Above, a little something we found at an auction page, a promo poster for burlesque performer Lynne O’Neill, who according to this appeared for a week at the Hudson Theatre in Union City, New Jersey. O’Neill was known as “The Original Garter Girl,” and at whatever venue she performed would sell branded garters in the lobby the way bands sell t-shirts. She worked mostly around the New York area because she resided most of her life on Long Island. Like many mid-century peelers she was well known, then mostly forgotten, and finally brought back somewhat into popular culture by an internet fueled revival of interest in burlesque. She died in 2010, but her place in the pantheon of burlesque dancers seems assured, thanks to new photos and artifacts that occasionally turn up. This poster is a good example. It’s undated but we’re sure it’s from 1953 or 1954.
