Interview with Bonnie Dunn, Pt. 2 of 2

Bonnie Dunn, known as “the Godmother of Burlesque,” has been performing her cabaret and burlesque acts for over a decade. She sat down with me at her apartment in Manhattan and told me about her many unique experiences performing burlesque in New York. You can read the first part of my interview with her here.



New York vs. The World
LL: What have you noticed about how burlesque has changed?

BD: I think that the spirit of burlesque, the art form itself, attracts a certain type of personality. I would say a person that’s a little bit more edgy, a little bit more of a rebel, that doesn’t necessarily fit in to, say, the Broadway mold, or the typical body that you need to be in a dance company, for example. People come to New York to pursue a career in the theater or music or whatever, and they are really lucky now to have burlesque. We used to joke about the ads in backstage; The ad would say, ‘You have to dance, you have to sing, you have to do flips, you have to have classical training,’ and then at the end of the ad it would say, ‘NO PAY.’ So I feel like burlesque and circus and vaudeville—all of that has opened up all these venues for live entertainment that they really didn’t have in the early ’90s. You did have these underground clubs where you could do performance art, but I really wasn’t in that scene. I was more in the cabaret/midtown/singing [scene], with the gown and the piano and all of that, but they weren’t for pay. And I know people who make a living out of burlesque. Not the greatest living, but they do make a living doing it. But I would say that it’s still the same in that it attracts that type of person that would be uninhibited.

If you look at [burlesque] within the United States, I’ve noticed that every city has a different flavor, a different perspective on it. New York has a lot of very individual acts because it, as I said, stems out of performance art. We were doing so many shows, carrying our bags all over the city. So it wasn’t until we went to Tease-O-Rama that we saw, full blast, some of these costumes. We were like, “Look at these people from L.A. that have money, that do shows once a month so they have time to really work on their costumes”—I mean, I really felt that when I went to Exotic World, I was looking at the costumes going, “Oh my god!” They really concentrate on that in certain other places. And I think New York concentrates on the quality of the performance. And also, well, they’re original in a lot of places, but I think New York is grittier. Vegas is glitzier, it’s more packaged. New York is really that performance art vibe which is nice, because you don’t want all pretty, feathers—it’s a beautiful aesthetic, but that’s only one part of it.



LL: So have you done Coney Island?

BD: I’ve done Coney Island almost since the beginning of when they started doing burlesque there, at least 10 years ago. Coney Island is probably my favorite. I think Coney Island is my favorite gig. Even compared to my own show, because I can be really creative. I have this big place in my heart for Coney Island, definitely. I like all the people that run it, and admire what they’re doing and what they’ve been doing all these years to revitalize it. Dick Zigun and Fredini—those people are really wonderful. I would say that Coney Island’s been a huge inspiration to me. The Blue Angel was great—I started there—but as far as the inspiration you were talking about, Coney Island is probably my biggest inspiration.

LL: What is it about Coney Island, for you, that makes it so special?

BD: The whole history of the freak show, of the circus, of carnival—that whole thing about kind of being on the edge. Just the showmanship, feeling like you’re really transported back to another time, and it takes skills! A lot of those circus acts take a lot of skill. And the originality of it. Just thinking of going in to a ghetto and taking a lost art form and dedicating his life to revitalizing that, I really admire that.

LL: What are other performers who you’re into now, or who you’ve seen develop over the years?

BD: I’ve seen a lot of people really develop. Tyler Fyre—I really saw him change and develop and become really great. He’s in Baltimore now, but he started in Coney Island. He’s one of the Coney Island people. I think he really learned a lot of his stuff from Keith. But there’s so many great people. Julie Atlas Muz—she was at the Red Vixen. That’s where we went from the Blue Angel. That was the interim period. I mean, she was always very good and very original, but to see her, to see Kate Valentine—she did the Va Va Voom Room. That was one of the first shows out there, too, a couple years after the Blue Angel. And Dirty Martini started with all those people. They were all pretty damn good. Tigger, Rose Wood—I think Rose Wood really developed. Rose, she’s the kind of person that will really rehearse her act very professionally. I can’t think of all the people that I’ve known that are in it.

LL: Are there any stories or costumes that you remember loving, or people or…

BD: Oh, there’s so many! I guess when you asked me how it’s changed, it’s much more accepted. People know what burlesque is. There’s so many more people that want to do it. And I remember Steve [Walter]—he was the owner of the Cutting Room, where I used to have [Le Scandal]—he was telling me to get some younger women doing burlesque, and I couldn’t find ’em! But now they’re just banging down the door.

When I [started] doing burlesque, there really was a stigma to it. We got a lot of slack about, “Oh, come on, it’s just stripping. You’re putting some artistic costume over it, but when you get right down to it, it’s still objectifying women.” That was an issue that was brought up by reporters very often: “What is the difference between stripping and burlesque?” And I would say that now, that question really isn’t asked as often. It’s seeped in to the mainstream culture, even in to advertizing. There’s not that stigma at all now, which I think is wonderful. You know, you shouldn’t be ashamed at a little bit of boobies.

I guess it is empowering because it’s a lot of women that run the shows, and it’s a celebration of all different kinds of body types and different ages. If you criticize that, then you’re not getting it. And if the act is good enough, you’re not going to be concentrating on, ‘Oh, that person’s a little heavy,’ or ‘That person’s younger,’ or older, or whatever, because you’re looking at the act. I mean, you’re looking at the body too. That’s very naive to say that you’re not looking at the body—that’s a big part of it, that’s your instrument. But, you don’t get it then—that would be a strip club if you’re looking for a particular body type. But we have to keep that perspective, otherwise it’s gunna become something else.

Le Scandal is every Saturday night at the West Bank Café on 42nd st and 9th Avenue.

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