104:, suggested importing one of their trademarks: a runway to bring the women out into the audience. The theater was reconfigured and the Minskys were the first to feature a runway in the United States. Billy had the sign out front changed to "Burlesque As You Like It – Not a Family Show," and the Minskys were on their way.
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With Lawyer Max D. Steuer he put up the Winter Garden
Building. It housed two theatres, one on the sixth floor, one on the first. Brother Billy, 45, started showing films in the upper auditorium in 1912. Brother Abe, 54, had been running a nickelodeon theatre of his own and drifted in to help. When
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might be voted out. But business under the new code was so bad that many New York burlesque theaters closed their doors for good. By the time La
Guardia was re-elected, the word "burlesque" had been banned and, soon after, the Minsky name itself, since the two were synonymous. With that final blow,
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The
Minskys were raided for the first time in 1917 when Mae Dix absentmindedly began removing her costume before she reached the wings. When the crowd cheered, Dix returned to the stage to continue removing her clothing to wild applause. Billy ordered the "accident" repeated every night. This began
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showing racy films. His own father shut him down and bought the
National Winter Garden on Houston Street, which had a theater inconveniently located on the sixth floor. He gave the theater to Abe and his brothers Billy and Herbert. At first they tried showing respectable films but could not compete
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deemed them a "corrupting moral influence." The city's license commissioner, Paul Moss, tried to revoke Minsky's license but the State Court of
Appeals ruled that he did not have grounds without a criminal conviction. Finally, in April, 1937, a stripper at Abe Minsky's New Gotham Theater in Harlem
88:. Burlesque during this period was relatively "clean"; a fourth wheel, the Independent, actually went bankrupt in 1916 after refusing to clean up its act. The Minskys briefly considered signing with a wheel but decided to stage their own shows because it was cheaper and Billy longed to be the next
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With burlesque thriving in New York (there were now 14 burlesque theaters, including Minsky's rivals), competition was fierce. Each year, various license commissioners issued restrictions to keep burlesque from pushing the limits. But convictions were rare, so theater managers saw no need to tone
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ushered in the greatest era for burlesque, and Minsky burlesque in particular. Few could afford to attend expensive
Broadway shows, yet people craved entertainment. Furthermore, there now seemed to be an unlimited supply of unemployed young pretty women who considered the steady work offered by
363:. Theatres weren’t air-conditioned. The performers begged Harold to keep his doors open; the girls were broke, and they desperately needed the money from the performances. So Harold stayed open and, though a ticket cost a dime, 'He made over a million dollars,' claimed his wife Dardy Minsky.”
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Morton - the youngest of the four Minsky brothers - joined the family firm in 1924, fresh out of New York
University, and became the resident Minsky at their newly acquired Little Apollo Theater on 125th Street. For the next four years, the theater showed a weekly profit of $ 20,000 after
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Billy realized that while burlesque could not be classy it could be presented in classy surroundings. In 1931, many legitimate theaters in New York closed. Billy saw an opportunity to bring the Minsky brand to
Broadway, amid the respectable shows, and leased the Republic Theater on
145:). But in a show at the National Winter Garden, Mademoiselle Fifi (née Mary Dawson from Pennsylvania), stripped to the waist, moved. Occasionally a raid was triggered by the comedy material, but dirty comics did not last long because they were a liability to the management.
359:, Harold began learning all facets of the business operating the Gaiety Theater in Times Square. "At nineteen, Harold took over the business from his father. Every summer, his parents went to Europe for vacation and the theatres would close due to the heat in
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down their shows.The
Minskys emphasized that a good strip-tease dance must know exactly the right psychological moment to remove each garment. 'It is not just a matter of going on the stage and taking off clothes - it needs finesse.'
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After several appeals, the
Minskys and their rivals were allowed to reopen only if they adhered to new rules that forbade strippers. The owners went along, hoping to stay in business until the November election when reformist mayor
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burlesque. By the time they finished expanding, the various Minskys controlled over a dozen theaters – six in New York and others in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Albany, and Pittsburgh. They even formed their own small "wheel."
