Burlesque in Hawaii! : Hawaii Burlesque & Stage History, Venue Profile on: The Beretania Follies!

Aloha!

Today I'd like to delve deeper into and interesting part of Honolulu's Chinatown History and a bit of Hawaii Burlesque History as well!

The Beretania Follies was Hawaii's very first burlesque theater! You can read more about it below. After a bit of research I discovered that the street this venue was on has since been completely obliterated and is now a section of Maunakea and Beretania. Nothing of the Beretania Follies exists in physical form today, that theater and all of the performers who passed through now exist only in memory.

I was lucky enough to come across this blog by a person named San Souci, who took a photo of the area where the Follies once was. Check it out below! Mahalo San Souci!

BASIC INFO ON THE BERETANIA FOLLIES

"Hawai‘i’s pioneer burlesque house was the Beretania Theater, located at 1229 Kamanuwai Lane in a congested urban slum on the mauka edge of Honolulu’s Chinatown. Built originally around 1936 or 1937 as a neighborhood movie theater, the Beretania was bought in 1944 by William C. Ferreira and was used during the next few years mostly for “adults only” films. These pictures, typically made on shoestring budgets by marginal producers, were fairly steamy by the inhibited standards of the times but in retrospect seem pretty tepid.
In 1947, Ferreira renamed his theater the Beretania Follies, erected a saucy neon sign above the entrance, and initiated regular stage shows, with a review called “Cover Girl Scandals.” The Follies’ new live offerings invariably featured leggy strippers and baggy-pants comedians."

Source: http://www.hawaiianhistory.org/time-capsules/daily-life/burlesque/#.UXs9pkruySo