“The Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque”
legendary burlesque performer Dixie Evans and her stage act drew illustrious fans such as Frank Sinatra. But she was more than a sexy dancer with a strut and a bump. She was a historian and advocate whose passion for her craft inspired a new generation of performers and earned her the nickname "Godmother of Burlesque."
Evans was a headline act at burlesque houses around the country in the 1940s and '50s, the so-called Golden Age of Burlesque. Her resemblance to Marilyn Monroe prompted one show promoter to dub her "Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque." The name stuck, and Evans incorporated skits about Monroe's life and parodies of Monroe's movies into her act. Even in her 80s, Evans would "drop into Marilyn Monroe at the drop of a hat, A natural storyteller, Evans stressed the tease and humor in her performances. One of her better-known acts featured a casting couch. In a 2011 interview with the Las Vegas Sun she talked about how hard she'd worked on the routine, joking, "I really gave that couch a workout.
"Her acts were very narrative. For Dixie, they were like little plays," said Lynn Sally, Evans' biographer and a professor at New York University. "She was telling a story."
The reveal at the end of the show wasn't just about showing off one's body; it was a punchline or a political statement, Sally noted. And what happened before that mattered a lot, Evans told the Newark Star-Ledger in 2007. "It wasn't about taking your clothes off. It was the way you took them off."A job in burlesque was a chance for a working class woman to move beyond a job in a factory or a department store, two of the most popular options at the time, Sally said. It allowed them to travel and make their own rules.
"They came up with their own acts. There was no producer telling them, 'Here's your song. Here's your costume,'" Sally said. "It's a self-authored performance medium and that was attractive for independent woman."
After a few years living and working in the Bahamas, Evans returned to the United States, where former burlesque dancer Jennie Lee told her about her dream of creating a museum dedicated to burlesque. After Lee's death in 1990, Evans followed through on her friend's plans.The Exotic World Museum was housed on a dusty farm off Route 66 in the Mojave Desert. A sign out front instructed visitors to honk three times for a tour. To draw more attention to the museum, Evans started the Miss Exotic World pageant in 1991. It's still going strong.The museum was moved to Las Vegas in 2010 and its name was changed to the Burlesque Hall of Fame.Evans shared burlesque treasures including Sally Rand's feather fan and Gypsy Rose Lee's travel trunk with museum visitors.
Check out Jo Weldon's interview with Dixie Evans in 2013 21stcenturyburlesque.com
