by Karen Abbott
38 “He’s so darned handsome”: Ibid.
39 he promised to take care of Gypsy: Author’s interview with Erik Preminger, November 2009.
40 Billy Rose’s gaudy circus: The New York Times November 18, 1935.
41 “ignoring the others”: Havoc, More Havoc, 106.
42 “Among the death watch”: New York Journal American, August 24, 1936, Gypsy Rose Lee scrapbooks, Reel 1, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
43 “the hillbilly’s Juliet”: Daily News (New York), August 24, 1936.
44 “Keep them waiting”: Fiske, 108.
45 81 Irving Place: Series I, Box 7, Folder 2, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
46 Eva Morcur: Series VI, Box 24, Folder 1, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
47 Every star had one: Havoc, More Havoc, 143.
48 Otis Chatfield-Taylors: George Davis, “The Dark Young Pet of Burlesque,” Vanity Fair, February 1936.
49 courses of comfort food: Tippins, 90.
50 “We’re broke or we wouldn’t”: New York World Telegram, November 28, 1936.
51 loosened a few: Havoc, More Havoc, 160.
52 Strip Girl, the show: “No Hits, Several Errors,” The New Yorker, October 26, 1935.
53 “I consider that show”: New York Evening Journal, October 21, 1935.
54 “Mae West,” she said: McEvoy, “More Tease Than Strip.” 274 “Leg art requires no protection”: Ibid.
55 “I think he was a swell general”: Ibid.
56 “Right End”: The Princeton Tiger, November 5, 1935, Gypsy Rose Lee scrapbooks, Reel 1, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
57 seasoning her conversation: “It was so contrived,” June told Laura Jacobs in 2002. “She didn’t know French … but she had all these bits and pieces and she knew when to lay them in and that they would be funny.”
58 “Whither the New Negro?”: Davis, “The Dark Young Pet of Burlesque.”
59 “Dear, beloved, dazzling Gypsy”: Bernard Sobel to Gypsy Rose Lee, Series I, Box 7, Folder 2, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
60 “every ladies’ luncheon”: Havoc, More Havoc, 89.
61 “There was someone”: Ibid., 91.
62 June, ironically: Author’s interview with Erik Preminger, November 2009. Erik Preminger and June Havoc were estranged for many years.
63 “What in hell has happened”: Havoc, More Havoc, 99.
64 “I’d like to be sure”: Ibid., 106.
65 “Getting on my nerves”: Ibid., 159.
66 “Look at that”: Ibid., 160.
67 After Florenz Ziegfeld’s death: The New York Times, July 23, 1932.
68 previously played by Josephine Baker: Lee, Gypsy, 289.
69 “saws, hatchets, chisels”: Orlean (N.Y.) Evening Herald, August 17, 1923.
70 “Think I’ve got”: Havoc, More Havoc, 161.
71 “I gave up marriage”: Ibid., 109.
72 “Give Me a Lay!”: Henry Miller, 3.
73 “The strippers talk”: Ibid.
74 her rooster, Solly: Author’s interview with June Havoc, March 2008.
75 “I guess he’s not good enough”: Lee, Gypsy, 279.
76 “Get the hell out of here”: Havoc, More Havoc, 146.
77 “unnatural child”: Ibid., 101.
78 “The world knows of Gypsy”: Lee, Gypsy, 317.
79 filched from June’s career: Author’s interview with Tana Sibilio, January 2010.
80 “We know you are on dinner break”: Havoc, More Havoc, 183.
81 “You mean,” June said: Ibid.
CHAPTER 31: NEW YORK CITY, 1932–1936
1 “Whenever La Guardia talks”: McIntyre, 130.
2 “Billy was dead”: Minsky and Machlin, 132.
3 “I don’t know how to tell you”: Ibid.
4 “You’re acceptable”: Ibid., 231.
5 “Not one new burlesque”: Ibid., 252.
6 He planned his own theater: The New York Times, July 29, 1932.
7 “I go my own way”: Minsky and Machlin, 136.
8 “He thinks he can fill”: Ibid., 137.
9 “battle of burlesque”: The New York Times, July 19, 1932.
10 “His puritanical streak”: Lawrence Elliott, 221–222.
11 at the Trocadero: Shteir, Striptease, 157.
12 “If I shake”: Ibid., 115.
13 “that promised land”: Minsky and Machlin, 154.
14 “Margie Hart Scholarship”: Ibid., 247.
15 “Gypsy Rose Lee’s act”: Ibid.
16 developed an activist conscience: John Richmond, “Gypsy Rose Lee, Striptease Intellectual,” American Mercury, January 1941.
