WEBVTT 00:00:01.419 --> 00:00:03.419 Imagine if the government didn't just shut down 00:00:03.419 --> 00:00:06.299 your business, but they took the unprecedented 00:00:06.299 --> 00:00:09.220 step of legally banning your family's last name 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:12.000 from ever being spoken on a stage. Right. Just 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.179 completely erasing your identity from the industry 00:00:14.179 --> 00:00:17.839 you built. Exactly. Welcome to today's Deep Dive. 00:00:18.519 --> 00:00:20.640 Our mission today, for you listening at home, 00:00:21.059 --> 00:00:23.980 is to really explore the incredible chaotic rise 00:00:23.980 --> 00:00:26.410 and fall of Minsky's burlesque. We're going to 00:00:26.410 --> 00:00:28.949 be looking closely at their empire from roughly 00:00:28.949 --> 00:00:32.689 1912 to 1937. Yeah. And we are pulling all of 00:00:32.689 --> 00:00:35.530 our insights today from a highly detailed historical 00:00:35.530 --> 00:00:38.409 breakdown of the Minsky family and the entire 00:00:38.409 --> 00:00:40.750 burlesque industry that they practically reinvented. 00:00:40.770 --> 00:00:42.689 And this really isn't just a story about risque 00:00:42.689 --> 00:00:45.170 dancing. Oh, not at all. Yeah. At its core, this 00:00:45.170 --> 00:00:47.929 is an absolute master class in business pivoting. 00:00:47.990 --> 00:00:50.770 It's a look at the intense push and pull of censorship 00:00:50.770 --> 00:00:53.670 and a wild example of how a massive logistical 00:00:53.670 --> 00:00:56.850 inconvenience accidentally revolutionized American 00:00:56.850 --> 00:00:59.090 entertainment. What's really fascinating here 00:00:59.090 --> 00:01:01.530 is how these four brothers Abe, Billy, Herbert 00:01:01.530 --> 00:01:04.010 and Morton Minsky how they navigated the incredibly 00:01:04.010 --> 00:01:06.849 strict societal rules of their time. Right. Because 00:01:06.849 --> 00:01:09.650 the historical record shows that while their 00:01:09.650 --> 00:01:12.909 shows were ultimately declared obscene and outlawed 00:01:12.909 --> 00:01:15.810 they were by modern standards actually rather 00:01:15.810 --> 00:01:18.269 tame. Very tame. But to understand how they built 00:01:18.269 --> 00:01:20.590 their empire we have to look at the incredibly 00:01:20.590 --> 00:01:22.849 restrictive environment they were operating in 00:01:22.849 --> 00:01:25.620 and the physical constraints they were dealing 00:01:25.620 --> 00:01:28.959 with from day one. Okay let's untag this because 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:31.560 the origins of this whole empire are just so 00:01:31.560 --> 00:01:34.040 chaotic. It all starts in 1908 with the eldest 00:01:34.040 --> 00:01:36.379 brother Abe. Right. He launches this business 00:01:36.379 --> 00:01:39.040 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan running a 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:42.400 Nickelodeon that apparently showed some pretty 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:46.000 racy films for the era. Now I know the word Nickelodeon 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:49.200 from the kids TV network but what exactly was 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:51.980 that in the context of early 1900s New York? 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:54.599 Well in those days a Nickelodeon was essentially 00:01:54.599 --> 00:01:57.359 the very first type of indoor exhibition space 00:01:57.359 --> 00:01:59.719 dedicated to showing projected motion pictures. 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:02.060 They were usually just converted storefronts. 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:04.379 You paid a nickel, hence the name, and you sat 00:02:04.379 --> 00:02:06.859 on a hard wooden chair to watch a series of short 00:02:06.859 --> 00:02:09.319 silent films. Just a nickel. Yeah, they were 00:02:09.319 --> 00:02:12.080 incredibly popular, incredibly cheap, and they 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:14.719 often operated in a bit of a legal gray area 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:17.240 regarding content. Which explains why Abe gets 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:20.219 shut down. But the wild part is, it wasn't the 00:02:20.219 --> 00:02:22.810 city or the police who shut him down. No. It 00:02:22.810 --> 00:02:25.490 was his own father. His dad actually forces him 00:02:25.490 --> 00:02:27.909 to close the Nickelodeon, but then turns around, 00:02:28.289 --> 00:02:30.710 buys the National Winter Garden Theater on Houston 00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:34.150 Street, and hands the venue over to Abe, along 00:02:34.150 --> 00:02:36.330 with two of his brothers, Billy and Herbert. 