The Theatre: Louse Opera

Three years ago, in one of its periodic waves of public purification, Manhattan ordered burlesque shows not only to drape their naked cuties, but to drape themselves in an even more euphemistic name. Complying reluctantly with this ukase, the louse-opera impresarios put a little more gauze on their strip-teasers, advertised their wares as "Frolics" and "Follies." Promptly business started to sag. Even when desperate divas began to strip to their pelts again, the box office was still in the doldrums. Last week the operators of Manhattan's three remaining burlesque houses got together with union representatives, prepared to beard Mayor LaGuardia and...

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