Forget what Mrs. Henderson is presenting. These are the real burlesque queens of the screen.
Roxy, Dixie and Peg. Those are the gals that that Mrs. Henderson should have been presenting, not those prim posers purporting to represent burlesque.
Though naturally the Hays office, the studio era's stuffy censors, did their utmost to tame the onscreen version of vaudeville's vulgar cousin, there is more of the raucous spirit of the form to be found in those films with Roxy, Dixie and Peg than in the overly civilized, newly released on DVD, Mrs Henderson Presents.
Roxy refers, of course, to Roxy Hart, the real-life aspiring hoochie dancer who achieved the fame she so desperately sought not through her limited talents, but through her philandering and firearm prowess (also the inspiration for the stage and film musical, Chicago) The 1942 film named after her, Roxy Hart, is to Roxy's saga what burlesque was to classical dance. It's a spirited send-up directed by William Wellman, whose meaty Irish lunacy hits memorable heights, particularly in the film's climactic court scenes. Ginger Rogers, a redhead for this film, proves what a talented and underused comedienne she was, vulgar and vivacious, broad and beguiling. True, all you get of burlesque are a few high-steps, some coy references, and glimpse after glimpse of Ginger's gorgeous gams (the film's inexhaustible running gag), but the playful, sexy aura of Roxy's "métier" comes off like a tassel at a front-row derelict.
For more of the milieu, there's Lady of Burlesque, a backstage mystery story based on Gypsy Rose Lee's novel, The G-string Murders. The boa feathers fly as Dixie, played by one-time dancer Barbara Stanwyck (who would later portray another burlesque queen, Sugarpuss O'Shea, in the more famous Ball of Fire) attempts to figure out whom, amongst the bitchy chorines, wisecracking stagehands, and backdoor johnnies, did away with a fellow dancer. It's a minor yet memorable film, unique in Hollywood history; a sort of Charlie Chan in fishnet stockings.
Less memorable is Ladies of the Chorus, a 1948 B-movie that was one of the first to exploit the little-girl-lost sexuality of Marilyn Monroe. So early was it in Marilyn's career that watching the film today, you're struck by how unformed she was - not just dramatically, but photographically; her beauty is as unrefined as director Phil Karlson's touch. She's Peggy Martin here, a very squeaky burlesque dancer in an equally sanitized burlesque. Can she really marry into decency, this 61-minute knock-off asks.
She does, of course, and we're disappointed by it. If the truest natures of Roxy, Dixie and Peg show us anything, it's that, as Billy Joel musically contends, the sinners have much more fun.
