Burlesque Shows

    In regard to my vicious under-life, America gave me as lively an encouragement with her burlesque shows as Paris had done with her wicked books.
    I was quite a long time in America before I discovered this country's grand vent and outlet for the repressions of a puritanical public opinion. I refer to the burlesque shows. For the benefit of such of my fellow-countrymen as are unacquainted with this stage performance I must tell you that the burlesque show - at least this was the case thirty years ago - was attended almost entirely by men. They were extraordinary performances - at least so it seemed to me - and it was almost unbelievable to me that such heavenly sights could be permitted to be seen at all in a world like ours, 'rigged in the eclipse and built with curses dark.' (Autobiography)