thomas6
8 posts
Jul 16, 2009
2:15 PM
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as a kid i can remember trying to see in the theater on 5th street and it seemed to be near downtown,any thoughts on this
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rodat6
54 posts
Jul 16, 2009
2:59 PM
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From time to time the girls in heavy makeup that seemed out of place would go to a nearby store such as Gallaghers or Kreskes to shop, I was 15, I knew they were from the burlesque theater on 5th street. I remember gawking at them from their makeup and different clothing.
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corvettes6
29 posts
Jul 16, 2009
4:25 PM
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enjoyed the place One of the last real burlesque theatre around They still had a piano player and drummer no canned music. I met a lot of the girls at a bar down the street called the 224 club. They would go their after the show to have a drink. My favorite was Tinker Bell and Busty Russell. It was located on the S. side of Fifth in the 100 block.
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Curt Dalton
156 posts
Jul 16, 2009
6:33 PM
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Hi,
Yes, it was called the Mayfair and was located where the Convention Center is now. Do a search on this site for Mayfair and it will come up, or look under books here for "When Dayton Went to the Movies" and read about all of the theaters that were once a part of Dayton.
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tlturbo
120 posts
Jul 17, 2009
5:09 AM
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I remember when they tore the Mayfair down and they auctioned off some stuff. Someone paid a good bit to buy the marble or stone statue that was on the roof.
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maxed out
93 posts
Jul 17, 2009
7:47 AM
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Wasn't there one called the Todd Burlesque also ?
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driver62
198 posts
Jul 17, 2009
9:12 AM
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I went to the Mayfair once either in 1959 or 1960. The place was pretty dingy inside and the comedian told lousy jokes. Wish I could remember the name of the strippers but that was many years ago.
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Mikey
31 posts
Jul 19, 2009
12:08 PM
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Please Note: What I have written in this post is a true description of activities at and Dayton Daily News advertising by the Mayfair Burlesque Theater in Dayton circa 1955-1960. This is real Dayton history, but if you think that this discussion might be offensive to you, please move on to another topic.
The Mayfair on E. Fifth St. was a throwback to another era. From the time that I was fifteen or so (1956), I could lay down my four dollars and walk right in. The Mayfair Opera House must have been an elegant place (at one time.)
As mentioned previously, the music was live. A really, really old guy (Rube?) played the piano and a far less talented young guy assaulted a drum set with a chain of keys laying on top of the cymbal.
At first, the older ladies were just putting in their time. After a few years, some younger performers moved in. The house must have been on a circuit, because it was always the same cast rotating in for a week, about every six weeks. The headliners changed and the previous month's headliner was in the chorus the next month. Some of the younger ladies were actually quite pretty and could sing and dance. The ladies also appeared as foils to the comedians, usually stealing the gag punch lines.
Early on - 1956, the stripping was subdued, but after a year or so, I think that the Dayton Police lost interest in the place and everything but the g-string would come off. In hindsight, even at my tender age, it seemed harmless. It certainly didn't seem like anyone was taking advantage of the ladies. They always traveled in a group on the streets and no one bothered them. Everyone at the Kresge lunch counter knew them. After first seeing them at Kresge's, I was fascinated enough to attended the Mayfair on an irregular basis - maybe twice a year with my buds. Later, my wife and I attended and she said that it was silly, but she saw no harm in it.
Justa Dream (very pretty, my all-time favorite, not the current X-star)
Morganna (complete with snake)
Busty Russell
Virginia Bell "48 by the tape"
With no intent to offend anyone, that's the way it was...and the names and the ladies pictures (also the "48 by the tape" comment) appeared right there in black and white in the Dayton Daily theater ads.
Funny afterthought. When the Bond film "Goldfinger" hit town around '62, the character named "Pussy Galore", played by the actress Honor blackman, was blacked out in the newspaper ad! Times change.
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Mikey, Gatlinburg, TN
Last Edited by on Jul 27, 2009 12:15 PM
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phil pixley
7 posts
Jul 21, 2009
11:50 AM
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Great place,went there once when I was about 16 or so.I really enjoyed the dancers,but had just as much fun looking at the people in there some really cool downtown characters.God do I miss the old Dayton!!!
