A Lili By Any Other Name

Ten years ago today, as the neo-burlesque movement began to take off, Lili St. Cyr died. (As an aside, it is also the anniversary of H.L. Menken's death. The writer coined the term ecdysiast) To commemorate the occasion, here's an excerpt from Gilded Lili about Lili's death.

In the January 1999 issue of Playboy, the arbiter of sexiness released their list of the one hundred beautiful women “who made this century sizzle.” The magazine ranked Lili number sixty-nine, ahead of Gypsy Rose Lee at seventy-eight. Her idol Greta Garbo landed at number fifty-one. Not surprisingly, Marilyn Monroe scored the top spot.

At the end of that month, on January 29, 1999 at the age of 81, Lili St. Cyr died of heart failure... While newspapers across the country and around the world mourned her death and heralded the former striptease dancer, only four people attended her funeral. Obituaries in papers like the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Independent in London, Time magazine, and Variety recounted her routines, run-ins with the law, and mentioned her connection to Marilyn Monroe.

In one memorial, a reporter for The Guardian wrote, "They don’t make entertainers like Lili St. Cyr ... any more. The sincerity of Miss St. Cyr (say the name quickly) was what people came to see. Or at least, that was what her fans liked to believe. She was an artiste, a delightful character who practiced her art, well, sincerely; a charming lady who did everything in the very best taste."

Award-winning poet Dorothy Barresi composed an elegy for Lili. In "Glass Dress," a poem included in Barresi’s book Rouge Pulp, she wrote:
"Lili St. Cyr is dead.
No tassel-twirling, minimum wage girl.
No discount moon,
no languishing feminine ruses.
She teases the illimitable body,
Marilyn before Marilyn,
Jayne before Jayne."

Forget Britney

In this month's Smithsonian magazine, Sam Wineburg, a history and education professor at Stanford University, surveyed 2,000 11th and 12th graders to see who they considered to be the most famous Americans – excluding presidents and their wives. Marilyn Monroe landed in the number eight slot. Now, before anyone gets their tassels knotted up about where teens' priorities are, Monroe and Oprah were the only two on the list that were also likely candidates of an episode of E!: Hollywood True Story. But, I wonder if any of the 2,000 teens realize who Lili St. Cyr was or that Monroe modeled herself on the burly queen.

For those of you curious about the list, here's the complete top ten list:


1. Martin Luther King Jr.
2. Rosa Parks
3. Harriet Tubman
4. Susan B. Anthony
5. Benjamin Franklin
6. Amelia Earhart
7. Oprah Winfrey
8. Marilyn Monroe
9. Thomas Edison
10. Albert Einstein

And, a poll of 2,000 adults age 45 and over produced a list with only two differences – Betsy Ross and Henry Ford replaced Monroe and Einstein.

Blonde Ambition

I've thought about Lindsay Lohan's buzzed photo spread in New York magazine far too much this week. And not in the good, titillating kind of way. I kept wondering, is there some connection to be made in the idea that Marilyn Monroe mimicked Lili St. Cyr and Li Lo mimicked Marilyn? Clearly, the fumes from the perfume ads got to my head.

It was this bit from the Los Angeles Times that cleared the fog: "Why do starlets insist on channeling Marilyn Monroe? At some point, every actress decides to have her "Marilyn moment" and dons a platinum wig and a fake mole to prove that she's capable of playing an American icon. ... [It is] rather sad that so many young actresses crib Monroe instead of inventing their own unique images. If you're devoid of charisma and innate sexual appeal, maybe it's time to try beekeeping."

As if to further the point, Lohan swept the Razzies this week, earning a record eight "wins" for her role as a stripper in I Know Who Killed Me.

Today in BurlyQ History

In the January 1999 issue of Playboy, the magazine released their list of the one hundred beautiful women “who made this century sizzle.” Lili St. Cyr ranked number sixty-nine, ahead of Gypsy Rose Lee at seventy-eight. Not surprisingly, Marilyn Monroe scored the top spot. At the end of that month, on January 29, 1999 at the age of 81, Lili St. Cyr died of heart failure.

Newspapers like The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Independent in London, Time magazine, and Variety included obituaries which recounted her routines, run-ins with the law, and mentioned her connection to Marilyn Monroe. (As an aside, most got her birth date wrong. She was born in 1917, not 1918.)

In one memorial, a reporter for The Guardian wrote, "They don’t make entertainers like Lili St. Cyr . . . any more. The sincerity of Miss St. Cyr (say the name quickly) was what people came to see. Or at least, that was what her fans liked to believe. She was an artiste, a delightful character who practiced her art, well, sincerely; a charming lady who did everything in the very best taste."

Top Ten Reasons to Buy Gilded Lili

Today's the release of my biography on Lili St. Cyr, Gilded Lili: Lili St. Cyr and the Striptease Mystique. I know this crowd doesn't need much convincing, but in case you weren't sold here are the top ten reasons to buy Gilded Lili.

10. There are 15 pages of salacious pictures. That’s 15 less than Alan Greenspan’s new book, but you actually want to see Lili without clothes.

9. Marilyn Monroe -- who modeled herself after Lili -- has nothing on this woman’s story.

8. Mike Wallace called his interview with Lili one of the most interesting ones of his career.

7. Sports fans will learn how Lili is connected to a Stanley Cup winner.

6. A picture is worth a thousand words ... but this book has several that will leave you speechless.

5. The Dems in the crowd will love that Susan Sarandon blessed Lili.

4. For the Republicans, well, Ronald Reagan was caught watching her take a bubble bath.

3. Want to know why Lili wouldn’t come out from backstage to meet Humphrey Bogart?

2. Madonna dressed herself up in Lili's love.

1. Did I mention the pictures?