WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.419 Welcome to another deep dive. We're stepping 00:00:02.419 --> 00:00:04.719 into a time machine today, heading back to the 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:08.320 early 20th century to explore a story that, well, 00:00:08.419 --> 00:00:09.980 it feels like it was engineered in a Hollywood 00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:12.560 writer's room, but every bit of it is historical 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:15.460 fact. It really is. Today we are unpacking the 00:00:15.460 --> 00:00:18.140 rise and fall of Minsky's burlesque. The empire. 00:00:18.300 --> 00:00:20.780 Right, the Minsky empire. And our mission for 00:00:20.780 --> 00:00:23.219 this deep dive is to explore how four brothers 00:00:23.219 --> 00:00:25.519 essentially stumbled into building this massive 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:27.940 entertainment monolith. We are going to look 00:00:27.940 --> 00:00:31.100 at how they pioneered the modern American striptease, 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:34.039 trained an entire generation of legendary comedians 00:00:34.039 --> 00:00:37.380 you still know today, and ultimately sparked 00:00:37.380 --> 00:00:41.079 a massive citywide cultural and legal war in 00:00:41.079 --> 00:00:43.299 New York City. It's a brilliant case study. It 00:00:43.299 --> 00:00:45.439 is. It's this fascinating collision of high art, 00:00:45.740 --> 00:00:48.280 pop culture, censorship, and just the sheer hustle 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:50.719 of American showbiz. To truly understand the 00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:52.859 Minsky empire, we really have to start by setting 00:00:52.859 --> 00:00:55.340 the historical stage. We need to look at New 00:00:55.340 --> 00:00:58.280 York City in 1908. OK, paint that picture for 00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:01.259 us. So the city is this boiling pot of cultures, 00:01:01.659 --> 00:01:04.920 classes, and rapidly changing social norms. But 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:06.840 there is a profound tension at the heart of its 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:10.079 nightlife. On one side, you have a massive working 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:12.859 class population desperate for cheap, thrilling 00:01:12.859 --> 00:01:16.120 entertainment after brutal days of manual labor. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:18.879 Right, they just want an escape. Exactly. But 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:21.219 countering that, you have the strict, highly 00:01:21.219 --> 00:01:23.859 formalized obscenity laws and moral standards 00:01:23.859 --> 00:01:27.319 of the era. The civic establishment wanted entertainment 00:01:27.319 --> 00:01:31.640 to be respectable, polite, contained. Which is 00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:33.319 not what the working class was looking for. Not 00:01:33.319 --> 00:01:35.760 at all. They wanted loud, brash, and boundary 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:38.640 pushing. And that exact friction between what 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:41.120 the law considered proper and what people actually 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:43.620 wanted to pay to see that is the soil from which 00:01:43.620 --> 00:01:45.920 Minsky's burlesque grew. Okay, let's unpack this. 00:01:46.099 --> 00:01:47.879 Because the origins of this family business start 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:50.239 with a phenomenal miscalculation. Oh, absolutely. 00:01:50.420 --> 00:01:52.540 We are looking at the four sons of Louis and 00:01:52.540 --> 00:01:55.480 Ethel Minsky. Abe, Billy, Herbert, and Morton. 00:01:55.739 --> 00:01:58.879 It's 1908. And the eldest brother, Abe, gets 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:00.959 into the entertainment business by opening a 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:03.400 Lower East Side Nickelodeon. And he's not running 00:02:03.400 --> 00:02:06.409 highbrow art films. No, he is running... racy, 00:02:06.670 --> 00:02:09.310 slightly scandalous reels. He's directly catering 00:02:09.310 --> 00:02:11.210 to that working -class desire for a thrill you 00:02:11.210 --> 00:02:15.370 just mentioned. But his father, Louis, is a respectable, 00:02:15.710 --> 00:02:17.689 prominent figure in the community, and he is 00:02:17.689 --> 00:02:19.830 horrified. He shuts Abe down immediately. He 00:02:19.830 --> 00:02:22.169 completely shuts him down. And Louis decides 00:02:22.169 --> 00:02:25.370 to fix his sons by forcing them into legitimate 00:02:25.370 --> 00:02:27.849 theater. So he buys the National Winter Garden 00:02:27.849 --> 00:02:31.449 on Houston Street and hands it over to Abe, Billy, 00:02:31.650 --> 00:02:34.189 and Herbert. A classic overbearing parent move. 00:02:34.530 --> 00:02:37.000 Totally. But looking at the blueprints of this 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:40.419 building, Louis made a baffling choice. The theater 00:02:40.419 --> 00:02:42.879 was on the sixth floor. It is perhaps the most 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:45.180 critical architectural detail in the history 00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:47.439 of American burlesque. I just can't get past 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:50.719 it. Why on earth would an aspiring theater magnate 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:53.400 buy a venue that requires patrons to walk up 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:55.759 six flights of stairs? It makes zero sense from 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:58.219 a foot traffic perspective. Right. You are completely 00:02:58.219 --> 00:03:01.560 eliminating casual walk ups. A couple in 1910s 00:03:01.560 --> 00:03:03.680 New York were doing manual labor all day. They 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:05.520 aren't going to casually roll up six flights 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:07.860 of stairs for just a standard show. No, they're 00:03:07.860 --> 00:03:10.379 exhausted. It almost feels like Louis was setting 00:03:10.379 --> 00:03:13.479 them up to fail. Or at least he completely misunderstood 00:03:13.479 --> 00:03:16.340 the mechanics of urban entertainment. Whether 00:03:16.340 --> 00:03:19.039 it's naivete or a misguided real estate play, 00:03:19.580 --> 00:03:22.460 that physical constraint forced extreme business 00:03:22.460 --> 00:03:25.139 innovation. Necessity is the mother of invention. 