This is an iHeart Podcast. Then the space hamster flew his hot air balloon all the way to the bottom of the ocean. Where did that story come from? Book? Dream?
Nope, it came from a conversation. Meet Miko Mini Plus, the AI companion that co-creates personalized story adventures with your child in real time. What color was the hamster's cape? And what did he pack for lunch? Unlock your child's imagination.
Discover Miko Mini Plus and the magic of AI exclusively at Costco. Hear that? That's what it sounds like when you plant more trees than you harvest. Work done by thousands of working forest professionals, like Adam, a district forest manager who works to protect our forests from fires. Keeping the forest fire-resistant synonymous with keeping a forest healthy, and we do that through planting more than we harvest and mitigate those risks through active management.
It's a long-term commitment. Visit WorkingForestsInitiative.com to learn more. There's nothing like sinking into luxury. Anibay sofas combine ultimate comfort and design at an affordable price. Anibay has designed the only fully machine washable sofa from top to bottom.
The stain-resistant performance fabric slip covers and cloud-like frame duvet can go straight into your wash. Perfect for anyone with kids, pets, or anyone who loves an easy-to-clean, spotless sofa. With a modular design and changeable slip covers, you can customize your sofa to fit any space and style. Whether you need a single chair, love seat, or a luxuriously large sectional, Anibay has you covered. Visit washable sofas.com to upgrade your home.
Sofas start at just $699 and right now, get early access to Black Friday savings, up to 60% off store-wide, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Shop now at washablesofas.com. Add a little. your life. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.
I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little.
NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America. With Black Friday's savings at the Home Depot, you can get up to $1,400 off, plus get free delivery on select appliances like LG, America's most reliable line of appliances.
Check out the newest LG refrigerator with new mini craft ice straight from the dispenser. Shop Black Friday savings on select LG Appliances, plus get free delivery now at the Home Depot. Free delivery on appliance purchases of $396 or more. Offer Valdez 11.5-12.3 US only. See store online for details.
This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. Up next, we have our regular contributor, Ashley Lubinsky. Ashley is the former co-host of Discovery Channel's Master of Arms, and she is also the co-founder of the University of Wyoming College of Law's Firearms Research Center. Here's Ashley. When we speak about the British invasion, pretty much everyone is referring to the cultural phenomenon when British rock stars, especially the Beatles, came to America in the 1960s, which of course sparked fear into the homes of American parents everywhere.
And now this has happened again. Last Sunday... On our show in New York, the Beatles played to the greatest TV audience that's ever been assembled in the history of American TV.
Now tonight here in Miami Beach, Again, the Beatles face our record-busting audience. Ladies and gentlemen. Here are four of the nicest junks we've ever had on our stage. The Beatles, bring them on. But how about a century earlier in the 1860s?
In 1868, there was another British invasion that created outright hysteria in the middle class, thanks, of course, to the media. Lydia Thompson and her British blondes brought a popular performance art to the United States back in 1868. And surprisingly, it actually didn't exist in the US before that. And that was the art of burlesque.
Now one thing that should be noted is that this idea of burlesque or belly dancing or any form of kind of risque dancing actually is depicted in cave drawings. One man, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ugh. One man.
So this is not something that is new at all. And in fact, in Greek and Roman cultures, this style of dance was seen as something that was sacred rather than salacious. It was actually considered a part of kind of a fertility routine. And every country throughout history has had their own version of that. In the 14th century, belly dancing was incredibly popular.
But the birthplace of true burlesque was in the 1800s in England.
So what is burlesque? It's not just dancing, not just performances of skinnily clad women, although that is of course part of it, but it has this flair of camp to it with comedy routines, singing, dancing, and even in some cases there's circus levels of performing, so aerial performances, different types of circus acts that appear in burlaps. And one of the best was Lydia Thompson. She was born in 1838 in London, and she was one of several children, and one of her sisters was a famous English stage actress named Clara T. Bracey.
But Thompson was a dancer, and she also kind of had this great humor about her.
So she became known for her dancing. She became known as a comedian, actor, and then ultimately a producer. And she started dancing, believe it or not, in her teenage years, in 1852. And she was traveling all around England and Europe. And the one thing about Thompson that was kind of what made her Iconic was the fact that she had this troop that she created known as the British Blondes.
And so she decided to take the show on the road, quite literally, and went to America in 1868. And she adapted English burlesque because the British always have different levels of humor today and back in the past. And so she adapted her burlesque performance that she would do all over Europe and target it really to middle class New Yorkers. That was kind of the goal was to get the middle class to be interested in this style of art form. And initially, it was very popular among men and women.
So it wasn't something that was exclusively men like you think of a lot of dancing today. And she wanted to create kind of topical and local references.
So she reworked lyrics to the songs she sang and made sure that New Yorkers felt like it wasn't just this British group coming in, that they actually were a part of this culture in the city. And the first show that she had was in New York City. It was called Ixion. And it included wit, parody, song, dance, music. And believe it or not, it had this aura of empowering women.
All the performers that she had had a range of different skills. And they were the most popular entertainers during the New York theater season from 1868 to 1869.
So when they came into the area, they were incredibly popular. In fact, a news article said about their performances: the eccentricities of Panama and Burlesque, with their curious combination of comedy, parody, satire, improvisation, song and dance, variety acts, extravagant stage effects, risque jokes, and saucy costumes, while familiar enough by British audiences, took New York by storm.