00:02:36.620 --> 00:02:39.740 It is a very classic heavy -handed family business 00:02:39.740 --> 00:02:42.259 dynamic. Yeah, seriously. But The Father's Gift 00:02:42.259 --> 00:02:45.719 came with a massive structural flaw. The National 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:48.319 Winter Garden Theater was inconveniently located 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:50.879 on the sixth floor of the building. The sixth 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:54.219 floor? Yes. And in the early 1900s, getting audiences 00:02:54.219 --> 00:02:56.639 to climb six flights of stairs for a show is 00:02:56.639 --> 00:02:59.699 a tremendous logistical hurdle. Elevators were 00:02:59.699 --> 00:03:02.099 not a standard luxury for these types of venues. 00:03:02.180 --> 00:03:04.580 So they have this venue, but they have a massive 00:03:04.580 --> 00:03:06.939 business dilemma. I mean, at first they try showing 00:03:06.939 --> 00:03:09.680 respectable films, but they quickly realize they 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:11.740 just can't compete with a large, established 00:03:11.740 --> 00:03:13.400 theater chain. Right, the big chains had all 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:15.580 the leverage. So then they pivot to vaudeville, 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:18.680 bringing in live acts. But they hit another wall. 00:03:19.099 --> 00:03:21.979 They simply cannot afford the top -tier vaudeville 00:03:21.979 --> 00:03:24.199 acts that would actually convince people to make 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:26.639 that exhausting six -story climb. They needed 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:29.460 a product that was economical to produce, but 00:03:29.460 --> 00:03:32.500 possessed a dedicated, built -in audience. So 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:35.280 they considered burlesque. Makes sense. From 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:37.800 a pure business perspective, burlesque acts were 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:40.979 significantly cheaper to book. At the time, the 00:03:40.979 --> 00:03:43.419 industry was dominated by these massive circuits 00:03:43.419 --> 00:03:46.000 known as wheels. You had the Columbia Wheel, 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:48.860 the American Wheel, and later in the 1920s, the 00:03:48.860 --> 00:03:52.039 Mutual Wheel. How exactly did those wheels operate? 00:03:52.219 --> 00:03:54.539 Were they like a modern franchise? Very much 00:03:54.539 --> 00:03:56.939 so. If a theater owner signed a contract with 00:03:56.939 --> 00:04:00.580 a wheel, that circuit supplied a brand new fully 00:04:00.580 --> 00:04:03.500 packaged show every single week. Oh, wow. Yeah. 00:04:03.689 --> 00:04:05.750 provide the cast, the costumes, the scenery, 00:04:05.949 --> 00:04:08.270 the scripts, everything. It was a turnkey entertainment 00:04:08.270 --> 00:04:10.370 solution. You just provided the building and 00:04:10.370 --> 00:04:12.789 took your cut of the door. That sounds incredibly 00:04:12.789 --> 00:04:14.689 convenient, especially for guys struggling to 00:04:14.689 --> 00:04:17.430 fill a six -floor walk -up. But they don't take 00:04:17.430 --> 00:04:19.629 the deal. No, they don't. They decide to go totally 00:04:19.629 --> 00:04:22.129 independent and stage their own shows. I know 00:04:22.129 --> 00:04:24.470 part of that was to save money, but the research 00:04:24.470 --> 00:04:27.939 highlights that Billy Minsky had these grand, 00:04:27.980 --> 00:04:30.899 almost theatrical delusions of grandeur. He really 00:04:30.899 --> 00:04:34.319 did. He longed to be the next Florence Siegfeld, 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:37.600 you know, the legendary Broadway impresario behind 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:40.600 the Siegfeld follies. He wanted complete creative 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:42.600 control. And if we connect this to the bigger 00:04:42.600 --> 00:04:46.360 picture, think about it. You have. Entrepreneurs 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:48.540 who want absolute control over their product 00:04:48.540 --> 00:04:51.199 operating in a cheaper independent lane, but 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:53.939 they still have that glaring physical problem. 00:04:54.279 --> 00:04:56.079 The stairs. The stairs. How do you get patrons 00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:58.740 to walk up six flights? You need an overwhelming 00:04:58.740 --> 00:05:00.779 differentiator, something they literally cannot 00:05:00.779 --> 00:05:02.899 see anywhere else in the city. And here's where 00:05:02.899 --> 00:05:05.199 it gets really interesting. Abe Minsky had traveled 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:07.980 to Paris a few years prior. He had seen the Folies 00:05:07.980 --> 00:05:10.540 Bergère and the Moulin Rouge. Right, world famous 00:05:10.540 --> 00:05:12.920 venues. Yeah, famous for their avant -garde stage 00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:15.899 design. So he suggests importing one of their 00:05:15.899 --> 00:05:18.819 trademark architectural features. A runway. A 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:21.079 physical platform that extends out from the stage 00:05:21.079 --> 00:05:23.560 right over the seats and right into the middle 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:26.660 of the audience. They completely reconfigure 00:05:26.660 --> 00:05:30.139 the theater. And the Minsky's literally become 00:05:30.139 --> 00:05:33.079 the very first to feature a runway in the United 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:35.720 States. It was a brilliant spatial solution. 