BURLESQUE QUEEN DITA VON TEESE ADMITS SHE DANCED TOPLESS AT A VEGAS STRIPCLUB TO RAISE MONEY TO BECOME A SHOWGIRL—EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
For nearly ten hours burlesque-queen Dita Von Teese wrestled over her choices for the Vegas dancers to win choice slots at the Crazy Horse cabaret revue in Paris. Click here for our full report last Friday. Before she started the process, Dita, once married to rocker Marilyn Manson, admitted that it was always her dream to be like them—a Crazy Horse dancer.
“But I’m a failed ballerina,” she admitted. “I simply couldn’t kick up my heels. My body wasn’t that of a showgirl so I had to create my own burlesque routines to achieve what I wanted in life.”
Dita also admitted that before she became a world recognized burlesque queen she wound up dancing topless and grinding a striptease pole at the one-time Crazy Horse 2 strip club here in Vegas.
“It was the only way to earn enough money to pursue my own dream,” she said. Now she also revealed that she will be returning for the second time with a special new act to star in the real Crazy Horse both here at the MGM Grand and in Paris where Pamela Anderson recently appeared. Pamela will also be returning for a second stint there and a debut act here in the Vegas sister club.
Before her judging got underway I had an exclusive one-on-one, up-close-and-personal interview with the porcelain-faced beauty. Here’s our conversation:
Robin Leach: So first of all, why do you love Crazy Horse Paris and why has it been so successful all these years since 1951?
Dita Von Teese: I remember I was flipping through one of my father’s Playboys when I was maybe 15 or 16 and I saw a little picture of a girl toy soldier completely nude in a little toy box and I thought it was one of the most beautiful pictures I had ever seen and I read it was the Crazy Horse. There was no Internet, so how do you find out about the Crazy Horse when you are living in Michigan? I always told myself I wanted to go to the Crazy Horse and when I came to Paris when I was 19 years old it was the first place I went. I landed and I said I wanted to go to the Crazy Horse, and that’s where I went. So every time I go to Paris I go to the Crazy Horse. I have seen the show maybe 30 times and every time I would go I wanted to learn about it. I was like a mystery to me trying to figure out how things were done and I learned about the history of the Crazy Horse. I have a friend who is very involved with the history, like archiving it, and he would tell me all about it. I think over the years I came to the Crazy Horse, because I somehow knew one day I would have a chance to perform here, I think I was overwhelmed that I could be the first guest star ever. It is such a big thing. They don’t let anyone backstage, let alone someone come perform here. So it was a dream come true.
RL: What makes a Crazy Horse dancer?
DVT: I think the standard is really important. I think it is what the founder, Alain Bernadin, was looking for and what he felt the Crazy Horse girls should be. I understand that very well. It has a lot to do with charisma and great beauty of the face, that great Crazy Horse girl figure, which is very special. It is very uniform. There is a certain size, shape, and height they generally adhere to so they all look uniform. Most of all they have to be incredible dancers and very exciting to watch. All those things.
If I could go back in time, I would have done it. I think you can become a Crazy Horse girl in Paris when you are 16. I would give anything when I was 16 to hop on a plane and go learn how to, I would throw myself at them. My height is fine, I’d just squeak in, but I am not exactly the Crazy Horse girl. Obviously there are a few things different about me from the Crazy Horse girl. I may have the tiniest waist in the world, but I don’t have the exact body shape they are looking for. I am a little curvier and I break their rule of natural breasts, too. But people who knew the founder believe that he would have been a big fan of mine and would have approved of me being here, so here I am.
RL: When Bernadin ran the Crazy Horse it was so rigid and he wouldn’t let out any of its secrets, I mean nothing got out even when President Kennedy went there or the Hollywood superstars. I think I was the first journalist he ever allowed backstage, but since he died it looks as if his family is removing some of the secrecy.
