Lili St. Cyr

• Name — Lili St. Cyr • Birth Name — Marie Frances Van Schaack • Born — 3 June 1917 • Birthplace — Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. • Died — 29 January 1999 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Occupation — Stripper, burlesque star, model, actress • Other Names — "Anatomic Bomb" • Years Active — 1937–1965 • Haircolor — Blonde • Spouse — Richard Hubert (?–?) Cordy Milne (1936–?) Paul Valentine (1946–50) Armando Orsini (1950–53) Ted Jordan (1955–59) Joseph Albert Zomar (1959–64)

St. Cyr was born Marie Frances Van Schaack in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on June 3, 1917, the daughter of Idella Marian Van Shaack (née Peeza) and Edward Van Shaack, Idella's first husband. She had two half-siblings, a sister and a brother, from her mother's second marriage, and two half-sisters, Idella Ruth and Rosemary, from the third, to John Blackadder. Idella Ruth, born in 1924, had some minor roles in films under the name Barbara Moffett before marrying Louis Marx, a millionaire toy manufacturer. Rosemary, born in 1925 and also a burlesque dancer and stripper (under the stage name Dardy Orlando), married Harold Minsky. Marie was raised by her maternal grandmother, but visited regularly with Idella and Rosemary. In 2004, Rosemary appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Having taken ballet lessons throughout her youth, she began to dance professionally as a chorus line member at the Florentine Gardens in Hollywood. St. Cyr had to beg her manager at a club to let her do a solo act. From her self-choreographed act, she eventually landed a bit part at a club called the Music Box in San Francisco, with the Duncan Sisters. It was here that she found a dancer's salary was only a small fraction of the featured star's salary: the difference was that the featured star was nude.

In the 1940s and most of the 1950s, St. Cyr, Gypsy Rose Lee and Ann Corio were the most recognized acts in striptease. St. Cyr's stage name is a patronymic of the child-saint Saint Quiricus (Cyriacus), which she first used when booked as a nude performer in Las Vegas. St. Cyr's reputation in the burlesque and stripping world was that of a quality and high-class performer, unlike others such as Rose La Rose, who flashed her pubic hair. Two years after she started her career as a chorus line dancer, her stripping debut was at the Music Box, in an Ivan Fehnova production. The producer had not even seen her perform—her striking looks won him over. The act was a disaster, but instead of firing her, Fehnova put together a new act. At the end of the dance, a stagehand pulled a fishing line attached to St. Cyr's G-string which flew into the balcony as the lights went dim. This act was known as The Flying G, and such creative shows became St. Cyr's trademark. Over the ensuing years and in a variety of different venues, many of St. Cyr's acts were memorable, with names like "The Wolf Woman", "Afternoon of a Faun", "The Ballet Dancer", "In a Persian Harem", "The Chinese Virgin", as well as "Suicide" (where she tried to woo a straying lover by revealing her body), and "Jungle Goddess" (in which she appeared to make love to a parrot). Props were integral to many of her acts. Lili was known not only for her bathtub, but elaborate sets of vanities, mirrors, and hat racks. She variously performed as Cinderella, a matador, Salome, a bride, a suicide, Cleopatra, and Dorina Grey.

St. Cyr's work from 1944 to 1951 at Montreal's Gayety Theatre (Montreal) led author and filmmaker William Weintraub to later describe her as "Montreal's most famous woman, the city's femme fatale...". Quebec's Catholic clergy condemned her act, declaring that whenever she dances "the theater is made to stink with the foul odor of sexual frenzy." The clergy's outcry was echoed by the Public Morality Committee. St. Cyr was arrested and charged with behavior that was "immoral, obscene and indecent." She was acquitted, but the public authorities eventually closed down the Gayety Theatre. In 1982, St. Cyr wrote a French autobiography, Ma Vie de Stripteaseuse. (Éditions Quebecor). In the book, she declared her appreciation for the Gayety Theatre and her love for the city of Montreal.

St. Cyr depleted the wealth she accumulated during her heyday. While interviewing her for his 1957 program, Mike Wallace stated she earned over $100,000 annually. St. Cyr retired from the stage in the 1970s. In the early 1960's, she had begun a mail-order lingerie business that she retained an interest in until her death. Similar to Frederick's of Hollywood, The Undie World of Lili St. Cyr designs offered costuming for strippers in addition to lingerie for personal use. Her catalogs featured photos or drawings of her modeling each article, lavishly detailed descriptions, and hand-selected fabrics. Her marketing for "Scantie-Panties" advertised them as "perfect for street wear, stage or photography." Her later years were "quiet—just her and some cats in a modest Hollywood apartment."

Though less prominent toward the end of her life, her name came up regularly in 1950s tabloids: stories of her many husbands, brawls over her, and her attempted suicides. St. Cyr was married six times. Her best-known husbands were the motorcycle speedway rider Cordy Milne, musical-comedy actor and former ballet dancer Paul Valentine, restaurateur Armando Orsini, and actor Ted Jordan.

St. Cyr died in Los Angeles, California, on January 29, 1999, aged 81. She never had children, and told Mike Wallace in an October 5, 1957, interview that had she wanted them she would have adopted.

• Love Moods (1952) • Bedroom Fantasy (1953) • Striporama (1953) • Varietease (1954) • Teaserama (1955) • Son of Sinbad (1955) • Buxom Beautease (1956) • The Naked and the Dead (1958) • I, Mobster (1958) • Runaway Girl (1962/1965)