- Born
- Died
- Birth nameElaine Jose Nolan
- Height5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
- Lynne O'Neill was born Elaine Jose Nolan in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 8, 1918. Her father, Allan Nolan, was a house painter, and her mother Josephine, a cafeteria waitress. The Nolan family moved to Evanston, Illinois, where they lived on Elmwood Avenue and later on 522 Lee Street during the 1930s. O'Neill attended Evanston Township High School and graduated in June, 1935. Beginning at an early age she attended dance classes, particularly ballet, which she kept up after graduating from high school. During World War II O'Neill toured several Midwestern states as an entertainer for the United Service Organizations (USO). After the war, in June, 1947, she matriculated to Northwestern University's School of Speech Summer Session. In the following years she continued performing as a model and stage performer.
Under her stage name, O'Neill began to work as a burlesque dancer in Chicago. Her mother, who accompanied her to her shows, apparently had an idea for the gimmick that would advance O'Neill's career. At her mother's suggestion, O'Neill began to emphasize her garters, while performing. At the end of her shows, O'Neill would bestow garters to selected members of her audience. This act became a signature routine, and she styled herself as Lynne O'Neill, "The Original Garter Girl."
In the following years O'Neill traveled throughout the United States and to Mexico, where she refined her burlesque acts and had minor roles and skits in musicals, movie shorts, and in radio shows. In the 1950's she moved to Lynbrook, New York, initiating a particularly busy period of her career. In March, 1960, O'Neill was arrested in her home and accused of possessing nude photographs of herself and distributing them through the mail. She was convicted and served four days of a 10-day jail sentence. For a while she worked with Barbara Nichols, a fellow burlesque performer and model, and had a role in the movie Secrets of an Uncover Model (1965). By the late 1960s, O'Neill had become a regular contributor to the risqué men's magazine "Man to Man". Her column, called "Burlesque Backstage," chronicled her experiences in the profession. Those columns often ended with entreaties to fans, particularly soldiers serving in the Vietnam War, to write her letters. Many took her up on that suggestion. She made a point of responding to her correspondents, and included photographs of herself in her replies.
The popularity of burlesque declined in the 1970s, and O'Neill's long career as a performer and chronicler of burlesque ended at around the same time. In 1967 O'Neill was divorced. In 1972 she and her widowed mother, Josephine, moved to Hempstead, New York, and opened their own real estate brokerage office, covering both commercial and residential sales and rentals throughout Nassau County. O'Neill, working under her given name, Elaine Nolan, served on the board of the Hempstead Chamber of Commerce and was the president of the Country Club Estates Civic Association, a member of the Nassau County Historical Society, the Hofstra University Club, the Hempstead Historical Society, and a supporter of many animal, environmental, and veterans organizations. She died on August 5, 2010, in Hempstead, New York.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- She would bestow garters to select audience members who attended her burlesque shows.
- O'Neill, working under her given name, Elaine Nolan, served on the board of the Hempstead Chamber of Commerce and was the president of the Country Club Estates Civic Association. She also was a member of the Nassau County Historical Society, Hofstra University Club, and Hempstead Historical Society. She was an avid supporter of many animal, environmental, and veteran's organizations.
- In 1972, she and her widowed mother moved to Hempstead, New York and opened their own real estate brokerage office, covering both commercial and residential sales and rentals throughout Nassau County.
- She promoted herself in burlesque circles as "the original garter girl".
- After graduating from high school, she earned money as a model for commercial photography, posing in stockings, lingerie, hats, and bathing suits.
- After WW II, she took engagements in various opera productions, such as the Citizens Opera Company and Midwest Opera Company.
- [1965] I was to do a sequence at a nudist camp and so was asked by the director to make a tour of inspection of several in order to find a suitable locale with a swimming pool the right size for my nude veil dance. I didn't know anything about nudist camps or where they were situated so I telephoned a friend in Miami and told him of my predicament. ... Shyly at first, but later with real enthusiasm, I discovered after I had played a few games [of volleyball] that this was wholesome fun and really a healthy, zestful way to relax. I was also awakened to a new sense of values. These people [at the nudist camp] really have something, for when speaking to a stranger in the altogether your eyes never leave his face and you are much more able to relate."
- [1974] At one point in my dance I would approach the audience kneeling down on the runway so that some daring patron in the front row had only to stand up and pull down my side zipper on my brasselette, adding a touch of spice to my act. This show I selected a tall handsome Midshipman who responded willingly, jumping to his feet, and volunteering to do the honor by shaking both hands high overhead in a motion of loosening up his wrists, and, with great flourish, slowly began to pull down my zipper, savoring every moment, and with me whispering instructions to take it easy while the audience howled their suggestions.
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