Legend: Judith Stein

Judith Stein: Featured Legend of Red Hots Burlesque

We are so inspired by this beaming legend of burlesque! Rubenesque Burlesque met her at the Toronto Burlesque Festival last year, where she squeezed us all tight after seeing us perform! Red Hots Burlesque presents this week’s legend:

JUDITH STEIN

This week we honor one of our legends from the Great White North, The Lady Divine: Ms. Judith Stein. The tiny blonde bombshell started her burlesque career in 1974 when she responded to an ad for topless go-go dancers to subsidize her college bills. At first hesitant about taking the leap and taking her clothes off, Stein immediately was bitten by the burlesque bug. “I never felt like I was particularly sexy on stage, I was more playful,” Stein told the Minnesota Daily earlier this year. “I used to say I did comedy; I took my clothes off and people laughed.” A self-proclaimed feminist, Stein once had a handful of frat boys rush the stage after a performance to strip off the rest of her clothing. She not only got away but took them to court, demanding instead of money that they take a year of women’s studies classes. Stein had a 17-year career spanning the U.S. and Canada before retiring from burlesque at the age of 40. She has worked in eldercare since then, bringing laughter to the home-bound and dying. At 65, Stein has resumed performing as a living legend, and also teaches the art of the striptease to new burlesque students.