Noel Toy, known also known as the "Chinese Sally Rand" , was born in San Francisco on December 27,1918 as Ngun Yee . She was the first born of eight to Cantonese immigrant parents, who open a laundry service in Inverness, California where the family were the only Chinese family in town.
In 1945 she met and married soldier and character actor Carleton Young when he saw her perform and then fell head over heels in love with Noel at New York's Latin Quarter. The couple had no children and were married until Carelton's death in 1994.
Noel Toy performed her burlesque routines at the Stork Club and other venues in New York before returning to San Francisco where she was most famous at the Forbidden City nightclub, which was compared to an Asian-American Cotton Club and was also the inspiration for the musical and the film Flower Drum Song .
In her later years, Noel Toy worked as an actress with small parts in television and film , including a role in Big Trouble in Little China and frequently portrayed Korean village women in the series M*A*S*H .
Motley Crue's first single off of the album of te same name "Girls, Girls, Girls", was released on May 11, 1987. It peaked on Billboard Hot 100 chart at #12 and #20 on Mainstream rock charts.
The song of course refers to strip clubs, The Tropicana, Seventh Veil and the Body Shop in Los Angles, California on the Sunset strip.
Then there was the Marble Arch in Vancouver, British Colombia in Canada, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida's Thee Dollhouse, Crazy Horse, Paris, France and Tatletales in Atlanta.
Due to nudity in the first video, MTV banned the "Girls, Girls, Girls". The music video was shot at the Seventh Veil employing the girls from the Tropicana, which was Vince Neil's favorite club, and from the Seventh Veil.
Sally Rand was considered the greatest fan dancer ever with her ostrich feather fans. She was also noted for her balloon bubble dance. But Sally Rand was not only a burlesque queen she was an actress appearing in 29 films from 1925 to 1938 and at times performing under the name Billie Beck.
Sally Rand was born in in Elkton, Hickory County, Missouri on April 3, 1904 as Helen Harriet Beck or Helen Gould Beck. When she was a child she was inspired by the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova.Sally became interested in dance and at a young age she ran away to join a carnival. At 13 she found herself in Kansas City and became a cigarette girl in a nightclub. She held many similar jobs, including as a circus performer in Ringling, until she began acting on stage and in silent films in the 1920's. It was American film director, Cecil B. DeMille who gave Helen the name Sally Rand, which was inspired by a Rand McNally atlas. In 1927 Sally Rand was chosen to be a WAMPAS Baby Stars. * And even though she had appeared in numerous average quality movies, her career in movies ended with advent of talkies because she suffered from a lisp. It was at this time that the 5'1" 35-22-35 shapely Sally Rand decided to work on incorporating her talent for dancing back into her career. Using the right mixture of enticement, imagination and intricate feather placement. It was at the Paramount Club, where she had a long standing job, that in 1932, Sally came up with the fan dance.
Sally Rand came to prominence in the 1933-1934 Chicago World's Fair entitled Century of Progress, that was meant to celebrate the progress of civilization during Chicago's first century of existence. It is here, earning $125 a week, where she performed with her ostrich feather fans to the music of Chopin and Debussy. She was subsequently arrested 4 times in a single day because of perceived nudity while riding a white horse down the streets of Chicago, apparently nude. This became known as "Lady Godiva" stunt. Sally Rand was charged with lewd conduct but the charges were later dropped because as Superior Court Judge Joseph B. David stated, "Some people would want to put pants on a horse...if a woman wants to wiggle about with a fan, it is not the business of this court."The publicity from this incident made her a burlesque sensation and raised her weekly wages to $3,000 in a single summer. Because she never was actually showing everything, by using white theatrical cream or a body stocking, she was fond of saying "the Rand is quicker than the eye".
