of, in

act, 10, 13, 27, 35, 184; at Gypsy’s

Gypsy,
168, 169; roles, 16, 117; and

weddings, 93, 135; homes, 42; as

Rose, 12, 42, 78–79, 92, 94, 117,

homosexual, 42, 180; and June, 12,

185–86; on Todd, 110

42, 78–79, 92, 94, 117, 185–86;

Hawks, Howard, 126–27

magazine article by, 146–47; mar-

Hayakawa, S. I., 104

riages, 15; portrayal of, in
Gypsy,

Hays Office, 86, 87, 88, 91, 165

168–69, 172–74

Head, Edith, 132

humor and striptease, 8, 44, 45–46,

Hecht, Ben, 156, 166

47, 73, 89, 108, 165, 171, 188–89

Hefner, Hugh, 166

Hunt, Brooke Busey, 6

Hollywood, 85–94;
Ali Baba Goes to

Town,
88–89;
Battle of Broadway,
93;

I Can Get It for You Wholesale
(Weid-

Belle of the Yukon,
147, 148–49; cen-

man), 125

sorship, 86–87, 88, 140, 148–49;

“I Can’t Strip to Brahms,” 131–32, 134

costumes, 149;
My Lucky Star,
94;

“I’m a Lonesome Little Eve,” 47–48

Screaming Mimi,
178;
Stage Door

International Longshoreman’s and

Canteen,
139–41; transcontinental

Warehousemen’s Union, 121

tour to redeem Hollywood fail-

Irving Place Burlesque Theatre,

ures, 95–96;
You Can’t Have Every-

43–49, 53–54

thing,
87, 88, 89

Holm, Celeste, 155

Jacobs, Laura, 40

homosexuality, 42, 59–60, 180

James, Charles, 128, 132, 133, 154,

Hopkins, Arthur, 100

156

Hopper, Hedda, 11, 23, 144, 146–47,

jewelry theft, 79–80

149, 153, 154

Josephson, Barney, 97

Hot-Cha,
36–37

Jowitt, Deborah, 171–72

Hovick, Jack (Gypsy’s father), 15

Juno
(film), 6

214

Index

Karinska, 132, 133

80–81, 96–97, 119, 121, 124, 144,

Kaufman, George S., 143, 144

183; photographs of,
17, 26, 64,

Kerr, Walter, 173

72,
82, 122, 129,
130, 152,
154–55,

Kirkland, Alexander “Bill,” 134–35,

176,
177;
physical appearance,

142, 147, 184

81–82; and politics, 52–53, 96–97,

Kirstein, Lincoln, 113

157–59; portrait of, 137–38; prod-

uct endorsements, 163, 180; in

Lady of Burlesque,
139

radio, 158; renaming herself,

La Guardia, Fiorello, 32, 83, 84, 96,

21–23; romantic relationships,

165

36–37, 39–40, 51–52, 109–11,

Lahr, Bert, 36, 102

147–48, 176 (
See also
Todd, Mike);

Landis, Carol, 90

and Royal American Carnival, 11,

Las Vegas, 156–57, 165

152,
153–55; and social satire,

Laurents, Arthur, 10, 39, 168, 169,

54–57; son (
See
Preminger, Erik

170, 171–72

Lee); in television, 151–52, 156,

Lee, Gypsy Rose (Rose Louise Hov-

159, 180–81; theft of jewelry from,

ick): American writers and, 49–51;

79–80; transcontinental tour,

as artist and art collector, 135–37;

95–96; and truthfulness of her

birth and childhood, 11–13, 15,

life story, 11–13, 62–63, 86, 169,

16–20,
17;
cancer diagnosis, 181,

185–86; and unions, 53, 159–60;

183; career overview, 8–9, 11–12;

on working hard, 170, 182; works:

comparisons and imitations, 57–59,

“Christmas on the Keith Family

60–61, 83–84, 127, 139, 141–42,

Circuit” (
Harper’s Bazaar
), 125–26;

150, 170, 176; death of, 184; fam-

Curious Evening,
174;
The G-String

ily, 13–15 (
See also
Havoc, June

Murders, 112,
119–20, 125, 126,

[Gypsy’s sister]; Hovick, Rose

127, 139, 145; guest column for

[Mama Rose]); homes, 35, 42–43,

Walter Winchell, 90, 108;
Gypsy

111, 113–16, 127–28, 175–76;

(autobiography), 166–68;
Mother

iconic status of, 3–4, 8; intelligence

Finds a Body,
135, 144–45;
The

of, 8, 19–20, 38–39, 74, 123–24,

Naked Genius,
142–45;
New Yorker

188–89; in Las Vegas, 156–57;

pieces, 145–46; “The Things I

lifestyle, 155–56, 157; marriages

Want,” 155; “What’s New in

(
See
de Diego, Julio; Kirkland,

War Wolves,” 138; as writer, 111,

Alexander “Bill”; Mizzy, Bob); at

112,
113–16, 123–26, 135, 142–46,

New York World’s Fair, 99–100,

166–68.
See also
Broadway and off-

106–8; night life and celebrity life

Broadway; burlesque; Hollywood

of, 79–82; and pets, 176,
177,
178;

Lenya, Lotte, 77, 179

philanthropy and war effort, 78,

Leonard, Ada, 87

215

Index

Lesser, Sol, 140

Muir, Jean, 158

Levy, Ariel, 7

Murrow, Edward R., 156

Levy, Julian, 99

Music Box Theatre, 129

Liebling, A. J., 80

My Ears Are Bent
(Mitchell), 50

Life,
55, 74, 75, 93, 119, 122, 134–35,

154–55, 160

The Naked Genius
(Lee), 142–45, 156

Lillie, Beatrice, 57, 84

Nathan, George Jean, 115, 119

Loos, Anita, 51, 156