Worldwide development of striptease

1893 Paris first commercial striptease act

1904 Chicago Little Egypt performs a belly dance which shocks the World’s fair

1917 New YorkMinsky’s burlesque show installs the first runway

1926 Paris.American Josephine Bakerbecomes famous as a topless dancer at the Follies Bergere.

1930 New York. Gypsy Rose Lee the most famous burlesque dancer starts stripping.

1932 London. The Windmill featuring the UK’s first nudes in non moving tableaux’s opens.

1933 New York Sally Randdevelops the fan dance as a way around nudity restrictions.

1937 New York Mayor LaGuardia starts moves to ban burlesque stripping , Minsky’s closes but opens in other US cities, other clubs start calling themselves Follies to get around the law
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1941 New York The war causes restrictions on burlesque to be eased.

1945 Germany. Strip shows spring up initially mainly to cater for the occupying armies who are the only people with any money.

1947 Vancover. The first Canadian strip club the Penthouse Cabaret opens, despite many attempts by the authorities to close it down over the next 50 years it lasted until 2000.

1950 USA. Strip clubs appear in most US cities though it’s mainly still pasties and g strings. Star strippers of the time include Tempest Storm, Blaze Starr etc

1951 Paris. The Crazy Horse striptease show opens.

1957 London. The Raymond Revuebar which has moving nudes for the first time in the UK opens as a private members club. The early 1960s see’s many competitors opening.

1957 Las Vegas. Minsky’s start doing topless reviews in the casino hotels.

1958 New Orleans. Blaze Starrand Governor of Louisiana Earl Long begin affair.

1959 Los Angelis.Russ Meyer starts producing films which heavily feature headline very well endowed strippers like Uschi Digard and Kitten Natividadover the following 20 years.

1964 London. Unable to cope with the competition from over
20 strip clubs in Soho the Windmill finally closes.

1965 Europe. The ever more liberal sexual climate in places like Scandinavia, Germany, and Holland moves striptease shows into live sex shows.

1968 London. First pub striptease shows start in Hackney.

1969 Los Angelis. First full frontal nude strip shows start on the Sunset Strip.

1970 London. Following on from full frontal stage musicals like Hair and O’Calcutta male strip shows start.

1971 Vancover. Poles start appearing on stage across North America as a prop for the strip acts.

1972 Washington. US supreme court rules that a state can ban full nudity where alcohol is sold, the full nude juice club is born.

1973 USA. The boom in the porn industry in the early 70s creates a new wave of name strippers who are also well known porn stars like Marilyn Chambersand Annette Havens.

1976 San Francisco. Mitchell Brothers porn cinema introduces live performers including porn stars from their films.

1976 Madrid. Following the death of the dictator Franco Spain goes from being the most repressed country in Europe to one of the most liberal and the first strip shows appear.

1978 New York. The Melody burlesque show near Time Sq introduces the first lap dancing as performers go into the body of the theatre for tips.

1979 Los Angelis. Chippendales club opens, male stripping goes mainstream.

1980 San Francisco. The Mitchell brothers introduce nude lap dancing to their theatre, it’s a huge success and during the 1980s many other US venues start to offer lap dancing.

1989 Fort Laudadale. Michael J Peters opens Pure Platinum which sets a benchmark for up market table/lap dancing clubs.

1990 USA. As table/lap dancing takes off clubs across the country stop paying performers wages and the era of the house fee starts. The massive boost in profitability sees the creation of large national chains like DeJaVu and Spearmint Rhino during the 1990s.

1992 Melbourne. Australia’s first table dance club Santa Fee Gold opens.

1993 Las Vegas. The first annual club convention and conference organised by trade magazine Exotic Dancer.

1993 Moscow. Following the collapse of the old Soviet communist system strip shows appear for the first time.

1993 California. After years of ever more explicit shows a move back to the old burlesque style of striptease is started by the likes of Dita Von Tease.

1995 London. For Your Eyes Only Park Royal the UK’s first table dancing club opens. After a slow start the table dance boom hits the UK after 2000 with over 200 clubs opening in all major cities.

1995 Moscow. First full time strip club Dolls opens.

1996 New York. Mayor Giuliani moves to close down the adult activity on 42nd street and Time Square goes Disney.

1996 London. Peter Stringfellow converts his flagship nightclub to table dancing.

1996 San Francisco. Various court cases brought by dancers against clubs for the house fee system cumulate in a strippers co-operative taking over the Lusty Lady club. It was not a success.

2000 Dublin. The first topless club Lapello opens in the previously Catholic church dominated Eire.

2000 London. US group Spearmint Rhino open’s it’s first overseas club.

2001 Paris. The first US style table dancing club Pink Paradise opens. It’s swiftly followed by Stringfellow’s and US giant DeJaVu’s Hustler club.

2004 London. The Raymond Revuebar closes after nearly 50 years in business.

2006 Dublin. Peter Stringfellow opens the first full nude club in Eire.