So while the public loved burlesque now in New York City in the 1860s, the media decided that it was the absolute lowest form of entertainment. And the one media powerhouse that really hated Lydia and her girls was the New York Times. And what it did was it ultimately forced Lydia to go on tour.
So she didn't leave America, but she decided to take the show on the road because there was such hostility in New York City. After the New York Times and different media publications and scholars started kind of hating on burlesque, this hatred grew within American culture. And one of the articles that was quoted about burlesque in the New York Times was that it was: a disgraceful spectacle of padded legs jiggling and wriggling in the incident follies and indecency of the hour.
So that's a big change from a year prior when they found it to be charming and eccentric and intelligent in its style of performance. New York Times actually headlined an entire article with the title, quote, Exit British Burlesque.
So, Lydia Thompson and the British Blondes decide to take a show on the road. They decide that New York is not the place for them right now. And so, they go all over the country until about 1874. And they encountered some interesting trouble along the way. They obviously maintained some level of popularity, or else they would have gone back to England well before.
But I think one of the weirder stories has to do with the owner of the Chicago Times. His name is Wilbur Story. And when the British Blondes were performing in Chicago, he started creating accusations that the girls weren't virtuous. I mean, it was definitely low-hanging fruit because they were risque performers, but Thompson did not appreciate that her women were being categorized as people who were promiscuous. Just because they were dancing that way didn't mean that that's how they lived their lives offstage.
And so, Thompson very publicly called him a liar. And then in 1870, Thompson, her husband, and one of her colleagues. Horse whipped story at gunpoint. And of course, he was all right, but they were arrested and fined. But they did not stop performing.
They were let go, and then they traveled over to Nevada and California. And when Thompson was asked about this behavior and what she had done to Story, she did not have any remorse. She said that his statements about her women were repugnant, and she, quote, was glad at what she had done. But what happens here is something that you hear time and time again. The media hates it and they talk about it, but by talking about it, you create publicity and the expression, all publicity is good publicity, and that was very much the case because they developed a level of notoriety that drove audiences to their shows until about 1874 when Thompson and her performers returned to England.
Now the style of burlesque Might have started in the 1800s in England. The style of dancing dates centuries before, but it also continued to evolve around the world after this. And one of the more prominent, more well-known movements of burlesque style performances is the popular French Moulin Rouge that goes on into the 20th century. And subsets of Americans will continue to like burlesque, especially when you look at prohibition. There's a lot of things going on under the table there, and burlesque performances was one of them.
But Americans, the American government ultimately maybe took a nod from the New York Times, and decency laws were something that were incredibly prominent in the U.S. in the 20th century. It has actually impacted all forms of burlesque and other types of risque dance performances in the country up through the 1980s and 1990s. And there's some things that have trickled into the 21st century, which was an attempt to kind of drive the art form, or people would probably not argue it wasn't art, but would drive the form into the darkness. Yeah.
But for a brief moment in the 1860s, Lydia Thompson brought a class to burlesque, showcasing and bringing to America a typical British sense of humor, but one that would ultimately leave many Americans aghast. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler. And we heard the story about burlesque and burlesque as the British did it. Burlesque was more than just gracy dancing. Lydia Thompson raised it to a high art form.
And her desire was to target it to the middle class New Yorker. And there it was, a mixture of pantomime and satire and wit, saucy costumes, yes, but also just sheer fun. The story of the British invasion are burlesque. on our American stories. Is it different?
Shh! You won't believe what my new friend just told me about dinosaurs! Is your child having conversations you never imagined? Are they learning without realizing it? It's not a tablet.
It's not a toy. It's Miko Mini Plus, the AI-powered companion that turns curiosity into endless learning. Hear the future of playtime. Meet the extraordinary Miko Mini Plus. Only at Costco.
The day begins at the Chase Sapphire Lounge by the club at Boston Logan Airport. You get the clam chowder. In San Diego, it's tostadas. New York, espresso martini. It's 10 a.m.
Why not? It's the quiet before your next flight, the shower that resets your day, the menu that lets you know where you are. This is access to over 1,300 airport lounges and every sapphire lounge by the club. And one card that gets you in: Chase Sapphire Reserve, the most rewarding card. Learn more at chase.com/slash Sapphire Reserve.
Cards issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank, and a member of FDIC, subject to credit approval.
Okay. Only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first There. The last one.
Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that. Are you freshes? With a moustache, a taco in one hand, and ordering a rod in the other. Means you're stacking cash back. Nice.
Get up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash on your favorite brands when you pay with your Venmo debit card. From takeout to ride shares, entertainment, and more, pick a bundle with your go-to's and start earning cash back at those brands. Earn more cash when you do more with Stash. Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply. Max $100 cash back per month?
See terms at venmo.me slash stash terms. At Hill's Pet Nutrition, we know that pet parent guilt is real. Leaving too long, playing too little. New homes, new babies, waking them up when they look so comfy. Running out of patience, running out of treats, running the vacuum.
You can only do so much. That's why there's hills. Science-led nutrition to help you give more love than humanly possible. Because you're only human, there's hills. Find the right food at hillspet.com slash science does more.
This is an iHeart podcast.