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RIVERDALE RAT
11 posts
Aug 23, 2009
12:53 AM
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It was on 5th street near Davie's pawn shop. Davie Blum if memory serves.
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Mike C
60 posts
Feb 12, 2010
9:00 AM
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Mayfair Burlesque was on 5th street. I remember driving past there with my dad. I'd try not to turn my head to see the poster of the "featured" star and her pic. My eyes sure hurt looking at her without moving my head to see her picture.
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Bill68
85 posts
Feb 17, 2010
5:28 AM
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I went there on their last night when I was 17 and they weren't checking IDs. It was still a lot like "The Night They Raided Minsky's" movie in those days.
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Lionpainter
2 posts
Feb 27, 2010
6:31 PM
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I went there with a friend unbeknownst to my parents of course. I remember meeting VIrginia Belle. She was a pleasant person..made a point of saying she had a psychology degree. Was a strange concept.
They were 48s and she said she was proud of that fact. She was kind of a Mae West, Virginia Mayo and Betty Grable combination. As I recall the theater was a cheesey place-- lots of smoke and it
smelled like pee. I was the only girl in the audience, but noone knew. I hid my ponytail...not that the ticket person would care. LOL
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Hankster65
9 posts
May 04, 2010
2:36 PM
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I occasionally went there as a young man and it was a hoot. I still remember the baggy pants comics, the way the drummer always looked so incredibly bored that you expected him to doze off any second, and, oh, yeah, I remember there were girls on the stage. I also remember they always stopped the show at some point and tried to sell chocolate bars. Honest. Some guy with a deep, gravelly voice would drone on and on about how good they were and how some of them had a coupon hidden in them for something valuable and somebody was sure to win big. Never, ever did I see anyone actually buy one.
I remember there were a lot of huge posters of the girls that hung around the interior and that today would be collectible gold. I always wondered what became of them. A previous poster mentioned an auction, I suppose that's what became of them.
If I recall, the statue on top of the building became the property of Dave Hall, former Dayton Mayor. For years you could see it next to his penthouse apartment atop a building on third street. (Cross street I think was Jefferson.) Eventually it came to be displayed in front of the Dayton Art Institute. For whatever reason, it now sits in an outdoor fenced in storage area behind the Art Institute. Each year when I go to the Greek Festival I look down the side of the hill and there it is looking more deteriorated than the year before. Seems like they would at least try to preserve it.
Last Edited by on May 04, 2010 10:16 PM
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RIVERDALE RAT
536 posts
Sep 04, 2010
8:45 AM
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Hankster65:
Great story on the statue. have you ever contacted anyone in regards to their intentions for the statue?
It's possible that they nay not even value it anymore, or would be willing to give it a new home. It may be worth a try.
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AllenN71
69 posts
Sep 04, 2010
11:12 AM
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Maybe whoever gets hold of that statue could give it to Curt, and DHBO could use it thusly:
Have a competition among the local High Schools as to whose students could come up with the best and most interesting research on some aspect of the history of Dayton, Ohio. Let the individual schools select their entrant from those who write the essays explaining the subject and results of the research. The wining school would get their essay published in the Dayton Daily News along with the runners-up, AND have the privelege of displaying the statue in their Trophy Area for the rest of the school year. Honorable Mentions would have the name of the school, title of essay, subject, and names of the student writers published.
Oh, wait. The statue isn't a nude lady, is it? Well, if the statue is "tasteful" enough, still might not want to call it the "Mayfair Burlesque" statue! Better to say "Old Mayfair Opera House" Hmm?
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gris66
29 posts
Sep 04, 2010
4:27 PM
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My dad use to tell me that my grandparents fell in love at the Mayfair... she was a stripper and he was the janitor. My grandmother loved the story... my grandfather care much for it.
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Hankster65
51 posts
Sep 11, 2010
3:43 PM
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RR, no, I never contacted anyone concerning the statue, not a bad idea, though.
Last night I was at the Greek Festival (Dolmades! Greek beer! Ooompa!) and glanced over to check on the old girl. Sure enough, she's still there behind the part of the Art Institute that once housed their college, still standing regally in her chain link jail. The grand old lady deserves better.
