Rose La Rose

Rose La Rose (October 27, 1916? – July 27, 1972) was an American burlesque dancer, film actress, and stripper nicknamed the "Queen of Burlesque," the title of a 1946 Hollywood film in which she appeared.

She was one of the rare women on the burlesque circuit to evolve from performer to theater owner when, later in her life, she traded her performing career for that of owner and operator of two Toledo, Ohio, burlesque theaters.

Early years Various sources list her birth year as 1913, 1916, or 1919. According to her public relations manager, Eddie Jaffee, she attended Textile High School in New York City. From the age of 15, she worked as a $22‐a‐week cashier in H. K. Minsky's Republic Theater on West 42nd Street.

La Rose became renowned for performing a "reverse strip," appearing on stage wearing very little, then getting dressed before the audience.

As a Toledo citizen and business owner, she became active in her community, speaking at the Junior League, giving strip tease lessons to wives to help them to enliven their relationships, and giving generously to a variety of causes.

In 1971, the Junior League of Toledo invited her to perform in its charity show; it was to be her last performance.

"When I stopped live burlesque and substituted a second movie instead, I told myself it was just temporary," she said in an interview shortly before she died. "I figured customers would protest or stay away and I'd find a way to bring burlesque back. But my customers did neither. They said nothing and kept coming. I knew then that burlesque was through. I just couldn't bring myself to say it out loud."

Her second husband, Francesco Ruocco, was an Italian landscape artist. They were married March 1, 1944, in Las Vegas, Nevada. They separated in June 1952. According to an item in the Oct. 21, 1952, issue of the New York Daily News:

Ten years ago, when she divorced Price, she complained that her first hubby made her take-'em-off after hours, while he played the harmonica in their bedroom.

Husband No. 2, Miss La Rose said heatedly yesterday, wanted her to put-'em-on -- pounds, that is.

"I'm 5 foot 4 and weigh 120," she explained. "Patrons of my art just adore me and my figure. But Francesco's ideal woman was the Roman matron. He believed a woman should weigh at least 150 pounds, and preferably more. When I was home from tour, he'd try to fatten me up with spaghetti, ravioli, lasagna and pastafazool. Can you imagine how the customers would have reacted if I showed up fat?"

Filmography

The Wages of Sin (1938) Queen of Burlesque (1946)