00:03:25.580 --> 00:03:28.310 Precisely. In the beginning, the brothers tried 00:03:28.310 --> 00:03:30.370 to do exactly what their father wanted. They 00:03:30.370 --> 00:03:32.889 tried showing respectable films, but they were 00:03:32.889 --> 00:03:34.949 immediately crushed by the large established 00:03:34.949 --> 00:03:37.270 theater chains. They just didn't have the leverage. 00:03:37.610 --> 00:03:39.909 They couldn't compete on volume or distribution. 00:03:40.770 --> 00:03:43.409 So they pivoted to Vaudeville, which was the 00:03:43.409 --> 00:03:45.629 dominant respectable live entertainment of the 00:03:45.629 --> 00:03:49.289 day. But again, the economics failed them. Vaudeville 00:03:49.289 --> 00:03:51.569 was expensive. Right. The talent cost too much. 00:03:51.710 --> 00:03:54.729 Exactly. They couldn't afford to book the headliners. 00:03:54.770 --> 00:03:56.689 They would actually draw crowds up those six 00:03:56.689 --> 00:03:58.849 flights of stairs. So they were sitting in the 00:03:58.849 --> 00:04:01.590 sixth floor theater, failing at respectable film, 00:04:02.129 --> 00:04:04.490 failing at respectable vaudeville, and staring 00:04:04.490 --> 00:04:07.169 at an empty room. It's the ultimate back against 00:04:07.169 --> 00:04:09.449 the wall scenario. They have the real estate, 00:04:09.590 --> 00:04:12.569 but the barrier to entry is literally architectural. 00:04:13.310 --> 00:04:15.509 So they look down the ladder of respectability 00:04:15.509 --> 00:04:18.160 and pivot to burlesque. Which was a very different 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:19.939 industry back then. Yeah, let's talk about that. 00:04:20.220 --> 00:04:22.579 Looking at the industry at that time, Burlesque 00:04:22.579 --> 00:04:25.220 was largely controlled by these massive, highly 00:04:25.220 --> 00:04:27.819 organized circuits called wheels. You had the 00:04:27.819 --> 00:04:30.459 Columbia Wheel, the American Wheel, and later 00:04:30.459 --> 00:04:32.860 the Mutual Wheel. It was basically a franchise 00:04:32.860 --> 00:04:35.410 system. Right. And the Minsky's had the option 00:04:35.410 --> 00:04:37.750 to join one of these wheels. It seems like a 00:04:37.750 --> 00:04:40.009 no -brainer for a failing theater to plug into 00:04:40.009 --> 00:04:42.850 an established franchise, but they refused. They 00:04:42.850 --> 00:04:45.050 did. Why stay independent when you are bleeding 00:04:45.050 --> 00:04:47.930 money? It came down to a mix of pure economics 00:04:47.930 --> 00:04:52.290 and sheer ego. The wheel system was incredibly 00:04:52.290 --> 00:04:54.829 efficient. A centralized organization supplied 00:04:54.829 --> 00:04:57.250 a theater with a completely new show every single 00:04:57.250 --> 00:05:00.389 week. A cross. Cast, costumes, scenery, scripts. 00:05:00.509 --> 00:05:03.379 The turnkey operation. Exactly. It arrived on 00:05:03.379 --> 00:05:05.939 a train, played your theater and moved on while 00:05:05.939 --> 00:05:08.860 a new show rolled in. But even though a wheel 00:05:08.860 --> 00:05:11.980 provided everything, you still had to pay a premium 00:05:11.980 --> 00:05:15.060 for that centralized service and share a massive 00:05:15.060 --> 00:05:17.519 cut of the profits. And they were already cash 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:19.939 strapped. Right. The Minsky's realized that if 00:05:19.939 --> 00:05:22.420 they hustled, they could stage their own independent 00:05:22.420 --> 00:05:24.959 shows for even less capital. But there's also 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:28.120 Billy Minsky's ambition at play here. Billy didn't 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:31.120 want to be a middle manager taking whatever prepackaged 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:33.339 show the Columbia Wheel handed him. No, Billy 00:05:33.339 --> 00:05:35.970 wanted to be the next Florian Siegfeld. Yes. 00:05:36.410 --> 00:05:38.709 Siegfeld was the undisputed king of Broadway, 00:05:39.149 --> 00:05:42.069 the creator of the Siegfeld Follies. He was the 00:05:42.069 --> 00:05:45.310 gold standard of theatrical glamour. Billy wanted 00:05:45.310 --> 00:05:48.410 that level of creative control and brand recognition. 00:05:48.649 --> 00:05:50.829 If you join a wheel, you are selling the wheels 00:05:50.829 --> 00:05:53.329 brand. Exactly. But if you stay independent, 00:05:53.769 --> 00:05:56.029 you build Minsky's. But ambition doesn't solve 00:05:56.029 --> 00:05:58.050 the six story problem. Right. You still have 00:05:58.050 --> 00:06:00.910 those stairs. Billy realized. that if they were 00:06:00.910 --> 00:06:02.769 going to do independent burlesque and actually 00:06:02.769 --> 00:06:05.470 get people up to the sixth floor, they needed 00:06:05.470 --> 00:06:08.730 a hook so compelling that it defied convenience. 00:06:09.410 --> 00:06:12.310 He understood that success in this specific art 00:06:12.310 --> 00:06:14.949 form depended entirely on how the women were 00:06:14.949 --> 00:06:16.930 featured. They had to push the envelope. They 00:06:16.930 --> 00:06:18.910 had to offer something the respectable theaters 00:06:18.910 --> 00:06:21.610 wouldn't and the established wheels couldn't. 00:06:21.629 --> 00:06:24.939 Which brings us to Abe's trip to Paris. And what 00:06:24.939 --> 00:06:27.399 I consider a structural earthquake in American 00:06:27.399 --> 00:06:30.139 theater. It really was. A. Visits the Folies 00:06:30.139 --> 00:06:33.060 Bergère and the Moulin Rouge. He studies how 00:06:33.060 --> 00:06:36.220 European cabaret operates, which was far more 00:06:36.220 --> 00:06:38.680 intimate and interactive than the static, separated 00:06:38.680 --> 00:06:41.819 American stages. American stages kept a very 00:06:41.819 --> 00:06:44.180 strict distance between performer and audience. 00:06:44.339 --> 00:06:46.480 Right. So he comes back to New York and suggests 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:49.100 they physically alter the National Winter Garden. