Why didn’t she remember me?
I can’t believe she didn’t remember me! How could she not remember me? I performed with her every week for more than a year! I sat in her crappy van with her while she practiced her opera, drank a gallon of water, and glued austrian crystal rhinestones on her shoes! She used the van to transport her props–her giant champagne glass, her costume made of more than a thousand peacock feathers, her enormous gilded birdcage, the one with a fountain of water that poured over her while she sat on a swing inside it. Oh, and don’t forget her giant fans. Her actual costumes didn’t take up much room-you could fit her flesh colored g-string in a thimble, but the bigger stuff, well, she needed a van. And still, she didn’t remember me.Granted, she had hit the “big time” as far as burlesque dancers go, performing with the queen, Dita Von Teese, designing her costumes. She did hold a lot of titles–Miss Nude USA, Miss Exotic World, but still, every Thursday night at the Viper Room, I performed a Nita and Zita type show with my contortionist partner–I was Honey and she was Vermilion. Miss Delish was always the finale with her superprops. She dreamed of being an opera singer, but it appears that dram has stayed on the backburner while her dancing continues to grow.She came to New Orleans and performed with the burlesque dancers at House of Blues. I especially loved the sassy cowgirl and the Absinthe fairy. But when I attended the burlesque class at a dance studio the next day, Miss Delish barely remembered me. How is this possible? Too stuck in her own little funhouse full of mirrors? Would she have remembered the jungle dancer who danced around a big volcano that erupted in orange feathers at the end of her show? Or the trapeze artist? What about Aqua Girl, who danced in a big tank of water? Would she remember her? Or what about our nasty little fire eater, Otter, with her chihuahuas wearing rhinestone collars and mink stoles? Would she have made more of an impression? I know she remembered Lady Jane, our Oyster Girl. Lady Jane put our show together and was endlessly creative and brilliant as our director and producer. Now there’s a woman who was a genius at rhinestoning. Lady Jane wanted my partner and me to wear matching Jean Harlow wigs for our act. We were very excited about that, but we had the wigs styled and ended up looking more like twin Barbara Bushes instead of Jean Harlows!No wonder she didn’t remember me!Oh well, I guess it was a lot of years ago I was tramping across those dingy stages in Hollywood.I’ve come a long way baby! And so has she! Maybe if I had worn sparkling shoes and a feather in my Bush wig she would have remembered me. I”ll try that next time.