Brief

This biography catalogues the life of Lili St. Cyr, a burlesque superstar. She inspires Marilyn Monroe, amasses famous fans like Ronald Reagan, and captivates millions, but off stage she endures six failed marriages, heroin abuse and suicide attempts.

What We Liked

- This is a true story of mid-century glamour that has been ignored by modern media and yet has a potent relevance to our current world of celebrity and scandal;
- Lili was an influencer before instagram existed, but she was also a feminist who worked against slut shaming and traditional female expectations before Gloria Steinem ever donned a bunny suit for investigation;
- In addition to a story of rise and fall, the story sheds an interesting light on the changing sexual attitudes of the world as a whole and is an interesting look into the past;
- Sex sells, and so do stories of fallen starlets and period pieces examining the grimmer side of the 50s and 60s. This could be a blockbuster hit;
- As a series, this would be a great period piece that could span several eras of history with each season, as Lili was active for over three decades.

Synopsis

Lili was born as Marie Van Schaack in 1918. She developed a love for the finer things in life and an itch to get away from her humble roots. She initially found that answer in her first husband, but really only used him to go abroad on an ocean liner. She cheated on her first husband while on the ship to England, and almost immediately returned back to the United States divorced to marry another man. She soon realized that they wanted very different things in life: she wanted so much more than a simple housewife's existence. They soon divorced and she started stripteasing at local clubs.

She changed her name to Lili St. Cyr and realized that in addition to making money from shows, she could make even more money from going to dinner with wealthy men. She moved to Montreal and worked there for a bit as a headlining act. Soon, however, she found herself under intense scrutiny from the law. She got arrested for public indecency after one of her shows and was forced to pay a small fee. This would not be her last struggle with authorities, as she soon became infamous for her "bathtub" act, where she would mimic a woman getting out of the bath onstage. She got arrested right after a show one night. The trial was highly publicized and she had the top lawyer of the day representing her. She was acquitted, but the club that she was stripping at got shut down. She married Paul Valentine and for a while included him in her shows, but he was a jealous man and was unhappy that her career was doing so much better than his, so they too soon divorced. For a while she danced in LA and then in Vegas, drawing enormous crowds. She continued stripping well into her fifties and continued to attract amazing crowds.

Despite her public persona of confidence and grandeur, she struggled with depression and attempted to take her own life with sleeping pills on three separate occasions. She never saved her money or invested it and soon began to ran out. She took to selling signed pictures of herself for extra money to support her newfound, expensive addiction--Heroin. She and her new boyfriend, Jonathan Zomar, injected heroin on a regular, weekly basis. She became obsessed with hiding her age and began to refuse to allow visitors in to see her--she wanted to emulate Greta Garbo and disappear. The story ends with her death in 1999 but her legacy lives on, as she's said to have inspired Marilyn Monroe and countless other sex icons.

About The Author

Kelly DiNardo is the author of several books, and her travel stories have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, National Geographic Traveler, Forbes Traveler, Time Out, USA TODAY and several regional magazines. She has covered health and fitness for O: The Oprah Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, Health, Glamour, Redbook, Shape, Woman's Day, USA Weekend magazine and Parade.