A bevy of burlesque performers traipsed throug the Cadillac Lounge in curve-hugging ’50s attire and sky-high bouffants last Sunday, munching on breakfast wraps before their 1 p.m. curtain call.
The bar’s burlesque brunch is a monthly occasion, but last Sunday’s Mother’s Day edition was a family affair, with a hodge-podge of mother-daughter duos, wide-eyed husbands, and regulars pleased to have a side of nipple tassels with their bacon and eggs.
Rather than dialing back the sauce, 34-year-old co-founder Fionna Flauntit thought the Mother’s Day show was a perfect way to make moms proud. “It’s like, ‘You know what moms? Come out and do something different!’” said Flauntit, who isn’t on speaking terms with her own mother. “Maybe I should phone her, like, ‘Do you wanna come to my brunch?’ But that’s a whole other can of worms.”
Carly McGhee brought her “non-traditional” mom, Donna, after being unable to secure reservations at The Drake. “My mom likes funky things and living vicariously,” said McGhee, as their midday beers arrived at the table. Donna confirmed: “I like being outside the box…when I can.”
The retro-maternal theme was evident in the afternoon’s roster: Dolly Berlin channeled a naughty housewife along with a Mr. Clean theme; Esther De Ville, a statuesque brunette, stripped out of a trench coat before dousing her exposed chest in sparkling wine; and Mena Von Fleisch sat in the audience with her one-year-old twin girls, who looked on as Sucre à la Crème shimmied out of her 37-foot-long blue sheath dress, complete with a googly-eyed hood, to Sesame Street’s “C is for Cookie.”
Coquettish redhead Miss La Muse covered up her fringy blue brassiere long enough to make an onstage long-distance call to
her mother’s house in Cape Breton. The senior Miss La Muse didn’t seem to mind being the unwitting finale to her daughters’ show. “Love you sweetheart,” she said, long-distance. “Have fun!”
