In the U.S., most sources trace the modern pedigree of burlesque dancing back to the 1868 New York City debut of Lydia Thompson’s British Blondes, a troupe of dancers whose satirical comedy may not have drawn interest so much as their then-racy display of legs clad in tights. However, the women in Thompson’s traveling show did not strip while on stage. By the 1920s, however, that was a very different story.
According to some accounts, the first striptease in burlesque was an accident, though who started it and exactly what they did is hard to pin down. Some claim it happened in 1904 when Millie DeLeon removed a garter, while others credit a 1917 dancer who started pulling off her costume before she was out of sight of the audience. Yet other tales say the first strip show happened in 1917 courtesy of Mae Dix, who simply removed a soiled cuff — or wait, was it a strap that broke?
While the inventor of the burlesque striptease is up for debate, what’s abundantly clear is that, by the 1920s, burlesque dancers were showing some serious skin. For instance, by the end of 1923, Carrie Finnell was titillating Midwestern audiences by removing bits of her costume. She claimed to have worn bottoms that were held together by a series of straps. Her innovation: removing a strap each week. As she later told reporters, the extended tease took 10 weeks to complete.
