I threw up during my first audition to become a stripper because I was so nervous. I really only had two choices: either drop out of school, or keep piling on the credit card debt. "I started stripping at 31 to pay the rest of my way through my PhD program (I have a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and a master's in epidemiology). I suppose some would like to glamorize that time or see it as very exciting, but, in fact, it was pretty much just a job."Ģ2. I do still have one photo album from those years, though, with the photographer's publicity shots for my act and some snapshots from the road. I've told very few people about the life I had. I later went to college and became a public school teacher, which I retired from in my 60s. I got out of that line of work in my 20s, in time to place my child in elementary school. This was better because we stayed in one place and could have a regular home/apartment. We eventually moved to LA, where I worked in a burlesque theater while my husband managed it. The work was not too hard, and the money was enough to support us on the road, but it was never enough to take time off. We traveled constantly, mainly in the midwest and south.Īfter a while, I got pretty worn out and tired of life on the road. We stayed in kitchenette motels near the clubs. I traveled with my then-husband and young daughter 'on the circuit' and was booked for a few weeks at a time at different strip clubs. "I later got some real costumes and an 'act' together and went on the road as a stripper. In some bars, you'd put on a little coverup over your bikini dancer costume and sit with the patrons, who would buy you drinks, to increasing the club's revenue."
You'd just go up there and dance your set from the 45 records on the jukebox, then wait in the dressing room - sometimes for an hour or more - until it was your turn again. We didn't have to actually disrobe, and in many places, we weren't allowed to have any conversations or interactions with the patrons. As a very young, divorced mom, I learned that all I had to do to make a pretty good living for myself and my baby was to sew some fringe and sequins on a bra and panties, then dance on a little stage each night. Back then, most of those jobs were for 'go-go girls' or 'bikini dancers.' This was the most common and easiest way to get into the occupation. "I am now 70-plus years old, but I worked as a stripper in the early 1970s.
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