Interview with Miss Mina, Burlesque Entertainer

By Scarlet Apron*
Good Girl Gone BAWDY!!! would exclaim the fictitious newspaper headline for The Boston Babydolls’ founder and performer, Miss Mina.  Mina (real name withheld to protect the innocent) was hardly dragged by the knotted pearls from her proper preppie upbringing in Westport, CT into a life of dance hall thrills and ribald hi-jinx. Happily, and with much hard work, she shimmied together a popular troupe and opened a school on the same theme, Boston Academy for Burlesque Education (B.A.B.E.).  A cheerful, blue-eyed, strawberry-blonde swan with an art deco sparkle about her, we caught up with Boston’s first lady of bump’n’ grind for a few questions.

Any early signs you’d be teaching folks how to do the hootchie cootchie?
(Laughs) No, I’ve been performing for a very long time, but primarily as an actress.  I didn’t start dancing seriously until after college. 

What were you going to be when you grew up?
I like to say I’m an unemployed archaeologist.

First taste of burlesque?
I was taking belly dance lessons and my teacher held a private strip tease party for a couple of her students.  I had a lot of fun with it and I decided this was something I wanted to keep doing, so I developed a craft and I kept performing for private audiences.  Everything came together when Scratch, now The Boston Babydolls’ manager and producer, then he used to run the Black Key Club in Providence, asked me if I would teach strip tease to the BKC members at parties and then have the students perform. People loved it. It became a regular thing.

What brought The Boston Babydolls together?
While I was doing these private parties, the length of my performances were getting longer and it’s very hard for one person to do a long show.  There’s a lot of reset time in performing burlesque.  When I was asked to do a half-hour birthday party, I knew I couldn’t do it alone.  I called my friend Betty Blaize, who is a belly dancer and asked, “Could you do a number in the middle? And I’ll do a burlesque number on either side.”  We had a great time!  Scratch said that if I really wanted to keep doing this, we needed more people, we needed a troupe.  He decided to leave BKC and manage us full time. And that’s really how The Boston Babydolls were formed. 

Describe your style.
The Boston Babydolls have a particular aesthetic: We recreate a golden age of burlesque that never really existed.  Myself, I have a very aristocratic and aloof persona, “the ice princess.” I find that Lili St. Cyr was very burlesque, but very remote.  My other big influence is Marlene Dietrich.

How did the Boston Academy for Burlesque Education get launched? 
It’s an extension of the class I developed for BKC, How-to-Strip for Your Lover, but with a performance base.  It’s evolved over the years.  I’m happy with the current format of three hours where we teach basic burlesque moves like bump ’n’ grind and clothing removal -which is harder than you might think.  At the end, each student performs a simple routine which Betty and I created.

 Any first day of class jitters, any apple polishers?
We try to be very open about what we’re teaching.  It’s a class for women-only because it’s more comfortable that way.  There’s no nudity, but since some women aren’t that comfortable putting on their pasties, they can just stick them on top of their bras.  It’s not a stripping class, it’s a strip tease class. Everything we do should be classy.  The goal is to give the basics you’d need to do a burlesque routine on stage.  We have materials about choosing a persona and a name.  It’s all part of burlesque to be larger-than-life glamorous.

What does B.A.B.E.’s school motto mean?
Brevior saltare cum deformibus viris est vita.  “Life is too short to dance with ugly men.”  Scratch picked it when I was taking too long to compose an elegant motto in Latin.

Favorite part of the process?
I love teaching.  I’ve been teaching in one form or another, all sorts of subjects, for years.  I also love performing.  I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love being on stage.  One of the finest shows I’ve done was a women-only show at the Coolidge Corner Theater and it sold out!  There’s nothing like hearing a packed theater cheering you.  It’s very glamorous to be a Boston Babydoll.  I can’t think of any other job where I would get to have a closet full of evening gowns. Just love that!

Why do you think the burlesque revival continues to be popular?
There’s not enough glamour in our everyday life. American culture has become very casual. You can go to a very nice restaurant and see people in jeans.  Going to a burlesque show is a little like time travel. We get a lot of audience members dressed-up for a fancy night out that actually doesn’t cost that much. I think it’s selling that fantasy of an era that doesn’t exist anymore, where women wear updos and guys wear dinner jackets and everybody drinks champagne cocktails and martinis.  It provides something that’s lacking in the everyday and it’s a lot of fun. We’re not making any kind of statement. There’s no deeper meaning. We just have lovely women on stage, showing off their fancy costumes.  I think people look for that sort of escapism.

What’s up for the Great Boston Burlesque Exposition?
On Friday night, The Boston Babydolls will be performing in The Rhinestone Revue, along with the guest Legends -- we're very excited about that. During the day on Saturday and Sunday, some of the other ladies and I will be teaching classes: I'm doing one on costuming on the cheap, Betty has a choreography class; Scratch is teaching something on business, of course; and Dominique is teaching hooping. Honey and I will also be teaching some drop in classes. Saturday night I'm honored to be one of the judges for the Main Event.

Bit of burlesque history you’ve unearthed?
Boston was a great center for burlesque, places like the Old Howard and the Crawford House. We have a good relation with historians of old Scollay Square, like David Kruh who wrote Always Something Doing. I often refer to Betty Blaize as “our own Sally Keith.” She, Sally Keith, performed at the Crawford House and could twirl tassels on her chest and butt, like Betty can.

Burlesque day off, what do you do?
That is a lot of what I do. I sew clothes for myself. I embroider. I also have a passion for maritime history, whenever I can go sailing, I do.

What’s under the needle now?
A 1940s-style suit I’m making out of red shantung silk. A straight skirt and unlined jacket, excellent for travel.

Vital stats?
34- 26-36

What’s on your current play list?
Champagne Taste by Eartha Kitt and Blue Angel by Squirrel Nut Zippers. I also like The Wages of Sin, a band from Seattle. They do punk rock sea shanties and Appalachian death polka. Locally, I like Three Day Threshold.

Beauty secret for the rest of us?
Take good care of your skin, always wear a hat in the sun.  

What’s on your burlesque wish list?
A gorgeous bathtub. The closest I’ve gotten, so far, was a big bucket and a sponge.

Give me a weird archaeological fact that speaks to you.
The Roman mosaics at Piazza Amarina in Sicily show girls in bandeau bikinis working out.

Read any good books lately?
I just finished a new biography, The Gilded Lili: Lili St. Cyr and Striptease Mystique by Kelly DiNardo.

Food you can be seduce with?
Truffles, especially Vosges’ Black Pearl, which is dark chocolate with ginger and wasabi.

For more information on the Boston Babydolls and B.A.B.E, go to BostonBabydolls.net.  
Check out the Great Boston Burlesque Exposition 2008 (www.burlesque-expo.com.) March 21st-23rd.

*Contact Scarlet Apron with burlesque news and events at scarletapron@yahoo.com or on
myspace.com/scarletapron