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:51.639 They build a runway. A simple but revolutionary 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:54.189 idea. They construct a platform that extends 00:06:54.189 --> 00:06:56.230 straight out from the stage and right into the 00:06:56.230 --> 00:06:58.189 middle of the audience. They were the very first 00:06:58.189 --> 00:07:00.709 to feature this in the United States. It completely 00:07:00.709 --> 00:07:02.949 shatters the invisible wall between the performer 00:07:02.949 --> 00:07:05.529 and the patron. What's fascinating here is the 00:07:05.529 --> 00:07:08.430 manipulation of space and psychology. Traditional 00:07:08.430 --> 00:07:11.209 theater puts you in the dark as a passive observer 00:07:11.209 --> 00:07:13.829 of a bright, distant stage. You're just watching 00:07:13.829 --> 00:07:17.009 a painting, essentially. Exactly. But the runway 00:07:17.009 --> 00:07:19.990 brings the performer out, literally above and 00:07:19.990 --> 00:07:23.829 among the crowd. Suddenly, the performer isn't 00:07:23.829 --> 00:07:27.389 a figure in a tableau. She is walking just inches 00:07:27.389 --> 00:07:29.949 from the patrons. The intimacy of that experience 00:07:29.949 --> 00:07:32.550 was totally unprecedented for American audiences. 00:07:33.089 --> 00:07:35.050 And Billy knew exactly what they had engineered. 00:07:35.769 --> 00:07:38.189 He capitalized on it immediately with his marketing. 00:07:38.769 --> 00:07:41.069 He changed the marquee out front to read burlesque 00:07:41.069 --> 00:07:43.769 as you like it, not a family show. Not a family 00:07:43.769 --> 00:07:45.670 show. I love that. It's an anti -endorsement 00:07:45.670 --> 00:07:48.449 endorsement. He's actively leaning into the notoriety. 00:07:48.470 --> 00:07:49.870 He's telling you exactly what you're walking 00:07:49.870 --> 00:07:51.790 up those six flights of stairs to see. But when 00:07:51.790 --> 00:07:54.310 you build a runway and invite that level of intimacy, 00:07:54.569 --> 00:07:56.930 the performance itself is bound to mutate. And 00:07:56.930 --> 00:07:59.970 that brings us to 1917 and the May Dix incident. 00:08:00.069 --> 00:08:02.529 A legendary moment. This is widely considered 00:08:02.529 --> 00:08:05.230 the birth of the American striptease as a structured 00:08:05.230 --> 00:08:09.000 act. During a performance, Mae Dix absentmindedly 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:11.860 began removing her costume before she had completely 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:14.180 exited the runway and reached the wings. She 00:08:14.180 --> 00:08:17.000 thought she was out of sight. Right. She broke 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:19.500 character and started undressing while still 00:08:19.500 --> 00:08:21.639 visible to the audience. And the reaction from 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:24.300 the audience was visceral. Yeah. They were completely 00:08:24.300 --> 00:08:27.279 electrified by this unexpected glimpse of vulnerability, 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:29.860 this breaking of the theatrical illusion. It 00:08:29.860 --> 00:08:32.500 was real. It felt real. And when Mae Dix heard 00:08:32.500 --> 00:08:35.919 the crowd erupt, she didn't run away. She turned 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:38.860 around, walked back out onto the runway, and 00:08:38.860 --> 00:08:41.159 continued removing her clothing to thunderous 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:43.740 applause. She improvised. She turned a logistical 00:08:43.740 --> 00:08:46.039 accident into a performance. And Billy Minsky 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:47.720 is watching this from the back of the house, 00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:50.919 and he instantly sees the gold mine. He orders 00:08:50.919 --> 00:08:53.059 that the accident be repeated every single night. 00:08:53.159 --> 00:08:55.700 Thus creating a new genre. Right. It fundamentally 00:08:55.700 --> 00:08:58.659 changes what burlesque is. It transitions from 00:08:58.659 --> 00:09:00.899 merely displaying women and revealing outfits 00:09:00.899 --> 00:09:03.840 into an interactive narrative act. It becomes 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:06.559 about anticipation. It becomes a psychological 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:10.559 science. The Minsky's emphasize that a good striptease 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:13.399 dancer must know exactly the right psychological 00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:15.889 moment. to remove each garment. So it wasn't 00:09:15.889 --> 00:09:18.409 just walking out and taking it all off. No, it 00:09:18.409 --> 00:09:21.049 was never just about nudity. It was about finesse. 00:09:21.509 --> 00:09:23.649 It was a highly calibrated game played at the 00:09:23.649 --> 00:09:26.970 audience's expectations. Reading the room, feeling 00:09:26.970 --> 00:09:29.690 the tension, holding back just long enough to 00:09:29.690 --> 00:09:32.370 drive them crazy, and then giving them a release 00:09:32.370 --> 00:09:35.590 at the exact second the energy peaks. That requires 00:09:35.590 --> 00:09:39.120 so much skill. But that finesse is born out of 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:41.000 necessity, isn't it? Because they are operating 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:43.659 in this impossible paradox. The legal paradox. 00:09:43.799 --> 00:09:46.779 Yeah. To keep drawing customers up six flights 00:09:46.779 --> 00:09:49.679 of stairs, they had to be risque. But to keep 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:51.980 their theater license, they had to stay clean 00:09:51.980 --> 00:09:54.519 enough to appease the vice squads. It was a tightrope. 00:09:54.679 --> 00:09:56.860 If they were too clean, they went bankrupt. If 00:09:56.860 --> 00:09:59.059 they went too far, they got raided. It was a 00:09:59.059 --> 00:10:01.159 constant negotiation with the boundaries of the 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:03.519 law, which is what makes their survival so remarkable. 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:06.399 They learned how to walk the absolute edge of 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:09.320 obscenity without always crossing it. And this 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:11.799 delicate balance becomes even more pronounced 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:15.059 as we move into the 1920s. The era of prohibition. 00:10:15.240 --> 00:10:18.840 Yes, prohibition. And the expansion of the Minsky 00:10:18.840 --> 00:10:22.740 family dynamic. In 1924, the youngest brother, 00:10:23.019 --> 00:10:26.019 Morton Minsky, an NYU graduate, joins the company 00:10:26.019 --> 00:10:29.320 and takes over the Little Apollo Theater on 125th 00:10:29.320 --> 00:10:31.620 Street. Morton brought a different energy to 00:10:31.620 --> 00:10:34.120 the business. He did, and I was looking at Morton's 00:10:34.120 --> 00:10:36.200 numbers, and they are absolutely staggering. