“Every time I turn on the television,” he moans, “it seems, some young woman is wriggling around a pole and, depending on whether it’s a network or a premium channel, either pulling her clothes off or strongly implying that she intends to.”
Well, that’s pretty horrible, all right, but it gets worse. “This isn’t high-class, burlesque-style stripping … . No, it’s poorly lighted bars, overly loud music, lascivious announcers, thrusting women, shady customers, hints of back rooms where something more than stripping is available.”
This rot, by Mr. Genzlinger’s lights, is fairly recent. He can remember a strip scene from the pilot of Miami Vice, way back in 1984, but in the era of Crockett and Tubbs a certain decorum was still maintained: “In that scene, incidentally, which was almost three minutes long, the stripper managed to remove only her gloves.” It’s only in the naughty oughties that we’ve been hit by “explosion of female shimmying and shedding.”
Which is funny, because I can remember—probably all too well—a pretty sensational strip tease waaay back in 1970 on Starsky and Hutch,* during which a lot more than a pair of gloves fell to the floor, and I also remember both Sally Struthers and Adrienne Barbeau trotting around in skimpy bikinis in what struck me as a grossly plot-irrelevant manner on All in the Family and Maude.† And don’t get me started on Elly May on the Beverly Hillbillies! Don’t even get me started!
*Who was cooler, Starsky and Hutch or Crockett and Tubbs? I’m thinking, it’s the old bit about establishing precedency among a gnat and flea.
†Say what you like about Norman Lear, the guy knew how to work a crowd.