17 “Gypsy called our theater”: Shteir, Gypsy, 53.
18 “Morton,” she began: Minsky and Machlin, 237.
19 “If you eliminated Waxey Gordon”: Ibid., 238.
20 “She’s really intelligent”: Ibid.
21 “If the striptease is”: Alexander, ix–x.
CHAPTER 32: NEW YORK CITY, 1956–1959
1 “the most publicized”: Frankel, 220.
2 “There is,” she concedes: Ibid., 218.
3 Her entire act: Author’s interview with Erik Preminger, November 2009.
4 “Is a performer justified”: Series II, Box 11, Folder 1, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
5 Speak well of all: Ibid.
6 “I’ve had it”: Preminger, 15.
7 “Good God, Erik!”: Ibid., 24.
8 “I couldn’t sing or dance”: Lee, Gypsy, 5.
9 “an honest, unsparing document”: The New York Times, April 28, 1957.
10 “From Hard-boiled Rose to Gypsy Rose”: Lee, Gypsy, 319.
11 “I want to pay it”: Ibid.
12 “The use of my character”: Letter dated July 1957, courtesy of June Havoc and Tana Sibilio.
CHAPTER 33: HOLLYWOOD AND NEW YORK CITY, 1937–1940
1 “Nobody ever looked”: June Havoc, interview with Laura Jacobs, 2002.
2 one of her new teeth: Richard E. Lauterbach, “Gypsy Rose Lee: She Combines a Public Body with a Private Mind,” Life, December 14, 1942.
3 sinking the needle into her gums: June Havoc, interview with Laura Jacobs, 2002.
4 one of whom replenished: New York Daily Mirror, October 2, 1936.
5 Minsky’s Oriental: The New York Times, December 25, 1936.
6 break a bottle of champagne: Minsky and Machlin, 263.
7 “Congress Learns of Gypsy’s Art”: Lee, Gypsy, 308.
8 “Serves them right!”: Ibid., 330.
9 “Dear Louise”: Rose Thompson Hovick to Gypsy Rose Lee, December 7, 1936, Series I, Box 1, Folder 8, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
10 bought out the Follies contract: Author’s interview with Erik Preminger, November 2009.
11 Rose underlined the words: Lee, Gypsy, 330.
12 “frowned” on her contract: Boston Sunday Advertiser, July 4, 1937.
13 a “headache”: The New York Times, May 17, 1937.
14 $2,000 per week: Contract between Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Rose Louise Hovick (professionally known as Gypsy Rose Lee), dated February 16, 1937, Series I, Box 4, Folder 2, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD; author’s interview with Erik Preminger, November 2009.
15 Gypsy visited the dressing room: Author’s interview with Erik Preminger, November 2009. Preminger wasn’t entirely sure the actress in question was Alice Faye; Phyllis Brooks was her other female costar.
16 “like an old skyscraper nightlark”: Lauterbach, “Gypsy Rose Lee: She Combines,” Life, December 14, 1942.
17 “influenced by her former experiences”: The New York Times, May 17, 1937.
18 “To hell with them”: June Havoc, interview with Laura Jacobs, 2002.
19 “Q. You were a striptease artiste”: Salt Lake Telegram clipping, no headline, 1937, Gypsy Rose Lee scrapbooks, Reel 1, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
20 “grande dame”: Los Angeles Times, June 14, 1937.
21 vaguely British accent: Los Angeles Times, April 19, 1937
.
22 remove the “slink”: John Richmond, “Gypsy Rose Lee, Striptease Intellectual,” American Mercury, January 1941.
24 “will go down in history”: The New York Times, August 4, 1937.
25 “My dear Miss Hovick”: Jean Augustin to Gypsy Rose Lee, February 21, 1937, Series I, Box 1, Folder 1, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
26 a twenty-nine-year-old woman from Kenosha: Portsmouth (Ohio) Times, June 2, 1937.
27 “a credible though not at all”: The New York Times, January 12, 1936.
28 She wore a white, short-sleeved: Description from crime scene photo, courtesy of Carolyn Quinn.
29 the coroner pronounced the death: Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, June 2, 1937.
30 Gypsy Rose Lee: Oakland Tribune, November 30, 1937.
31 Georgia Sothern: Erik Preminger, interview with Laura Jacobs, 2002.
32 E. Sergio: Ibid.
33 Ginny Augustin made a pass: Author’s interview with Erik Preminger, November 2009.
34 “I didn’t do a thing”: Havoc, More Havoc, 175.