00:05:36.120 --> 00:05:38.519 It broke the traditional proscenium barrier between 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:40.399 the performer and the audience. And just to make 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:42.000 sure everyone walking past that building knew 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:44.480 exactly what they were selling. Billy changed 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:46.860 the sign out front. What did it say? It read, 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:49.879 burlesque as you like it, not a family show. 00:05:50.100 --> 00:05:52.720 That is such a brazen piece of marketing. It 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:55.459 completely reframed the physical limitation of 00:05:55.459 --> 00:05:57.860 the building. Think about how physical limitations 00:05:57.860 --> 00:06:00.939 in business often force the most enduring innovations. 00:06:01.540 --> 00:06:03.860 I mean, the runway is a staple of fashion and 00:06:03.860 --> 00:06:06.500 performance today. And in the US, it traces right 00:06:06.500 --> 00:06:08.779 back to four brothers trying to convince New 00:06:08.779 --> 00:06:11.139 Yorkers that walking up six flights of stairs 00:06:11.139 --> 00:06:13.540 was worth the effort. And it worked. The crowds 00:06:13.540 --> 00:06:16.279 actually started climbing those stairs. But as 00:06:16.279 --> 00:06:18.720 with any disruptive business, they hit some turbulence. 00:06:18.740 --> 00:06:20.920 Yeah. And that brings us to an accidental moment 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:23.720 on stage that practically built their empire. 00:06:24.019 --> 00:06:27.399 A pivotal moment. Yeah, it's 1917. A performer 00:06:27.399 --> 00:06:31.230 named Mae Dix is finishing her act. She absent 00:06:31.230 --> 00:06:33.670 -mindedly begins removing her costume before 00:06:33.670 --> 00:06:36.250 she actually reaches the wings, right in full 00:06:36.250 --> 00:06:38.870 view of the audience. Right. And the crowd goes 00:06:38.870 --> 00:06:42.350 absolutely wild hearing this massive reaction. 00:06:42.769 --> 00:06:45.790 Dix just returns to the stage and continues removing 00:06:45.790 --> 00:06:49.009 her clothing to wild applause. It was an entirely 00:06:49.009 --> 00:06:52.250 unscripted moment. But Billy Minsky standing 00:06:52.250 --> 00:06:54.629 in the back and seeing the audience's visceral 00:06:54.629 --> 00:06:57.209 reaction immediately recognizes the commercial 00:06:57.209 --> 00:07:00.310 value. Of course he does. He ordered that specific 00:07:00.310 --> 00:07:03.449 accident to be repeated every single night. And 00:07:03.449 --> 00:07:06.069 that single decision locked them into an incredibly 00:07:06.069 --> 00:07:08.949 complex, high -stakes business cycle. A constant 00:07:08.949 --> 00:07:11.829 calibration of risk. Precisely. To keep their 00:07:11.829 --> 00:07:14.149 operating license, the city required the Minsky's 00:07:14.149 --> 00:07:16.709 to keep their shows relatively clean. But to 00:07:16.709 --> 00:07:18.910 keep drawing those massive crowds and paying 00:07:18.910 --> 00:07:21.709 the bills, they had to be risque. Whenever they 00:07:21.709 --> 00:07:23.569 pushed the boundaries too far to boost ticket 00:07:23.569 --> 00:07:26.439 sales, the police would raid the theater. Let's 00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:28.199 talk about the economics of that controversy, 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:30.040 because the numbers they were pulling in were 00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:32.819 staggering. Let's fast forward a bit to 1924. 00:07:33.220 --> 00:07:35.680 The youngest brother, Morton Minsky, finally 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:37.899 joins the family company after graduating from 00:07:37.899 --> 00:07:40.740 New York University. He starts managing the Little 00:07:40.740 --> 00:07:45.410 Apollo Theater up on 125th Street. And Talk about 00:07:45.410 --> 00:07:47.129 in an initiation there's a police raid during 00:07:47.129 --> 00:07:49.910 his very first show. What a welcome to the family 00:07:49.910 --> 00:07:52.750 business. Right. But for the next four years, 00:07:52.970 --> 00:07:56.050 that theater showed a weekly profit of $20 ,000. 00:07:56.750 --> 00:07:59.829 Now, $20 ,000 a week in the 1920s is massive. 