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Empire Theater, Cleveland, Ohio September 1923 CF2310 Costume Dark strapped bandeau and lattice-side culotte. Heels TML. Actions The caption of this reads, "Carrie Finnell in typical garb of a Mutual Wheel soubrette, Culver Pictures Inc. (1)" Finnell says her invention of the striptease is accidental and years later recounts she went onstage with "a costume I designed, trunks with only a front and back with straps at the side. I got the idea of taking off one strap each week; there were ten of them and it took ten weeks." --This recounting from an earlier source is found in Rachael Shteir, Striptease, Oxford University Press, 2004. Commentary She has also been credited with inventing the nipple tassel. "And yes, each had her gimmick. Carrie Finnell could twirl the nipple tassels on her enormous breasts at different speeds and in different directions with such panache that her breasts were compared to propellers readying for lift-off--and she performed this mesmerizing anti-gravitational feat until she was seventy years old." --Toni Bentley in The New Republic reviewing book above JANUARY 31, 2005. Source Aka Carrie Lee Finnell. Source Joe Weldon, flickr.com, 2007 with credit to Cluver Pictures Inc. A correspont, gfheymo, writes, "This is my great-aunt! She invented the nipple tassel." Date is estimated as c. 1923, the date of the story. 1 picture. |
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