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- In the 17th and 18th centuries, a form of
- satirical comedy parodying a particular play
- or dramatic genre. For example, Gay's The
- Beggar's Opera 1728 is a burlesque of
- 18th-century opera, and Sheridan's The Critic
- 1777 satirizes the sentimentality in
- contemporary drama. In the USA from the
- mid-19th century, burlesque referred to a sex
- and comedy show invented by Michael Bennett
- Leavitt in 1866 with acts including acrobats,
- singers, and comedians. During the 1920s
- striptease was introduced in order to
- counteract the growing popularity of the
- movies; Gypsy Rose Lee was the most famous
- stripper. Burlesque was frequently banned in
- the USA.
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