Legend: Marinka

Featured Legend for Red Hots Burlesque

The countdown to Burlesque Hall of Fame is just a handful of days, and we are so tickled that we’ll be seeing this lady again. Loving our legends in honor of Sparkly Devil, founder of the Legends Challenge, this week’s legend is…

MARINKA

A dynamite lady with legs a mile long, burlesque legend Marinka “Queen of the Amazons” has worked in burlesque since the 1960s. Her style is the epitome of prance and pose as she slinks across the stage dripping in glamour. Marinka, also known as Melanie Hunter, got her start in Ann Corio’s famous “This Was Burlesque,” a send-up to the burlesque style of old. Marinka studied under Rose La Rose, a contemporary of Gypsy Rose Lee and Blaze Starr. Continuing to bring the old bump and grind to the stage to this day, Marinka has been a Burlesque Hall of Fame staple, performing as a featured performer in 2011 and 2012 and always giving us her signature “loving the curtain.” She was a featured stripper in the 1979 Bob Fosse film “All That Jazz” and has performed all over the U.S., Europe and even in the Middle East.