00:07:59.990 --> 00:08:02.410 Huge. But our source materials point out this 00:08:02.410 --> 00:08:05.920 was $20 ,000 a week after Paola. Who exactly 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:08.519 were they paying off? Paola, in this context, 00:08:08.779 --> 00:08:11.259 refers to the systemic bribery of local officials, 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:14.379 beat cops, and vice squads. Ah, OK. Operating 00:08:14.379 --> 00:08:16.579 a business that constantly flirted with obscenity 00:08:16.579 --> 00:08:19.620 laws in Tammany Hall -era New York required a 00:08:19.620 --> 00:08:22.399 massive slush fund. They were essentially paying 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:24.779 a shadow tax to keep the doors open and ensure 00:08:24.779 --> 00:08:27.199 that when raids did happen, they were often tipped 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:29.220 off in advance. Or the consequences were just 00:08:29.220 --> 00:08:32.220 minimized. Exactly. Generating 20 grand a week 00:08:32.220 --> 00:08:34.720 in pure profit after satisfying that network 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:37.360 of corruption highlights exactly why they were 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:39.679 willing to endure the constant legal harassment. 00:08:40.179 --> 00:08:42.559 The margins were simply too high to walk away 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:45.240 from. Though the magic didn't work everywhere. 00:08:45.820 --> 00:08:48.519 Billy attempted to present a so -called classy 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:51.480 version of burlesque at the Park Theater on Columbus 00:08:51.480 --> 00:08:54.519 Circle, and it failed miserably. It was a total 00:08:54.519 --> 00:08:56.899 flop. The audience didn't want polished and polite. 00:08:57.299 --> 00:09:00.120 They wanted the edge, the transgression, the 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:02.700 danger of a potential raid. Which brings us to 00:09:02.700 --> 00:09:05.580 the most infamous raid in their history. By April 00:09:05.580 --> 00:09:08.740 1925, the legal landscape had shifted slightly. 00:09:09.159 --> 00:09:11.559 It was actually permissible for women in shows 00:09:11.559 --> 00:09:14.240 staged by major producers as well as in burlesque 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:17.360 to appear topless, but only under a very specific 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:19.200 condition. What was the condition? It had to 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:21.980 be a static tableau. meaning they could not move 00:09:21.980 --> 00:09:24.220 a muscle. It had to be presented as classical 00:09:24.220 --> 00:09:27.419 living art. A legal loophole based entirely on 00:09:27.419 --> 00:09:30.259 stillness. Yes. A very similar rule existed in 00:09:30.259 --> 00:09:32.600 London burlesque around the same time. The authorities 00:09:32.600 --> 00:09:34.460 reasoned that if it looked like a museum statue, 00:09:34.580 --> 00:09:37.490 it was art. If it jiggled, it was obscene. So 00:09:37.490 --> 00:09:40.049 a book and a subsequent film called The Night 00:09:40.049 --> 00:09:42.590 They Raided Minsky's highlighted a show at the 00:09:42.590 --> 00:09:45.090 National Winter Garden where a performer named 00:09:45.090 --> 00:09:47.049 Mademoiselle Fifi, who was actually just a woman 00:09:47.049 --> 00:09:49.529 named Mary Dawson from Pennsylvania, stripped 00:09:49.529 --> 00:09:52.529 to the waist. And then crucially, she moved. 00:09:52.549 --> 00:09:55.750 Right. The story goes that this triggered a massive 00:09:55.750 --> 00:09:58.570 cinematic police raid that changed everything. 00:09:58.889 --> 00:10:01.570 This raises an important question about how we 00:10:01.570 --> 00:10:04.570 evaluate historical sources, especially when 00:10:04.570 --> 00:10:06.789 dealing with entertainment history where myth 00:10:06.789 --> 00:10:09.649 -making is baked into the business model. That's 00:10:09.649 --> 00:10:12.070 a great point. We have several conflicting accounts 00:10:12.070 --> 00:10:14.850 of this 1925 raid. You have the book and film 00:10:14.850 --> 00:10:17.230 highlighting it as a watershed moment. But then 00:10:17.230 --> 00:10:19.990 you have Mademoiselle Fifi herself, who explicitly 00:10:19.990 --> 00:10:22.669 went on the record later to contradict that dramatic 00:10:22.669 --> 00:10:25.070 account. Interesting. Furthermore, theater scholars 00:10:25.070 --> 00:10:27.610 who have dug into the municipal records severely 00:10:27.610 --> 00:10:29.830 doubt this particular raid even took place the 00:10:29.830 --> 00:10:31.830 way it was described. Yeah, the best perspective 00:10:31.830 --> 00:10:33.830 on this really comes from Morton Minsky himself. 00:10:34.429 --> 00:10:37.250 In a memoir he co -wrote, he addresses that specific 00:10:37.250 --> 00:10:40.330 date in 1925. He basically says the day the book 00:10:40.330 --> 00:10:43.149 was based on was hardly epic. He played it down. 00:10:43.309 --> 00:10:45.610 He wrote that the raid story was fun for Hollywood, 00:10:45.629 --> 00:10:48.690 but the reality was that raids were simply one 00:10:48.690 --> 00:10:51.230 of dozens they had become accustomed to. To him, 00:10:51.269 --> 00:10:54.009 it was certainly no big crisis. It's a wonderful 00:10:54.009 --> 00:10:57.210 reality check from the man who was actually balancing 00:10:57.210 --> 00:11:00.529 the books to Morton. A raid wasn't a cinematic 00:11:00.529 --> 00:11:03.309 climax. It was an operational hazard that they 00:11:03.309 --> 00:11:05.909 had fully priced into their business model. It 00:11:05.909 --> 00:11:09.210 was just a Tuesday. And business was absolutely 00:11:09.210 --> 00:11:11.730 booming, especially as they moved deep into prohibition. 