Ann Corio
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Ann Corio (November 29, 1914 – March 1, 1999) was a prominent American burlesque ecdysiast and actress.
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, she was one of twelve children of parents of Italian immigrants. [1] While still in her teens, Corio's good looks and shapely physique landed her showgirl roles that led to her becoming a hugely popular striptease artist. Working in New York City, she was a star performer at clubs such as the famous Minsky's Burlesque and Boston's old Howard Theatre.
However, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia closed down the "bawdy" houses in 1939 and Corio made her way to the Los Angeles. Between 1941 and 1944 she appeared in several Hollywood "B" motion pictures which featured her in scanty costumes, the best known of which was perhaps 1942's Jungle Siren opposite Buster Crabbe. With the Second World War on, she became one of the volunteer pinup girls for YANK magazine, appearing in the September 3, 1943 issue of the weekly U.S. Army publication.
Corio had a long successful career dancing on stage. In 1965, she put together the Broadway show "This Was Burlesque" which she directed and in which also performed. In 1968 she wrote a book using that same title. [1] Her fame was enduring enough that in the 1970s (by this time Corio was long retired and in her mid fifties) she twice was a guest on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. In 1981 her Broadway show was revised as a musical satire based on her recollections and brought back to Broadway.
Ann Corio died in Englewood, New Jersey in 1999, aged 84. [1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Ann Corio, a Burlesque Queen on Broadway, Is Dead", New York Times, March 9, 1999. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "Ann Corio, the auburn-haired, green-eyed queen of burlesque whose long-running show, This Was Burlesque, kept alive the art of strippers and the comedy of baggy-pants clowns in the age of the X-rated film, died on March 1 at Englewood Hospital in Englewood, New Jersey. Ms. Corio, a resident of Cliffside Park, New Jersey, kept her age a closely guarded secret, but was believed to be in her 80's. A survivor of a shapely sisterhood that included Gypsy Rose Lee, Margie Hart and Georgia Sothern, Ms. Corio lasted long enough to reach the iconic status that enabled her to present the striptease as a put-on. ... Ms. Corio was one of 12 children of Italian immigrants from Naples who settled in Hartford, where, she said, she was once a Sunday school teacher. Her father died when she was young, and at 16, after working as a dancer, she discovered she could earn more on the burlesque circuit. In addition to her husband, Michael P. Iannucci, she is survived by two sisters, Helen LaRue of West Hartford, Conn., and Lillian Denote of Bristol, Conn."
[edit] Legacy
She is a member of the Hall of Fame at the Exotic World Burlesque Museum in Helendale, California.
[edit] External links
- Ann Corio at the Internet Movie Database
- Ann Corio at the Internet Broadway Database
