Jennie Lee

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This article is about a deceased Burlesque performer

Jennie Lee (born Virginia Lee Hicks, ✦October 23, 1928 – †March 24, 1990)^{[Source 1]} was an American stripper, burlesque entertainer, pin-up model, Union activist, and a minor role movie actress, who performed several striptease acts in nightclubs during the 1950s and 1960s. She was also known as "the Bazoom Girl", "the Burlesque Version of Jayne Mansfield", and "Miss 44 and Plenty More".

Jennie Lee was one gal who knew how to twirl her tassles...literally! The highlight of this buxom blonde's act was to get those pastie propellers spinning so fast it made men dizzy. It was this energy and joy of burlesque that made her one of its stars.

Lee, nicknamed "The Bazoom Girl" for obvious reasons, was a huge draw at west coast clubs. In fact, she had a loyal following who called themselves the Bazoomers. She was even the inspiration for an early Jan & Dean Top Ten hit called, what else, "Jennie Lee." You could also find her billed as "Miss 44 and Plenty More!" and "the biggest bust in burlesque." Lee was a gal who enjoyed every inch of her 40-28-38 frame. With stats like that, no wonder she was a hit during the bosom obsessed 1950's.

But what Lee did off the stage is just as important to burlesque as what she did on it. In 1955, she helped formed "The Exotic Dancers League of North America" (or EDL) and acted as their first president. It was basically a union for dancers in Los Angeles. At the time, L.A. dancers were getting less money than other dancers in bigger cities. The EDL fought to change the pay rate as well as improve the working condition for the dancers. This was an ongoing struggle and Lee was always there on the front lines, looking out for her fellow dancers. As the years went by, the EDL became more of a social organization looking out for retired dancers and gathering up burlesque memorabilia. The members realized the golden age of burlesque was ending and wanted to make sure it was not lost to history. Lee gathered all the press pictures, gowns, pasties, G-strings, and the like she could. This became the basic collection for Exotic World Burlesque Museum, now located in Helendale, California. With Lee's death in 1990, the collection was taken over by a fellow dancer Dixie Evans, who has done an amazing job of keeping both burlesque's and Jennie Lee's legacies alive.