I used to go to the President Follies from 1955 to1957 when I was in the Air Force at Travis AFB. At the time I was 17 and 18 and had seen my first Burlesque show in Los Angeles. It was during my induction into the AF and that evening I saw Tempest Storm in the Burlesque theater on 3rd street downtown LA. At 17 in 1955 I had never seen anything like that before. In trips into San Francisco I discovered the President Follies and I might have gone there maybe a dozen times over the next few years. Back in those days I was mostly interested in seeing the girls and the President had, if I remember right, a stripper then a comedy skit, then a stripper and so on until the headline act. I seemed to suffer through those comedy routines. Years later I would remember some of them and wish that I had payed more attention since I think they were the last of true vaudeville spicy comedy acts. Always had the busty blond and a duo male/female or male/male with sexual gestures and dialog ending in the punch line pa bump bump from the drummer. The band was 3-4 members in the pit for music. At the President if the pasties came off it meant a more relaxed political attitude at with city hall. If things were tightening up then the pasties stayed on. Mostly smaller crowds when I went and it seemed to me more military types. I still think it was a great time in my youth. Things certainly when down hill in the 60s in North Beach when the topless and Bottomless took over.
I used to go to the President Follies from 1955 to1957 when I was in the Air Force at Travis AFB. At the time I was 17 and 18 and had seen my first Burlesque show in Los Angeles. It was during my induction into the AF and that evening I saw Tempest Storm in the Burlesque theater on 3rd street downtown LA. At 17 in 1955 I had never seen anything like that before. In trips into San Francisco I discovered the President Follies and I might have gone there maybe a dozen times over the next few years. Back in those days I was mostly interested in seeing the girls and the President had, if I remember right, a stripper then a comedy skit, then a stripper and so on until the headline act. I seemed to suffer through those comedy routines. Years later I would remember some of them and wish that I had payed more attention since I think they were the last of true vaudeville spicy comedy acts. Always had the busty blond and a duo male/female or male/male with sexual gestures and dialog ending in the punch line pa bump bump from the drummer. The band was 3-4 members in the pit for music. At the President if the pasties came off it meant a more relaxed political attitude at with city hall. If things were tightening up then the pasties stayed on. Mostly smaller crowds when I went and it seemed to me more military types. I still think it was a great time in my youth. Things certainly when down hill in the 60s in North Beach when the topless and Bottomless took over.