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Little Egypt
Legand has it a gal named Farida Mazar caused a nation wide stir in 1893 at the Chicago Columbian Exposition. Trained in Middle Eastern dance, she was hired by infamous producer Sol Bloom to perform in an authentic recreation of the "Streets of Cairo". Her execution of wild gyrations and bold display of her naked limbs on a public stage was scandalous for it's day. The public dubbed her a "Hoochie Coochie" dancer. She was to inspire all exotic dancers who followed. Even though she didn't remove her clothes, but rather teased her audience with veils, she is thought by many to be the spiritual founder of the strip tease. |
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Hinda Wassa
Most Old Timers agree that it was this Great Lady of The Grind who was the first to actually remove her clothes for the entertainment of the masses. And, as are most great artistic creations, it was by accident! In 1928 Hinda was a chorus girl at the State-Congress Theatre (some say The Haymarket Theatre) in Chicago. She was set to do a "pick-out number" at the end of the show. So to save time she had underdressed her shimmey costume with her chorus costume. As the chorus number ended and the shimmey contest began Hinda ran off stage to shed her top layer. The zipper stuck. With the stage manager yelling at her to get back on stage she headed back on, only half out of her gown. The more she worked at it to come off the more the crowd hooted and hollerd and when it came off to reveal he smaller costume underneath, the crowd went wild. A ledgend and an art were born. |
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Ann Corio
The First Lady of Burlesque Ann Corio was a chorus girl when Hinda was daring to bare, but it didn't take long for this sweet little Catholic girl from Hartford, Connecticut to shine and become a big star. Her act was refined and ladylike and it took her far. She played all the major Burlesque houses and was an institution in Boston, where it was said of the other local institution, "You can't graduate from Harvard until you have seen Ann Corio." When burlesque died down she toured in legit plays and then in 1962 she mounted a show Broadway show called "This Was Burlesque!" It was a hit! In a town that had outlawed Burly-Q some thirty years before, Ann became the toast of the town. She toured with the show and it's follow up "Here It Is Burlesque!' until 1991. Sadly Ann passed away in 1999, not living to see the new millennium, but she left a legacy and is an inspiration to all burlesque performers who keep the art alive. |
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Gypsy Rose Lee
The Queen of Class Rose Louise Hovick, the woman, was born in Seattle, Washington in 1917. She played in vaudeville as a child, pushed by her domineering mother and in support of her more talented sister. When her sister left the act she was raised to the starring role. But vaudeville was dwindling and the act was booked into burlesque theatres as a "chaser". That was an act so bad it would chase the patrons out of the theatre so the management could get in a new crowd for the next show. Gypsy Rose Lee, the legend, was born when at the age of 15, to make ends meet, Rose Louise went on as a striptease act and her ladylike wit and grace were something Burly-Q audiences hadn't seen before. She quickly rose to to the top of the art and in fact was the first Dancer to recieve Star billing, as a headliner at Minsky's. |
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Lili St Cyr
(36"-24"-36") Lili rose to the top of the art and assumed the crown from Gypsy Rose Lee. Then Lili took striptease to new heights by moving it out of the grind houses and onto the glittering stages of Las Vegas. Her signature acts were the bubble bath, the reverse strip and the infamous "Flying G-String"! |
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Jennie Lee
(44"-28"-40") Born in Kansas City, Kansas this wide-eyed beauty was a diving champion in high school and entered burlesque soon after graduation. Some one once said "Her Honey Blond hair takes it's color from corn tassels waving under a sky as blue as her child wide eyes." Billed as "The Queen of The Educated Torso" the specialty of this buxom babe was tassel twirling. One at a time, both together and in any direction, "Miss 44 and Plenty More" was the reigning tassel girl of her day. Her joy of performing is visible in her every photo. And her brains were as ample as her balcony, which she proved as The President of the American Guild of Variety Artists and the founder of The Exotique Dancer's League. Her legacy lives on today at The Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. |
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Margie Hart
Margie was a 5' tall redhead who, when she was off stage, carried a bible and once said that she was "Just a wholesome, clean American girl trying to get along." But on stage she was one of the hottest acts in all of Burly-Q! Margie grew up with seven brothers and sisters in Missouri, the Show Me State, which may explain her lack of...shall we say...modesty? You see rumor had it she didn't wear a G-String. Actually there were several rumors. Some say she wore a Chicago G-String, a gadget designed to be flipped aside with the flick of the hand and flicked back into place when the Stage Manager checked, Another rumor was she had her G-String fitted with tufts wool to simulate…well, you get the idea. And the crowds got the idea big time. As she would slink around the stage flicking her panel dress to and fro, all eyes were south of the border. Was she flashing or was she bluffing! She was a notorious poker player and most of her winnings went into real estate. A sharp gal who, when she ended her career, moved west and became the wife of Los Angeles Councilman. Way to go Margie! |
