Sleeping in My Car...

When I was dancing as a sripper on the road, I would have to cut corners in many ways to make sure that my kid's boarding schools received their payments on time. This involved, quite regularly, doing without food or shelter. Luckily, I had my car to sleep in when I could not pay for a room.

I would go to a roadside park and sleep in my car. I did not realize how dangerous this was. Many times the weather would be cold, freezing, and snowy. Sometimes when I was in a big city like Chicago, I would go to a residential area and parallel park on the street. In the cold winters of Chicago, nobody noticed someone sleeping in their car, especially, with the windows fogged up from the cold. I would get in the back seat and cover-up with my rugs that I used in my stage shows. I am surprised I did not freeze to fesath.

One time in Scranton, Pennsylvania, I was sleeping in my car. I would take my rugs with me after work and drive to a roadside park to sleep. It was so cold. The husband of one of the strippers asked me one night if I was sleeping in my car. I asked him - why did he think that. He told me that he sees me carrying my rugs out every night; and I do not have a room at the motel. I admitted that I was because I needed the money for my kids. He and his wife offered to let me stay in their room for no money. I really did appreciate it.

I really did thnk they were nice to do this for me. This kind incident helped to introduce me to the well-known fact that you do not get something for nothing; and if someone does you a kind favor, usually, they have a plan in their head to use you someway. The plan is usually more devistating than the way you were before they did the favor.

After I had stayed there a couple of nihgts, the wife told me in the dressing room that they liked to spice up their sex life with a threesome every so often. She said their sex life gets dull sometimes; and when they have a threesome, it revives it. She asked me if I would do it. Of course, I said, "No".

I was not that cold. Needless to say, the cold car looked pretty good. I went back to it willingly despite their pleasfor me to stay.

But Opal's new book STRIPPER at:

http://thoughtsofastripper.webs.com

Get Opal's hit comedy short PHONE SEX GRANDMA on DVD at:

http://www.createspace.com/255255

Opal's new film THE OLD STRIPPER on Indiegogo:

My Dad Telling Me I am the Scum of the Earth...

I had a lot of fun when I was working as a stripper. It was one of the best, if not the best, times of my life. Not only was I making enough money for my kids and me; but the job, also, provided a way for all of us to see places we would probably never been able to see if I had chosen a "regular" life for us.

My daddy once told me, "You're the scum of the earth - doin' that dancin' - takin' off your clothes! If you're gonna do that, you shouldn't of told your kids!" I reeplied to his comments by letting him know that I wanted my kids to know who I really am and love me for the kind of person I am and not for someone I pretended to be. I, also, made the decision when I started to dance as a stripper that I was not going to be ashamed of what I was doing and not hide it from anyone - not even my kids. I decided that if I was going to be ashamed of it, then I would not do it.

This type of thinking is something that my dad is incapable of acquiring because his mind is saturated with the life-style of the small-town hypocritical, provincial thinking that the people of Lamar, Missouri hold so high.

Opal as PHONE SEX GRANDMA on YOUTUBE:

The Stripper who Accused Me....

I was working in Syracuse, New York as a stripper. All the other girls were here for just a week; but I was going to stay at the same theater for the entire summer because my kids were going to be out of school. It was handier and cheaper to be in one place instead of traveling around with the kids; so my boss, Al Baker, let me be what was called the stock girl for the summer.

He had done this ocassionally, especially, when I would ask for a raise. He would say, "Well, Star, why don't I just have you be stock girl for such and such amount of months? Then you can save money that way because you won't have the traveling expenses."

My duties as a stock girl were to, basically, "run the show" as well as do my show. I would always be the first girl to dance because I was there every week. Save the best for last! HA! The road girls would be after me because they were new for the guys to see.

I opened and closed the curtains and made all announcements such as welcome to such and such theater and thank you for coming. I announced each girl before she danced and played her records.

One day this black dancer came back stage and told me I was jealous of her and was intentionally messing up her music. This made me really mad because one thing I did was always try to do my job right. Besides that, I would not have tried anything like that, in case, of getting fired. I sure could not afford to lose my job with my kids to support and all. And I was NEVER jealous of any of the dancers. I always felt that I looked the best. I told her she was wrong; and that I did not do what she accused me.

Well, my answer seemed to not satisfy her; so later on she proceeded to bring her pimp backstage. He started in on me about how I was messing her music up.

Well, this was the first time I ever saw a black guy blush. I tore into him like a panther. I cussed him up one side and down the other. Needless to say, I did not hear any more complaints.

Getting in Trouble with a Pimp

To this day, I really do not know why I did this. I could have been killed. I guess it was just out of stuid curiousity. I do not know. At the time, I think I felt that I was trying to educate myself by understanding different people and different personalities - what made them tick. Maybe this was the reason I did what I am about to tell you about. I do not know. I could back-up my stupidity for this particular incident by saying it was for the purpose of understanding personalities based on the fact that I earned my bachelor of science in psychology years later. And I must admit that the first hand experience I received provided more information than anything I could have ever obtained from a textbook.

There was this young, good looking black man that hung around the Two O'Clock Club where I danced as a stripper in Boston, Massachusetts. He never bought any drinks and would say, "No" when hustled to buy some. He seemed to be friends with one of the waitresses. I found out later from other dancers that he was a pimp.

I had never talked to a pimp before as far as I knew. I told myself that I should talk to him and try to understand this type of personality. The approach I decided to use was not too appropriate as far as my personal safety was concerned.

I could not go to him and say, "Heh! I hear you're a pimp. Could I interview you and study your personality?" So I decided on the dangerous approach. I acted like I wanted to work for him.

As far as I can remember, I just went up and told him I wanted to make more money, and I wasn't sure how to do it. I needed someone to show me how. I played the dumb stripper act to the hilt. It worked too good.

Immediately he lit into me. "Listen, Bitch, give me some money. If you haven't got paid, give me what you got on you now. You hear me, Bitch? You pay me to be your man. I know where you work. I know where you live. You have me some money by 2:00 a.m. or leave the state of Massachusetts. You hear me, Bitch? The money at 2:00 or else!"

Needless to say, I was scared. I went and told my girlfriend and roommate, Lori, about what happened. I told her that she didn't have to walk home with me tonight if she didn't want to because he might be there to hurt me. She said she would never leave me alone to face someone like that.

He never showed up after work. I sure was glad. As a matter-of-fact, I do not ever remember seeing him around after that.

I think my friend must have said something to him. She had a way of being forceful with words towards these type of men.

I watched my words AND my curiousity very carefully from that moment on.

Sexual Harassment in the Burlesque Business

I would like to say a word about sexual harrassment as being present when I was a stripper. I am happy to say that, as far as I know, it was not even present on the Al Baker theater circuit or in most of the other places where I performed as a stripper. Out of being a stripper for approximately twenty years, I can truly say that I only encountered two major sexual harassment issues. I think that was above the average for any job during those years.

That is more than I can say for a lot of the so-called respectable jobs women had back then. A lot of the professional women I knew would tell me how they were intiminated into having sex with their employers in order to keep their jobs. I am talking about jobs such as nurses and secretaries. One lawyer told me, "We had a lot of girls apply for the receptionist job today. We hired the one with the biggest tits. That's what got her the job".

Being a stripper is not protected by the so-called respectable smoke screen as the highre uppitty jobs are even today. We bare it all - not only our bodies but, also, our souls. It is the most unhypocritical job in our society. I am very proud to have been a part of it and feel that I still am.