Things got so bad that after her arrest the World' Fair was being threatened with not being allowed to open if Sally Rand performed again, to which they agreed to but the World's Fair lost money because Sally Rand was not performing and was threatened with strikes, so they had no choice but to bring her back. This time Sally Rand came back with a new act, the bubble dance " I wanted balloon sixty inches in diameter, which is my height, made of a translucent or transparent material". The problem with that was that balloons were only made up to 30" in diameter and were red because they were used as target balloons by the War Department. So Sally, herself, fronted the money needed to have the translucent balloon made. It took many test but the super-sized balloon was eventually made and Sally Rand made her bubble dance debut in 1934, with 24 dancers and 16 showgirls.
Sally Rand being arrested in Chicago in 1933
When the Chicago expedition finally closed, Sally went out on the road and sometimes it got more than a bit rough. For when she was at the California Pacific Exhibition, in San Diego in 1935-1936, Sally got bruises under her left eye and thigh after pebbles were thrown at her as she danced on stage. She left the stage bleeding but soon reappeared with her fans and completed her dance routine. After the incident the management promised to have security in future crowds when she performed.
When Sally wasn't dancing she would go to church, go sightseeing around San Diego and give interviews. She even baked a cake for her part in the home show of the Palace of Better Housing. blew a balloon in a contest at he Zone and gave a lecture to teachers and women groups on the art of dancing.
In 1936 Sally purchased The Music Box burlesque hall in San Francisco, which would later become The Great American Music Hall.
After San Diego Sally Rand went to San Francisco in anticipation for the 1939 Treasure Island's World's Fair, where she starred in "Sally Rand's Nude Ranch" , which was one of the highlights of the fair. It featured women wearing gun belts, cowboy hats, boots and little else. The fairs official guide delicately described it as " Sally Rand Nude Ranch : a dude ranch a la 1939".
In 1946 Sally Rand found herself arrested twice in a row while performing in San Francisco at Club Savoy on corrupting the morals of an audience, indecent exposure and conducting an obscene show. The first arrest came when she was performing for an audience, filled with six cops in it, seemingly nude and with a large white fan. She then hired renowned defense attorney Jake Ehrlich, who kept American jazz and big band drummer Gene Krupa and blues legend Billie Holiday out of jail on drug charges. Ehlrich made the argument that nudity was respected in the art of great masters and suggested that the court view the dance in question, as an artistic expression. The judge agreed to this proposition and released Sally Rand and let her continue her performance, unaltered, until the trial was over. But that very same night she was arrested again when she began dancing by the San Francisco Police Department. But the joke was on them, for when the lights came up Sally Rand was hiding a pair of long johns behind her fans. Plus, in place of her customary triangleof costume, was a note marked "CENSORED. SFPD!" The next morning she performed her usual routine in front of judge and jury and was immediately acquitted on the grounds that, "Anyone who could find somethinglewd about the dance as she puts it on has to have a perverted idea of moral",as Judge Shoemaker pronounced it.
Sally Rand was not only an artist but a lady who was not afraid to speak her mind. An ad-lib remark she made on a radio appearance for NBC, about Al Wagner resulted in him filing a lawsuit against NBC for "defamatory remarks". In 1952, the court ruled that NBC was not liable for unexpected remarks made by guest performer.
Naturally Sally attracted more than her fair share of marriage proposals. She married for the third time on August 12, 1954, in Las Vegas to 35year old contractor, Fred Lalla. Sally Rand was past 50.
As an intellect, Sally Rand once took time time off from dancing to appear on stage with former boxer and World Heavyweight Champion from 1926-1928, Gene Tunney to discuss Shakespeare. Another time, she went before 1,300 Harvard freshmen to lecture on the evils of communism. Also, while appearing at the Silver Slipper in Las Vegas in 1954, she conducted a weekly television program. Of all things, Sally was an advisor of universal problems. She would also do celebrity interviews and have discussions on music, books and the home. Sally Rand had said " Beauty comes from within; a greedy, avaricious woman cannot be beautiful".
