The Naked Truth Trivia Quiz

Answer: Minsky's Burlesque

According to legend Gypsy Rose Lee started striptease by accident when a strap on her gown gave way and it fell to her ankles. The audience response encouraged her to do it on purpose, and it became a feature of her act.
She was the star of Minsky's Burlesque for some years, and was arrested several times during police indecency raids. The 1968 film "The Night They Raided Minsky's" is a fictionalised account of a famous raid that took place in 1925.

Answer: The reverse strip

Lili St. Cyr reversed the striptease and put her clothes on, very slowly, instead of taking them off. She also often stripped in a bubble bath. Another move for which she was famous was the "Flying G." With the aid of some fishing line and a stage hand her G. string would fly off and end up in one of the boxes overlooking the stage.

Answer: Little Egypt

The original "Little Egypt" was not one person but three. Three belly dancers, Farida Spyropolous, Ashea Wabe and Fatima Djamile, all used that name in the 1890s. They were extremely popular and for a while the term "Little Egypt" was used to refer to all belly dancers.

The image of her as a burlesque dancer or stripper did not come about until 1961 when Leiber and Stoller penned the song "Little Egypt". First recorded by The Coasters it was later used in the 1964 Elvis Presley film, "Roustabout".

Answer: Paul Raymond

Paul Raymond opened the Raymond Revuebar as a private striptease club. Being limited to members only meant he did not have to obey the laws of the time that said nudes on stage could not move. The club proved very popular, signing up some 45,000 members in two years. Prominent patrons included John Mills and Peter Sellers. Raymond had constant run ins with the authorities.

In 1961 he was fined £5,000 for "running an unruly house". His girls were called the "Ding Dong Girls" and magistrates decided that allowing members to ring the bells on their rather tiny costumes came within that description.

Answer: Panther

Red headed Blaze Starr liked to make her act different. As well as having the trained panther she also had a couch which was rigged to appear to smoulder and burst into flames as she sat on it stripping. She had a long term affair with Earl Long, who was Governor of Louisiana when they first met.

This affair lasted until his death in 1960. She retired from dancing in 1983. Some of her costumes can be seen at the Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas.

Answer: David Rose

Recorded in 1962 "The Stripper" evokes the "bump and grind" type of music used in striptease and burlesque shows. Burlesque performer Dita Von Teese has called it "one of the best striptease songs of all time". It was released almost by accident. His record company wanted to release "Ebb Tide" but suddenly realised it had no 'B' side. Hastily going through unreleased work they found "The Stripper" and chose it for the 'B' side.

It proved to be more popular than "Ebb Tide" reaching number one on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.

It has featured in several films, including "The Full Monty", as well as in television shows. Who can ever forget the wonderful Morecambe and Wise sketch featuring them making breakfast in time to it.

Answer: Condor Night Club

Situated in North Beach, San Francisco, the Condor Night Club opened in 1964, and the topless dance was on June 19th 1964. Carol Doda is credited with being the dancer. The illuminated sign at the front of the club featured her with red lights covering her breasts. The club went bottomless as well as topless in 1969 which started full nudity in American striptease.

Answer: Mary Martin

In this Cole Porter musical Mary Martin plays Dolly Winslow who becomes stranded at a Siberian railway station wearing nothing but a fur coat. She performs a striptease dance whilst singing the song. She performs the song and the dance again in the 1940 film "Love Thy Neighbour", but this time has an evening dress on under the coat.

In the 1946 film "Night and Day", in which she plays herself, she again performs the striptease, adding in a fur muff as well as the fur coat.

Answer: The Chippendales

The Chippendales were the first troupe of all male striptease dancers to have quality choreography and staging. They have done much to legitimize male stripping as popular entertainment. Their Broadway style shows are popular in Las Vegas, where they perform regularly, and touring troupes appear all over North America, Europe, Asia and South Africa.

Their distinctive costume of bow tie and cuffs with bare torso has been registered as their trademark.

Answer: Iceland

Stating that the Nordic Countries were "leading the way on women's equality" the Iceland Prime Minister went on to say the law "recognised women as equal citizens rather than commodities for sale". The politician responsible for the bill, Kolbrun Halldorsdottir, said "It is not acceptable that women or people in general are a product to be sold".

It is interesting to note that in 2006 a Norwegian court ruled that striptease is art and made it exempt from value added tax.