Episode 11: Lydia Thompson - Godmother of Burlesque.

Gallus Girls and Wayward Women

Lydia Thompson is one of the legends of the music hall and considered by many to be THE original Queen of Burlesque. Lydia and her chorus line, The British Blondes, electrified the stages of British Victorian Muisc Halls and introduced Burlesque to American audiences with their bawdy and sensational extravaganzas and they went on to become household names throughout America as the embodiment of saucy glamour. They brought natural female sexuality into direct conflict with the conventional view of what it meant to be a “true woman” in the Victorian era. The Blondes popularity allowed them to subvert class divisions and introduce a lowbrow brand of entertainment to highbrow audiences, blurring the lines that separated sex and entertainment by class and gender...