Books by Jim Linderman

Books by Jim Linderman
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Dixie Evans Scandal True Burlesque


Dixie Evans is today a living burlesque legend…curator of the Burlesque Hall of Fame, featured in the film "Behind the Burly Q"  and more…literally the face of the idealized burlesque revival.  Not only that, Ms. Evans was one of the most beautiful women working in any profession at any time…a classic beauty to rival any or all.  Just look at that face.  I would cast her in marble…forget a Hollywood B movie.

But there was a shadow in Dixie's past, and it was a scandal some fifty years ago.  At the time, in movies, magazines, and even comic books women tied to trees were as common as Tarzan romping with Cheetah,  but still this is pretty dicey stuff.

Flame digest questioned if "the so-called "naughty" picture profession nixed the chances of Dixie Evans for cinema stardom?"  The brief article implies that pictures like these (censored for the blog) may emerge, and that is preventing Dixie from getting the work she deserves.  Flame was published in the mid 1950s…undated, but one of the small booklets slapped together and used to promote the burlesque business along the route.

Could be…not only are the pictures nude, but they depict a very young Dixie done up in chains and roped to a pole.  Tough stuff.  That she was a beautiful girl, even if she doesn't look too happy in the photographs, can not be denied.  But were good roles available to girls tied to poles…nude?  Certainly not in the 1950s.  Today?  Looking like this Dixie would need several agents working around the clock.

The clothed photograph above is taken from an extremely rare bondage digest from the 1950s titled Silk Stockings Stories.  It was privately printed "in an edition of 1000" possibly by mobster Edward Mishkin around 1955 and did not circulate long, and then probably only in Times Square bookshops.  When Best Unusual Photography posted the beautiful clothed photograph above on a website,  no less than the Burlesque Hall of Fame put out a request for a copy of the original calling the photo "super risque and super rare" and they were right.   I don't think they'll have the others here in the collection either…
Silk Stockings Stories No Date Collection Jim Linderman
I suppose we will never know if Dixie's career would have been different if the photographs had not circulated in certain unsavory circles.  We do know, given the general acceptance of Bettie Page in bondage (and hundreds of lesser talents recreating them today) it should not have hurt her career in the least.
The Burlesque Hall of Fame website, which is highly recommended, is HERE.


Text and research Jim Linderman