LEGEND: Lilly Christine

Lilly Christine: Featured legend of Red Hots Burlesque.

We have really loved featuring our beloved legends in 2013, and it’s bittersweet that Red Hots Burlesque is honoring our last one for the year. But, we’ve really saved one of the best and most sizzling for last. (And we’re so excited for what we’re featuring in 2014! Stay tuned.)

LILLY CHRISTINE
b. December 17, 1923

Born in upstate New York as Martha Theresa Pompender, but claiming to be a voodoo priestess from New Orleans, Lilly Christine was one of the most photographed pin-ups from the late ’40s to early ’60s. Known as “The Cat Girl,” Lilly Christine became known for her lithe, mesmerizing movements and with her signature stalking cat burlesque number. She was a number one attraction on Bourbon Street, drawing huge crowds with her voodoo love potion dance. She eventually made it to Broadway, where she performed in Bert Lahr’s “Burlesque” as well as Mike Todd’s “Peep Show.” She was more than a typical blonde bombshell, also cutting an athletic and almost dangerous figure. Radio gossip commenter Walter Winchell described Lilly Christine as “genuine Gee-whiz boy-bait,” and considering how popular she was as a centerfold in men’s magazines, his opinion was shared across the nation. She never was fully nude on stage, and preferred to call herself a belly dancer rather than a stripper. Lilly Christine was also featured in uncredited roles in a handful of Hollywood films, such as Two Guys from Texas and My Wild Irish Rose. One of the biggest burlesque headliners of her time, Lilly Christine was still a huge draw when she passed away at the age of 41 from peritonitis in Florida.