Monthly Archives: July 2012

Lili Mewleen Act Debuted at Beltring 2012

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Kitten von Mew

lili marleen burlesque act kitten von mew

Lili Mewleen Burlesque Act starring Kitten von Mew, War and Peace Show 2012. Photo by Lee Parker

I have just received some great photos from Lee Parker of my new Lili Marleen inspired act, so I thought I would share some with you all!

My very talented Mr Mew made the lamp from scratch and I made my pasties, fascinator, train and garter. The dress once belonged to a drag queen (who has passed away, rest his soul). I stripped it of all the black ruffles, tassel trim, netting and fake boob inserts and designed it into a sleek and sexy gown with rhinestones and turquoise trimmings.

The gorgeous corset is actually from Vollers Corsets! When I did my interview for The One Show at the corset factory, I got to see some lovely designs that weren’t even for sale. I saw these zip down corsets and thought they were a brilliant idea! They are still tight lace with metal boning, but have a ‘quick release’ function with a very heavy duty, military grade zipper at the side. Determined for other corset lovers to see these unique designs, I vowed to wear one in an act to demonstrate how easy and sexily them come off! No more tangled lacing! Hurrah!
I wrote a parody of Lili Marleen as well as sang The Boys in the Backroom for Terry Elliot! You can see this act next at Twinwood Festival 2012!

“On my lovely dress vet paint I find, I take zee car, I sink next time…” Kitten von Mew in Lili Mewleen. Photo by Lee Parker

kitten von mew burlesque war and peace 2012

“I’m Lili of ze lamp light, vet paint, Lili Marleen….”, Kitten von Mew by Lee Parker

The Vollers Corset, War and Peace Show 2012, taken by Lee Parker

POW! Taken by Lee Parker

burlesque stocking striptease kitten von mew

Stocking Striptease by Kitten von Mew, Photography by Lee Parker

Corset striptease, Kitten von Mew. Taken by Lee Parker

Kitten von Mew fan dance photographed by Lee Parker

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War and Peace 2012 Video – Boobie Woogie Bugle Boy

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Kitten von Mew

A Great video taken by my gorgeous friend Lee Parker of my family friendly Boobie Woogie routine with the alternative ATS costume (‘Almost Totally Starkers’ as I like to call it!). Thanks Lee!

Big Beautiful Barbara Brown

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Kitten von Mew

Big Beautiful Barbara Brown Patriotic Playsuit, modelled by Kitten von Mew, Taken by Mr Mew

There are very few repro vintage shops that I really like. The main let down is fabric patterns (and materials on some occasion) more reminiscent of a 1980’s Neighbours wedding ceremony and the lack of authenticity of style.

Everyone knows what a fiend I am for Heyday Online, but I also wanted to draw your attention to Big Beautiful Barbara Brown, who also makes 1940’s and 50’s style women’s clothing.
I was lucky enough to receive a satin playsuit and a GORGEOUS floral dress that has a circle skirt and tie at the chest.

Big Beautiful Barbara Brown Dress modelled by Kitten von Mew. Taken by Mr Mew

There are a great choice of fabrics and colours and on some things you can choose your own from swatches on the website, making your item rather bespoke! You can select the top half of the play suit and then the bottom half, just for £50! Craaaaaazy!

She has dresses, evening gowns, tops, shorts, playsuits and more. Go take a look…

War and Peace 2012 Photos

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Kitten von Mew

Swing Time Sweethearts and Kitten Von Mew at War and Peace Show

Swing Time Sweethearts, Richard and Kitten Von Mew at War and Peace Show 2012

Well, I cannot believe another year of Beltring is over! Thanks to everyone who made the trip so enjoyable, especially Paul Harper and the entertainers, Terry Elliot, Vintage Military Magazine, Mr Mew and his family, and of course everyone who came to watch my act!

Kitten von Mew with Terry Elliot, Ashley Elliot and Rex Cadman, War and Peace 2012. Taken by Mr Mew

The weather was ‘squidgily temperamental’ when we got there with slashes of heavy tire tracks all over the caravan field. Mr Mew did a brave job of ploughing through the banked-up mud in Big Bettie, towing Gracie Wheels.

The temperature stayed mild, making the days so much more enjoyable, although it did rain at night. The great thing about the South East is the sandy soil, which drains the water rather quickly. It was very strange though as although the surface crisped up, underneath was waterlogged, so you felt as if you were walking across someone’s water bed or a big duvet!