35 “tantamount to refusal to indict”: Oakland Tribune, November 39, 1937.
36 “more like everyone else”: Havoc, More Havoc, 189.
37 when the three of them: Erik Preminger, interview with Laura Jacobs, 2002.
38 “Think, June,” she mused: Havoc, More Havoc, 198.
39 “sweet lovely datter”: John “Jack” Hovick to Gypsy Rose Lee, Series I, Box 1, Folder 6, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
40 “I remember when I was pregnant”: Elizabeth Hovick to Gypsy Rose Lee, May 31, 1966, Series I, Box 1, Folder 6, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
41 “I wanted to be married”: Los Angeles Times, August 1, 1937; Lauterbach, “Gypsy Rose Lee: She Combines,” Life, December 14, 1942.
42 both of them alone: Oakland Tribune, August 15, 1937.
43 “Darling cant make trip”: Rose Thompson Hovick to Gypsy Rose Lee, Series I, Box 1, Folder 8, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
44 “Colossol [sic] Stupidity”: June Havoc to Gypsy Rose Lee, undated, Series I, Box 2, Folder 12, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
45 “A gal has to know”: Frankel, 54.
46 continued an allowance: Rose Thompson Hovick to Gypsy Rose Lee, May 26, 1938, Series I, Box 1, Folder 9, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
47 “Louise,” Rose wrote: Rose Thompson Hovick to Gypsy Rose Lee, May 10, 1938, Series I, Box 1, Folder 9, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
48 “What have I ever done”: Ibid.
49 “I will regret”: Rose Thompson Hovick to Gypsy Rose Lee, May 26, 1938, Series I, Box 1, Folder 9, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
50 chased Bob around the house: Author’s interview with June Havoc, March 2008.
51 “With my act”: John Richmond, “Gypsy Rose Lee, Striptease Intellectual,” American Mercury, January 1941.
52 “Dear Louise”: Ruth Mizzy to Gypsy Rose Lee, December 20, 1938, Series I, Box 2, Folder 8, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
53 “silly and rather provincial”: Frankel, 35.
CHAPTER 34: NEW YORK CITY, 1958–1959
1 “Wish I had a town”: Laura Jacobs, “Taking It All Off,” Vanity Fair, March 2003.
2 “Closed doors”: Laurents, 379.
3 the girls all vowed: Ibid., 377.
4 “Was your son”: Ibid., 379.
5 “Did the fifteen-year-old”: Ibid.
6 “Wasn’t that the phone?”: Ibid.
7 “Oh, darling”: Ibid.
8 June feels differently: Author’s interviews with June Havoc, March and June 2008; June Havoc, interview with Laura Jacobs, 2002.
9 “You want the world to believe”: Havoc, More Havoc, 185.
10 “Listen, June”: Ibid.
11 “Grim,” Gypsy scribbles: Series II, Box 12, Folder 1, diary entry for January 22, 1959, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
12 “You didn’t come to see me”: Laurents, 388.
13 “I found her funny”: Ibid.
14 “I’m touching!”: Ibid.
15 “I am ill”: Series II, Box 12, Folder 1, diary entry for March 13, 1959, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
16 he notices a petite figure: Laurents, 388–389.
17 “You see, I love you”: June Havoc to Gypsy Rose Lee, Series I, Box 2, Folder 9, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
18 she is not guaranteed a royalty: June Havoc, interview with Laura Jacobs, 2002.
19 “screwing me out in public”: Author’s interview with June Havoc, June 2008.
20 “example of a nonlove”: Ibid.
21 “It realizes,” June says: June Havoc, interview with Laura Jacobs, 2002.
22 sends Erik to the home: Preminger, 92.
23 She thinks, for a moment: Ibid., 101.
CHAPTER 35: NEW YORK CITY, 1969
1 “Broadway is New York intensified”: Browne, 339.
2 the worst serial shuttering: The New York Times, June 27, 1955.
3 “lurid and flamboyant”: The New York Times, November 29, 1962.
4 “obscene, indecent”: The New York Times, June 27, 1971.
5 “deviant” males: The New York Times, December 9, 1955.
6 “Given the nature”: The New York Times, June 26, 1966.
7 “To the editor”: The New York Times, June 29, 1969.
8 the ills of the Depression: Phillips, 83.
9 “excessive and lustful kissing”: Eyles, 14.
10 “stimulate the lower and baser”: Ibid.
11 “burlesque commenced to run wild”: John S. Sumner, Half and Half: Somewhat Autobiographical, 13, John Saxton Sumner Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society.
12 “nine months’ interest”: Minsky and Machlin, 253–254.
