Burlesque Past and Present: Noel Toy

The art of the tease is on everyone's lips; with a rising interest in burlesque, cabaret clubs are in full swing and new acts are cropping up every week. At Playful Promises we just adore a bit of cheek, and would love to introduce you to our favourite burly girls, past and present! Keep your eyes firmly peeled, as each week we feature inspiring performers guaranteed to set pulses racing!

Pint-sized wonder (just a petite 5 foot tall), Noel Toy was a burlesque artist who gained popularity in the 1940's with her almost-nude dances.

Labeled as the first Chinese-American fan dancer, she was born in San Francisco under the name Ngun Yee. It is said she chose the name Noel Toy because she loved Christmas, and was actually born a few days after on the 27th December 1918. Surprisingly, she also died a day before Christmas in 2003 - I guess she really did love the holidays.

In 1939 Toy was months away from completing a degree when she was offered a role in the Chinese village show at the World's Fair on Treasure Island. Although this was a fairly safe event (all she needed to do was stand around in a Chinese gown), it led to naughtier work - posing nude at a fairground "Candid Camera" attraction, where customers were invited to photograph models. 

"Well, school was dull," Mrs. Young told the New York Post in 1941, "and I couldn't see anything wrong about appearing there. I went home and told my mother what I was planning to do, and she raised the roof."

Soon after, businessman Charlie Low (sounds more like a gang-boss) offered Toy a job at Forbidden City, America's first Chinese nightclub. Charlie had hit the jackpot, and business tripled withing three months. Noel Toy soon earned the reputation of the "Chinese Sally Rand", who was another popular fan dancer. 

It's not surprising just why she gained such adoration - her dances were well known to reveal a surprising amount of flesh. She often performed sans nipple tassels, something which even today most clubs would not allow or have licenses for. The video below captures her signature fan dance:

Before long a promoter called Lee Mortimer enticed Toy to the Big Apple, where she drew crowds in at the Stork Club, Maxie's, the 18th Club, Lou Walter's Latin Quarter and Leon & Eddies. Men found themselves falling head over heels for this exotic beauty (although I can imagine the glimpses of flesh also helped!). 

One night in 1945, a soldier named Carleton S. Young became enthralled, telling her "I'm going to marry you," without a doubt. Toy had a strict rule against dating soldiers or actors, and Young happened to be both, so she laughed him off. He persisted, and they married that year. She must have fallen for him, as their marriage lasted until his death in 1994. 

The newly christened Mrs. Young gave up dancing at her husband's request but went on to an acting career that proved fulfilling. She appeared in big name movies, alongside stars such as Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart and Susan Hayward. As Toy grew older she appeared in few acting roles, mainly just as a candid, but she remained

a sprightly, glamorous woman up until her death.

WIN the Dominique corset

 

To celebrate the arrival of our seductive AW12 corsets, Dominique and Love, we thought that a giveaway is in order!

We want to give three lucky Playful Promises fans the chance to grab the Dominique corset as soon as it arrives in our warehouse on the 10th of April. 

But you will have to show us just how much you want this naughty fetish-inspired corset

We will be picking one winner from our social media (facebook, tumblr, twitter, pinterest), one from this very post, and one from our newsletter. You can enter up to 6 times, following the rules below ;)

Social Media

1 entry: Like us on facebook and comment on our giveaway image post.

1 entry: Follow us @playfulpromises and tweet to us with the link to this blog.

1 entry: Follow us on tumblr and reblog the giveaway post.

1 entry: Follow us on Pinterest and repin the giveaway post on our Pinterest.

Newsletter

1 entry: Make sure you are signed up to our newsletter. 

Blog

1 entry: Comment on this post, describing what you would wear with this corset. Will you team with a pencil skirt as outerwear? Perhaps some naughty ouvert briefs? 

Winners will be picked on the 10th April, international entries welcome!

 

Lustful Love: Here comes our red vintage stitch!

Our gorgeous new Autumn/Winer 2012 collection is officially on it's way! First up are two absolutely beautiful corsets, which will be landing in our warehouse on the 10th April (fingers crossed!)

The Dominique Corset and the Love Red Vintage Stitch Corset are true show-stoppers, we can't wait to see these goodies on burlesque stars worldwide. In fact, we love these corsets so much we couldn't possibly cram them in to one post!

The Love Vintage Stitch Corset features the hand-sewn stitch detail that was so popular on Jasmine, updated with a raunchy red colour.

I can't wait to get my hands on one, which made me think about all the different ways it could be styled. Corsets should definitely not be resigned to the bedroom, especially overbusts such as this. Jump into the Underwear as Outerwear trend by wearing this on a night out with the girls. 

We put together some quick ideas on Polyvore!

Vintage Stitch by playfulpromiseslingerie 

Take on the vintage-inspired design and team the corset with a black silk shirt. This look is all about the accessories, so make sure you have a vintage cocktail ring and some killer heels to finish it off. Pop a big red corsage in your hair to really make the red pop!

Night by playfulpromiseslingerie

Skirts don't always equate to glamour! We would love to see this corset worn with some black skinny jeans and heels. Mix masculine styled accessories (here we chose a fedora) with some big statement jewellery - the glitsier the better!

