by Elisa Lichtenbaum, Senior Writer, WNET
Curtain up! Light the lights! London’s hit production of Gypsy is coming to Great Performances on Friday, November 11 at 9 p.m., as part of the PBS Arts Fall Festival. The critically acclaimed West End production features Imelda Staunton as the indomitable Rose, Lara Pulver as Louise, and Peter Davison as Herbie. Suggested by the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the musical boasts a book by Arthur Laurents and iconic Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim songs including “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Some People,” “Let Me Entertain You,” and “Rose’s Turn.”
To get you in the spirit for quintessential American musical, we’ve gathered some fun facts about Gypsy Rose Lee.
The Art of the Strip
Gypsy Rose Lee was celebrated for the wit and sophistication of her striptease routines. Karen Abbott, author of American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare — The Life And Times Of Gypsy Rose Lee, said in an NPR interview, “One of my grandmother’s cousins saw Gypsy perform. The fellow reported back that the star took a full 15 minutes to peel off a single glove — and that she was ‘so damn good at it that he gladly would have given her 15 more.’”
Who You Calling An Ecdysiast?
Journalist H.L. Mencken coined the word “ecdysiast” (stripper) in Lee’s honor in 1940. It is derived from the Greek “ecdysis,” a word describing the process of shedding one’s own skin, snake-style. The word is cleverly woven into Gypsy the musical. In “Let Me Entertain You,” the Act Two showstopper illustrating Louise’s rise to striptease stardom, she quips, “Some man accused me of being an ecdysiast. Do you know what that means?…An ecdysiast is one who, or that which, sheds its skin. In vulgar parlance, a stripper. But I’m not a stripper. At these prices, I’m an ecdysiast!”
Pal Gypsy
Gypsy Rose Lee has been immortalized in another beloved Broadway musical: Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s Pal Joey. In the song “Zip,” a reporter recalls interviewing Lee, who shared her cultural thoughts as she stripped and unzipped. This Playbill story by Louis Botto offers a handy guide to the celebrities and cultural figures referenced in the song — from Schopenhauer and Tyrone Power to Mickey Mouse and Mickey Rooney.
The Gypsy Rose Lee Book Club
Lee’s talents extended far beyond the theater footlights. In 1941, she wrote The G-String Murders, a witty murder mystery set in a burlesque house. The pulp fiction favorite was made into a 1943 film, Lady of Burlesque, starring Barbara Stanwyck and directed by William Wellman. A high point of the film: Stanwyck performing “Take It Off the E-String, Play It on the G-String.” Check out Stanwyck strutting her stuff here.
Sister Act
Louise (Lara Pulver) and June (Gemma Sutton) in “Gypsy” Credit: ©2014 Johan Persson
Lee and her sister, June Havoc, were forced into vaudeville by their ambitious stage mother, Rose. June was billed as as “Baby June” and later “Dainty June” – but abandoned the act at age 13 to elope with fellow performer Bobby Reed. Lee’s memoir caused a rift between her and June, who felt she wasn’t accurately portrayed in the book or stage musical. Havoc penned two memoirs of her own — Early Havoc and More Havoc – and enjoyed a career in film and theater – including a notable turn as stripper Gladys Bumps in the Broadway musical Pal Joey.
The Queen of Kings County
For a brief period before World War II, Lee lived at 7 Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights – a commune for bohemian artists including W.H. Auden, Benjamin Britten, and Carson McCullers. Dubbed “February House” by Anaïs Nin because many of its residents had February birthdays, it is the subject of February House: The Story of W. H. Auden, Carson McCullers, Jane and Paul Bowles, Benjamin Britten, and Gypsy Rose Lee, Under One Roof in Brooklyn, a book by Sherrill Tippins, and inspired a 2012 musical at the Public Theater starring Kacie Sheik (Hair) as Gypsy Rose Lee.
Presenting Erik Lee Preminger
In 1944, Lee gave birth to a son, Erik Lee Preminger – the result of an affair with film director Otto Preminger. Erik penned a memoir, Gypsy & Me, about life with his famous mother and her schemes for staying famous and maintaining their extravagant lifestyle after retiring from striptease at age 42.
Can We Talk?
In the 1960s, Gypsy Rose Lee hosted a syndicated talk show series that featured a starry guest list including Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, and more. In this video, guest Ethel Merman talks about playing Lee’s real-life mother, Rose, in the Broadway musical Gypsy. Then fasten your seatbelts for rare footage of rehearsals of the original production, featuring Merman, Sandra Church (Gypsy), director-choreographer Jerome Robbins, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, and composer Jule Styne.