Pearly King and Princess, taken by Kitten von Mew

I debuted my new act Lili Mewleen at the show and it seemed to go down very well. I was really pleased with everyone’s reaction to the costume too. It has been a while since I did a proper striptease at the show and as I had 2 adult performances this year, I made the most of my zip-sided Vollers Corset! Everyone was gob smacked that Richard had made my incredible lamp post prop too!

In the daytime I brushed off my old ‘Boobie Woobie Bugle Boy’ act from when I first performed with the USO, this time with a new costume. No sleaze, just some lovely ostrich fan action and live singing!
We had a few accidents whilst we were there (which made the week hilarious), including…

Mr Mew:

Dropping his baked beans on the floor and asking why the bean fairies hadn’t come to clean it up.

Breaking the front door handle clean off, so resorting to climbing through the toilet window and breaking down the internal door!

Asking me to move my cup of tea whilst he get the bedding out, so he didn’t spill it over. I moved it right over the opposite side…only for Mr Mew to send it flying.

Mrs Mew:

Burnt toast

Forgetting my lyrics and inhaling fur from my cape so I had to try not to have a coughing fit through my act!

The stalls at the show were yet again full of a lot of ‘man stuff’, but I got some FANTASTIC things!

WW2 Collectibles Stall, War and Peace 2012. Taken by Kitten von Mew

WWII Antiques, War and Peace 2012. Taken by Kitten von Mew

WWII Memorabilia. Check out the hand painted pebble! Taken by Kitten von Mew

My buys:

An 1800’s ship porthole from a sunken boat off the coast of Devon (£20!)

A Woodbines cigarette, trench art photo frame made out of 42 packets (£priced at £18, got for £10!)

A Kings Coronation mug that Ive always wanted (priced at £28, got for £20)

2 gorgeous 40’s silk crepe dresses

An amazing deep red 30’s coat with red fox fur cuffs and fox stole collar

A 1930’s silk pajama top I will use as a blouse

A trench art bomb shell ashtray I gave to my cousin as a thank you for coming to the show

A brocade dress scarf for Mr Mew with a woven design of trains and a couple in Paris

Some Art Deco GWR brass buttons (£5 the lot!)

A dated pair of ATS stockings with a military arrow! (£4!)

A gorgeous brown felt 1940’s peaked tilt hat

A WWII Scottish War Dept poster saying ‘VICTORY starts in the Kitchen (£25?!)
I also found Mr Mew a wonderful 1930’s Crombie suit which has never been worn. Can’t believe I got it for £40. It is gorgeous and will be a great excuse to wear some different ties!

Kitten, Peter from Jive Aces and Gary Gibbs at Beltring!

Veterans at the Sunday Service. Taken by Kitten von Mew

To melt the coldest of hearts. A modern day soldier offering himself as a step for a WWII veteran.

Lee Parker and I at the Saturday Dance! Taken by Mr Mew

Bagpipers. Apparently they don’t do requests. Taken by Kitten von Mew

Richard with his boys Lewis and Darren. One very proud Pa! Taken by Kitten von Mew

Military WW1 Truck detailing by Kitten von Mew

WW1 Trench, my favourite diorama at the show! Taken by Kitten von Mew

Will post more soon!

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Posted in Events and Performances and tagged belring photos, kitten von mew, kitty mew, vintage pinup, war and peace show. Bookmark the permalink.

Wartime in the Vale Video

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Kitten von Mew

I wanted to share this video with you, taken by Olivia Orchid of Shadowflower Photography at Wartime in the Vale 2012. It is the first time Ive seen a proper video of Mr Mew and I dancing and it was so nice to see!

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Posted in Events and Performances and tagged 1940's dancing, 1940's events, evensham events, kitten von mew, kitty meow, lindy hop dance, richard von mew, vintage girl, vintage pinup, wartime in the vale, ww2 dancing, ww2 events, wwii dancing, wwii events. Bookmark the permalink.

Military World Magazine Launching at Beltring!

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Kitten von Mew

As our beloved WWII Reenactors Magazine has bitten the dust (*sob*), it is about time someone filled that empty void for us! Well, Dave King has saved the day with Military World Magazine!