00:11:12.129 --> 00:11:14.870 Now, you might assume that this was just a gritty 00:11:14.870 --> 00:11:17.629 underground scene for a very specific type of 00:11:17.629 --> 00:11:20.070 rough around the edges patron. Sure. But the 00:11:20.070 --> 00:11:22.690 National Winter Garden's notoriety grew so much. 00:11:22.860 --> 00:11:25.580 that it started experiencing massive cultural 00:11:25.580 --> 00:11:27.919 crossover. We are talking about high society 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:30.899 elites. Yes, clientele shifted. Regular patrons 00:11:30.899 --> 00:11:33.059 included Conde Nast, the legendary publisher, 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:35.440 writers like Jontos Passos and Robert Benchley, 00:11:35.860 --> 00:11:38.710 the drama critic George J. Nathan. even the poet 00:11:38.710 --> 00:11:41.070 Hart Crane, who wrote a poem literally titled 00:11:41.070 --> 00:11:43.629 National Winter Garden in his famous collection, 00:11:43.750 --> 00:11:46.669 The Bridge. It became a destination for the intellectual 00:11:46.669 --> 00:11:49.850 and cultural elite. They were likely drawn to 00:11:49.850 --> 00:11:52.909 the raw, unpretentious energy of the shows. A 00:11:52.909 --> 00:11:55.509 real contrast to their normal lives. Exactly. 00:11:56.009 --> 00:11:58.590 It served as a counter -culture experience, a 00:11:58.590 --> 00:12:00.789 place to let off steam during the puritanical 00:12:00.789 --> 00:12:04.220 restrictions of prohibition. Slumming it at Minsky's 00:12:04.220 --> 00:12:06.980 became a badge of honor for the Manhattan intelligentsia. 00:12:07.500 --> 00:12:09.919 But the macroeconomic environment was about to 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:12.360 shift drastically. Right, the Great Depression. 00:12:13.019 --> 00:12:15.000 You would think an economic collapse of that 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:17.539 magnitude would wipe out a luxury -like entertainment. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:21.039 But while the Depression devastated so many industries, 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:25.299 it actually solidified the Minsky Empire. How 00:12:25.299 --> 00:12:27.519 did they survive when legitimate theaters were 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:29.740 going under? If we look at the mechanics of why 00:12:29.740 --> 00:12:31.379 that happened, it all comes down to overhead. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:34.360 When the Depression hit, those large, respectable 00:12:34.360 --> 00:12:36.779 burlesque wheels we discussed earlier, the Columbia 00:12:36.779 --> 00:12:39.100 and Mutual circuits have completely collapsed 00:12:39.100 --> 00:12:40.259 under their own weight. No, because they were 00:12:40.259 --> 00:12:42.860 too big. Maintaining massive touring productions 00:12:42.860 --> 00:12:45.200 with centralized costume and set departments 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:47.879 became financially impossible. They couldn't 00:12:47.879 --> 00:12:50.559 sustain the overhead. This massive structural 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:54.120 failure left Minsky's independent lower cost 00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:57.120 model as the absolute standard bearer for stock 00:12:57.120 --> 00:12:59.240 burlesque. And suddenly they had a monopoly on 00:12:59.240 --> 00:13:02.299 the talent pool too. There was a massive supply 00:13:02.299 --> 00:13:05.519 of unemployed women who desperately needed steady 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:08.120 work to support their families. They flocked 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:11.350 to the Minsky's. And the wages were incredible 00:13:11.350 --> 00:13:14.549 for the era. Many of these women, some who began 00:13:14.549 --> 00:13:17.250 in their teens, were making between $700 and 00:13:17.250 --> 00:13:20.190 $2 ,000 a week. That is life -changing money 00:13:20.190 --> 00:13:22.549 during the height of the Depression. And because 00:13:22.549 --> 00:13:24.789 they were flush with cash and talent, the Minsky's 00:13:24.789 --> 00:13:27.389 began expanding rapidly. They leased the Harlem 00:13:27.389 --> 00:13:30.370 Opera House in 1924, and then Herdig and Siemens 00:13:30.370 --> 00:13:33.610 Apollo in 1928. But the real gamble, the crowning 00:13:33.610 --> 00:13:36.529 achievement, happens in 1931. Broadway theaters 00:13:36.529 --> 00:13:38.409 are closing left and right because nobody can 00:13:38.409 --> 00:13:40.570 afford legitimate theater tickets. Billy Minsky 00:13:40.570 --> 00:13:43.070 sees the opportunity of a lifetime. He brings 00:13:43.070 --> 00:13:45.450 the Minsky brand right to the heart of Broadway. 00:13:46.190 --> 00:13:48.789 He leases the Republic Theater on 42nd Street, 00:13:49.149 --> 00:13:51.870 staging their first show there on February 12th. 00:13:52.090 --> 00:13:55.230 It was a brilliant strategic move. Billy realized 00:13:55.230 --> 00:13:57.809 that while Burlesque itself could not be considered 00:13:57.809 --> 00:14:01.230 classy by the theatrical establishment, it absolutely 00:14:01.230 --> 00:14:04.450 could be presented in classy surroundings. By 00:14:04.450 --> 00:14:07.549 placing it on Broadway inside a beautiful, legitimate 00:14:07.549 --> 00:14:10.509 theater, he elevated the perception of the product. 