13 “You’d think,” he wrote: Ibid., 254.
14 “This is the beginning”: Zeidman, 230.
15 “I wish,” Morton wrote: Minsky and Machlin, 277.
16 Moss issued a sort of Hays Code: Billboard, April 6, 1935.
17 “Minsky masterpieces”: Zit’s Weekly, February 16, 1935.
18 “Burlesque at Broadway”: Shteir, Striptease, 382.
19 “The Mysterious Messieurs X”: The New York Times, April 17, 1937.
20 Gone with the Winski: Ibid.
21 “real, living Minskys”: The New York Times, December 26, 1936.
22 “a renegade from the true”: Minsky and Machlin, 158.
23 “We are on the most”: Ibid., 258.
24 “Maybe,” he added: Ibid., 259.
25 FEEL WE COULD GREATLY: Morton Minsky and Herbert Minsky to Congressman Samuel Dickstein, February 18, 1937, National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 233, Records of the 75th Congress, Box 114, Folder HR26-HR246.
26 “Strange as it may seem”: Herbert K. Minsky, from U.S. Congress, Hearing of the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, “(75) H.R. 30: A Bill to Protect the Artistic and Earning Opportunities in the United States for American Actors, Vocal Musicians, Operatic Singers, Solo Dancers, Solo Instrumentalists, and Orchestral Conductors, and for Other Purposes” (2/24/1937), Microfilm, Library of Congress.
27 “The American stripper”: Cumberland (Md.) Evening Times, February 25, 1937.
28 “About this bill”: Herbert K. Minsky, from U.S. Congress, Hearing of the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization for (75) H.R. 30, Microfilm, Library of Congress.
29 A four-year-old girl: The New York Times, August 14, 1937.
30 An eleven-year-old Brooklyn girl: The New York Times, August 18, 1937.
31 An eight-year-old was raped: The New York Times, August 9, 1937.
32 A ten-year-old girl was attacked: The New York Times, August 12, 1937
33 A nine-year-old Catholic schoolgirl: The New York Times, March 23, 1937.
34 A thirty-four-year-old writer: The New York Times, April 11, 1936.
35 “criminal sexual perverts”: The New York Times, October 1, 1937.
36 “sex hygiene”: The New York Times, May 2, 1937.
; 37 It was the state’s fault: The New York Times, August 26, 1937.
38 “salacious” performances: The New York Times, April 16, 1937.
39 “At any time during”: Ibid., 271.
40 “You think you are running”: The New York Times, April 16, 1937.
41 “If you want to close them”: Ibid.
42 “In our case brother”: The New York Times, September 4, 1937.
43 “even the word striptease”: Shteir, Striptease, 171.
44 “go into these places”: Friedman, 86.
45 “For gods sakes”: Letter to Fiorello La Guardia, June 17, 1937, Papers of Fiorello H. La Guardia, Municipal Archives, City of New York.
46 “habitats of sex crazed perverts”: The New York Times, May 4, 1937.
47 “All of us were fidgeting”: Minsky and Machlin, 276.
48 “fight to the finish”: The New York Times, May 3, 1937.
49 “We tried to elevate burlesque”: The New York Times, May 6, 1937.
50 “As a patron of burlesque”: Nathan, The Theatre Book of the Year, 23.
51 “The old days forever are through”: Shteir, Striptease, 384.
52 “theatrical manager”: The New York Times, May 13, 1942.
53 “Kid,” he told Morton: Minsky and Machlin, 286.
54 banning the word “Minsky”: Roland Barber, “The Sudden Raid That Ruined Real Burlesque,” Life, May 2, 1960.
CHAPTER 36: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, 1969–1970
1 June always says: June Havoc, interview with Laura Jacobs, 2002.
2 “I can’t quite see myself”: Diary entry for July 17, 1969, Series II, Box 13, Folder 6, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
3 “Headaches begin about now”: Diary entry for August 3, 1969, Series II, Box 13, Folder 6, Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, BRTD.
4 “They’ve found a spot”: Preminger, 260.
5 would he mind calling: Ibid., 263.
6 She wishes she had: Author’s interview with Kaye Ballard, September 2008.
7 “All the men”: Author’s interview with Erik Preminger, November 2009.
8 “a wounded soul”: Ibid.
9 “We’ve never had a family”: Preminger, 193.
10 “After I go”: Author’s interview with Erik Preminger, November 2009.
11 “She was wonderful”: June Havoc, interview with Laura Jacobs, 2002.
12 “Isn’t this terrible, June?”: Ibid.
13 “This is a present”: Ibid.