Plaque for “Queen of Striptease” hits wall over funding cuts (From Surrey Comet)
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Plaque for “Queen of Striptease” Phyllis Dixey hits wall over funding cuts
9:57am Tuesday 15th January 2013 in News By Hana Hausmeister, Reporter
Striptease artist Phyllis Dixey (c.1914 - 1964), whose saucy revues at the Whitehall Theatre in London were legendary, poses fishnet stockings and suspenders, circa 1940. (Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The blue plaque for the “Queen of Striptease” remains on hold after Government funding cuts hit English Heritage.
Efforts to commemorate one of Surbiton’s most famous women, Phyllis Dixey, met a brick wall last year when residents at her old Wentworth Court home objected to the wording of the plaque.
Now, English Heritage said: “We are still in the same situation as before with Phyllis Dixey.
“The team has done all it can to move things along, but until the building owners are happy for the plaque to go up there is nothing more we can do.”
Wentworth Court Residents’ Association wanted to change the inscription of the plaque from “striptease artiste” to “burlesque dancer”.
Dixey’s troupe, the Whitehall Follies, generated a lot of controversy and she often had to defend herself in front of magistrates.
The blue plaque was proposed for the flat Dixey shared with husband, comedian Jack Tracy, between 1940 and 1943.
