Sammy Hoover was born in West Virginia, and at 16 joined a carnival. He was too pretty to just sell hotdogs, and was put in the girlie show.
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Hoover became Barbara Lemay, and performed as Glamazon. She became a star hootch dancer. Once a man died of a heart attack during her show. His mortician came to see the woman who could send a man to his death with a smile and an erection. She also worked as a stripper and in burlesque, and as a go-go dancer.
In her 60s she was still stripping at a gay club in Los Angeles, when Rico Martinez made a documentary about her life.
*Not the mezzo-soprano, nor the wrestler, nor the album by RuPaul.
In her 60s she was still stripping at a gay club in Los Angeles, when Rico Martinez made a documentary about her life.
*Not the mezzo-soprano, nor the wrestler, nor the album by RuPaul.
- Rico Martinez (dir). Glamazon: A Different Kind of Girl, with Barbara Lemay. US 83 mins 1993.
- ChrisStraayer. Deviant Eyes, Deviant Bodies: Sexual Re-Orientations in Film and Video. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996: 259-60.