00:14:10.629 --> 00:14:13.250 And he proved it. The Republic Theater became 00:14:13.250 --> 00:14:15.909 Minsky's flagship and the undisputed capital 00:14:15.909 --> 00:14:18.639 of Burlesque in the United States. Today, that 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:20.700 theater is actually called the New Victory and 00:14:20.700 --> 00:14:23.120 specializes in children's entertainment, which 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:25.200 is just a wild historical pivot. That really 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:27.700 is a contrast. But back then, the Minsky's inspired 00:14:27.700 --> 00:14:30.000 a whole wave of other burlesque shows to open 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:32.740 on 42nd Street. By the time they finished expanding, 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:34.779 the Minsky's controlled over a dozen theaters 00:14:34.779 --> 00:14:37.059 across multiple states. They essentially formed 00:14:37.059 --> 00:14:39.360 their own wheel. They stepped into the vacuum 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:42.000 left by the older circuits and built an empire 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.700 on affordable, provocative entertainment during 00:14:44.700 --> 00:14:47.330 the darkest economic days of the country. And 00:14:47.330 --> 00:14:49.549 we have to talk about the talent that came out 00:14:49.549 --> 00:14:52.730 of those theaters. The sheer volume of legendary 00:14:52.730 --> 00:14:55.370 performers that used Minsky's as an incubator 00:14:55.370 --> 00:14:58.750 is mind blowing. Yeah. Yes, they had headlining 00:14:58.750 --> 00:15:01.289 strippers like Gypsy Rose Lee and Corio and Sherry 00:15:01.289 --> 00:15:05.210 Britton. But Minsky's was also a crucible for 00:15:05.210 --> 00:15:08.009 American comedy. It was a training ground. The 00:15:08.009 --> 00:15:10.690 comedy and the stripping were entirely symbiotic. 00:15:10.710 --> 00:15:12.950 How so? The comedians provided the necessary 00:15:12.950 --> 00:15:15.429 pacing and relief between the burlesque numbers. 00:15:16.090 --> 00:15:18.370 The crowds could be rowdy, and it took an incredibly 00:15:18.370 --> 00:15:20.889 skilled comic to hold their attention. And look 00:15:20.889 --> 00:15:23.129 at who was holding that attention. I was looking 00:15:23.129 --> 00:15:26.490 at the notes for this deep dive, and the roster 00:15:26.490 --> 00:15:28.309 of comics who worked there reads like a hall 00:15:28.309 --> 00:15:31.090 of fame. Phil Silver's was their house comic 00:15:31.090 --> 00:15:34.220 for nearly a decade. You had guys like Zero Mostel. 00:15:34.259 --> 00:15:36.120 Red Skelton developed his timing there. Wait, 00:15:36.200 --> 00:15:38.539 Red Skelton? Yeah. And I saw Abbott and Costello 00:15:38.539 --> 00:15:41.120 on that list, too. They started in a Minsky Burlesque 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:43.860 show. They did, along with Danny Kay and Jack 00:15:43.860 --> 00:15:46.840 Albertson. The Minsky's demanded top -tier comedic 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:49.059 talent because they understood the psychology 00:15:49.059 --> 00:15:51.740 of their audience. And they were very clear about 00:15:51.740 --> 00:15:53.940 the artistry involved in the striptease itself, 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:56.960 too. It wasn't just a crude display. They emphasized 00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:59.320 that a good striptease dance required knowing 00:15:59.320 --> 00:16:01.740 exactly the right psychological moment to rem 00:16:01.740 --> 00:16:04.470 - remove each garment. As the brothers put it, 00:16:04.730 --> 00:16:06.470 it wasn't just a matter of going on the stage 00:16:06.470 --> 00:16:09.049 and taking off clothes. It needed finesse. It 00:16:09.049 --> 00:16:11.409 needs finesse. I love that. But of course, when 00:16:11.409 --> 00:16:14.269 you are operating 14 burlesque theaters and the 00:16:14.269 --> 00:16:17.090 competition is fierce, you are constantly pushing 00:16:17.090 --> 00:16:20.289 limits. Every year, licensed commissioners would 00:16:20.289 --> 00:16:22.610 issue new restrictions. Naturally. But because 00:16:22.610 --> 00:16:25.190 actual criminal convictions were incredibly rare, 00:16:25.730 --> 00:16:27.850 theater managers essentially ignored the warnings. 00:16:28.070 --> 00:16:30.889 They saw no need to tone down their shows. Which 00:16:30.889 --> 00:16:33.850 sets the stage for a massive societal backlash. 00:16:34.450 --> 00:16:37.570 In 1935, irate citizens groups began heavily 00:16:37.570 --> 00:16:39.950 organizing and calling for action against Burlesque. 