Tana Louise

Caution: This Page Contains Nudity

Date of Birth: Unknown
Place of Birth: Unknown

Tana Louise was a burlesque striptease artist and fetish model in the 1950s. According to Kim Christy ^[1], she has Native American ancestry. She is best known as a model and columnist for the fetish magazine Exotique. Shortly after she became involved with the magazine, she married the owner, Leonard Burtman. A web source ^[2] claims the couple hosted "swinging parties" in their apartment. They divorced in the late fifties, and she left the magazine shortly thereafter. She also worked with Irving Klaw.

The September 30, 1950 issue of The Billboard ^[3] reported that Emerald Forest, dancer at the House of Rinck in Cincinnati (Ohio, USA), had lodged a complaint against Louise with the local head of the American Guild of Variety Artists. She claimed that Louise struck her on the head with a club while Forest was sitting in her dressing room. Louise denied the charge. The October 24, 1950 issue of the Miami News listed her as "unveiling" at the Rainbow Inn (Miami, Florida, USA) that night. Her press agent billed her as the "Cincinnati Sinner". ^[4] The December 2, 1950 issue of The Billboard ^[5] listed her as "currently playing" the Rainbow Inn in Miami.

The July 29, 1951 issue of The Miami News ran an ad which read "Tana Louise, Miami's No. 1 Lovely, And Her Girlie Revue, Jerri Del Rio, Dottie King, Francine, Pequita, Terry Lee, Plus Town's Top Show, Ebony Follies, Gloriana & Kelsey & 10 Other Stars! 5 Shows Nightly—Air Conditioned, Rainbow Inn, 2724 N.W. 35th St. 2-9984" ^[9]

According to a web source ^[6], she was sued in February of 1957 by actor Tina Louise over her name. She responded that Tana Louise was her real name. This was also reported in the Sunday Herald (Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA), in their April 7, 1957 issue. ^[7] Oddly, the same story was reported in the March 23, 1959 issue of the Lakeland Ledger (Lakeland, Florida, USA), almost two years later. ^[8]

In the sixties, she and Mara Gaye started an exotic bizarre costumes mail order catalogue company called Tana and Mara. A web source ^[10] states that they actually went into business solely to sell catalogues, and had no real inventory.

You can find a Tana Louise screensaver at the Screensaver Universe.