Burlesque Past and Present: Betty "Ball of Fire" Rowland

The art of the tease is on everyone's lips; with a rising interest in burlesque, cabaret clubs are in full swing and new acts are cropping up every week. At Playful Promises we just adore a bit of cheek, and would love to introduce you to our favourite burly girls, past and present! Keep your eyes firmly peeled, as each week we feature inspiring performers guaranteed to set pulses racing!

This week's Burlesque star is a real force to be reckoned with; Betty "Ball of Fire" Rowland was named after her stunning red hair and vibrant stage presence. Her fiery attitude contrasted against her petite stature that originally earned her the name "the littlest burlesque star". 

Born on 23 January 1916, she is said to have had a tough life. Her and her sisters had originally wanted to go to college, however "we got cheated out of it because of the Depression", she recalled in 2009. Her father lost his accountancy job in the 1930s, and after taking dance classes Betty and her sister Rose-Zell took to burlesque to help raise money for the family. 

Betty started her career as a Minsky's girl in New York, and would have continued there if a crackdown hadn't been put in place in the mid 30's. Mayor LaGuardia and several citizens groups considered burlesque to be a corrupt moral influence, and after much dodging and fining, Minsky's was finally busted thanks to a dancer not wearing her G-string. 

Even while the venue was still at it's peak, Betty found life tough, often earning herself dinner rather than cash.

Her troupe headed west in 1938, headlining the Follies Theater in Los Angeles for a short run. The LA audience loved Betty and she continued to dance there for 14 years. In her heyday she was considered one of the best paid burlesque dancers, even appearing in a few films and said to have dated Orson Welles. 

Betty and Liz Goldwyn

The hit 1941 film "Ball of Fire" was at least partly based on Betty; the costumes themselves were flagrant copies of her burlesque ensembles. As a publicity stunt she sued the producer Samuel Goldwyn, unaware that she would later be interviewed by his grand-daughter, Liz Goldwyn, in her 2005 documentary "Pretty Things". 

Like many burlesque dancers of the time, Betty had her run ins with the law. Joan from "In SRO Land" had the chance to ask Betty about her arrest in 1952. Despite working for some time in LA with only one misdemeanor arrest in 1939, she was suddenly arrested for a lewd performance. According to Betty, "one night two LAPD cops arrived at the Follies expecting to get a free pass, but theater manager Maurice Rosen was firm – no freebies." Seeking revenge, the policemen arrested Betty and Maurice. 

They were faced with a 4 month sentence, which was soon dropped with her attorney spinning a media story that Betty was quitting burlesque to open a perfume shop in Beverly Hills. According to Betty, the real reason was more a case of a substantial pay off placed in the right hands, allowing for her release. 

Betty was said to retire from burlesque in the early 60s after getting married, yet still receives fan mail to this day!

In the late 60s she inherited a Santa Monica bar called Mr. B's, and operated it until 1995 when she partnered up with some investors and renovated the bar into the 217 Lounge. Judging by the most recent interview I could find, Betty was still working as a bar and restaurant host in her early 90s, still showing off her fiery personality. 

In 2010 a post on the ministry of burlesque calls for donations to the Betty Rowland Trust. At 93 she suffered a heart attack and while in hospital recovering some of her "family friends" helped themselves to her furniture, burlesque memorabilia and let her insurance lapse. I couldn't find any further details on whether the trust reached it's goals and whether Betty is well - if anyone has any further information we would love to hear it!

 

Burlesque Past and Present: Zorita the Original Bad Girl

The art of the tease is on everyone's lips; with a rising interest in burlesque, cabaret clubs are in full swing and new acts are cropping up every week. At Playful Promises we just adore a bit of cheek, and would love to introduce you to our favourite burly girls, past and present! Keep your eyes firmly peeled, as each week we feature inspiring performers guaranteed to set pulses racing!