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Georgia Sothern
The Redheaded Rebel By the time Mr. Minsky found out Georgia's secret, she had been the star stripper of his show for over a year. Her secret was that she was only 14 years old. This means that the year before when she made her grand entrance riding an elephant in the finale of her triumphant New York Minsky's Burlesque debut she was 13 years old! This means that a year before that, when she made her Philadelphia debut at the Trockadero she was only ....Oh Brother! Yes Sir, Georgia was young …and fast. Her music "Hold That Tiger" was wild and loud. She came on stage built momentum up and then got faster and faster. There wasn't time to yell "Take it off!, you just sat there and watched. She was the cyclone of sex that blew the walls down. When Burlesque was over in New York, she went legit, then she danced and produced on the Canvas Circuit. She passed away in 1981, but being a gentleman I won't reveal her age. |
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Mitzi
(38"-23"-36") In the 1940s, Mitzi hit her stride on the burlesque stage. As a featured dancer, Mitzi played mostly East Coast theatres, and her numbers were always strong on dance and creativity. One of her most famous numbers was "The Dance of The Lovers", a classic routine which gave the illusion of two heads and bodies - one male and one female -- in one elaborate costume. As she danced this "solo duet," the male hand would provocatively tease and touch the female side in ways a gal wasn't allowed to touch herself on the stage. As burlesque morphed once again in the late '50 and early '60s, Mitzi followed the stage to the Girl Shows of the "canvas circuit", where, along with her husband of many years, Roland Porter, Mitzi both produced and starred in many shows. Sadly, just as the canvas tents have long since come down, so too has Mitzi now gone on to join her beloved Roland. Miss Jennie Lee, the founder of Exotic World, originally pictured the Exotic World Ranch in Helendale, CA as a place where dancers could always go for a helping hand, and Mitzi herself spent much of the last few years of her life there, in the care of Dixie Evans and Charles Arroyo (Jennie Lee's widower). Many were the days when Mitzi and Dixie would reminisce, sing old songs and reenact old routines around the kitchen table. Those of you who were fortunate enough to meet her during this time know firsthand just how special the "Dream Girl" was, and as you may recall, Mitzi was the inaugural recipient of the annual Legends Of Burlesque Lifetime Achievement award at Miss Exotic World 2003. Sadly, when Mitzi's health declined to the point where she required round-the-clock medical care, she was moved to a skilled nursing care facility not far from Exotic World, where she was living at the time she passed away in late April 2004. Rest in Peace and May God Bless You, "Baby Darling"! |
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Dixie Evans
(40"-26"-34") This goddess of the runway toured the country and starred at Minsky's as Marilyn. Alive and well, she is Curator of The Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas Miss Dixie is indeed a Living Legend, and an inspiration to us all. |
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Tempest Storm
(40"-23"-34") With a body men would die for, and flaming red hair that dames would kill for, this powerful force of nature could sweep up a crowd and blow them away! She is a Living Legend and Two National Treasures! |
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Gilda
Born Shirley Jean Rickert, this blond bombshell began her show biz career at the tender age of three when she appeared in her first Hollywood picture. Then it was on to the Hal Roach "Our Gang" comedies as the little vamp in the platinum pageboy. It was in one of those comedies she got her first taste of Burlesque, when in 1931 she and Stymie did a version of the "Watt Street" sketch. As a child actor she worked in films starring with John Wayne and Joan Crawford. As she grew and "blossomed" into more adult roles she danced in such films as Best Foot Forward, Good News, Royal Wedding, and the immortal classic Singing in the Rain. When musicals went out of favor what was a young, vivacious dancing girl to do? Well, this one went down to "The Follies" Burlesque house in Hollywood and trained with Lillian Hunt, the mentor of Tempest Storm and others. Then with gold tresses flying she toured the U.S and Canada in Burlesque.Eventually playing the at top name in Burly-Q, Minsky's. Glad to say Shirley Jean is alive and well, living in the New England. |
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Satan's Angel
The road from a mild mannered San Francisco school girl working as a telephone operator to a Glamorus Las Vegas Headliner carousing with the Rat Pack, is what Satan's Angel calls "One hell of a ride!" And it won't only make great reading in her soon to be published autobiography, but it is a wild theatrical expierence, when she performs her one woman show, "Have Tassels Will Travel"! The tassels........... flaming of course! Angel is the Queen of The Fire Tassels. And she shares her secrets in the instructional DVD, "Fire Tassels 101" available at her personal website: |