DVT: Just a little bit, but the most important secrets are still kept. No men backstage and the girls don’t ever fraternize with the public, they don’t sign autographs and they never talk about what happens at the Crazy Horse. They definitely don’t date customers. All those important things about keeping the mystery of the woman are all still in place, so I think they are generating more publicity but that is good. I personally think it is important that Americans know about this wonderful French institution and I think it is mind boggling that this could be such a historic approved place where the girls are completely nude dancing, and presidents, even royalty, were coming to enjoy the showgirls. It is quite a thing to be a Crazy Horse dancer; we don’t have anything like that in America. One time we came close in America, in the old days when we had burlesque with stars like Gypsy Rose Lee. I think things were a little more free back then as far as the American mentality. Isn’t it interesting that burlesque, the bump and grind strip tease was invented in America, but it is where the founder got the idea for the Crazy Horse, and now in America it is the most criticized?
There are a lot of shows in Vegas that are direct copycats of the original Crazy Horse Paris. There are lots of revues right on the Strip where you can see the influence and you can recognize right away where the inspiration comes from, but they took all the good parts away. If it was me, you would never cover up the girls. It is like the sanitation of burlesque, and that drives me insane. The commercialization and sanitation of burlesque in America drives me insane.
RL: There should be more mystery behind the feathers?
DVT: When Gypsy Rose Lee was performing a strip tease you can bet your ass she ended up in a G-string and pasties in the prime of her day, as did all the burlesque stars or even less. What bothers me now is all these nightclubs in Vegas are covering up the girls and saying this is burlesque, but I am telling you that burlesque was not about feathers and dancing to Big Spender and retro kitsch was not about burlesque, it was about the strip tease and making people think about dirty things. It bothers me when it is sanitized. So my goal is to bring it back and really remind people about what it was, so that is why I have a strong connection to the Crazy Horse, because I think they understand that, too.
RL: Andre says you are going back to Paris to do a return appearance and also here in Vegas. You are going to do it with the lineup of all the girls this time?
DVT: I want to dance with the troupe this time. It is difficult because I have 15 different shows beyond just the champagne glass striptease, but they don’t fit on the stage. It is very tiny, so I have to be inventive about how I am going to become horizontal instead of so vertical. I really enjoyed meeting the girls, they are so sweet and beautiful and talented. It means a lot to me to be part of this, so I want to do something with the girls because it makes me happy to be backstage and be a real part of the show. When I came in originally to do the show, they wanted to separate me from the girls and put me in my own room, like a star. I said “no way”—I want to be out there where they are, I want to shower with them, I want to be treated like everyone else. I think there was a real camaraderie with me and the girls where I want to get in there and do a number with them. I’ve seen the Crazy Horse so many times and I have seen the tourists and I have seen the quietness and there is nothing like when people get really excited and worked up for the show. It makes me so happy to see those girls coming out for the show with the energy and excitement. They are doing the show 365 days a year.
RL: It is a privilege to them to do the show. That’s the magic.
DVT: I think it is. It is a difficult thing why there haven’t been any American girls in the show before today, because they don’t understand the dedication and the history. It is a lot of Russian, Czechoslovakian, and French girls, which I love, and they have those incredible faces. I am looking at everything and I am looking at their incredible dance talent. I regret I don’t have that dance skill. The precision and the lighting are amazing and incredible.
RL: What are you up to other than getting ready to return to Crazy Horse again?
DVT: I am into building new shows for myself and touring all over the world. I am writing a new book. I have a new lingerie line coming out for Wonder Bra in the fall. Very retro-inspired lingerie things of my vintage lingerie collection that have inspired me. My new book is a real “how to.” It is really based on retro alternative beauty and a stronger side of beauty. There are a lot of books that teach you to be normal and fit in and be tasteful. I am going to teach people how to be the opposite—How to be flamboyant and eccentric.
I do my own makeup and hair and I want to teach people how I do it and how you don’t need a glam squad to do it. I do all my red carpet stuff on my own because I genuinely enjoy it. It is not a chore for me; it is something I love. I don’t ever want to rely on someone else. I want to walk out my front door on any given day and feel as good as I feel on any red carpet in the world.
Dita admitted that the only time she doesn’t look totally glam is when she exercises and does her Pilates routines.
“It’s still not sweatpants—I always keep it chic, you know,” she laughed. Dita is expected to perform again at Crazy Horse Paris both in Vegas and the French capital later this spring.