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:39.039 His theater was rated on his very first show, 00:10:39.059 --> 00:10:41.980 but despite the constant police harassment, the 00:10:41.980 --> 00:10:45.259 Little Apollo showed a weekly profit of $20 ,000 00:10:45.259 --> 00:10:48.159 for four straight years. $20 ,000 a week in the 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:51.120 1920s. And that is $20 ,000 a week after Paola. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:53.960 The sheer volume of bribes they were funneling 00:10:53.960 --> 00:10:56.240 to the police and politicians just to keep the 00:10:56.240 --> 00:10:58.919 doors open is mind boggling. It was just a massive 00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:01.330 line of item in their budget. Exactly. And yet 00:11:01.330 --> 00:11:03.990 they were still netting massive fortunes. It 00:11:03.990 --> 00:11:05.730 proves that the demand for what they were selling 00:11:05.730 --> 00:11:07.909 during Prohibition was practically insatiable. 00:11:08.090 --> 00:11:10.549 The profits were immense, but so was the legal 00:11:10.549 --> 00:11:13.950 friction. The most heavily debated raid of this 00:11:13.950 --> 00:11:17.169 era occurred in April 1925 at the National Winter 00:11:17.169 --> 00:11:19.789 Garden, featuring a performer named Mary Dawson, 00:11:19.970 --> 00:11:22.129 who went by Mademoiselle Fifi. Oh, this is a 00:11:22.129 --> 00:11:25.090 great story. This raid became legendary. It was 00:11:25.090 --> 00:11:28.120 heavily mythologized in books and film. The Hollywood 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:34.740 version paints this night as a massive, And crucially, 00:11:34.860 --> 00:11:36.840 she moved. Here's where it gets really interesting, 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:39.379 because we have to look at the sheer hypocrisy 00:11:39.379 --> 00:11:42.460 of the obscenity laws of 1925. It's quite something. 00:11:42.519 --> 00:11:45.039 It was entirely permissible for women to appear 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:48.179 topless in high -end Broadway shows staged by 00:11:48.179 --> 00:11:50.700 Zeke Field or Earl Carroll. The law allowed it, 00:11:50.700 --> 00:11:52.960 but under a massive caveat. The Static Tableau. 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:55.720 Right. The women had to appear in a Static Tableau. 00:11:55.960 --> 00:11:58.440 If a woman is completely still, like a stacu, 00:11:58.539 --> 00:12:01.200 it is considered art and it's legal. But the 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:04.720 exact second she moves, Breeze or dances while 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:07.480 topless, it instantly becomes obscenity. Which 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:10.519 is an impossible distinction. Trying to legislate 00:12:10.519 --> 00:12:12.759 the difference between a still body and a moving 00:12:12.759 --> 00:12:16.159 body is completely absurd. It highlights the 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:19.980 class divide in censorship. High art gets a pass, 00:12:20.620 --> 00:12:22.899 working class entertainment gets raided. Exactly. 00:12:23.460 --> 00:12:26.860 Now, the legend of the 1925 raid is that Mademoiselle 00:12:26.860 --> 00:12:30.159 Fifi broke the tableau rule and moved. But if 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:32.350 you look at the historical record, The truth 00:12:32.350 --> 00:12:34.889 is much more mundane. The primary sources tell 00:12:34.889 --> 00:12:37.610 a different story. They do. Mary Dawson herself 00:12:37.610 --> 00:12:40.350 later contradicted that cinematic account. And 00:12:40.350 --> 00:12:42.950 Mortaminsky, in his own writings, stated that 00:12:42.950 --> 00:12:46.830 the April 1925 raid was hardly epical. He brushed 00:12:46.830 --> 00:12:49.450 it off. He called the story fun, but said the 00:12:49.450 --> 00:12:51.450 raid itself was simply one of dozens to which 00:12:51.450 --> 00:12:53.840 they had become accustomed. It was certainly 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:56.440 no big crisis. I love when the primary sources 00:12:56.440 --> 00:12:58.600 just puncture the myth. Morton is basically saying 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:00.559 it was just a Tuesday, they paid the fine and 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:02.700 opened again Wednesday. Just the cost of doing 00:13:02.700 --> 00:13:05.419 business. Right. But what I find even more fascinating 00:13:05.419 --> 00:13:08.759 about this prohibition era is the demographic 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:11.419 shift in their audience. You'd assume the National 00:13:11.419 --> 00:13:13.580 Winter Garden was just packed with working class 00:13:13.580 --> 00:13:16.139 laborers. But during the roaring 20s, it became 00:13:16.139 --> 00:13:18.879 a magnet for the cultural elite. The high society 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:21.659 crowd moved in. Yeah, you have novelists like 00:13:21.659 --> 00:13:24.500 John Dospasso's, humorists like Robert Benchley, 00:13:24.899 --> 00:13:27.559 influential critics like George G. Nathan, publishing 00:13:27.559 --> 00:13:30.620 magnates like Conde Nast, and acclaimed poets 00:13:30.620 --> 00:13:32.580 like Hart Crane all sitting in the audience. 00:13:32.779 --> 00:13:35.360 Crane even wrote a poem titled National Winter 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:38.620 Garden. Which is wild! Why is the high society 00:13:38.620 --> 00:13:41.000 intelligentsia suddenly flocking to a gritty 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:43.840 burlesque house? If we connect this to the bigger 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:47.179 picture, it's a fascinating sociological phenomenon 00:13:47.179 --> 00:13:50.830 driven by prohibition. When the establishment 00:13:50.830 --> 00:13:54.529 bans alcohol and enforces traditional morality 00:13:54.529 --> 00:13:57.570 from the top down, vice becomes glamorous. It 00:13:57.570 --> 00:13:59.909 becomes rebellious. Exactly. The intellectual 00:13:59.909 --> 00:14:02.470 elite in high society begin flocking to places 00:14:02.470 --> 00:14:04.970 like Minsky's because they are seeking authenticity. 