Synopsis

At a seedy peep-show theater, a young boy tries to get inside but is turned away at the ticket booth. He watches Madonna's image from outside and imitates her dance. Inside, Madonna performs as the featured dancer, appearing behind curtained windows for a lineup of customers, including businessmen, sailors, and other eccentric spectators. Her performance gives her control over the voyeuristic setting. At the end, she leaves the theater with the boy, creating a playful, dreamlike escape from the world of the show.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed in Echo Park, Los Angeles, during the summer of 1986. The theater facade, ticket booth, and other elements of the setting were built specifically for the production.

• The visual draws on Liza Minnelli's "Mein Herr" performance from the 1972 film "Cabaret." Madonna's chair choreography also recalls the theatrical style of Marlene Dietrich and other classic Hollywood performers.

• The theater sign features three female figures, including an adaptation of Tamara de Lempicka's painting "The Slave (Andromeda)." The painted figure was altered with light bulbs replacing the nipples.

• Child actor Felix Howard plays the boy outside the theater. The video's treatment of a child trying to enter a strip club attracted criticism, even as the clip was praised for reversing the usual male-gaze dynamic.

• The video was recognized as Madonna's first explicitly sexual clip and one of her earliest to include visible homosexual imagery, through the depiction of two sailors watching the performance together.

• Madonna's conical-bra costume became one of her signature looks. She later wore the same bustier during performances on the 1987 Who's That Girl World Tour.

• The outfit was displayed at the Frederick's of Hollywood lingerie museum. It was stolen during the 1992 Los Angeles riots but was later recovered.

• At the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards, the video received nominations for Best Art Direction, Best Choreography, and Best Female Video.