 

The original bad girl of burlesque, and the dancer who popularized the use of live snakes, Zorita was a 1940s glamour girl. Known for her original and raunchy dances, Zorita was recognizable by the blonde streaks she often had in her black hair.

Born Kathryn Boyd in Youngstown, Ohio in 1915, she was adopted by a strict Methodist couple (who I imagine disliked the path she was about to take). She was said to be "built to the hilt" for her age, and by the time she was 15 she began working at stag parties and nudist colony events at the San Diego Worlds Fair. Boyd also entered beauty pageants and by the time she was 20 she was turned onto the burlesque world. 

 

Zorita became well known for her unique and naughty acts. In one number she danced in front of a rhinestone spiderweb, while the hands of an unseen spider gradually removed her clothing. Another act was a kinky take on a vaudeville staple - the Half and Half. Taking gender bending to new levels, she dressed one half of her body as a male groom, and the other as a female bride. Always keeping one profile to the audience, the groom and bride gradually removed each others clothing, leading to a climactic "wedding night" romp.

 

With her exotic fierce looks it is no wonder Zorita became popular, and adding the danger and eroticism of the snakes, the audiences just went wild. She used the movement of the snakes, named Elmer and Oscar, to emphasize her own. In her popular act "The Consummation of the Wedding of the Snake", she stripped while holding an 8 foot boa constrictor. 

 

What she did with these snakes eventually landed her in trouble. Possibly as an attempt to censor Zorita's acts, in February 1949 she was arrested by the New York ASPCA claiming she had been cruel to animals. In the above photo she sits in a courtroom with her 10-foot rock python and 20 month old daughter Tawny (who was said to have been put in a drawer while her mother performed in order to keep her safe). The claim was that Zorita had taped the mouths of her snakes before each performance. She was released on $1500 bail, but all her snakes were confiscated. 

Zorita walking one of her snakes!

Although Zorita dated men, and admitted she only spent time with the ones she could use, she was a lesbian and never married. Her unrequited love was fellow performer Sherry Britton, who she pursued relentlessly to no avail.

Retiring from burlesque in 1954, Zorita kept herself busy owning several burlesque clubs in New York and Miami, often passing on tips and tricks. While she taught burlesque routines to others, she refused to tell the secrets of her signature snake stripteases. She quite the scene entirely in 1974, and moved to Florida where she bred Persian cats. 

I couldn't find too much information about her death, only a tentative date of 12 November 2001. 

Burlesque Past and Present: Rosita Royce and her doves

The art of the tease is on everyone's lips; with a rising interest in burlesque, cabaret clubs are in full swing and new acts are cropping up every week. At Playful Promises we just adore a bit of cheek, and would love to introduce you to our favourite burly girls, past and present! Keep your eyes firmly peeled, as each week we feature inspiring performers guaranteed to set pulses racing!

This week's edition of Burlesque Past and Present focuses on a performer who seems all but forgotten in this age. Little information (at least online) exists about Rosita Royce. We aren't sure whether the details of her life have been lost to history or if she deliberately withheld information to add to her mystique.

Known as "The Doves Dancer", Rosita Royce was popular in the 1930s, when burlesque had really struck a controversial note with the American audience.

As we have previously seen in our article about Lydia Thompson, Victorian burlesque shows were controversial enough with a bit of leg on show, but a new decade called for more risqué acts. By the 1920s the birth of film and the advancement of radio sent shock waves through the world. Burlesque shows needed to offer something that these new mediums could not; the striptease.

Performers fought for fame, and competition was fierce; by 1935 there were around 3,500 strip-tease acts in the US, each trying to become more controversial (and thus more popular) than the last. With no way to trademark their dances, we can never be sure who invented what, or who popularized a certain act. Rosita Royce claimed she first performed 'The Bubble Dance', (a routine that is still popular today) which was then stolen by her biggest competitor, Sally Rand.  Royce needed a new gimmick that was sure to wow audiences.

Royce created her trademark act, 'The Dance of the Doves', which caused her to become one of the most controversial dancers of her time.