00:14:05.169 --> 00:14:07.509 They're rebelling against sanitized upper -class 00:14:07.509 --> 00:14:09.250 culture. You want to see how the other half lives. 00:14:09.590 --> 00:14:12.429 Right. They view the raw, unabashed nature of 00:14:12.429 --> 00:14:14.470 burlesque as something visceral that you just 00:14:14.470 --> 00:14:17.340 can't find in a polite Broadway theater. Minsky's 00:14:17.340 --> 00:14:19.539 became chic because it was dangerous, and it 00:14:19.539 --> 00:14:21.600 operated outside the bounds of polite society. 00:14:22.039 --> 00:14:24.799 It's the classic trope of high society slumming 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:27.899 it for thrills. But that influx of upper -class 00:14:27.899 --> 00:14:30.659 attention and capital sets the stage for the 00:14:30.659 --> 00:14:33.700 Minsky's next massive leap. As we crash into 00:14:33.700 --> 00:14:36.539 the 1930s, the Great Depression hits. Everything 00:14:36.539 --> 00:14:39.759 changes. Legitimate. Respectable Broadway theaters 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:42.039 are closing their doors left and right because 00:14:42.039 --> 00:14:44.299 people simply don't have the disposable income 00:14:44.299 --> 00:14:47.580 for highbrow shows. Billy Minsky, who always 00:14:47.580 --> 00:14:50.120 wanted to be Ziegfeld, sees the collapse of Broadway 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:52.720 as his ultimate opportunity. The Great Depression 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:55.279 acted as a massive accelerant for the Minsky 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:59.340 empire. By 1931, Billy leases the Republic Theater 00:14:59.340 --> 00:15:01.799 right on 42nd Street. They made it to Broadway. 00:15:02.029 --> 00:15:04.769 They did. He brings the Minsky brand from a sweaty 00:15:04.769 --> 00:15:07.409 six floor walk up on the Lower East Side street 00:15:07.409 --> 00:15:09.669 to the heart of Broadway. The Republic becomes 00:15:09.669 --> 00:15:12.230 their flagship and Minsky's becomes the undisputed 00:15:12.230 --> 00:15:14.090 capital of burlesque in the United States. And 00:15:14.090 --> 00:15:16.429 it doesn't stop there. No, this move triggers 00:15:16.429 --> 00:15:19.129 a domino effect. They expand rapidly, taking 00:15:19.129 --> 00:15:21.789 over the empty Eltinge and Apollo theaters, eventually 00:15:21.789 --> 00:15:24.289 controlling over a dozen venues across New York, 00:15:24.509 --> 00:15:26.450 Baltimore, Philadelphia, Albany and Pittsburgh. 00:15:26.679 --> 00:15:28.659 They basically became what they originally fought 00:15:28.659 --> 00:15:31.019 against. Exactly. They became so massive that 00:15:31.019 --> 00:15:33.360 they formed their own wheel. The system they 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:36.100 rejected in 1912, they completely replicated 00:15:36.100 --> 00:15:39.500 as monarchs in the 1930s. It's a brilliant corporate 00:15:39.500 --> 00:15:42.279 takeover. But the economics of this expansion 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:45.659 are so paradoxical. On the demand side, you have 00:15:45.659 --> 00:15:48.600 an impoverished population craving cheap escapist 00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:50.559 entertainment. Right. They needed a distraction. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:53.440 But on the supply side, the collapse of legitimate 00:15:53.440 --> 00:15:56.019 theater meant there was a massive influx of highly 00:15:56.019 --> 00:15:59.860 trained, unemployed women, chorus girls, dancers, 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:03.659 actresses who desperately needed work. Burlesque 00:16:03.659 --> 00:16:06.639 offered incredibly steady and astonishingly lucrative 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:09.519 employment. We often view burlesque performers 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:12.360 of that era through a lens of exploitation. And 00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:14.220 while the industry certainly had its grueling 00:16:14.220 --> 00:16:17.259 elements, the financial reality for the top performers 00:16:17.259 --> 00:16:19.779 was genuinely empowering. Let's talk about those 00:16:19.779 --> 00:16:22.740 salaries. The headlining strippers, legends like 00:16:22.740 --> 00:16:25.559 Gypsy Rose Lee, Georgia Southern, Ann Corio, 00:16:25.779 --> 00:16:28.200 Sherri Britton, they were making between seven 00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:29.759 hundred and two thousand dollars a week during 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:32.120 the Great Depression. Two thousand dollars a 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:35.259 week in the 1930s. It's staggering. The average 00:16:35.259 --> 00:16:38.299 American family income was around $1 ,500 for 00:16:38.299 --> 00:16:41.559 the entire year. These women were making more 00:16:41.559 --> 00:16:44.740 in a week than most families made in 12 months. 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:47.720 They were absolute economic powerhouses. They 00:16:47.720 --> 00:16:50.580 really were. But a burlesque show wasn't just 00:16:50.580 --> 00:16:52.919 nonstop striptease. You can't just have performer 00:16:52.919 --> 00:16:55.220 after performer removing clothing for three hours. 00:16:55.419 --> 00:16:57.679 The audience would become completely unruly. 00:16:57.779 --> 00:17:00.059 The pacing would be all wrong. Which brings us 00:17:00.059 --> 00:17:03.250 to the unsung heroes of the Minsky Empire. The 00:17:03.250 --> 00:17:06.289 comedians. Yes. This is where Minsky's secondary 00:17:06.289 --> 00:17:09.589 legacy comes into play. They were an unparalleled 00:17:09.589 --> 00:17:12.269 launch pad for comedic talent. The comedians 00:17:12.269 --> 00:17:14.910 were essential for pacing the show. They acted 00:17:14.910 --> 00:17:17.509 as palate cleansers, resetting the energy of 00:17:17.509 --> 00:17:19.390 the room between the striptease acts. They controlled 00:17:19.390 --> 00:17:22.650 the crowd. Exactly. But more importantly, the 00:17:22.650 --> 00:17:24.730 comedians protected the management from the police. 00:17:24.970 --> 00:17:27.269 Right. And the list of comics who came out of 00:17:27.269 --> 00:17:30.150 Minsky's is insane. Phil Silver's, Zero Mostel, 00:17:30.349 --> 00:17:33.329 Red Skelton, Abbott and Costello, Danny Kay, 00:17:33.710 --> 00:17:36.609 Jack Albertson. A who's who of 20th century comedy. 