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The year is 1937—the height of burlesque's golden age when striptease reigned in New York City. Furious at the flagrant display of the human body, the forces of censorship conspired to ban bump n' grind. Yet hundreds of performers risked arrest every day to entertain the masses. These are those stripteasers in a delightful deck of disrobers.
Created by Jonny Porkpie whose research into this era of burlesque history delved into newspapers, trades, memoirs, police reports, and mayoral decrees. He realized that images of the performers were hard to find, so he sought out their pictures and tracked down descriptions of their acts. Legends like Josephine Baker, Gypsy Rose Lee, Amy Fong, and Ann Corio were easy to find. Most others took more digging. Nevertheless, his initial list of a few dozen stripteasers doubled, then doubled again. His archives soon became unwieldy and he needed a better way to catalog findings. The answer came when he found a vintage cigarette card: Collector Cards. Film stars and "Beauties of To-Day" (often in burlesque costumes, or with indicative props) were featured in Cigarette and Gum cards of the 1930s, but Jonny couldn't find a series dedicated to stripteasers or burlesque. This was clearly an oversight that needed correcting.
The front of each card features a press photo from a contemporary newspaper, and on the verso, one or more quotes that capture their performance or personality. Despite the nature of their work, these press images are largely G-rated, with only a few bordering on PG-13.
160 collector cards in a foil-stamped magnet-clasp box. Cards measure 4.75 x 3.75 inches. Box measures 5.5 x 3.5 x 3.5 inches.
