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Lili St. Cyr (June 3, 1918 - January 29, 1999), was an American striptease artist.

Born Willis Marie Van Schaack in Minneapolis, Minnesota, little is known about the childhood that developed St. Cyr into the outspoken celebrity she became. Her grandparents, the Klarquists, reared her and her two show business sisters, Dardy Orlando and Barbara Moffett.

Having taken ballet lessons throughout her youth, she began to dance professionally as a chorus line girl in Hollywood. Unlike other ladies who have stroke-of-luck stories about being plucked from the chorus line and upped to a feature, Lili had to beg her manager at the club to let her do a solo act. Her self-choreographed act led her to bigger and better things, namely a bit part at a club called the Music Box, with an act called the Duncan Sisters. It was here that she came to a revelation: A dancer's salary was 1/18 of what the featured star's salary was. What was the difference? The featured star was nude. Inhibitions seemed insignificant compared to the drive for success.

Lili’s stripping debut was at the Music Box, in an Ivan Fehnova production. The producer had not even seen her perform - her striking looks were what won him over. The act was a disaster. Instead of firing her, Fehnova reconsidered and put together a new act. At the end of the dance, a stagehand would pull a fishing rod attached to Lili’s G-String. It would fly into the balcony and the lights would go dim. This famous act was known as The Flying G, and such creative shows would be Lili’s trademark. (read more . . . )