Bernard Livingston recalls, "The Block of the 1930's was a strange contradiction. Top show business talent appeared in traveling road shows...But alongside the theatres which attracted top talent were also the honky tonks which attracted the devotees of bump and grind, the soldiers and sailors seeking diversion...It was a very puritanical era. The Block was the only little island where a man could go and get a glimpse of a nude female body and hear a sexy, smutty joke."
Earl Arnett. "Burlesque House Box Office Once Served as Home," Baltimore Sun. 16 April 1971. Pratt VF
Livingston wrote the most comprehensive book on The Block that exists today. He was there in the '30's and his family owned a theatre. The book covers an incredible 18 or so years of his experiences with the dancers, the cops, his family and the kids at school. Papa's Burlesque is out of print and hard to find but Amazon always manages to have at least one used copy for cheap. My copy just happens to be autographed to a 16 year old boy for his birthday from Livingston. I sleep with it under my pillow.
