October 16, 2007

A Lili by Any Other Name

“Gilded Lili: Lili St. Cyr and the Striptease Mystique,” by Kelly DiNardo

You were really hoping that Carmen Electra’s Aerobic Striptease video would get things steamy between the sheets.

Instead it landed you in bed with a sprained ankle and a crick in your neck.

Perhaps a safer bet is to exercise the mind with Kelly DiNardo’s new historical narrative, Gilded Lili: Lili St. Cyr and the Striptease Mystique.

Gilded Lili tells the tale of American-born Lili St. Cyr, the 1950s burlesque queen whose influence grew as large as her … well, you know. Rumored to have inspired Marilyn Monroe, she became famous for her classy and sensual thematic stripteases.

St. Cyr’s tumultuous family life (her mother abandoned her; her grandparents raised her), shaky love affairs (she married and divorced six times to men ranging from a ballet dancer to a racecar driver), and her much criticized career (she spent her share of time arguing in court that striptease was a tasteful form of art) are all laid bare in the book.

In other words, it’s hot and heavy between the covers.

Available online at amazon.com or your local bookstore.