Having reached the age of 50 in 1953, Sally played the Dallas fair and claimed to have made $14,000 in one day. For the rest of the week she was there Sally averaged $6,000 a day. From May of 1954 - January of 1955 she appeared at the Last Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, " I had the longest run that anyone has ever had there." Sally milked the same basic act for the rest of her career, continuing her fan dance routine into the 1970's. Sally even replaced fellow burlesque performer, Ann Corio in the stage show This was Burlesque, appeared at the Mitchell Brothers club in San Francisco in the early '70's and toured as one of the big stars in the 1972 nostalgia revue, "Big Show of 1928" which played at big revues, including Madison Square Garden. For that matter, Sally was wearing miniskirts and turning heads in 1974. When pressed about continuing her act into her 7th decade, Sally replied " What in heaven's name is strange about a grandmother dancing nude? I'll bet lots of grandmothers do it."
Sally Rand died in Glendora, California from undisclosed causes on August 31,1979 at the age of 75. Because she had insurmountable debt, at the time of her death, entertainer Sammy Davis,Jr. stepped in with a $10,000 check to help cover expenses, according to Sally Rand's adopted son.
Sally Rand with friend, one time Ziegfeld dancer, Dorothy Rubel
There doesn't seem to be a lot of information on burlesque queen, Miss Zorita but what is known is that she was born on August 30,1915with the name Kathryn Boyd and died on November 12,2001 at the age of 86. She was adopted by Methodists and by the time she was 15 she was "built to the hilt" and was performing at stag parties, then moved on to nudist colonies ( San Diego World's Fair) and then finally made her move into burlesque. Miss Zorita had two specialties in one she performed with two boa constrictors named, Oscar and Elmer, for twenty minutes, this was called " the consummation of the wedding of the snake" and her Dance of the Wandering Hands. Plus she would do a fan dance routine using Sally Rand fans.
Miss Zorita feeding her snake
Another of her routines was Half and Half, which is said to have been invented by Vernon Castle. This is when the performer/dancers costume is designed to be half woman and half man. The dancer usually puts on make-up to reflect the same, Miss Zorita became famous for her provocative rendition of the Half and Half.
I suppose it can be said that Miss Zorita was bisexual for she preferred women over men. For though she never married, she would date certain men and use them for all that they were worth. By 1954 Miss Zorita had retired from stripping and owned her on nightclubs in Miami and New York.
Known as "The Fabulous 4D Girl" Tempest Storm's measurements were or maybe are 44DD-25-35 & naturally red hair. Tempest Storm was born in Eastman, Georgia on February 29, 1928 ( a Leap Year baby) with the name of Annie Blanche Banks. Along with Blaze Starr (can't believe I forgot about her) & Lili St. Cyr, Tempest was one of the best known burlesque queens during the 1950's & '60's. After having survived abuse as a child, a gang rape & two marriages & divorces by the time she was 20 she went to Hollywood, as most do, to seek a new life. She started out as a chorus girl but because of her figure & electric stage personality, Ms. Storm was able to have a very successful burlesque career. She was hired to work the El Rey Theater, in Oakland, California in 1950. She also performed in other clubs around the country, especially Las Vegas, Nevada. She moved to Portland, Oregon in 1953 to work in the Star Theater. A few months afterwards Ms. Storm started working in a club just down the road, the Capital Theater because her husband at the time, John Becker bought it. The Star Theater owner then brought in rival burlesque star, Arabelle Andre, who just so happened to be john Becker's ex-wife,. This started a "burlesque war" that landed it in Life Magazine on November 30,1953. On a trip to Denver, Colorado to perform at the Tropics Nightclub in 1955, She made a side trip to Boulder to the university of Colorado, where Ms. Storm started a near riot because all she did was remove her mink coat. Other men in her life include Elvis Presley & her 4th and last husband, Herb Jefferies from 1959-1967. He was not only the first black cowboy, but also a singer with Duke Ellington's band. With Herb Jefferies she had her only child, a daughter.
