Lili St Cyr, the Best Paid Stripper In The World.

Between the 1940′s and 1950′s the world of burlesque moved from the seedy underworld to the glamorous palaces of Las Vegas and Hollywood. One of the stars who changed burlesque from just bump n’ grind into a spectacular stage show was the blonde goddess Lili St Cyr.

Born Willis Marie Van Schaack in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1918, Lili struggled for years as a dancer in the Florentine Gardens nightclub in LA before she was given the chance to be a featured performer. In San Francisco, she soared to fame at Sally Rand’s Music Box Theater, where she debuted a risque number called “The Flying G.” At the end of her dance, her G-string was pulled off by a stagehand using a fishing line attached to her panties. The G-string flew off and the lights would go dim.

St Cyr performed in Las Vegas and Chicago where she perfected such numbers as the “reverse strip” in which she came onstage in skimpy undergarments and put on a Dior dress and mink furs. Most famously, she did a number in which she bathed in a see-through bathtub while bubbles would cascade through the air. Performing in Montreal in the late 1940′s she was named “Montreal’s Most Famous Woman,” and was denounced by Quebec’s clergy and Public Morality Committee for her sexually charged performances.

In 1951 Lili St Cyr moved her stage show to Ciro’s in Los Angeles where she was sued for “a lewd and lascivious act” which included her removing clothing to get into her bath, and putting her clothes back on. She was acquitted of all charges. It is interesting to note that her shows attracted such Hollywood players as Ronald Reagan, Nancy Davis, and Mickey Rooney. By this time in her career Lili St Cyr had surpassed the other major burlesque performers in the payroll department, earning more than powerhouses Gypsy Rose Lee and Ann Corio. She was making an estimated $200,000 a year in the mid-50′s.

While in Hollywood, St Cyr had small parts or supporting roles in several films, like “The Naked and the Dead”, and “Son of Sinbad”. She was also featured prominently in the nudie-cutie films of Irving Klaw. The ever-elegant St Cyr was a favorite of pin-up photographers like Bernard of Hollywood and on the pages of popular men’s magazines.

Sadly, Lili St Cyr’s brilliant career was overshadowed in the late 50′s by mild scandals and her series of six husbands. She retired from the stage after an indecency arrest in Montreal in the 1960′s. She had a mail-order lingerie line which was highly successful for dancers and performers, as well as housewives who wanted to look sexier for their husbands. However, by the end of her life she was living in seclusion in Hollywood. Some claim she had a long-term heroin addiction and she passed away in 1999.

“God bless Lili St Cyr,” is a memorable line sung by Susan Sarandon in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Lili will not be forgotten.

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