Remedy your Valentine’s Day emotional hangover  with this tonic elixir mixing live stage performance and celluloid, all devoted to a growing retro appreciation of a bygone era of live variety revues. Poised somewhere between early 20^th Century vaudeville and the more graphic (and many consider less fun) aspects of later topless shows, burlesque blossomed -- live stage productions devoted to the teasing image of the female body beautiful. Scandalous in their day, the best of the burlesque stage shows are now considered to be classic examples of sexy style and humor, poise and expert dance dexterity, triumphing over and trumping the more explicit, baldly prurient live sex displays that took over during the late 1960s’ sexual liberation. Join us for live performances by The Bonnie Delight Burlesque Revue featuring the talents of Miss Bonnie Delight and Miss Lola Lee as well as appearances by emcee/funnyman Shecky Greenblatt (Scott Whitesell) and crooner Charlie Singer (Hal Cartrett). Produced and directed by Richard A. Becker.

Burlesque onscreen includes the acclaimed Gypsy Rose Lee bio pic, GYPSY starring Natalie Wood and Rosalind Russell, as well as incredibly hard-to-see vintage classics DOLL FACE and HOW TO BE VERY, VERY POPULAR (Betty Grable’s last movie). Plus we’ll be screening Liz Goldwyn’s documentary on vintage burlesque luminaries, PRETTY THINGS.

LIVE BURLESQUE! (Approx. 45 min.) The Bonnie Delight Burlesque Revue kicks off the evening with sexy old-fashioned fun! You'll see emcee/funnyman Shecky Greenblatt (Scott Whitesell), sultry dancer Miss Lola Lee, crooner Charlie Singer (Hal Cartrett), a cavalcade of other performers, and the star of our show -- the delightful Bonnie, Miss Bonnie Delight! So bring somebody you love to our Valentine's Weekend extravaganza...part one!

PRETTY THINGS, 2005, Liz Goldwyn Film Productions, 88 min. Through priceless, rare, vintage film clips and present-day interviews, director Liz Goldwyn (granddaughter of Samuel Goldwyn) chronicles the careers of the fabled burlesque stars of yore. See such striptease luminaries as Zorita, Dixie Evans, Lois De Fee, Sherry Britton, Betty Rowland as they were in the day and as they are now. Famed documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles was one of the cinematographers. "The best parts… are the interviews with the performers, each of whom flaunted her own gimmick: Zorita, known for her sinuous snake dance, describes its finale as "banging the snake"; Dixie Evans, the former "Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque," jokes about impersonating "a star of the first magnitude."…Lois de Fee, "The Eyeful Eiffel," dishes that strippers today "come out nude, get lewd, and get screwed." There is some great rare video footage of the performers when they were young: In Zorita's "spider web" number…Zorita wears a ruby floor-length sequined gown slit up the side and undulates in front of a sparkling web." – Rachel Shteir, Slate.com Burlesque Queen Betty Rowland (Ball of Fire), who is interviewed in the film will appear for an introduction prior to the film.

Saturday, February 16 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature + Live Burlesque!

HOW TO BE VERY, VERY POPULAR, 1955, 20th Century Fox, 89 min. Writer/director Nunnally Johnson loosely adapts the 1933 stage farce "She Loves Me Not," with Betty Grable and Sheree North as two strippers named Stormy Tornado and Curly Flagg who go on the lam after a bald-headed killer threatens to rub them out. They take refuge in a college fraternity, wreaking predictable havoc amongst the male denizens. Robert Cummings and Charles Coburn (both veterans of THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES) co-star. With more comic support by Orson Bean, Fred Clark and Tommy Noonan (A STAR IS BORN). "The wild and wacky doings dreamed up by Nunnally Johnson are dressed up considerably in eye appeal by having Betty Grable and Sheree North running through most of the footage in costumes appropriate to their striptease profession." -- Variety

LIVE BURLESQUE show (approx. 45 min) will take place between the two films: Get ready for your temperature to skyrocket, because The Bonnie Delight Burlesque Revue takes the stage again for part two of our Valentine's Weekend extravaganza! More classic burlesque excitement will be unveiled for you, live and in-person, with emcee Shecky Greenblatt, a thrilling line-up of performers, and the one and only burlesque queen herself -- Miss Bonnie Delight! Plus, a drawing tonight! One lucky patron will win a free burlesque lesson from Miss Delight! Don't miss it!

Sunday, February 17 – 7:30 PM

Los Angeles Premiere!