Filling her mouth with bird seeds and striking elegant poses to preserve her modesty, she used live doves like other performers used fans. Audiences couldn't believe their eyes when the seven trained doves carried off pieces of her evening gown; despite such a questionable act her performance at the 1939 New York World's Fair was a hit.

Royce was one of the many dancers who had brushes with the law as cities attempted to crack down on this lewd form of entertainment. She was once arrested for appearing nude on stage, to which she explained to the judge that a thief had run off with her costume just before she graced the stage, so she had to make do with a fig leaf. When questioned about said leaf she claimed "the wind blew it off".

Although we couldn't find much information about Royce from the 40s onwards, we can assume she was still performing her hit act by 1953 when she appeared in the comedy film Striporama. The film starred burlesque, comedy and dance acts popular in the early 50s, including Bettie Page.

Unfortunately, it seems that Royce died a year later, in 1954, however it is not known how or when. In her book "Burlesque: Legendary Stars of the Stage", Jane Briggeman details the two conflicting stories she received from members of The Golden Days of Burlesque Society.

In one version of the story, the burlesque artist is said to have died a dramatic death on stage, in front of thousands. Having her doves released at the top of the stadium, strong winds and the weight of the birds caused them to knock Royce over. Her heart stopped and she was dragged offstage "with the doves refusing to relinquish their hold on her costume".

In the other, more believable story of her demise, it is said she died of cancer at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami. However, the date remains uncertain.

You can watch a video of Rosita Royce performing a routine with her two other birds, a parrot called "Red" and a cockatoo called "Silly Billy", below:

Burlesque Past and Present: The sad story of Faith Bacon

The art of the tease is on everyone's lips; with a rising interest in burlesque, cabaret clubs are in full swing and new acts are cropping up every week. At Playful Promises we just adore a bit of cheek, and would love to introduce you to our favourite burly girls, past and present! Keep your eyes firmly peeled, as each week we feature inspiring performers guaranteed to set pulses racing!

Said to be the most beautiful woman in the world, at least according to Florenz Ziegfeld, Faith Bacon was a starlet turned burlesque dancer who suffered a sad demise.

At 20 years old, Faith appeared on Broadway in Earl Carroll's 'Fioretta' and the Ziegfeld Follies. Carroll was a hit Broadway producer, earning the name "the picker of pulchritude". At the time, it was only legal to have nude women on stage if they acted as unmoving statues, which often resulted in shows of grand artistic tableaux.

This just wasn't enough for Carroll, who pushed the censorship laws in 1924 by putting on a show, titled "Vanities", in which the majority of the female acts cavorted nude around the stage. Enough was enough for the New York District Attorney, who demanded Carroll clothe his performers. He refused and continued on with the show, resulting in a hilarious instance of a police officer tasked with the purpose of stopping any displays of nudity using a blanket. The officer raced onto the stage attempting to capture a naked star, who broke free and dashed off - to the audience it was like a scene from the Keystone Kops.

Carroll battled with censorship throughout his career, serving jail time for some of his debaucheries (including throwing lavish parties with nude women bathing in illegal alcohol), and was always on the lookout for new ways to flash some flesh.

Faith had an idea; "Mr Carroll... Why can't we do a number where I'm covered when I move, and undraped when I stop? For example -- let's say the orchestra plays a waltz. I dance around, but on every third note, the music stops and I stand still and uncover!" Clearly impressed, he asked her what she could use to cover herself during the movement, to which she suggested ostrich feathers. And so, according to Faith, the fan dance was born.

Faith took her fan dance across America, causing a stir both among the public and the police. The fan dance took off, and in 1933 she competed with Sally Rand (who is remembered as the more popular, and even the inventor of the fan dance) at The World's Fair.

From there her life went downhill. In 1936 she took part in a performance at Chicago's State-Lake theater, in which she was told to stand on a glass box for the finale. "Well, the curtains parted and I crashed through the box. All the girls started screaming for a doctor and running around the stage, but somehow I climbed out of all the broken glass and danced." Her role was to portray the temptation of beauty, which must have been quite a shock as she danced covered in blood.