I have kindly been asked to write some more articles, so look out for my tuppence worth in each issue. The first one is due out at the War and Peace Show, so make sure you get your copy and support a British publication!

The magazine will feature reenacting groups, history, suppliers and more!

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Posted in Uncategorized and tagged beltring, kitten von mew, kitty meow, kitty mew, military magazines, military world magazine, war and peace show, ww2 magazines, wwii magazines. Bookmark the permalink.

War & Peace Show 2012 – Boggy Beltring

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Kitten von Mew

All I can say is BRING YOUR WELLIES (or your ‘Rubbers’ as my American friend Stephanie calls them…hee hee hee!).

The fields are water-logged, the dirt will be churned from vehicle movement and foot glamour will be on hold this year!

Contrary to most people’s thoughts on the classic green, the first Dunlop Wellington Boots were matte black rubber, so if you have some, bring them for an authentic touch!

1940’s Dunlop Wellington Boot Factory, Liverpool

Why not tuck some trousers into them for a Women’s Land Army Look? Don’t forget to carry some dance shoes in your bag/ wicker basket for some much needed dancing in the main marquee!

Also, more great news is that some of the original cast from ‘Allo ‘Allo will be doing a skit in the main marquee at around 2pm on a few days of the event! Im mortified that I will be getting changed for my performance at 2.30pm at that point, but so glad they will be back again as they were a hoot last year!

Well, I will be there from Wednesday to Sunday, performing every day and some evenings, so I hope you catch a performance. Most of the child friendly performances will be my Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy performance, with an improved costume! This was the first act I ever did with the USO Shows and it will be nice to bring it back again. My new Lili Mewleen act will mostly be used for the adult evening shows, but I will do some family friendly shows too.

See you there Catnips!

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Posted in Events and Performances and tagged 1940 pinup, 1940's events, 1940s girl, 1940s shows, 2012 event, 40's girl, 40's pinup, allo allo cast, beltring, burlesque, kitten von mew, kitty von meow, kitty von mew, striptease, vintage girl, vintage pinup, war and peace show, ww2 events, ww2 shows, wwii events. Bookmark the permalink.

Kitten will be at Retro Revival, 22nd Sept 2012!

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Kitten von Mew

So Mr. Moo emailed me earlier today and said something on the lines of “Well gee-whizz Mrs Mew, did you see the fabulous image Retro Revival are using on their advertisement of you?”

As I had never heard of the event I went and had a peek…Low and behold it is being organised by my gorgeously purrfect pals at Friends of the 40’s!

I have performed in Manchester and Sheffield, but never Liverpool and Ian and Sam have invited me to make an appearance at the event! I will be performing at Goodwood Revival the weekend before and am determined NOT to get laryngitis this time, so hopefully I will be singing for you at Retro Revival and will pose for photos too! You will see me in my ATS corset along with another vintage outfit (coverage will depend on the weather).

So if you are around the Merseyside area or looking for a 1940’s event more “Up t’ North like”, pop along to this Saturday event!

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Kitten Meets Brian Blessed

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Kitten von Mew

I always think fondly of Brian Blessed for his roles as Spiro in My Family and Other Animals and of course Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon. From an incredible singing voice in cats to a voice over in Star Wars Phantom Menace, this cheerful and approachable chap has done it all…oh yes and climbed Everest…

Well it just so happened that today I got to meet one of my Bucket List Celebrities! I was lucky as he was about to leave the event, but on seeing me bellowed “Where have you been? Ive been waiting for you my whole life!” I had brought him along one of my calendars as a gift and he was so interested in my love of the 40’s and said that he never wanted to grow up out of those eras.

Brian Blessed and Kitten von Mew with her 2013 Calendar!

I then asked if he wouldn’t mind signing a mug for me. An odd request I know, but I bought this antique mug from a carboot sale for putting a pincushion in and have become rather fond of it. As it has a mountain climber design and a blank back, I thought it would be the perfect souvenir of our meeting!

Brian Blessed’s autograph on the back of my vintage mug. Im presuming it is 1930’s by the look of it. Best £3 I ever spent!

I had in fact met Brian when I was about 16, but was too star struck to approach him back then. I managed to do some work experience at a local film company (that I later worked for before it closed down). He was doing some voice over work for a documentary on Everest and would walk into the small office building with a booming ‘HELLOOOOOO!” He wouldn’t have remembered me. Back then I had purple hair and hid under baggy jumpers and tartan trousers…

So that was my 30 minute lunch break, what did you do with yours?

