If you have read the book then you'll realise just how tame it is - especially to modern eyes that have seen the likes of 'Showgirls' and 'Striptease'! In the book there were inferences of lesbian police officers and the methods required to stop your breasts from dropping - none of that for Miss Stanwyck though! The end of the film, despite its age, still chills me to the bone just as the book does (the book more so... there's talk of stuffing a body into a dressmakers dummy...) and I have to say it's worth watching for any Burlesque aficionado.

When talking about BurlyQ films how could I not mention one of my all time favourites? Right up there with 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' and 'Gigi' for it's feel-good factor and musical score; the wonderful life story of one of my favourite gals - 'Gypsy!' (the Natalie Wood version of course...) Based on her memoirs it recounts the story of Rose Hovick, a very famous stage mother who pushed her girls into the limelight whatever the consequences. The result? Miss Gypsy Rose Lee, who as we all know boys and girls - became possibly the biggest name Burlesque had ever seen. Unless you're a big fan of Bette Midler and prefer filmed versions of Musicals to actual films - I'd suggest not bothering with the remake - it really doesn't stand up in comparison.

Of course one thing left out of the musical was the speculation that Rose Hovick was actually a lesbian that shot and killed her lover, amongst other things... but I guess that wouldn't sell as well in 1962!

My advice? Get dressed up in your favourite frock - pour yourself a glass or two of something bubbly - and indulge in an evening of some vintage Burlesque. It. feels. fabulous!

I couldn’t put the book down, however, and spent a day trying to tear through it before I had to go out. Like the best showbiz stories, it was funny, dishy and glossed over the more complicated, unpleasant aspects of real life in favor of telling a better story.

The streamlined tale of how Gypsy Rose Lee went from backup vaudevillian to her more talented to sister to became a world-famous “ecdysiast” thanks to the iron will of her stage mother, the book is full of laugh out loud moments and scenes I had to read twice just to appreciate the droll throwaway lines Lee tosses in.

My two favorite scenes are:

1. When “Rose Louise And Her Hollywood Blondes” (the cut-rate act booked in a burlesque house after the death of vaudeville) work their first night at a burlesque house. The description of the bizarre musical numbers (an undersea song with mermaids and a sexy octopus; topless angels in a heavenly choir; sexy she-devils) and the sweet but trashy Tessie, The Tassel Twirler.

2. The bizarre schemes of F.E. Gorham, an unflappable con artist who briefly hooks up with the family and shows off her tricks (bringing your own cockroach to get a free dinner; walking face-first into a splintery board at a construction site, etc.) before trying to rob them.

It’s the indomitable spirit of the ultimate stage mother, “Madam Rose,” that carries through, and the last part of the book, about Gypsy after she’s achieved stardom and is living/working mostly on her own, doesn’t have quite the same sparkle and punch as the previous. But such is the case with autobiography (no matter how true or otherwise).

There’s a charm to Gypsy Rose Lee, however, that enabled her to become more than just a stripper: with a sense of humor and great intelligence, she took something sleazy and made it fun and palatable to everyone. What a life she lived, and it’s hard not to tear up a little at the end as she ends an era in her career, always mindful of her past.

I closed my eyes and along with the familiar noise of the train, Mother seemed to be telling me again how lucky I was. “What a wonderful life you’ve had—the music, lights, applause—everything in the world a girl could ask for…”

My dissertation is finally complete and has been handed in, it's a stage adaptation of Gypsy Rose Lee's Burly-Q murder mystery, 'The G-String Murders' and isn't too bad.. so long as you like the book! A soon as I can figure out how to convert my word doc. into .pdf format then I'll happily distribute to anyone that wants to read it, or act it out if you really want to.

I also tootled along to the London Burlesque Festival volunteer's meet-up and will be helping out as a French Maid stage-hand for three nights! A friend of mine is performing on the 3rd at Tiger Tiger, so I'm looking forward to picking up her frilly things; and I hope you'll be coming along to see her take them off!

The London Burlesque Festival is running from the 2nd-6th April with events organised at Madam JoJos, Bush Hall, Soho Revue Bar and venues across London. Chaz Royal is bringing acts from International waters over to the capital for his 2nd Annual Burlesque Festival, including my favourites, The Fleshoticas! They're performing at the International Gala on the 5th (Bush Hall) and the Topless Revue on the 6th (Soho Revue Bar), so if you miss them one night you've got a chance to see them again! Highly recommended.

And today (last bit of news) I went and had my hair and make-up done as screen legend Rita Hayworth, and had some pictures taken as part of my friend Faye's Specialist Make-up course. The photographs will be coming in a couple of weeks so stay tuned for them, but for now here are a few shots of me in the artists chair;

Enjoy! x

Jean Seberg in BONJOUR TRISTESSE.

Lee Remick in ANATOMY OF A MURDER.

Jill Haworth (and Patricia Neal) in IN HARM'S WAY.

Carol Lynley (with Keir "Dave" Dullea) in BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING.

There seems a pattern to these pixie-like blondes. And Maggie McNamara and Jean Simmons have pixie qualities too, even though they're brunettes. But then one recalls Otto's flings with Gypsy Rose Lee (who gave him a son) and Dorothy Dandridge, and one realises that even if there is a Preminger "type", he's far from predictable.

When I love you baby
I mean it more than
just the whole world
And when,
I take a picture
thats instant
Lost tonight
oh baby it burns

I said
I remember it so
I saw your eyes
Go through the tunnel

and I remember
Australian sun
I was eight years old
You were Marilyn Monroe

oh ya gotta take it
oh yeah take it on
playing backyard Blues
blackheart stuck up in their jaw
I can nail
I'll nail this on
Oh she ain't the whole world

Break it down

Oh I've tasted
I tasted too
too many nights
Lost in space
I remember
kneeling down
On my knees
caught in the ground

When I love you baby
I mean it more than just
the whole world
And when
saw gypsy rose
Gypsy rose
she rose to me

I remember
a rolling stone
Oh rolling on down
through your bones
Oh ya gotta save,
you gotta save your soul
well She ain't
the whole world

When I love you baby
I mean it more than just
the whole world
And when
saw gypsy rose
Gypsy rose
she rose to me Baby

I love you baby
I mean it more than just
the whole world
And well
when I know your sin
I know your sin
I know your wings

According to Ephraim Hardcastle's column it's rumoured that Catherine Zeta Jones (36) will be offered the part of the dominating mother in a remake film of the life of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee.

David Niven - "When an actress gets asked to play the mother you know it's the beginning of the end."

In Catherine Zeta Jones's case that opinion hardly applies.  She's stunning and versatile and has a long way to go yet. To play Mama Rose is a part to die for. It didn't do Rosalind Russell's career any harm in the 1962 version.

Of course, they might ask Charlotte Church to play the part. Eating all those exotic crisps, she's beginning to look like someone's Mum.

Don't get me wrong! I've no time for celebs who strive to look like stick insects. But maybe Charlotte is getting a little too comfortable.