Gaiety Theatre

This montage is an updated version of burlesque vintage strip routines …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIdt0aLl3Bg

This site presents good examples of routines performed on the Gaiety stage by burlesque queens.
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These burlesque tunes are good examples of the type of rythm a small bump & grind orchestra can produce,
http://cdbaby.com/mp3lofi/ronniemagri-03.m3u
http://cdbaby.com/mp3lofi/ronniemagri-04.m3u
http://cdbaby.com/mp3lofi/ronniemagri-05.m3u
http://cdbaby.com/mp3lofi/ronniemagri-10.m3u
http://cdbaby.com/mp3lofi/ronniemagri-14.m3u
courtesy of this fine album -
http://cdbaby.com/found?soundlike=Burlesque+Music

Below link has period views of the Gaiety Theatre exterior, lobby, and auditorium. In search field type in words “gaiety agnew”, then hit enter.
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NOTE-a couple of those 1950 interior shots are mistakenly labelled Agnew Theatre. It’s not hard to figure out what shots go with the shabby Gaiety.

Want to hear peppy samples of classic burlesque bump-n-grind tunes like the ones played inside OKC’s Gaiety? If so, then click on web link below;
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Because it was on the Columbia Burlesque Wheel was one reason OKC’s Gaiety Burlesque Theatre was immensely popular, another contributor to its success was a jazzy house orchestra, and the fact that strip shows were risque fun.
Since the Gaiety held only five-hundred seats their strip-tease queens and skit comics often performed before sold out audiences. These SRO crowds thereby enabled neighboring Reno & Joy burlesque houses to cash in on Gaiety’s overflow, even though these two other strip joints usually played second rate acts accompanied by three piece bands.

Urban legend claims that the Gaiety Burlesque Theater was originally a fancy saloon. This could be true as the Gaiety can be traced back to at least 1907, and if it were previously a saloon it would proabably date back even further.
While the Gaiety facade was nondescript, its interior was done in brightly colored Japanese styling complete with pagoda box seats, faux rooflines with Oriental upturned cornices, and inticately embroidered silk drapery.
Known as a first class burlesque house the Gaiety occasionally exhibited adult films between live stage shows, and once in a great while featured mainstream movies. The Gaity remained a bump & grind house until closed around 1964, then was converted into a cut-rate furniture store until razed in 1970.
Other theatres on Reno Street were Isis, Joy Burlesque, Pix, and Reno Burlesque.
From Library of Congress Photo Archives is a 1937 print by noted Photographer Dorothea Lange of the PIX Theatre. Hard to believe, but this drab little movie house was a member of the powerful Paramount/Publix Ciruit.
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