Sherry Britton

As you might have noticed by reading this blog, I'm very fond of burlesque. I love watching people perform the neo-burlesque of today, but I also love reading about how it all started. For me, if I understand the history part of something, I can appreciate what I see of the same thing today a lot more. One of the burlesque stars of the past I fell for as soon as I saw a picture of her, is Sherry Britton. I haven't managed to find any old videos of her actually performing, but the existing photos of her makes you understand why she was so popular...

If I could change bodies with anyone, this would be the one I'd want! That is an 18 inch (46 cm) waist on a 5 feet 3 inches (160 cm) body you're looking at! With long jet-black hair to top it all off...

Sherry Britton was born as Edith Zack in 1918. After her mother left her abusive husband, Sherry lived in foster homes or with her aunt and uncle, who were vaudeville performers. Although having a very high IQ, she never attended high school. At 15 she started living with a man who later became abusive. To escape what she called "a fake marriage", she started stripping. Right after her first performance she said she fainted...

In an unpublished memoir she titled "The Stripper, by the Hon. Brigadier General Sherry Britton", she wrote: "There seemed to be two of me. One, onstage, undressing. The other saying, 'What are you doing, taking your clothes off for those morons?' ".

In the 1930s and 40s she was one of the queens of burlesque, sometimes called "Great Britton, a stripteuse with brains". Another burlesque dancer from those days - Zorita - said that Sherry was "without a doubt the sexiest broad that I ever met in my life...You take Sherry Britton, honey, and you can ride along in a taxi with her and she'll pop your cookie."

After burlesque was banned from New York City by the administration of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in the 40s, Ms Britton started a blooming acting career instead. She also entertained troops during WWII, and in 1944, was named an honorary brigadier general by President Franklin B. Roosevelt. 

According to herself she was "engaged" 14 times, but in 1971 she married Robert Gross, a wealthy businessman. After that she enrolled at Fordham University, from which she graduated pre-law in 1982, at the age of 63. 

After her husband died in 1990, Sherry spent her last years as a wealthy widow in New York, together with her poodle, "Miss Rich Bitch". On April 1, 2008, she died of natural causes, 89 years old.