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Zorita (née Kathryn Boyd; 30 August 1915, Youngstown, Ohio - 12 November 2001, Stuart, Florida), American burlesque dancer. Adopted and raised by a strict Methodist couple in Chicago, by the age of fifteen she was working as a manicurist. A client, impressed with her mature figure, suggested she work as a stripper at stag parties to earn extra money. At seventeen she moved to San Diego, and began working as a burlesque artist in 1935. She became known for her unique and controversial numbers, such as the "Half and Half." Dressed on one half of her body as a groom and on the other as a bride, and always turning only one side to the audience, each side began to undress the other, leading to the eventual "wedding night romp." In another act, she emerged from a giant rhinestone covered spiderweb and, while she danced, an unseen "spider" removed her clothes. What she is best remembered for, though, was a variously plotted series of acts where she performed with two boa constrictors called "Elmer and Oscar." She was arrested for indecent exposure in Toledo, Ohio in 1941, found guilty and sentenced to six months in jail. She was also harassed by the ASPCA - probably most incensed that she was known to walk her snakes on leads in public - causing her to be arrested and her snakes confiscated. (They were later returned or replaced; the act went on.) She was married - the first time at fifteen - and divorced three times. But she was fairly openly bisexual; a girlfriend would often accompany her when she toured. She later said that she stripped for men, but preferred women. Between 1949 and 1971, outside of her stage work, she also appeared in four low rent films and in 1974, she appeared, uncredited, as a nightclub owner in the Dustin Hoffman vehicle "Lenny." She retired from stripping in 1954 and ran several burlesque clubs in New York and Miami before retiring completely in 1974 to breed Persian cats. She died in Florida at the age of eighty-six. |
| "Walking" one of her snakes. |
When Zorita began her burlesque stage show in 1935, I am not surprised that she was watched very carefully by the authorities to prevent indecent exposure and suggestions of unaccepted sexual behaviour in public.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that her Half and Half performance was exceptionally clever and probably never seen before was not going to protect her from being arrested and gaoled. This reminds me of Moulin Rouge in Paris, just 60 years later :(
Stephilius, Thank You so much for this blog.
ReplyDeleteI find it witty and wily, simple and sophisticated, fun and informative !
-Rj in the IE
Well, thank you, Rj! : )
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