title: Pretty Things: The Last Generation of American Burlesque Queens
author:  Liz Goldwyn 
description: <I>Starred Review.</i> A search for second-hand garments-"pretty things"-first prompted filmmaker Liz Goldwyn's lifelong fascination with the burlesque queens of the 1930s, '40s and '50s. After amassing a museum-worthy collection of their wardrobes and dancing paraphernalia, the enthusiastic young woman grew "convinced that every garment holds undiscovered revelations about its past lives." To learn more, she began contacting long-retired dancers and "through ten years of letters, visits, interviews and striptease lessons" documented their colorful-and sometimes tragic-stories. Tracing the evolution of this form of dancing from the Belle &Eacute;poque to burlesque's mid-century heyday (which boasted such luminaries as Gypsy Rose Lee, Lily St. Cyr and Zorita), Goldwyn makes a convincing case for recognizing both the choreography and costume-making of this bygone era as a true art form. Fully illustrated with design notes, media clippings and hundreds of photos, this coffee table treasure serves as a companion book to the documentary film of the same name, which Goldwyn premiered on HBO in 2005. Ultimately, Goldwyn's contagious enthusiasm for her subject makes a fitting paean to this once-forgotten generation of women who led lives on the periphery of artistry and respectability. <BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  Table of Contents
  Title Page
  Copyrighted Material
  Other Books By Monica James
  Author’s Note
  One
  Two
  Three
  Four
  Five
  Six
  Seven
  Eight
  Nine
  Ten
  Eleven
  Twelve
  Thirteen
  Fourteen
  Fifteen
  Sixteen
  Seventeen
  Eighteen
  Acknowledgements
  About the Author
  Connect with Monica James
  
  Copyrighted Material
   
  THE DEVIL’S CROWN-PART TWO
  (All The Pretty Things Trilogy Spin-Off)
   
  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s
  imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or
  dead, is coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features are assumed
  to be the property of their respective owners and are used only for reference.
   
  Copyright © 2020 by Monica James
  All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or
  electronic form without the express, written consent of the author.
   
  Cover Design: Perfect Pear Creative Cove