Candy Barr: The Small-Town Texas Runaway Who Became a Darling of the Mob and the Queen of Las Vegas Burlesque by Ted Schwarz I was hoping to write a story on this book for
Bachelor Pad Magazine. By the end of the first chapter I realized this was too bleak for Java the Bachelor's "Booze, Babes & Burly-Q."
Candy Barr (nee Juanita Slusher)'s life was tragically full of rape, forced-prostitution and exploitation. Even her alleged relationship with gangster Mickey Cohen was, by her account, not of her own will.
At times I was confused about the whereabouts of her child. The birth of her daughter is briefly mentioned, leaving me wondering about Candy working as a dancer during her pregnancy. During later events, the presence of her daughter wouldn't seem to fit in with the events.
Most of the events in the book were told to the author by Candy Barr, which accounts for some of the confusion.
Her life in prison is the most fascinating era. During this time she wrote a (later self-published) book of poetry, leveraged the prison's desire for her to perform in the annual rodeo in exchange for a job in the prison library, and grew as a person.
The best part of the book, on the part of the author, is compellingly describing Candy/Juanita's heartfelt passion for dancing, and how her natural talent at it helped her to overcome the obstacles to join the ranks of the most famous exotic dancers of all time.
If, like me, you like reading everything you can get your hands on about the lives of exotic dancers, or you're interested eventful life stories, this is a worthwhile book. It is not a romanticized tale of stripping or "burlesque." Very little glitz, glamour and rhinestones
Posing a Threat: Flappers, Chorus Girls, and Other Brazen Performers of the American 1920s by Angela J. LathamOne person who reviewed this on Amazon lamented that it sounded too academic. That excited me because I like stuff that reads like that. However, this was a little too school-paper-y, complete with the author explaining the point that she is trying to present. I didn't like the concept she kept stressing, about "performer" as a term used for the traditional sense of performer as well as "performances" in every day life. I don't need some abstractions, just some facts about flappers and stuff!
The discussions about bathing suit censorship in Atlantic City and elsewhere was my favorite part. The author presented some other abstract point about how calling some ladies too fat to wear revealing bathing suits was a form of censorship. That sounded good to me, but then I tried to explain that to someone else and it just sounded dumb and I felt dumb.
Eat The Document by Dana Spiotta This book was a gift from a longtime correspondent. Before this blog was a twinkle in my eye, and before I got into reading about burlesque and even old music, I used to do a zine. Not the "burlesque fashion" zine... I did a corny zine about local bands and hanging out in suburbia and considerations in political involvement and goofy fake ads.
So this kind gal (and onetime contributor!) sent me this book. I enjoyed it. It was a compelling read. It's about this lady who has to go into hiding after a political protest action goes wrong in the 60s. It then delves into her modern-day revolutionary counterparts, living in group-houses, selling out their hacking skills to corporations, or just appreciating obscure media (hello).
I think it was a little over-ambitious.. a few of the ideas explored in this book should have been left out and saved for the next one.
However, the main story was intriguing, and the superfluous stuff did rouse memories and thoughts about all that zine-making, patch-sewing, show-going, group-housing 1990s good times.
Labels: books, burlesque
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