Music Shall Fill the Air

440 Clark Drive, built in 1930.

I am continuing with my series on the striptease industry in Vancouver and consulting the book Burlesque West by Becki L. Ross.

Although today, dancers perform to recorded music but that wasn't so in the beginning. Up until the late 1970s, dancers were accompanied by live musicians. All male musicians.

These musicians were paid union scale - they did belong to the union after all - and playing at the strip clubs was steady work. In addition, the guys got to see some very beautiful women nightly and maybe even share a dressing room with them.

These musicians weren't second rate either. Some of Vancouver's hottest jazz musicians played for dancers. Names such as Fraser McPherson, Cuddles Johnson, Chris Gage, Stu Barnett, Dave Davies, Doug Cuthbert, Gerry Palken, Sean Gunn, Mike Kalanj, Gord Walkinshaw, Ernie King, Harry Harvey, Peter Batt and David Lee could list providing music for striptease dancers on their resume.

Although supper clubs such as Isy's Supper Club, The Cave Supper Club, State Burlesque Theatre and the Palomar Supper Club had a fairly large orchestras, most clubs had a typical trio combo - a saxophone or bass, piano or organ and drums. Musicians' union Local 145 supplied the musical artists that worked the clubs six days a week. Once the hotel bars opened, many musicians raked in the profits by working double shifts.

The funny is that, even with a union - something that many dancers complained they were missing - the musicians still made less than most of the dancers!

Many musicians were fine with that. After all, the draw was the dancers and those ladies worked really hard to earn every dollar they did.

As with the dancers, there was a stigma attached to the musicians that played in those clubs. And even though these were not really the gigs a musician could invite his Mom and Dad too, it was still a good assignment. Steady work in an industry such as music or acting or any of the arts, should not be sneered at! Yet, some of the older musicians did look down on their counterparts that played the strip clubs.

However, look at the legendary names that practised their art at these clubs and you can rest assured that the musicians that backed up the dancers were talented.

That's it for now. I hope you are enjoying this segment on the striptease industry in Vancouver. It is part of our history and has helped form the city.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Becki L. Ross, history, Burlesque West, striptease British Columbia, Canada, Chris Gage, Sean Gunn,musicians

Racism and Stripping

Dancers have had to deal with criticism, scorn and poor treatment since the first dancer did a striptease. The so called proper people will look down at those who, in the opinion of some, demean themselves for money. The sting and horror of racism exists in the industry as well.

On Monday, I told you that there were three classes of dancers - A, B and C lists - and each dancer would perform at corresponding clubs. Guess what? The A list clubs hired almost exclusively white dancers while the minority dancers performed at the B and C clubs.

That being said, it is also important to realize that A list dancers usually had better acts, were in better shape and were more attractive. Naturally, those dancers made more money. Sometimes, a B list dancer would be called in to fill in for an A list dancer if there weren't enough top dancers to fill the positions.

The A-grade nightclubs were in the West End - Cave Supper Club, Isy's Supper Club and the Penthouse Night Club - while the B and C clubs were in the Main Street, Chinatown area. Many of the C clubs were in the lower income areas where patrons would be 'drinking their welfare checks'.

A note: Al though the A clubs were PREDOMINANTLY white, there were African and other minorities dancers that were hired occasionally.

African Canadian dancers - no matter how good her reputation was - had to prove themselves by performing in places such as Kamloops before being hired at an A-grade club in Vancouver. Still they were quite often paid less than their white counterparts.

Once pubs and hotel beer parlours in and outside of Vancouver's mainland began opening and increasing the demand for dancers, the colour lines began to blur a bit and dancers that are more ethnic were able to find work at better pay. Things began to change.

Once again, I would like to thank the book Burlesque West by Becki L. Ross for the information provided here today.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Becki L. Ross, history, Burlesque West, striptease British Columbia, Canada, racism, hotel,white

Agents and Growth

Before I start on today's blog entry, I want to thank Aurora Morealist for the write up  she did on this blog. In case you haven't had the chance to read it, visit this link and do so.She said some really nice things.

Now to continue our look at the striptease industry in Vancouver and once again I am consulting the book Burlesque West by Becki L. Ross.

After WWII, Vancouver was a burlesque city. In fact, it was the place to be entertained by the art of the tease in Western Canada. Dancers worked without agents, booking shows themselves and becoming a family of sorts.

The striptease industry began to build once women realized the wage potential. Dancers were paid in cash and in a few nights could make enough money to pay the rent for a month. Becoming an exotic dancer was also appealing because of the hours. For a single mother, she could spend all day with her child, arrange for a babysitter at night and go make money then.

It seemed like a win win situation for all. The club owners were convinced that the dancers helped sell beer, definitely brought customers in and the good clubs paid the dancers well.

It started in the late 1960s. The number of dancers and nightclub stages were rapidly rising and a loose agreement between club owners, promoters and booking agents was arranged. This agreement was to implement hiring and performance standards: a professional dancer was contracted to perform a set of twenty to twenty-two minutes every hour of a designated shift, six days a week. The dancer had to pay her booking agent 10% of her weekly wages. Of course, the amount of the wages depended on where she was booked into. Dancers were assigned A, B or C rankings by agents then booked into corresponding clubs. The A clubs naturally paid the highest.

By the 1970s, dancers were represented by agents who not only were responsible for getting the best possible gigs for their dancers but were also there to settle disputes. When the dancer got into trouble, the agent would be there to calm things down and make the club/pub owners happy.

Vancouver based dancers though claim that conditions were better than those south of the border. There was more money to be made here than in even Las Vegas - striptease dancers were not allowed in the main part of Vegas and had to work harder to hustle drinks in the clubs on the outskirts of that famed city.

On Wednesday, I want to closer and the class of clubs and take a peek at the racism that existed in the world of the striptease. Please join me for that entry.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Becki L. Ross, history, Burlesque West, striptease British Columbia, Canada, agents, Las Vegas,beer