This chapter celebrates a performance history in the United States of Jewish female physical comedy that spans nearly a century of gender and humor radicalism. It moves from early twentieth-century performances of the Red Hot Mamas Sophie Tucker, Fanny Brice, and Betty Boop to touring acts, movie dance scenes, and comedy sketches of the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, including spotlights on Barbra Streisand, Gilda Radner, Bette Midler, and Madeline Kahn. Specific performances showcase how these giants of comedy staged critical responses to Jewish race and class assimilation in the context of women’s liberation movements, establishing foundational techniques of today’s Sexy Jewess spectacle.
Identifying parameters for a performance-based framework: Towards prioritising underutilised historical buildings for adaptive reuse in New Zealand