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marty58
13 posts
Mar 25, 2011
5:45 PM
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yes!! todd burlesque with busty russell AND was it chesty malone??
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SgtSniper
10 posts
Oct 28, 2011
4:41 AM
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I was taking pictures when I was in high school and one of them was the Mayfair before they tore it down.
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AllenN71
332 posts
Oct 28, 2011
2:56 PM
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Just a by- the -bye, the term "Burlesque" has Latin roots. I am a middling flamenco guitarist and there is a flamenco form called "bulerias" from "Burla" or "jest". "Bulerias" is widely known as the most difficult flamenco form to play because there are sudden descents into a somber minor key followed by a struggle to break out into a more festive major key. A flamenco "bulerias" is a musical struggle between the need to have a diversion from care and the present oft-unpleasant reality. David Rose's "The Stripper" is a sort of watered down Anglo form of this concept.
When I wound up in DC one of the first things I noticed was the "Gaiety Burlesque". Outside of the main sign announcing the name, the thing that drew one's attention was the prominence of various permanent announcements declaring: "SMOKING PERMITTED" and "SMOKE IF YOU LIKE" which dwarfed the posters of whatever stars were to be featured in the next show. Somehow that struck me as the very definition of "bulerias". Of course I thought of the old Mayfair back home.
This was back in the early and mid-seventies. Sometime around mid 1979, the Gaiety was no more. I guess that's also about the time the Mayfair bit the dust, no? They were rendered obsolete by the VCR and now the DVD and the internet.
Moralists around the country used to rail against establishments such as the Mayfair. But the Mayfair was surely preferable to what exists today. There is much more graphic stuff available than a "fan dance" and no one needs to worry about a nosy neighbor monitoring his keystrokes on a computer. It's odd, but when the old burlesque houses went down to the dust the blue-noses celebrated. Now they are faced with something light-years worse and even more difficult to control.
This is progress? No; it is a burla, and in the the truest sense of the word.
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cilla46
73 posts
Oct 31, 2011
9:10 AM
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I remember my father and mother talking about the Mayfair.It seems they hired off duty policemen for security at times.My father worked for the Mayfair in that capacity on occasion.I recall the name "Busty Russell" being the topic of many conversations.This would have been in the 50's if my memory serves.
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completelynutz
8 posts
Nov 10, 2011
8:43 AM
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In 1967 I was 18 years old. I well remember the mayfair. I was was interested in the place because I knew there would never be another opportunity for me to go to a place like that. I remember being on a date and the poor guy and I flipping a coin outside the door deciding should we go in or not. Well I won and we went inside. I can't tell you much about it because I covered my eyes most of the time. But I can say I went to a burlesque house.
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MikeH
37 posts
Dec 12, 2011
5:52 AM
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Here's where Lady Mayfair is now:
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Mike Harris
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/lady-mayfair-statue-on-display-at-carillon-park-1297685.html?cxtype=rss_local-news
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luv my dayton
102 posts
Aug 09, 2012
5:41 PM
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The bus ride from Kettering to downtown Dayton took you to the end of Brown st. where it stopped and took a left turn on 5th street. All the marquee lights drew attention to the area.
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JackWalnutHills
2 posts
Aug 12, 2012
9:25 PM
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Oh yea I remember the Mayfair!! Cost me a ride in the back of a police car when I was about 13-14...me and a group of buddies trying to look in as the doors opened and closed...didn't notice the police car sitting at the curb right behind us!! Must have been about 1 a.m. in the morning...took us home, woke up our parents...wow...yea, I remember the Mayfair! ha ha ha! Never forget the look on my mom's face and my father's (mostly amused he was:) )
Jack
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theWiz
2 posts
Sep 11, 2012
10:14 AM
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does anyone remember the pool hall that was above the Mayfair?? was called the Red,White and Blue Billiards. I got hustled real bad in there one evening by some greaser named "Danny".
Also used to go to a theatre around the corner from the Mayfair (on Jefferson) called the Ohio Follies- they showed alot of soft-core stuff.
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