00:17:36.910 --> 00:17:39.730 But wait, why did a burlesque show need these 00:17:39.730 --> 00:17:42.569 specific types of comedians to protect the management? 00:17:43.230 --> 00:17:45.529 You'd think a burlesque crowd would want the 00:17:45.529 --> 00:17:48.029 dirtiest, most foul -mouthed comics possible. 00:17:48.230 --> 00:17:50.329 It's highly counterintuitive, but the management 00:17:50.329 --> 00:17:53.119 strictly curated the humor to be clean. Clean 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:56.339 humor at a burlesque show. Yes. The women on 00:17:56.339 --> 00:17:58.700 stage were already pushing the obscenity laws 00:17:58.700 --> 00:18:01.859 to the absolute limit. If a comedian went out 00:18:01.859 --> 00:18:04.279 there and told dirty jokes, it gave the Vice 00:18:04.279 --> 00:18:07.359 Squad an easy excuse to raid the theater. Ah, 00:18:07.579 --> 00:18:10.079 I see. Dirty comics were a massive liability 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:12.990 and were fired quickly. The comments had to be 00:18:12.990 --> 00:18:15.170 clean, but they also had to be funny enough to 00:18:15.170 --> 00:18:17.250 capture the attention of a highly aggressive 00:18:17.250 --> 00:18:19.650 audience. Think about the crucible that creates. 00:18:20.130 --> 00:18:22.890 Imagine a young Phil Silvers or Lou Costello 00:18:22.890 --> 00:18:25.869 having to walk out onto a stage facing a rowdy 00:18:25.869 --> 00:18:28.369 room full of men who are actively hostile because 00:18:28.369 --> 00:18:30.250 they just want the girls to come back out. It's 00:18:30.250 --> 00:18:32.589 the toughest room imaginable. To capture that 00:18:32.589 --> 00:18:34.829 audience's attention, hold it, and make them 00:18:34.829 --> 00:18:37.170 laugh uncontrollably without relying on crude 00:18:37.170 --> 00:18:40.509 material requires superhuman comedic timing. 00:18:40.750 --> 00:18:43.809 If you look at Abbott and Costello's iconic who's 00:18:43.809 --> 00:18:46.730 on first routine, that rapid fire, intensely 00:18:46.730 --> 00:18:50.690 physical, loud comedic style was literally forged 00:18:50.690 --> 00:18:53.009 in the fires of Minsky's. You had to be fast 00:18:53.009 --> 00:18:55.430 and loud to survive the crowd. If you could survive 00:18:55.430 --> 00:18:58.130 as a comic at Minsky's, you could conquer any 00:18:58.130 --> 00:19:01.130 stage in the world, in film or later in television. 00:19:01.450 --> 00:19:04.210 Absolutely. But despite the immense wealth, the 00:19:04.210 --> 00:19:06.490 Broadway theaters and the legendary talent roster, 00:19:06.990 --> 00:19:09.680 the political winds were shifting. This brings 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:12.380 us to the crackdown of the mid -1930s. Yeah, 00:19:12.500 --> 00:19:14.500 things take a dark turn for the Minsky's here. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:18.519 By 1935, burlesque is booming. There are 14 burlesque 00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:20.539 theaters in New York alone, but the societal 00:19:20.539 --> 00:19:23.079 pendulum is swinging hard the other way. Irate 00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:25.140 citizen groups are organizing, writing letters, 00:19:25.259 --> 00:19:27.480 and demanding action. And they find their champion 00:19:27.480 --> 00:19:30.220 in the newly elected mayor, Fiorillo LaGuardia. 00:19:30.519 --> 00:19:33.440 LaGuardia comes in swinging, publicly labeling 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:36.799 burlesque a corrupting moral influence. Now, 00:19:36.920 --> 00:19:40.160 It's easy to pay at LaGuardia as just a prudish 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:42.740 villain here, but I want to look at this objectively. 00:19:43.240 --> 00:19:46.720 Was this purely a moral panic or was there a 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:49.539 genuine civic infrastructural reason he wanted 00:19:49.539 --> 00:19:51.920 these theaters gone? This raises an important 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:54.240 question about how political forces and morality 00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:57.420 campaigns intersect. LaGuardia wasn't just a 00:19:57.420 --> 00:20:00.519 moral crusader. He was a reformist trying to 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:03.119 modernize New York City and break the grip of 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:04.940 Tammany Hall corruption. Right. He was fighting 00:20:04.940 --> 00:20:08.569 the machine. Exactly. Times Square in the 1930s 00:20:08.569 --> 00:20:11.769 had genuine crime, prostitution, and sanitation 00:20:11.769 --> 00:20:14.390 issues that were heavily tied to the unregulated 00:20:14.390 --> 00:20:17.410 nightlife economy. Furthermore, the burlesque 00:20:17.410 --> 00:20:19.930 houses were deeply entangled in the Paola system, 00:20:20.369 --> 00:20:22.630 bribing police and local politicians. To $20 00:20:22.630 --> 00:20:25.430 ,000 a week. Exactly. For LaGuardia, shutting 00:20:25.430 --> 00:20:27.349 down Minsky's wasn't just about stopping the 00:20:27.349 --> 00:20:29.349 striptease, it was about dismantling a highly 00:20:29.349 --> 00:20:32.269 visible symbol of the corrupt, old -world machine 00:20:32.269 --> 00:20:34.700 politics he was elected to destroy. That adds 00:20:34.700 --> 00:20:37.380 so much context. It wasn't just about the G -strings. 00:20:37.460 --> 00:20:40.140 It was about the bribes. It was about the entire 00:20:40.140 --> 00:20:44.079 ecosystem of corruption. Precisely. So LaGuardia 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:46.700 unleashes his license commissioner, Paul Moss, 00:20:47.299 --> 00:20:50.720 to go after Minsky's. Moss tries to revoke their 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:54.119 license by administrative decree. But the Minsky's 00:20:54.119 --> 00:20:56.619 fight back. They do. And the state court of appeals 00:20:56.619 --> 00:20:59.779 actually blocks the commissioner. The court rules 00:20:59.779 --> 00:21:02.039 that Moss doesn't have the grounds to revoke 00:21:02.039 --> 00:21:04.559 a license without a prior criminal conviction 00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:06.839 for obscenity. The city couldn't just shut them 00:21:06.839 --> 00:21:09.359 down on a whim. They needed proof of a crime. 