Gypsy: The Art of the Tease (Icons of America Series) Book

Rachel Shteir, author of the prize-winning "Striptease", gives us "Gypsy: The Art Of The Tease", the first biography of Gypsy Rose Lee not written by a member of her family. This novel is an intelligent and sympathetic look at the depression era's burlesque and striptease queen; her choices, her friends and family, her life as a celebrity and her incredible journey from rags to riches. From extremely poor beginnings to self made millionaire, Gypsy is a great example of self-invention and is the first and only stripper to become a household name, she is a true American icon. In her life she has achieved many things, she's inspired a musical, been painted by Max Ernst and has had a variety of rose named after her. Gypsy was born in America in 1911 in a run-down house with no roof, her ambitious mother took the whole family from Alaska to Nevada to San Francisco spending their time in cheap theatres and dosshouses inhabited by miners and prostitutes and when times were dire, they would camp next to the town dump and eat dog food. Due to her desperately poor childhood and the strong, influential people she grew up with, Gypsy was determined to carve a better life for herself. As a young girl she performed as Dainty Baby Jane singing risqué songs and wearing a frilly thigh-high dress. As an adult she became famous for her wit and humour, performing clever rhymes as she stripped, dropping names like George Bernard Shaw or Vincent Van Gogh, it established Gypsy as a somewhat intellectual and soon she began to sign herself "The Naked Genius". She also tried to make a name for herself in Hollywood, by starring in five films, all unsuccessful. Writing and acting were not really Gypsy's forte; she was a stripper, although she disliked this label, she claimed to be an artist "a practitioner of the art of strip-teasing" and she mingled with other artists, including Kurt Weill, Paul and Jane Bowles, Salvador and Gala Dali. Read More