Goddess of Love Incarnate: The Life of Stripteuse Lili St. Cyr

Film producer, director, and author Zemeckis (Behind the Burly Q: The Story of Burlesque in America) continues to explore burlesque in this illustrated biography of striptease dancer Lili St. Cyr (1918–99). At the height of her career, St. Cyr earned $7,000 a week, included among her lovers Orson Welles and Yul Brynner, and was more famous than Gypsy Rose Lee. The author describes how the enigmatic, creative, unconventional, narcissistic, and disarmingly beautiful woman was an entertainment icon with a troubled private life. As a teen, she dropped out of school, was discovered while working at a restaurant, and her career as a showgirl began. She revolutionized stripping and brought legitimacy to it by appearing in high-class Hollywood nightclubs, with an act that was sexy and sophisticated. Statuesque and graceful, she elegantly commanded the stage, dazzling her audiences with the vignettes she created. Notoriety came with indecency arrests. She lived lavishly and married six times, but at the end of her life was a recluse, using drugs and being supported by friends. Zemeckis admirably reveals the many sides of this complicated woman.