00:21:09.619 --> 00:21:12.420 And that legal ruling sets the stage for the 00:21:12.420 --> 00:21:16.579 final fatal blow in April 1937. It highlights 00:21:16.579 --> 00:21:18.940 the mechanics of censorship and how authorities 00:21:18.940 --> 00:21:21.680 will utilize a minor infraction as a wedge to 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:24.140 dismantle an entire industry. The city was basically 00:21:24.140 --> 00:21:26.359 hunting them. The city's inspectors blanketed 00:21:26.359 --> 00:21:28.400 the theaters watching every single performance 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:30.720 waiting for one mistake. And they finally got 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:32.980 it at Abe Minsky's new Gotham Theater in Harlem. 00:21:33.099 --> 00:21:35.299 What happened? A stripper was spotted on stage 00:21:35.299 --> 00:21:37.500 working without a g -string. One missing piece 00:21:37.500 --> 00:21:40.339 of fabric. Just one. That single infraction leads 00:21:40.339 --> 00:21:42.819 to an immediate raid and they get the criminal 00:21:42.819 --> 00:21:45.380 conviction they've been hunting for. And Commissioner 00:21:45.380 --> 00:21:47.740 Moss doesn't just revoke Abe's license for the 00:21:47.740 --> 00:21:51.420 new Gotham. He uses that single conviction as 00:21:51.420 --> 00:21:54.660 the legal justification to refuse to renew all 00:21:54.660 --> 00:21:57.079 of the burlesque licenses in the entire city 00:21:57.079 --> 00:22:00.160 of New York. In one sweeping administrative move, 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:03.380 the entire industry is decapitated. It's breathtaking 00:22:03.380 --> 00:22:06.440 how fast it fell apart. The aftermath is a desperate 00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:09.519 scramble for survival. After several legal appeals 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:12.059 fail, the city offers the Minsky's and their 00:22:12.059 --> 00:22:15.039 rivals a devastating compromise. They are allowed 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:17.440 to reopen their theaters, but they must adhere 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:20.220 to strict new rules that completely forbid strippers. 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:23.140 The very core of their business model is outlawed. 00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:25.680 Completely. So the owners try to play a massive 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:27.779 political game of chicken. They go along with 00:22:27.779 --> 00:22:30.539 the new rules, running sanitized shows and hemorrhaging 00:22:30.539 --> 00:22:33.720 money. Which nobody wanted to see. Nobody. They 00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:35.839 are betting everything on the hope that Mayor 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:37.779 LaGuardia will be voted out of office in the 00:22:37.779 --> 00:22:40.279 upcoming November election, and a more lenient 00:22:40.279 --> 00:22:42.720 administration will let them bring the axe back. 00:22:43.259 --> 00:22:45.579 It shows how deeply their survival depended on 00:22:45.579 --> 00:22:48.160 the ballot box. But the gamble fails. Miserably. 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:51.759 The audiences abandon the sanitized shows, theaters 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:55.019 close before the election even happens, and LaGuardia 00:22:55.019 --> 00:22:58.109 wins reelection handily. LaGuardia's victory 00:22:58.109 --> 00:23:01.029 solidified the end of the era, and the city went 00:23:01.029 --> 00:23:04.589 to extreme, almost surreal lengths to wipe out 00:23:04.589 --> 00:23:07.029 the legacy. This is the craziest part to me. 00:23:07.069 --> 00:23:08.950 They didn't just ban the act of the striptease, 00:23:09.150 --> 00:23:11.930 they legally banned the word burlesque. You could 00:23:11.930 --> 00:23:14.650 not use the word on a marquee or in advertising 00:23:14.650 --> 00:23:17.609 anywhere in New York. They erased the word. And 00:23:17.609 --> 00:23:19.750 soon after, they banned the Minsky name itself. 00:23:20.349 --> 00:23:22.410 The city legally declared that the family name 00:23:22.410 --> 00:23:25.460 Minsky was synonymous with obscenity. Think about 00:23:25.460 --> 00:23:28.339 the power of language in that legal battle. Erasing 00:23:28.339 --> 00:23:30.480 a family's name from public commerce because 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:32.200 they were too good at selling what the public 00:23:32.200 --> 00:23:35.019 secretly wanted. It is a stunning overreach. 00:23:35.140 --> 00:23:37.940 It was total erasure. With that, Burlesque and 00:23:37.940 --> 00:23:40.099 the founding generation of Minsky's were finished 00:23:40.099 --> 00:23:43.980 in New York. But the brand didn't die. It adapted. 00:23:44.420 --> 00:23:47.039 Which brings us to Harold Minsky, Abe's adopted 00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:50.359 son. Harold's story is a fascinating bridge between 00:23:50.359 --> 00:23:53.099 the gritty origins of the Lower East Side and 00:23:53.099 --> 00:23:56.859 the glossy modern era of entertainment. At the 00:23:56.859 --> 00:23:59.099 height of the Great Depression, Harold starts 00:23:59.099 --> 00:24:01.700 learning the ropes at the Gaiety Theater in Times 00:24:01.700 --> 00:24:04.819 Square. He was just a kid. Right. The defining 00:24:04.819 --> 00:24:06.920 moment of his early career happens when he's 00:24:06.920 --> 00:24:10.160 just 19 years old. Every summer, his parents 00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:12.380 would vacation in Europe. And traditionally, 00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:15.099 New York theaters would simply close down because 00:24:15.099 --> 00:24:17.769 they weren't air conditioned. It was too sweltering 00:24:17.769 --> 00:24:20.349 inside a packed auditorium. Nobody wants to sit 00:24:20.349 --> 00:24:22.769 in a 90 -degree theater. But the performers, 00:24:23.230 --> 00:24:26.190 the chorus girls, the comedians, the stagehands, 00:24:26.390 --> 00:24:28.910 they approach this 19 -year -old kid. They are 00:24:28.910 --> 00:24:30.750 flat broke in the middle of the depression, and 00:24:30.750 --> 00:24:32.710 they beg Harold to keep the doors open. They 00:24:32.710 --> 00:24:34.829 needed the work. Harold agrees to keep the un 00:24:34.829 --> 00:24:36.109 -air -conditioned theater running through the 00:24:36.109 --> 00:24:38.750 brutal summer, but he makes a genius pricing 00:24:38.750 --> 00:24:41.890 move. He drops the ticket price to just a dime. 00:24:42.190 --> 00:24:45.809 Ten cents. Ten cents. By doing that, he ensures 00:24:45.809 --> 00:24:47.869 the place is packed to the raptors despite the 00:24:47.869 --> 00:24:50.250 heat. And according to his wife, Dardie Minsky, 00:24:50.809 --> 00:24:53.289 by keeping that theater open for a dime, that 00:24:53.289 --> 00:24:56.309 teenager made over a million dollars. It's an 00:24:56.309 --> 00:24:58.509 unbelievable testament to his understanding of 00:24:58.509 --> 00:25:00.849 the market. He knew exactly what the people could 00:25:00.849 --> 00:25:03.250 afford. Harold had a phenomenal eye for talent, 00:25:03.569 --> 00:25:06.289 too. He groomed Phil Silvers. He discovered a 00:25:06.289 --> 00:25:09.069 14 -year -old Sherry Britton at an audition and 00:25:09.069 --> 00:25:12.440 nurtured her into a major headliner. But Harold's 00:25:12.440 --> 00:25:15.259 greatest strategic move was recognizing the shifting 00:25:15.259 --> 00:25:17.740 geography of American entertainment. Moving out 00:25:17.740 --> 00:25:20.200 west. As New York successfully pushed out vice, 00:25:20.619 --> 00:25:22.859 that vice packed its bags and headed to the desert. 