Burlesque Legend Dixie Evans dies in Las Vegas
Burlesque Legend Dixie Evans has died. Evans, known as the “Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque”, was 86 years old.
Dixie Evans, The Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque (Photo:Pin Curl)
The legend was living at an assisted living home in Las Vegas, after suffering a stroke in January.
Sadly, Dixie Evans, did not live to see herself being honored during Dixie Evans week, scheduled to run from August 26 through September 1, 2013.
Numerous burlesque venues around the world including New York, London, Toronto, Dallas and San Diego had already scheduled benefit shows, during Dixie Evans week, to help raise money for her care as well as to pay tribute to her career.
Here is an very old video. The video does have nudity and is NSFW.
She founded the Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas after taking over the collection of Jennie Lee, who started collecting burlesque memorabilia when she owned the Sassy Lassy nightclub in San Pedro, California and later moved to an abandoned goat farm in Helendale, California.
Lee became ill and passed away and Evans turned the collection in to the The Exotic World Burlesque Museum, which later became the Burlesque Hall of Fame when the collection was relocated to Las Vegas.
Dixie Evans is credited with bridging the generation gap by introducing the younger generation to burlesque and also founded the Miss Exotic World Competition in 1991.
In addition to her uncanny resemblance to Marilyn Monroe, Evans also incorporated Monroe’s moves into her act and said,
If you don’t go over well in burlesque, you don’t work. And I had to work. Besides, it was easy for me to fall into that act. I learned to walk and talk just like her. I followed her career move for move. Every time a movie with Marilyn came out, I ran to see it. The next day, I’d start a new act based on what I saw or read about in the papers.
Rest in Peace Dixie!
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