Clean, wholesome, old-fashioned burlesque

IT’S often been said the brain is the body’s biggest erogenous zone and that there’s nothing sexier than what’s left to the imagination. The Egyptian Theatre will put those theories to the test with its two-day bump-and-grind festival “Burlesque on Film and in the Flesh,” starting Friday.

Putting the va-va-voom into the film portion will be Natalie Wood as burlesque queen Gypsy Rose Lee in the event’s opener, 1962’s “Gypsy”; the women of the 2005 documentary “Pretty Things”; and a, ahem, double feature with Betty Grable and Sheree North in 1955’s “How to Be Very, Very Popular” and Vivian Blaine in 1946’s “Doll Face.”

“Because times have changed, there is a longing for and romanticism of the past -- a desire to return to the days when things were more glamorous and less was revealed,” says “Pretty Things” director Liz Goldwyn, who was inspired to make her film focusing on the burlesque performers of yesteryear after discovering two vintage costumes at a New York City flea market. “In an age of being able to see it all, there’s something to be said for the flash of a shoulder or the peek of a knee.”

One of the film’s subjects, Betty “Ball of Fire” Rowland, 92, will take questions after the 5 p.m. Saturday screening, and adding to the heat on both nights will be the Bonnie Delight Burlesque Review, a live act featuring a saw player, magicians, jugglers and comedians.

But the star of the show is the curvaceous Bonnie Delight, whose classic gown-and-glove striptease, along with her “Forbidden Oil Bath of the East” act, hark back to the 1950s and ‘60s.

Though Delight strips down to pasties (the festival is 18 and older only, unless accompanied by an adult), the review is tame by today’s standards.

“I really love the clothes from those decades, and mentally I’m from a different generation,” says Delight. “This world is so rough and tough, and sometimes it’s fun to go back to a time when things were not so bad -- a softer, gentler, cleaner era.”

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‘BURLESQUE ON FILM AND IN THE FLESH’

WHERE: Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

WHEN: 7:30 p.m Friday; 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Note: The Bonnie Delight Burlesque Review performs on the 7:30 bills only.)

PRICE: $10

INFO: (323) 466-3456, www.egyptiantheatre.com