00:25:23.180 --> 00:25:26.299 Right. In 1956, Harold takes the legendary once 00:25:26.299 --> 00:25:28.880 -banned Minsky brand and brings it to Las Vegas. 00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:31.539 He opens a Minsky review at the Dunes Casino. 00:25:32.099 --> 00:25:35.019 It's a massive, glamorous production. Chorus 00:25:35.019 --> 00:25:37.660 lines, top -rate comedians, snazzy bands, and 00:25:37.660 --> 00:25:40.019 the strippers. High production value. He even 00:25:40.019 --> 00:25:42.160 brings in Luke Costello to headline the 1958 00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:45.119 edition. By moving to Las Vegas, Harold essentially 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:48.079 built the prototype for the modern Vegas showgirl 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:52.079 review. The show at the Dunes ran for six incredibly 00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:54.400 successful years, and he expanded the Minsky 00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:57.500 brand to other landmark casinos like the Silver 00:25:57.500 --> 00:26:00.359 Slipper, the Thunderbird, and the Aladdin. He 00:26:00.359 --> 00:26:03.519 became a Vegas fixture. He resided in Las Vegas, 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:05.740 running these legendary shows until his death 00:26:05.740 --> 00:26:09.609 in 1977. He ensured that the Minsky name, once 00:26:09.609 --> 00:26:12.109 outlawed by the mayor of New York, ended up in 00:26:12.109 --> 00:26:15.049 neon lights on the Las Vegas Strip. What a redemption 00:26:15.049 --> 00:26:17.690 arc. So what does this all mean for us? We started 00:26:17.690 --> 00:26:19.809 on the sixth floor of a walk -up on the Lower 00:26:19.809 --> 00:26:22.309 East Side, and we ended up in the penthouses 00:26:22.309 --> 00:26:24.869 of Las Vegas casinos. It's quite the journey. 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:27.180 The Minsky brothers didn't just sell tickets. 00:26:27.400 --> 00:26:29.559 By building that runway, they accidentally created 00:26:29.559 --> 00:26:31.700 the blueprint for modern interactive entertainment. 00:26:32.220 --> 00:26:33.740 They figured out that breaking the fourth wall 00:26:33.740 --> 00:26:35.980 is the ultimate hook. They launched a generation 00:26:35.980 --> 00:26:38.160 of comedy legends who shaped the sense of humor 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:40.960 for the entire 20th century. And they became 00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:43.359 the ultimate test case for American censorship, 00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:45.680 proving that you cannot legislate away human 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:47.799 desire. And this connects directly to you today 00:26:47.799 --> 00:26:50.200 listening to this. Whenever you see a standup 00:26:50.200 --> 00:26:53.380 comedian masterfully handling a hostile crowd, 00:26:53.579 --> 00:26:57.339 you are seeing a skill set forged at Minsky's. 00:26:57.480 --> 00:27:00.720 The echo of the runway. Exactly. Whenever you 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:03.720 witness the ongoing societal debates about what 00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:06.039 is or isn't appropriate in media, television, 00:27:06.099 --> 00:27:09.079 or film, you are watching the exact same ripple 00:27:09.079 --> 00:27:12.519 effects of the battles fought over a static tableau 00:27:12.519 --> 00:27:16.799 versus a moving dancer in 1925. The technology 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:19.559 changes, but the fundamental tension between 00:27:19.559 --> 00:27:21.940 respectable society and pushing the envelope 00:27:22.089 --> 00:27:24.750 remains identical. It really does. And I want 00:27:24.750 --> 00:27:26.309 to leave you with a final thought to mull over. 00:27:26.490 --> 00:27:28.349 Think about the cycle the Minsky's lived and 00:27:28.349 --> 00:27:30.670 died by. They had to constantly, relentlessly 00:27:30.670 --> 00:27:33.309 push the envelope just a little bit further every 00:27:33.309 --> 00:27:35.230 single night to keep the audience's attention 00:27:35.230 --> 00:27:37.630 right up until the system cracked down and destroyed 00:27:37.630 --> 00:27:40.170 them. It's a dangerous game. Now look at today's 00:27:40.170 --> 00:27:42.289 digital landscape. Look at social media algorithms 00:27:42.289 --> 00:27:44.950 and modern content creators. Are we all just 00:27:44.950 --> 00:27:47.509 trapped in a modern digital version of Minsky's 00:27:47.509 --> 00:27:49.670 burlesque? That is a fascinating comparison. 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:53.019 Are creators today just desperately trying to 00:27:53.019 --> 00:27:56.200 find the exact psychological moment, the exact 00:27:56.200 --> 00:27:59.240 outrageous thumbnail or controversial take to 00:27:59.240 --> 00:28:01.660 keep the audience cheering without getting cancelled 00:28:01.660 --> 00:28:04.140 by the platform? Are we all just walking the 00:28:04.140 --> 00:28:06.380 exact same runaway hoping the g -string doesn't 00:28:06.380 --> 00:28:08.980 snap? I think we might be. It is a wild thought. 00:28:09.180 --> 00:28:11.400 Thank you so much for joining us on this deep 00:28:11.400 --> 00:28:13.660 dive into the history of Minsky's burlesque. 00:28:13.819 --> 00:28:15.900 We hope you enjoyed the journey and we encourage 00:28:15.900 --> 00:28:19.259 you to keep exploring the hidden surprising history 00:28:19.259 --> 00:28:21.480 behind the entertainment you consume every day.