Faith was taken to the hospital for a month, and left with deep scars on both legs. It was two months before she could dance again, and even had to learn to walk all over again.

Her star faded; the only jobs she could get were in less wholesome venues, eventually ending up in small town bars and carnivals. In 1938 she had a small role in a tacky low-budget movie, "Prison Train", as a dancer called Maxine. Ten years later she sued a carnival boss for throwing tacks on the stage as she danced barefoot, supposedly trying to force her to break her contract.

On the 26th September 1956, after a particularly long search for work and distraught by her lack of success, she argued with her roommate about her decision to go back to her family in Pennsylvania. Faith ran from the room, and suddenly opened a window in the stairwell. Her roommate attempted to grab at her skirt, but Faith tore free and jumped. Her body landed on the roof of a one-story saloon next door, resulting in her death at 46 years old.

Her friend later told reporters that Bacon "wanted the spotlight again. She would have taken any kind of work in show business."

Faith's effects reportedly comprised of clothing, one ring, a train ticket home, 85 cents and a pair of rented fans.

Burlesque Past and Present: Noel Toy

The art of the tease is on everyone's lips; with a rising interest in burlesque, cabaret clubs are in full swing and new acts are cropping up every week. At Playful Promises we just adore a bit of cheek, and would love to introduce you to our favourite burly girls, past and present! Keep your eyes firmly peeled, as each week we feature inspiring performers guaranteed to set pulses racing!

 

Pint-sized wonder (just a petite 5 foot tall), Noel Toy was a burlesque artist who gained popularity in the 1940's with her almost-nude dances.

Labeled as the first Chinese-American fan dancer, she was born in San Francisco under the name Ngun Yee. It is said she chose the name Noel Toy because she loved Christmas, and was actually born a few days after on the 27th December 1918. Surprisingly, she also died a day before Christmas in 2003 - I guess she really did love the holidays.

In 1939 Toy was months away from completing a degree when she was offered a role in the Chinese village show at the World's Fair on Treasure Island. Although this was a fairly safe event (all she needed to do was stand around in a Chinese gown), it led to naughtier work - posing nude at a fairground "Candid Camera" attraction, where customers were invited to photograph models. "Well, school was dull," Mrs. Young told the New York Post in 1941, "and I couldn't see anything wrong about appearing there. I went home and told my mother what I was planning to do, and she raised the roof."

Soon after, businessman Charlie Low (sounds more like a gang-boss) offered Toy a job at Forbidden City, America's first Chinese nightclub. Charlie had hit the jackpot, and business tripled withing three months. Noel Toy soon earned the reputation of the "Chinese Sally Rand", who was another popular fan dancer. 

It's not surprising just why she gained such adoration - her dances were well known to reveal a surprising amount of flesh. She often performed sans nipple tassels, something which even today most clubs would not allow or have licenses for. The video below captures her signature fan dance:

 

Before long a promoter called Lee Mortimer enticed Toy to the Big Apple, where she drew crowds in at the Stork Club, Maxie's, the 18th Club, Lou Walter's Latin Quarter and Leon & Eddies. Men found themselves falling head over heels for this exotic beauty (although I can imagine the glimpses of flesh also helped!). 

One night in 1945, a soldier named Carleton S. Young became enthralled, telling her "I'm going to marry you," without a doubt. Toy had a strict rule against dating soldiers or actors, and Young happened to be both, so she laughed him off. He persisted, and they married that year. She must have fallen for him, as their marriage lasted until his death in 1994. 

The newly christened Mrs. Young gave up dancing at her husband's request but went on to an acting career that proved fulfilling. She appeared in big name movies, alongside stars such as Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart and Susan Hayward. As Toy grew older she appeared in few acting roles, mainly just as a candid, but she remained a sprightly, glamorous woman up until her death.