In the late 1950's she had her moneymakers, her breast, insured with Lloyd's of London for a million dollars. Ms. Storm also acted in some C-grade movies such as: FRENCH PEEP SHOW, PARIS AFTER MIDNIGHT & STRIPTEASE GIRL.
At times it has been said that Tempest Storm retired from burlesque in her 60's, but as with the reported death of Mark Twain was an exaggeration. To this day in her 80'sshe is still taking it off but "classy"& hosts her own revue in the town where she now resides, Las Vegas.
Born Willis Marie Van Schaack in Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 3,1918, Lili St. Cyr was an American stripper in the 1940's and 1950's who replaced Gypsy Rose Lee and Ann Corio as Queen of the Burlesque. Lili is also the one responsible for taking the striptease out of burlesque and putting it in Las Vegas. She was also a pinup model mainly for Bernard of Hollywood. Her family moved to Pasadena, California and was raised by her grandparents. Lili had two sisters who were also in burlesque, Dardy Orlando and Barbra Moffett. Lili was trained in ballet and became a chorus girl at notable places, like the Florentine Gardens. She went on to develop and choreograph her own solo act which featured her nude.When her act debuted at the Music Box proved to be a flop she came up with a new act. It consisted of Lili taking a bath or doing a reverse strip. She became famous in 1944 while performing at the Gaiety Theater in Montreal. A famous gimmick of hers was to have her G-string that was attached to a fishing line, fly off into the balcony as the lights dimmed. It became known as the "Flying G". She conquered Las Vegas and it was there that she created her "bubble bath bit" on stage while being dressed by her maid. Lili's private life was fodder fodder the tabloids with 6 marriages, highly publicized fights and suicide attempts. She eventually tired of all of this drama and retreated starting a lingerie business. Lili St. Cyr died on January 29, 1999.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri on October 23,1928. With measurements ranging from 40-28-38 to 44-28-40 it is easy to see why Jennie Lee was called "The Bazoom Girl". her followers wee or are called "Bazoomers. In 1955, she help found The Exotic Dancers League of North America, a union for dancers in Los Angles & acted as its first president. Jennie Lee also opened a museum in Helensdale, California dedicated to burlesque & stripping called "Jennie Lee's Exotic World". Jennie Lee "The Bazoom Girl" died of cancer on March 24,1990.
Queen of the striptease, who always emphasized the tease part, Gypsy Rose Lee was born Rose Louise Hovick in Seattle, Washington on January 8, 1911.She got her start in burlesque in Kansas City on October 6, 1926 at the tender age of 15 in not much more than a grass skirt and did not take much off. Gypsy also brought class and wit to her acts.She moved to New York and became one of the biggest stars of Minsky's Burlesque. She performed there for 4 years before deciding to go to Hollywood to give acting a try, which was generally panned. Gypsy went back to New York City where she invested and starred in many of Michael Todd's productions. As well as having an affair with him. She married 3 times. While married to her 2nd husband Gypsy embarked on an affair with director Otto Preminger, with whom she had a child by in December of 1944. Twelve years later she gave up stripping at the age of 42.
Stripping was not the only thing Gypsy did. She wrote " The G-String Murders" in 1941, which was made into the film, starring Barbara Stanwyck, "Lady Burlesque" in 1943. Gypsy's second murder mystery was "Mother Finds a Body" published in 1942. And of course, a relative send up of her upbringing, her memoir "Gypsy" in 1957. In later years she had a successful television show in San Fransisco for housewives.
In 1969 Gypsy was diagnosed with lung cancer. This prompted a reconciliation with her sister actress June Havoc, whom she had been estranged from for many years, courtesy of their mother. Gypsy died of lung cancer on April 26, 1970. She was also an animal lover who is credited with establishing one of the first kennels dedicated to breeding Chinese Crested dogs.
