When we were teenagers, (Early 1950’s) we somehow were able to get into the Hudson Burlesque. It was a pure fantasy for us guys..we somehow made it up into those incredible balcony seats that made it seem like you were going to fall right out and off the top! We always had fun .. at 16 and 17 it was amazing to see the gals come out onstage with not so much on .. I loved the ‘comic’ babes that were always part of the chorus line .. there’d be about 8-10 girls that just did the normal routine of shaking it and dancing .. but the comic would do some outrageous stuff .. like purposely going the wrong way or she’d have some twirler tassels on the ends of her ‘pasties’ covering her nipples and she’d have a good set and would TWIRL those tassels just by waving her boobs in different directions .. causing a helluva a roar from the audience! Most times they’d have a featured comedian, like a Pinky Lee character to go along with the house clowns male & females. They would always have a routine of a guy hawking candy after pretending to put a watch or a $5 into one of the boxes and then they’d have ‘runners’ that would go up and down the aisles trying to sell the candy .. I think it was turkish taffy. I always got it and of course never got the watch!
There would be a singer, he would perform in what might have been the last of vaudeville comedy skits/always with ‘double entendres’ about the gals anatomy or sex. But good clean fun. Then the guy would come out with a big fanfare first/taadahhhh introduction and with a spotlight shining only on him, do his big song for the night .. then the piece de resistance .. the showstopper babe for the night .. sometimes it was some gal(nice body) that nobody ever heard of .. but one night, I STILL remember at 73, TEMPEST STORM came out and everybody went nuts ..she KNEW WHO SHE WAS and let us all know it IMMEDIATELY .. she moved with such sexy grace and always kept her eyes glued on the audience and somehow she seemed to KNOW just when or how to make a MOVE that would drive eveyone bananas! GORGEOUS body and her breasts were probably the best shaped I’d ever seen.
There was another time when Lili St. Cyr came out as well, she was another fabulous woman .. and she had another way of showing herself off .. it was mostly about her clothes ..and the way she removed each piece .. it was such a Slooooooooow tease ..and at the very last second, she’d take off the top and slip right behind the curtain at the edge of the stage. so you might have thought you saw IT .. but she never let it out! All in all the Hudson was a guys night out just to have good clean entertainment. No SEX acts performed ever! IT was not expected .. only to hopefully get to see a part of an anatomy that was TABOO .. and you’d only get a half a peek every once in awhile if you attended regularly. MOSTLY CANDY is all! and good music, I recall seeing someone who sure resembled Robert Alda singing there once; he got a terrific ovation, so I paid attention (who was this guy?)and later thought it had been Alan Alda’s dad all those years before. I went back as a 19 or 20 year old and the place was sadly closed down. FOND MEMORIES and FUN MEMORIES AS WELL. We tried to get into Minsky’s in NYC, but they just said “get outta here kids, ya boddering me!” and we did!
There was another burlesque house in NJ, but for some reason, I can not recall it’s name .. sorry. It might be in some archives somewhere. The Hudson is very missed and the new generations have no idea how much good clean fun they missedwithout it.
When we were teenagers, (Early 1950’s) we somehow were able to get into the Hudson Burlesque. It was a pure fantasy for us guys..we somehow made it up into those incredible balcony seats that made it seem like you were going to fall right out and off the top! We always had fun .. at 16 and 17 it was amazing to see the gals come out onstage with not so much on .. I loved the ‘comic’ babes that were always part of the chorus line .. there’d be about 8-10 girls that just did the normal routine of shaking it and dancing .. but the comic would do some outrageous stuff .. like purposely going the wrong way or she’d have some twirler tassels on the ends of her ‘pasties’ covering her nipples and she’d have a good set and would TWIRL those tassels just by waving her boobs in different directions .. causing a helluva a roar from the audience! Most times they’d have a featured comedian, like a Pinky Lee character to go along with the house clowns male & females. They would always have a routine of a guy hawking candy after pretending to put a watch or a $5 into one of the boxes and then they’d have ‘runners’ that would go up and down the aisles trying to sell the candy .. I think it was turkish taffy. I always got it and of course never got the watch! There would be a singer, he would perform in what might have been the last of vaudeville comedy skits/always with ‘double entendres’ about the gals anatomy or sex. But good clean fun. Then the guy would come out with a big fanfare first/taadahhhh introduction and with a spotlight shining only on him, do his big song for the night .. then the piece de resistance .. the showstopper babe for the night .. sometimes it was some gal(nice body) that nobody ever heard of .. but one night, I STILL remember at 73, TEMPEST STORM came out and everybody went nuts ..she KNEW WHO SHE WAS and let us all know it IMMEDIATELY .. she moved with such sexy grace and always kept her eyes glued on the audience and somehow she seemed to KNOW just when or how to make a MOVE that would drive eveyone bananas! GORGEOUS body and her breasts were probably the best shaped I’d ever seen. There was another time when Lili St. Cyr came out as well, she was another fabulous woman .. and she had another way of showing herself off .. it was mostly about her clothes ..and the way she removed each piece .. it was such a Slooooooooow tease ..and at the very last second, she’d take off the top and slip right behind the curtain at the edge of the stage. so you might have thought you saw IT .. but she never let it out! All in all the Hudson was a guys night out just to have good clean entertainment. No SEX acts performed ever! IT was not expected .. only to hopefully get to see a part of an anatomy that was TABOO .. and you’d only get a half a peek every once in awhile if you attended regularly. MOSTLY CANDY is all! and good music, I recall seeing someone who sure resembled Robert Alda singing there once; he got a terrific ovation, so I paid attention (who was this guy?)and later thought it had been Alan Alda’s dad all those years before. I went back as a 19 or 20 year old and the place was sadly closed down. FOND MEMORIES and FUN MEMORIES AS WELL. We tried to get into Minsky’s in NYC, but they just said “get outta here kids, ya boddering me!” and we did! There was another burlesque house in NJ, but for some reason, I can not recall it’s name .. sorry. It might be in some archives somewhere. The Hudson is very missed and the new generations have no idea how much good clean fun they missedwithout it.