There were a lot of girls that I worked with as a stripper; but I really did not know any of their names. At least, not their real names. And I really did not care to know. I only knew their stage names, the names they wanted the men to call them. These names, to me, were their real names.
All the strippers I knew had this same attitude. Two girls could be really close friends for years and never know each other's legal names. And never ever care. This was the regularly accepted type of thought among us strippers.
An example of some of the names were Tijuana, Misty Knight, Linda Darling and Foxy Lady. When they chose their names, they usually decided on one that best represented a certain emotion or feeling. If not that, than a representation of something else - maybe their culture.
I danced under two different names - Wild Star and Melissa St. John. I chose Wild Star when I first started stripping because at that time, I felt wild and like a shining star.
There was a name I chose before Wild Star; but it lasted only a couple of shows. This name was Wild Flower. I wanted a name to represent the wildness inside me.
It was my turn to dance. They announced me, "And now, lets have a big hand for Wild Flower!" I heard some customer say, "What'd ya say 'Wall Flower'!?!?" Right then I decided to change my name. Iam glad I did. I fugured that future customers might misunderstand my name as this man did. I thought a name like this would create a negative attitude before I ever got on stage. Wild Star represented me better anyway because I not only felt wild but, also, shiny.
I changed my name to Melissa St. John later in my career as a stripper and only used Wild Star at places where I had danced before using it. People I knew when I used Wild Star still called me Wild Star even though I had now changed my name. People I knew back then - to this day still call me Wild Star. People I met later after I changed my name - to this day - call me Melissa.
I changed my name for two reasons. The first was for financial reasons. I had stripped under the name of Wild Star for quite a few years and had a steady job on the Al Baker Burlesk Theater circuit traveling around and sometimes working as a stock girl. He paid his regular girls less money than the star of the show. But it was worth it to me because it was steady money every week.
The star of the show was not a regular of the Al Baker circuit. She would dance at different theaters and clubs but make more money. The work was not as secure as for a girl working the same theater circuit year after year.
After a few years working for Al Baker, I decided to ry to go out on my own, find an agent, and make more money and become a star myself. I called some agents but they were unable to get me more money because by now Wild Star was pretty well-known by theater and club owners as Al Baker's stock girl. They said, "Why should I pay Wild Star more money than Al Baker does?" I realized that I would hve to change my name if I wanted to make more money.
Most of the owners of the other theaters and clubs that turned me down did not know what I looked like. They had oly heard about me. I figured that if I could get jobs making more money with another name that by the time they knew I was Wild Star, they would see how good a job I ddid and not care anyway. It worked. I chose the name of Melissa St. John.
By now the feelings of wildness were calmed by the feelings of serenity that I had found from finding my own true spirit. My children mean more to me then life. Melissa is my daughter's name. John is my son's name. At that point in my life, I felt elevated, spiritually, to the level of a saint; thus Melissa St. John.
The strippers I knew did not use ther real, legal name and nobody cared or even wanted to know - not even the owners. Legal names were not important. The importance displayed back then with the large majority of the strippers was the importance of their soul and spirits. If I had never become a sripper, I do not feel I would have ever met my true self - my spirit.
Opal, the OLD STRIPPER, Talking about Shit:
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