We would love to see how you would wear this corset. Check out Polyvore, where you can make your own set using our Love Red Vintage Stitch corset item - make sure you post a link in our blog comments so we can have a look!

To ensure you grab Dominique or Love before they are all snapped up, pre-order now.

Burlesque Past and Present: Mistinguett and her lengthy legs

The art of the tease is on everyone's lips; with a rising interest in burlesque, cabaret clubs are in full swing and new acts are cropping up every week. At Playful Promises we just adore a bit of cheek, and would love to introduce you to our favourite burly girls, past and present! Keep your eyes firmly peeled, as each week we feature inspiring performers guaranteed to set pulses racing!

Although I am cheating slightly, featuring a lady who wasn't necessarily thought of as a burlesque artist, she did pave the way for many a showgirl; making glamorous, gigantic headdresses and vast skirt trains of feathers a popular performance costume. 

Mistinguett, real name Jeanne Bourgeois, was THE female entertainer of her time, with legs that would make men melt at her feet! 

Determined to make it in show business, she left her humble beginnings as a flower seller in a restaurant and began her career in 1885 after taking classes in singing and theatre. Apparently those classes didn't do much good, as it was noted that she didn't have much of a singing voice, nor could she dance well or be particularly visually appealing, so she made her name the only way she could: a charismatic personality. 

That and her legs! She explains "the rest had to be created. I had to invent something.... my legs, 'the lovliest legs in the world', [an idea that] came out of my head." Indeed, those legs were the basis of her career; in fact, in 1919 she insured them for 500,000 francs! 

Bourgeois (and with a surname like that, you would most certainly need something catchier for the stage!) experimented with various stage names, such as Miss Helyett, Miss Tinguette, Minstinguette, before finally settling on Mistinguett. She debuted at the Casino de Paris in 1895 before moving on to appear at notorious venues such as Folies Bergere and the Moulin Rouge. 

Mistinguett was the epitome of showbiz decadence during the turn of the century. Her cheeky performance style became well known; once, while singing, an audience member shouted, "higher!", to which she lifted her skirt (and you can imagine what an uproar that caused!).

Rumor has it that she was romantically involved with Alphonso XIII, the King of Spain and the Russian Prince Orloff, and was BFFs with Jean Cocteau and Oscar Wilde. 

She was also best known for her signature song "Mon Homme", recording it in 1920. You may have heard the popular English version "My Man", which became a staple of the cabaret world for years to come. 

Burlesque Past and Present: Lydia Thompson

The art of the tease is on everyone's lips; with a rising interest in burlesque, cabaret clubs are in full swing and new acts are cropping up every week. At Playful Promises we just adore a bit of cheek, and would love to introduce you to our favourite burly girls, past and present! Keep your eyes firmly peeled, as each week we feature inspiring performers guaranteed to set pulses racing!

Kicking off our naughty series it is only fitting that we discuss the woman that helped shape Burlesque as it exists today: Lydia Thompson.

Often credited as the burly-godmother of American Burlesque, Lydia was a dancer and producer, who successfully introduced this quaint English vaudeville act to the American public. Back when the art form stuck strictly to the origin of the word (in Italian 'burla' means a mockery), the acts revolved around parodying rather than the sexual striptease we are now familiar with. Popular during Victorian London, burlesque was a form of musical theatre, which was often quite risqué for the time.

Flesh-coloured tights shocked and thrilled the audience, giving the impression of naked flesh (rather like nipple pasties are used since!). While this became ever so slightly passé in fashionable London, in 1868 Lydia Thompson took her troupe, The British Blondes, overseas to New York. When this group of women with bleached hair landed in America with little but a pair of tights, tickets we snapped up in a fit of ecstasy. 

Whoever had been dealing with Lydia's PR had hit a goldmine. I just love this story which spread itself around before the debut shows: "Captain Ludoc Baumbarten of the Russian dragoons took some flowers and a glove belonging to Miss Thompson, placed them on his breast; then shot himself through the heart, leaving on his table a note stating that his love for her brought on the fatal act." Whether this dramatic tale is true, we don't know, but the men of America were stricken with a lust for Lydia. 

She must have been particularly charming, as the view of young women's legs was no new experience - "leg shows" had been around for years. This new format of titillation had captured it's audience, allowing the shows to develop into full length revues, and their original schedule of 6 months was extended to a jaw-dropping 6 years. 

Not only did these ladies look amazing, but you definitely didn't want to mess with them. Bizarrely, an incident where Lydia, her husband and another troupe member, Pauline Markham, horse-whipped a critic at gunpoint only lead to a fine and increased popularity. Burlesque is serious business after all. 

Another particularly interesting point to mention about Lydia was that she was known for her roles as the 'principle boy', the leading male character. While this was a standard in burlesque, many claim she was one of the first great Drag Kings, and the idea of a woman dressed and acting like a male further infuriated critics.

While burlesque went out of fashion in England at the end of the 19th century, the American style grew into it's own genre. Sexuality became an increasingly common feature; what began with "cooch" dances moved into strip shows in the 1930s. But that is a whole other blog post!