Summary

Promotional flyer for the International Striptease Festival held at the Raymond Revuebar in London in 1970. This was collected by Lindsay or Sylvia Motherwell, who were married in London in 1969 and departed for Australia in 1970. Lindsay travelled to London in May 1969, and his wife-to-be Sylvia followed in September.

Sylvia Boyes (a South African-born orphan) and Lindsay Motherwell (a Melbourne-born drummer) met in Cape Town, South Africa in 1967 through their theatre connections. They fell in love but due to apartheid laws were forced to leave South Africa to marry in London. They subsequently relocated permanently to Melbourne in 1970.

Physical Description

Flyer, two sides fold into the centre with an image of the Raymond Revuebar at night from the street. It opens out into a central image of a woman wearing only panties and jewellery, lit but a red light with a white polka dot pattern in it. On the left wing is some information abot Paul Raymond, the Foyer and the Golden City Room. On the right wing is information about the Topless Band, the Theatre Room and the Birdcage Restaurant and Bar. On the back are six photos of a woman posed in various half-naked positions with different coverings.

Significance

Statement of Historical Significance:
This collection provides a significant opportunity to represent political and personal freedom as a motivation for migrating to Australia within the international context of both apartheid in South Africa and the end of the White Australia policy in Australia. The personal narrative is well documented and the objects provide a material way to follow the lives of both Lindsay and Sylvia, both separately and where they coincide in South Africa and onwards together to Melbourne. While this is ultimately a love story, it plays out through the collection against the backdrop of apartheid South Africa, sixties London and an increasingly multicultural Australia.

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