Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly. — Gypsy Rose Lee (image via Wikimedia Commons) The famous Broadway musical immortalized her early life in showbiz. But Gypsy was a real person, with a real life, both off the stage and on. Before she was the world's most famous burlesque star, she was a little girl touring the 1920s vaudeville circuit. Her mother became America's most famous momager (also the woman who set the template for the demanding stage-mother stereotype). She pushed Gypsy (then known as Rose) and her sister June into the spotlight, taking them out of school to pursue fame. "Mama Rose" forced the young girls to lie about their ages, sabotage other acts and run out of town with bills unpaid and costumes shoplifted.
A Woman to Know: Gypsy Rose Lee
A Woman to Know: Gypsy Rose Lee
A Woman to Know: Gypsy Rose Lee
Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly. — Gypsy Rose Lee (image via Wikimedia Commons) The famous Broadway musical immortalized her early life in showbiz. But Gypsy was a real person, with a real life, both off the stage and on. Before she was the world's most famous burlesque star, she was a little girl touring the 1920s vaudeville circuit. Her mother became America's most famous momager (also the woman who set the template for the demanding stage-mother stereotype). She pushed Gypsy (then known as Rose) and her sister June into the spotlight, taking them out of school to pursue fame. "Mama Rose" forced the young girls to lie about their ages, sabotage other acts and run out of town with bills unpaid and costumes shoplifted.