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Posted in Day to Day, Publicity and Media Announcements and tagged autographs, brian blessed, celebrities, celebrity, everest, famous faces, famous people, funny blogs, funny photos, kitten von mew, pinup calendars, prince vultan, train calendars, vintage calendars, vintage girl, vintage pinup. Bookmark the permalink.

Honeymoon Snaps

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Kitten von Mew

Short of getting the projector out to sit you down in front of 100’s of slides with an informative oral description for each, I thought I should post some of our honeymoon snaps for you to oogle over…

Richard and Kitten von Mew in their honeymoon outfits at Orlando Airport!

We left the wedding Blitz Ball in sheets of rain, bound for London to an airport hotel. After a few hours sleep we headed for the airport and found ourselves practising for the theme park queues as we checked our luggage in. Good old Virgin tried to sit us in completely different parts of the plane, but after a lot of persistence we managed to get a seat next to each other in economy without having to pay for an upgrade.

We got a great reaction from passengers about our Honeymoon outfits and cases, but I think the airport staff thought we were just trying to get a free upgrade and had come in fancy dress! The Orlando airport crew were completely different and people at the desk were even taking pictures on their phones!

harry-potter-universal-studios-kitten-von-mew

Kitten by the Hogwarts Express at Island Of Adventure, Universal Studios

The Harry Potter world was the main thing I had been looking forward to in the theme parks and I literally shook with excitement as soon as I saw the gate leading into a replica of Hogsmeade. Complete with snow capped roofs, Owl Post and all the shops associated with the books and movies, I was in my element!!!

Hogsmeade in asbestos skinned tourist season

The snow was so realistic it was surreal to see everyone walking around in t-shirts and not jumpers!

Hogwarts taken from the queue for the ride

Kitten next to the Back to the Future Delorean. Oh how I wish I was in a 1950’s prom dress for this photo!

Kitten at Island of Adventure

Kitten and ‘Tyrannosaurus-Pex’ outside the Jurassic Park ride after getting soaked!

As well as Universal we went to Epcot, which hasn’t changed since I first went at age 11 and watched the fireworks over the lake. It rained rather a lot whilst we were away, but it would have been too hot without it!

Found him!

Troll Hunter extraordinaire!

The Reef Restaurant at Epcot where we had a meal. It has a wall of glass so that you can see the huge aquarium, which is full of sharks, fish and sea turtles!

Epcot fireworks and laser display

Tusken Raider scaring the kittens out of me at Hollywood Studios Star Wars Weekend

Mr and Mrs Mew at their Polynesian Resort honeymoon hotel for the 1st week of their stay!

Lazing in a hammock on the Polynesian Resort beach

The tropical landscaping of the hotel was stunning! We love Tiki!

The gorgeous foyer of the hotel. Could have spent all day in there alone!

Mr Mew at Downtown Disney….yup, raining again!

In the 100 Acre Wood, we stumbled on an all you can eat buffet… Crazily enough everyone kept asking whether I was a Lucille Ball lookalike…

“Mr De-Mille, I’m ready for my closeup…and bring that balloon lady back, she promised me a poodle damn it!”

Despicable Mew…”He’s so fluffy!!!”

We were lucky enough to be some of the testers for the new Despicable Me 3D ride, which opens in a month. It was amaaaaazing!

Richard was determined to test every weird dessert in the buffet. I said he would be Winnie the Poohing like a Teletubby, but it didn’t listen.

Richard and I met up with our close friends Stephanie and Don in the 2nd week, who took us to some amazing places!!!

Kitten, Don and Stephanie Pitchers!

Fantasy of Flight is well worth a visit! Created by Kermit, they collect and restore propeller planes. We got a tour of the areas that they restore different pieces, their collection of original WWII engines still in the crates and got to meet Kermit himself after he demonstrated his flying abilities in one of his favourite planes.

Apache Princess at Fantasy of Flight

Kitty Nose Art at Fantasy of Flight!

Cripes Almighty at Fantasy of Flight

Fantasy of Flight Art Deco Hangers

Mickey Mouse Pylon, just the one, but thought it was a great idea. Imagine the bubbles you could make with this if you had enough washing up liquid!!!