Legend: Big Fannie Annie

Big Fannie Annie: Featured Legend of Red Hots Burlesque

This week we celebrate

BIG FANNIE ANNIE

With a tagline like “450 pounds of pure sizzling sex,” it’s no wonder Big Fannie Annie makes it high on our list of burlesque inspiration. Fannie Annie is the type of innovative gal that will whip up a stunning dress out of a velvet bedspread or swaddle herself in a shower curtain. She never let her bounteous curves and Amazonian height keep her in the corner, landing film credits in Miami Vice and Porky’s. I wouldn’t be surprised if Divine looked to her when seeking her femmespiration. Described by critics in her ’70s and ’80s heyday as “too much,” Fannie Annie was known to pack a nightclub faster than the smaller gals. “I never think about being thin,” said Annie to newspapers in 1977. “When you know you are money by being big, how could you want to be thin?”