LA BARE NECESSITIES FOR HOLLYWOOD

Does the name Craig Ned-row ring a bell? If not, your mother is probably breathing a sigh of relief. Nedrow is a male stripper (or “burlesque artist,” as he prefers to put it) at La Bare, a haven for Dallas women who like to see men dance as near to nude as Texas law will allow.

Nedrow recently added another notch to his G-string: his first film, in which he co-stars with such luminaries as Christopher Atkins and Lesley Ann Warren.

Nedrow, 26, who was born and reared in Richardson, discovered the world of dance when the disco craze hit Dallas during the late Seventies. He says he spent a lot of time in local discos back then, and one night he happened to catch the eye of a producer who was looking for cast members for a Las Vegas show that was scheduled to tour the United States and Canada. The show, U.S. Male, traveled to 42 cities, and Nedrow was the lead dancer in 441 performances. He studied with two instructors during the run of the show, and when the tour was over, he returned to Dallas to work at La Bare.

Nedrow’s big break came when an acquaintance called from Florida and asked him to audition for a movie about male strippers. Nedrow tried out with 181 other strippers. Unlike any of his cohorts, his bump and grind seemed to do the trick: He is the only authentic male stripper with a featured scene in the film.

The 20th Century-Fox film is called A Night in Heaven; it’s about a college student (Atkins) who drops out of school, becomes a male stripper and has an affair with a strait-laced professor (Warren) who is married. Although Nedrow appears in only one scene, he says it’s an important one: It was the first scene filmed, because the director wanted to give Atkins a feel for how a real burlesque dancer performs.

Nedrow says he has no idea how long he’ll stay in the burlesque business.