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This Burlesque Movie by the 'Reefer Madness' Director Is Totally Nuts (NSFW)

an abridgment of a 1938 exploitation film "Sex Madness" and a few words on the burlesque revival.

The above abridgment of a 1938 exploitation film called Sex Madness, originally directed by Dwain Esper of Reefer Madness, shows a budding lesbian romance and a creepy old man who murders a schoolgirl, all in the context of a burlesque show. The past two decades have seen a resurgence of burlesque, with mainstream recognition coming in 2010’s Burlesque, starring Christina Aguillera and Cher.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services granted an extraordinary ability green card to burlesque performer Bettina May, honoring her unique talent as an entertainer. Considering the exuberant and charming expression of delight in her face as she removes her clothing in a retro style, it seems like a crime against humanity that anyone ever would impugn the noble art of burlesque.

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Bettina May

The world has not always been so warm for the burlesque artist. Fiorello Laguardia, New York Mayor from 1934 to 1945, led a campaign which lumped burlesque theaters into the same category as prostitution, gambling, and organized crime. The campaign effectively closed all the “habitats of sex-crazed perverts” in the city.

The resurgence of burlesque as a retro-alternative art form started in the mid-1990s, and now it’s as commonplace as bowling or going postal. What the public eye once associated with syphilis and the murder of children is now taught in cute classes at the local theme bar.

There are limits to the government’s recognition of the naked arts, however. Even as Ms. May gets permission to keep on dancing in the USA, the people of Nite Moves adult club in Latham, New York are about to get slapped with a back tax bill of over $124,000, all because the fogies at the New York Supreme Court ruled today that lap dancing does not qualify for the tax exemption for “dramatic or musical arts performances” that was adopted by the Legislature “with the evident purpose of promoting cultural and artistic performances in local communities.” Ballets, operas, and Broadway theaters do qualify for this exemption. The decision raises the issue of whether or not judges should be ruling on questions of cultural value. Should the Supreme Court really be ruling whether stripping is art or not?

The crucial thing to remember here in considering the legal system’s simultaneous embrace of burlesque and repudiation of lapdancing is the difference between taxation and immigration. Immigration authorities are naturally inclined to keep people whose professional attributes make them generators of economic value. This would explain why Bettina May and a Playboy playmate both won their extraordinary ability green cards.

Tax law, on the other hand, naturally seeks to squeeze as much state revenue out of those same value generators. That is why highly profitable businesses like strip clubs will not be getting the same tax exemptions as their high-brow friends in other, less profitable corners of performance art. As the judgment against Nite Moves makes explicit, “an exemption is not a matter of right, but is allowed only as a matter of legislative grace.” With fat profit margins that make Exxon Mobil look like a soup kitchen, the tax system isn’t about to start shining any lights of grace on gentleman’s club owners, especially with the windfall from all that GOP fundraising. But hey, at least no one’s equating burlesque with child murders anymore.