Growing up in Los Angeles during the 1970's & 1980's

 

Peek Inside L.A.’s Forgotten College of Striptease

 ALISON MARTINO DECEMBER 30, 2017 HOLLYWOOD

The Pink Pussycat in 1967

“Fundamentals of Taking It Off.” “Psychology of Inhibitions.” “Applied Sensual Communication.” The courses I recently spotted on a student application from the 1960s could only have been taught at one place: the Pink Pussycat College of Striptease in Los Angeles. The “school,” which opened in 1961, was held at the Pink Pussycat Club, the city’s most unique burlesque theater for nearly 20 years.

              Photograph Vintage Los Angeles Archives

Harry and Alice Schiller owned the fuschia-stained joint. At night it operated like a typical strip club; dancers with clever stage names such as Fran Sinatra, Samya Davis Jr., Deena Martin, Peeler Lawford, Joanie Carson, Edie McMahon, Joie Bishop, and Reegie Philbin put on glittering shows for a packed crowd—which often included members of the Rat Pack.

 Pink Pussycat owner Alice Schiller and her dancers in 1963

The Pink Pussycat marquee as seen in the 1966 film “The Swinger”

Screen grabs from "The Swinger"

By day the venue was transformed into a college where young ladies became experts in the exotic arts, like bumping and grinding while flaunting tassels, sequins, rhinestones, and feathers. Of all the strip clubs that offered classes in its day, the Pink Pussycat undoubtedly had the most distinguished facility. Striptease artist Sally Marr served as de facto chancellor, provost, dean, and professor. She also had the distinction of being Lenny Bruce’s mother, and she sometimes persuaded her son to perform at the club.

The Pink Pussycat in 1962
Photograph courtesy Alison Martino/Vintage Los Angeles

The front and back of an original 1962 brochure advertising the School of Strip Tease at the famous Pink Pussycat club.

Photograph courtesy Alison Martino/Vintage Los Angeles

1. 
   Photograph courtesy Alison Martino/Vintage Los Angeles
   
   

   A 1962 brochure for the College of Strip Tease that was held at the Pink Pussycat club. A list of classes and requirements for admittance is inside. Pink feathers were attached to every application.

   Classes were taught by Sally Marr, 52 at the time, and included the following:

   1. History and Theory of the Strip Tease
   2. Psychology of Inhibitions
   3. Controlling the Structural Components of AnatomyHarry and Alice Schiller

Applied Sensual Communication

1. Elementary Bumps and Grinds
2. Methodology of Teasing, Tantalizing, and Titillating
3. Fundamentals of Taking-It-Off
4. Dynamic Mammary, Navel, and Pelvic Rotation and Oscillation
5. Experimental Workshop
6. Advanced studies and Seminar In New Trends and Techniques of the Strip Tease

This Pink Pussycat application, which appears to be signed by Bob Hope, was listed on eBay.

Pink Pussycat matchbook
Photograph courtesy Alison Martino/Vintage Los Angeles

The Original Alice Cooper band in the parking lot of the Pink Pussycat

According to Alice Schiller, the Pussycat changed lives. “I myself am an authority on beauty and glamour,” she told The Los Angeles Times in 1967. “I’ve probably glamorized 1,000 pussycats. Twenty of my pussycats married multimillionaires. One of my girls got a $2,700 tip one night. She disappeared and we never saw her again.”

In the late ‘70s the property was turned into a gay and lesbian discotheque named
"Peanuts", which was run by Schiller’s nephew, but Club Delilah exists in the space today. Thanks to the original marquee up top, the building’s exterior looks much the same as it did when the Pussycat first opened its door—minus a few coats of signature pink paint. 

This article was also published in Los Angeles Magazine

Alison Martino is a writer, television producer, and pop culture historian. She founded the Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles in 2010. Alison muses on L.A’s. past and present on Twitter and Instagram.