Stage Name
|
Real Name
|
| Miss Kalantan , Sherrie Knight |
Mary Ellen Tillotson | Mary Ellen Bromfield |
| Aleene Dupree | the heavenly body | Sweetheart of the Follies Bergere |
Kalantan was the youngest of five children born to Frank V. and his wife Edna J. Tillotson. Mary would became your typical 1950's Hootchy-Cootchy dancer who could actually dance. She got into the Burlesque business under Lillian Hunt's tutelage in a chorus line of the Follies Theatre in Los Angeles, California. While performing in Mexico, She says: "it was the Mexicans who named her Kalantan, meaning heater," (said to not be true tho.)
She was billed as an "interpreter of Afro-Cuban dance" in one of her Burlesque 16mm stag films, but didn't really poses the Latin rhythms needed to pull it off, however her interpretations were danced well even if not very Latin in nature.
Kalantan had a very nice and firm body that she used well on stage as well as modeling. Kalantan Danced in various nightclubs and mainly in New Orleans "Bourbon Square," seeking to stay away from the prostitution type burlesque clubs. She soon found her
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