Candy Barr

Candy Barr (July 6, 1935 – December 30, 2005) was an American stripper, burlesque exotic dancer, actress in one pornographic movie, and model in men's magazines of the mid-20th century. She was born Juanita Dale Slusher in Edna, Texas, the youngest of five children born to Elvin Forest "Doc" Slusher (August 19, 1909-May 2, 1969) and Sadie Mae Sumner (October 1, 1908-March 11, 1945).

During the 1950s, she received nationwide attention for her stripping career in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas; her troubles with the law; shooting her estranged second husband; and being arrested and sentenced to a prison term for drug possession, as well as her relationships with Mickey Cohen and Jack Ruby.

At age 16, though she appeared much older, she appeared in one of the most famous and widely circulated of the early underground pornographic movies, Smart Alec (1951). Because of this short blue movie, which is no more than 20 minutes in length, she has been called "the first porn star." She later insisted that she was drugged and coerced into appearing in the movie.

Shortly after the release of Smart Alec, and while still underage, she was hired as a stripper at the Theater Lounge in Dallas by Barney Weinstein for $85 a week. She acquired the stage name Candy Barr at this time—given her by Weinstein, reportedly because of her fondness for Snickers bars—bleached her hair platinum blonde, and quickly became a headliner. She also worked at Weinstein's Colony Club, with a large placard of her prominently displayed out front.

Barr established herself in burlesque and striptease with her trademark costume—cowboy hat, pasties, scant panties, a pair of pearl handled cap six-shooters in a holster strapped low on her shapely hips, and cowboy boots.

When the Theater Lounge would close, she would often patronize the after-hours Vegas Club, where she became acquainted with the owner and operator, Jack Ruby, in about 1952. Their friendship was very casual, however, as she never worked for him and never associated with him outside the Vegas Club and the Silver Spur Inn, which he also operated.

In late October of 1957, in yet another notorious case, Dallas police raided her apartment and found four-fifths of an ounce of marijuana, which was said to be hidden in her bra. She was arrested for drug possession, subsequently convicted, and received a 15-year prison sentence, though, according to her, she was set up and was only holding the marijuana for a friend.

While the marijuana case devolved into a lengthy series of appeals, her fame spread nationwide and the curvaceous, green-eyed blonde became the toast of the strip club runways, reportedly earning $2000 a week in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, as well as at the Sho-Bar Club on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

She and hairdresser Jack Sahakian were married November 25, 1959, in Las Vegas, while she was headlining at El Rancho Vegas Hotel. Days later, despite rumors that her arrest had been a setup designed to punish the stripper for her wantonness in conservative Dallas, Barr was arrested by the FBI when her appeal on the marijuana conviction was rejected by the Supreme Court.

On December 4, 1959, Barr reportedly left her third husband, Sahakian, and entered prison near Huntsville, Texas. After being incarcerated for over three years, Barr was paroled from Goree women's unit on April 1, 1963. Texas Governor John Connally pardoned her for the marijuana conviction in late 1967.

Barr returned to the stripping circuit in early 1968, including appearances at the Largo Club in Los Angeles and the Bonanza Hotel in Las Vegas. She also returned to the Colony Club in Dallas.

She then moved to Brownwood, Texas, as her father was ill in Kerrville. She was arrested and charged with marijuana possession again in 1969 in Brownwood. The district attorney in Brown County eventually dismissed the case against her for lack of evidence.

n 1992, Barr moved from Brownwood back to Edna. Living in quiet retirement, with her animals at her rural home, she was content not to exploit or relive her legendary past. She died at age 70 from complications of pneumonia at a hospital in Victoria, Texas. Her Dallas Morning News obituary said no funeral was planned.