334:. The ensuing raid led to the demise not only of Minsky burlesque but of all burlesque in New York. The conviction allowed Moss to revoke Abe's license and refuse to renew all of the other burlesque licenses in New York.
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But Minsky's clientele needed a compelling reason to trek up to a sixth-floor theater. Billy realized that success in burlesque depended on how the women were featured. Abe, who had been to Paris and the
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an endless cycle: to keep their license, the Minskys had to keep their shows clean, but to keep drawing customers they had to be risqué. Whenever they went too far, they were raided.
115:, and worked at the Little Apollo Theater on 125th Street. There was a raid during the very first show. For the next four years, the theater showed a weekly profit of $ 20,000 after
178:. Then, when Columbia and Mutual, the large burlesque wheels, collapsed during the Depression, Minsky's became the standard bearer for stock burlesque. In Harlem, they leased the
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and staged their first show on February 12. The Republic became Minsky's flagship theater and the capital of burlesque in the United States. (The theater is now called the
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Morton Minsky, the last of four brothers who made burlesque a New York institution, died yesterday of cancer at his home in Manhattan. He was 85 years old.
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Harold discovered and groomed dozens of famous names throughout the 1930s into the '50s. He claimed to have discovered future headliner fourteen-year-old
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Brother Herbert, 40, acquired his law degree from Columbia and Brother Morton, 30, was graduated from New York University, they helped out, too.
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with the large theater chains. The Minskys tried to bolster their shows by bringing in vaudevillians but could not afford good acts.
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and specializes in children's entertainment.) Other burlesque shows were inspired to open on 42nd Street at the nearby
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Billy's attempt, however, to present classy burlesque at the Park Theater on Columbus Circle failed miserably.
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from an audition. Harold also employed and nurtured first-rate comic talents such as
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In 1935, irate citizens' groups began calling for action against burlesque.
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Another famous raid occurred in April 1925, and inspired the book and film
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and the National Winter Garden's notoriety grew. Regular patrons included
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Zemeckis, Leslie (2013). Check |url= scheme (help). Delaware: Skyhorse.
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Zemeckis, Leslie (2013). Check |url= scheme (help). Delaware: Skyhorse.
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Abe's adopted son, remained active in burlesque. At the height of the
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ran for six years, then moved to other landmark casinos such as the
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The eldest brother, Abe, launched the business in 1908 with a
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worked for Harold Minsky and Joe Gordon at the Dunes and the
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Morton joined the company in 1924 after graduating from
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in 1928 (later the famous venue for black performers).
53:(1902–1987). They started in 1912 and ended in 1937 in
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Minsky, Morton and Milt Lachman. "Minsky's Burlesque."
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Harold resided in Las Vegas until his death in 1977.
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burlesque and the Minskys were finished in New York.
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Online Nevada Encyclopedia. Accessed Aug. 18, 2010.
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507:Goldberg, Gerald (March 30, 1986).
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663:Burlesque in the United States
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128:The Night They Raided Minsky's
43:Michael William 'Billy' Minsky
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33:refers to the brand of
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76:Then they considered
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283:. Others included
180:Harlem Opera House
162:George Jean Nathan
47:Herbert Kay Minsky
35:American burlesque
31:Minsky's Burlesque
622:978-1-62087-691-6
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230:Zero Mostel
196:New Victory
192:42nd Street
182:1924, then
175:The Bridge)
150:Prohibition
70:nickelodeon
647:Categories
489:2009-02-09
455:2009-02-09
424:References
391:Bud Abbott
285:Danny Kaye
242:Jimmy Savo
238:B.S. Pully
206:Theaters.
170:Hart Crane
166:Condé Nast
379:Las Vegas
312:Mara Gaye
304:Ann Corio
297:strippers
250:Pinky Lee
222:Joey Faye
78:burlesque
332:G-string
278:stripper
520:payola.
353:Harold,
200:Eltinge
61:History
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