How long have you been Chaz Royal for? Why did you choose the name? I had always taken an interest in beautiful women and at an early age realised I had a kinky side. I recall being attracted to late night TV goddess Elvira, and anytime I saw anything remotely of a fetish nature was drawn to it. At the age of 14 I started collecting images of naked women, including Bettie Page. I even recall collecting photos of Heather Sweet before she was known as Dita Von Teese. I distinctly recall a pictorial of her in Penthouse tied up with rope against a tree. That must have been in 1997. By the time I was 23 and living in Montreal I knew that I wanted to make a career change.
After reading about a small burlesque resurgence building in places like Toronto, Vancouver, L.A., New York, New Orleans (there were less than 10 North American cities that had regular burlesque shows by 2002) I soon realised that I wanted to recreate burlesque from the past. While I was in Montreal I was still running my small booking agency FTA Booking and working with extreme rock and punk bands so decided to create a division of the company strictly for burlesque. The name Chaz Royal hit me like a bolt of lightning. I had met someone named Chaz a year earlier while in New Jersey. I think at the time I had just watched the movie Boogie Nights and thought, “Hey, I'll create an alter ego and book a burlesque tour.” So Chaz was a name that was already stuck in my head
and I thought 'Royale' had a nice ring. For a few years and still in print, it's either Royal or Royale.
What’s it like being a Royal? Do you have lots of servants? I had always joked when I was really young I would grow up to be rich, famous and have maids because I hated my mother's nagging. But no, I've been a one-man team for the past decade with the exception of a few staff members, volunteers and the help of my girlfriend.
Have you always been the man behind the curtain or does Chaz Royal have an act? In 2003 I had performed two double acts in New York City. I was a crazy chef chasing around a sexy turkey and a Victorian gent performing lewd acts behind a parasol with a mistress. On tour for three weeks in summer 2005 I was the gorilla stagehand and male prop in the Jungle Exotica Show. I generally don't enjoy being on stage or speaking in public – I prefer being 'behind the curtain'.
If we could transport you in time to watch one burlesque act who would you choose and why? I probably would have liked to been on set when Hollywood was releasing a lot of burlesque movies – some of the giant stage chorus sets and costumes were unreal. Lili St. Cyr would have been a great act to see as she had props and small sets when she performed live.
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