From Show Girl to Burlesque Queen
From Show Girl to Burlesque Queen
Filmed August 25, 1903 in the Biograph New York City studio. Opens on a dressing room set with a mirror, dressing table, and chair center stage and a folded dressing screen on the left. A woman enters through the door on stage right, unbuttoning a full-length polka-dot costume. She removes her sash or cummerbund, the top with its trailing sleeves, and her skirt, leaving her clothed only in a sleeveless, full-length chemise. She mischievously slips a strap of the garment off one shoulder, then ducks behind the screen. After the chemise is thrown over the top of the screen, her arm furtively reaches out from behind the screen and grabs a slight garment from the back of the chair and some items from the dressing table. She then emerges wearing a risquT, decorated costume with cap sleeves and a very short skirt, gathered at the waist. Her legs appear to be bare. The woman brandishes a sword, grabbed from under the discarded dress, and strikes a seductive pose as the viewer glimpses a costumed man entering the room.