Arguably the first male burlesque star, Henry E Dixey gained notoriety when he performed over 1000 times in the popular burlesque musical 'Adonis' which played at The Bijou Theatre on Broadway from 1883 to 1885. 

 

In the musical extravaganza, burlesque comedian Henry E. Dixey played Adonis, a handsome male statue chiselled from white marble and modelled after the Greek God, who comes to life and then chooses to turn back into stone after finding that being human is intolerable.

 

Dressed in marble white skin tights and sporting some kind of garter belt suspenders while parading around on stage, he cut a pretty risque figure for the times. The sight of his muscled calves used to make Victorian women swoon.