Edie got involved in the underworld of LA’s strip joints,
bootlegging, prostitution, and organized crime—and made it her life. She fled
a couple bad marriages and worked her way east, waitressing in mob-run bars,
and was a madam in a brothel outside Chicago. She even had a bar of her own in
Tishamingo, Okalahoma, but couldn’t make a go of it. She headed to Baltimore in
the late 50s because she heard “nothing but bars were there.” This was when the
notorious “Block” of stripper bars, porno peep shows, and dirty book stores was
packed with sailors, travelling salesmen, and curious diplomats from Washington,
DC. The “Block” was anchored by the infamous stripper and mistress of Louisiana’s
Governor Huey Long, and Edith worked at many of its clubs, as bar maid and a
B-girl. A “B-girl” was a sexy chick who perched on a bar stool and convinced
drunken rubes to buy her $50 bottles of champagne. The champagne was actually
ginger ale, and the b-girl split the $50 with the house. For independent-minded
gals in Baltimore, it was a respectable living.
Edith began to lose her looks, figure, and teeth.
No comments:
Post a Comment