00:16:40.429 --> 00:16:43.110 The mayor of New York at the time, Fiorello LaGuardia, 00:16:43.409 --> 00:16:45.929 officially deemed Burlesque a corrupting moral 00:16:45.929 --> 00:16:48.309 influence. He went right after them. He was determined 00:16:48.309 --> 00:16:50.529 to clean up the city's image. The pressure was 00:16:50.529 --> 00:16:53.250 mounting. The city's license commissioner, a 00:16:53.250 --> 00:16:56.529 man named Paul Moss, actively tried to revoke 00:16:56.529 --> 00:16:59.370 Minsky's operating license. But the State Court 00:16:59.370 --> 00:17:01.809 of Appeals stepped in and ruled that Moss did 00:17:01.809 --> 00:17:04.089 not have the legal grounds to do so without an 00:17:04.089 --> 00:17:06.130 actual criminal conviction. Right. They needed 00:17:06.130 --> 00:17:10.230 a smoking gun. Exactly. And in April 1937, they 00:17:10.230 --> 00:17:12.569 finally got it. It all came down to a single 00:17:12.569 --> 00:17:15.269 garment. A stripper performing at Abe Minsky's 00:17:15.269 --> 00:17:18.049 New Gotham Theater in Harlem was spotted working 00:17:18.049 --> 00:17:21.490 without a G -string. The fatal G -string. That 00:17:21.490 --> 00:17:23.869 single missing piece of clothing triggered a 00:17:23.869 --> 00:17:26.609 raid that finally stuck. It led to a criminal 00:17:26.609 --> 00:17:29.109 conviction, and that conviction handed Commissioner 00:17:29.109 --> 00:17:31.250 Moss exactly what he needed. The leverage he 00:17:31.250 --> 00:17:33.809 was looking for. He instantly revoked Abe's license 00:17:33.809 --> 00:17:36.549 and then went a massive step further. He flatly 00:17:36.549 --> 00:17:38.950 refused to renew all of the other burlesque licenses 00:17:38.950 --> 00:17:41.630 in New York. The entire industry was paralyzed 00:17:41.630 --> 00:17:43.890 overnight. The erasure was swift and devastating. 00:17:44.049 --> 00:17:46.730 After several frantic appeals, the Minsky's and 00:17:46.730 --> 00:17:48.670 their rivals were told they could reopen, but 00:17:48.670 --> 00:17:51.170 only if they adhered to draconian new rules that 00:17:51.170 --> 00:17:54.200 completely forbade strippers. But you can't sell 00:17:54.200 --> 00:17:57.299 burlesque without the burlesque. Business under 00:17:57.299 --> 00:17:59.700 the new sanitized code was absolutely terrible. 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:02.900 So bad that many New York burlesque theaters 00:18:02.900 --> 00:18:05.259 were forced to close their doors forever. It 00:18:05.259 --> 00:18:07.380 ruined them. And to put the final nail in the 00:18:07.380 --> 00:18:10.079 coffin, by the time Mayor LaGuardia was successfully 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:13.400 re -elected, the actual word burlesque had been 00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:16.539 legally banned from theater marquees. And soon 00:18:16.539 --> 00:18:19.200 after that, the name Minsky itself was banned 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:21.180 because the government determined the two words 00:18:21.180 --> 00:18:24.319 were completely synonymous. Incredible. Just 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:26.759 like that, Burlesque and the Minsky's were entirely 00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:28.940 finished in New York City. It is a remarkable 00:18:28.940 --> 00:18:31.700 example of state power completely dismantling 00:18:31.700 --> 00:18:35.279 a thriving cultural and economic empire. They 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:37.819 didn't just shut down the theaters, they erased 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:40.200 the vocabulary. It is a heavy ending for the 00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:42.779 founding brothers. But there's an epilogue here. 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:44.779 and it's a story that really brightens the mood. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:47.319 It involves Harold Minsky, who was Abe's adopted 00:18:47.319 --> 00:18:49.380 son. Right, the next generation. While the band 00:18:49.380 --> 00:18:52.119 wiped out the traditional empire, Harold stayed 00:18:52.119 --> 00:18:55.039 incredibly active in the business, and he had 00:18:55.039 --> 00:18:57.859 a massive heart. During the height of the Great 00:18:57.859 --> 00:19:00.720 Depression, when Harold was just 19 years old, 00:19:00.980 --> 00:19:03.660 he had taken over operations of the Gaiety Theater 00:19:03.660 --> 00:19:06.559 in Times Square from his father. Historical accounts 00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:09.279 note a very touching detail about how he managed 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:12.039 the Gaiety. Every summer, his parents would go 00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:15.079 to Europe for vacation. Normally, the theaters 00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:17.420 would close entirely because the heat in New 00:19:17.420 --> 00:19:19.839 York City was unbearable and theaters back then 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:23.019 were not air conditioned. Imagine a packed theater 00:19:23.019 --> 00:19:26.289 in August in New York with no AC. It sounds like 00:19:26.289 --> 00:19:29.230 a nightmare. Brutal. But the performers literally 00:19:29.230 --> 00:19:32.150 begged Harold to keep the doors open. The girls 00:19:32.150 --> 00:19:34.390 were completely broke, and they desperately needed 00:19:34.390 --> 00:19:36.450 the performance money just to survive the summer. 00:19:36.549 --> 00:19:39.230 Yeah. So Harold agrees. He kept it going. He 00:19:39.230 --> 00:19:41.190 keeps the theater open through the sweltering 00:19:41.190 --> 00:19:43.750 heat. He charges just a dime for a ticket so 00:19:43.750 --> 00:19:45.930 people could afford to come. And according to 00:19:45.930 --> 00:19:49.349 his wife, Dardie Minsky, by doing this, he supposedly 00:19:49.349 --> 00:19:52.029 made over a million dollars. He built immense 00:19:52.029 --> 00:19:54.529 loyalty among the performers. Throughout the 00:19:54.529 --> 00:19:57.450 1930s and into the 50s, Harold discovered and 00:19:57.450 --> 00:20:00.210 groomed dozens of famous names. He claimed to 00:20:00.210 --> 00:20:02.730 have discovered future headliner Sherri Britton 00:20:02.730 --> 00:20:05.549 when she auditioned at just 14 years old. Wow, 00:20:05.650 --> 00:20:08.190 fortune. He also employed and nurtured first 00:20:08.190 --> 00:20:10.890 rate comic talents. He deftly understood the 00:20:10.890 --> 00:20:13.089 formula his father and uncles had perfected. 00:20:13.170 --> 00:20:15.710 And he takes that exact formula to the desert. 00:20:16.470 --> 00:20:19.869 In 1956, Harold takes the Minsky name, which 00:20:19.869 --> 00:20:22.210 was banned in New York, remember, and he brings 00:20:22.210 --> 00:20:24.799 it to Las Vegas. He launches a massive review 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:27.200 at the Dunes Hotel. A perfect fit for Vegas. 00:20:27.400 --> 00:20:29.480 Luke Cotello, after splitting with Bud Abbott, 00:20:29.619 --> 00:20:32.420 actually appeared in the 1958 edition of that 00:20:32.420 --> 00:20:35.660 review. Harold kept the entire Minsky DNA intact. 00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:39.279 Chorus lines, top -rate comedians, a snazzy band, 00:20:39.299 --> 00:20:41.599 and of course, the strippers. If we connect this 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:43.940 to the broader evolution of American entertainment, 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:46.680 Harold Minsky fundamentally shaped the future 00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:49.299 of Las Vegas casino entertainment. That review 00:20:49.299 --> 00:20:51.599 ran for six years at the Dunes and then moved 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:54.359 to other landmark. like The Silver Slipper, The 00:20:54.359 --> 00:20:56.680 Thunderbird, and The Aladdin. He built the template. 00:20:56.940 --> 00:21:00.339 He absolutely did. He institutionalized the exact 00:21:00.339 --> 00:21:03.480 blend of comedy, music, and provocation that 00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:05.799 Las Vegas is still globally known for today. 00:21:06.599 --> 00:21:08.960 Harold resided in Las Vegas running these shows 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:12.579 until his death in 1977. So what does this all 00:21:12.579 --> 00:21:15.119 mean? We've gone from a sweaty, inconvenient 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:17.339 six -floor walk -up theater on Houston Street 00:21:17.339 --> 00:21:19.960 to the bright lights of Broadway, through an 00:21:19.960 --> 00:21:22.539 aggressive government ban that outlawed a family's 00:21:22.539 --> 00:21:25.210 name, all the way to laying the foundational 00:21:25.210 --> 00:21:27.730 blueprint for Las Vegas review shows. It really 00:21:27.730 --> 00:21:30.009 proves that innovation almost always stems from 00:21:30.009 --> 00:21:32.130 the fringes. Yeah. The lowbrow entertainment 00:21:32.130 --> 00:21:34.349 of yesterday, the shows that are rated, censored 00:21:34.349 --> 00:21:36.230 and deemed inappropriate by the establishment 00:21:36.230 --> 00:21:38.750 frequently serve as the critical incubators for 00:21:38.750 --> 00:21:41.210 the legendary comedic and theatrical talent of 00:21:41.210 --> 00:21:44.130 tomorrow. The Minsky's didn't just sell scandal, 00:21:44.569 --> 00:21:46.650 they funded the development of modern American 00:21:46.650 --> 00:21:49.049 comedy and stagecraft. It's been an incredible 00:21:49.049 --> 00:21:52.109 journey. through the source material today. I 00:21:52.109 --> 00:21:54.450 want to leave you with one final provocative 00:21:54.450 --> 00:21:57.190 thought to mull over. Think about the entertainment 00:21:57.190 --> 00:22:00.150 you consume. If the name Minsky was literally 00:22:00.150 --> 00:22:02.849 banned by the government for being entirely synonymous 00:22:02.849 --> 00:22:06.710 with obscenity in the 1930s, only for their exact 00:22:06.710 --> 00:22:08.910 style of show to become the totally standard 00:22:08.910 --> 00:22:11.069 accepted form of entertainment in Las Vegas, 00:22:11.410 --> 00:22:13.690 shortly after what completely normal form of 00:22:13.690 --> 00:22:15.630 entertainment that you consume today might be 00:22:15.630 --> 00:22:17.809 viewed as wildly scandalous a century from now. 00:22:17.950 --> 00:22:20.150 or vice versa. That's a fascinating question. 00:22:20.410 --> 00:22:22.430 Something to think about. Thanks for joining 00:22:22.430 --> 00:22:23.269 us on this deep dive.