Famed striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee confidently peels off her see-through negligee and shimmies in a gold dress for cheering men in personal home movies exclusively obtained by DailyMailTV.
The burlesque entertainer, who was world-famous for her act, smiles as she walks towards the camera before she begins plucking at pins holding together her paper-thin dress.
She turns around and lets the lingerie fall to her hips, proudly spinning back to the camera to reveal her bare torso, her breasts barely covered by her arms.
In another personal video, Gypsy laughs and soaks up cheers from the crowd as she shakes and twirls a shawl around, while men shout for her to ‘take it off.’
Gypsy’s son Erik Lee Preminger shared the videos from his personal archive with DailyMailTV, as he premiered his new documentary about his mother, At Home and on the Road with Gypsy Rose Lee in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Famed striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee is seen flirtatiously disrobing and shimmying for men in personal home videos exclusively obtained videos by DailyMailTV
The burlesque entertainer, who was world-famous for her act, smiles as she walks towards the camera before she begins plucking at pins holding together her paper-thin dress. She turns around and lets the lingerie fall to her hips, spinning back to the camera to reveal her torso, her breasts barely covered by her arms
Gypsy’s son Erik Lee Preminger shared the videos from his personal archive with DailyMailTV, as he premiered his new documentary about his mother At Home and on the Road with Gypsy Rose Lee in Los Angeles on Wednesday
The event was hosted at the Hollywood Heritage Museum and after the screening Preminger, 74, was joined by burlesque star Dita Von Teese, who has cited Gypsy as one of her inspirations, for an Q&A.
Preminger is Gypsy’s only child and he was constantly by her side until the age of 17, traveling with her to gigs and helping her change between acts backstage.
When he was old enough to work a camera, he began filming Gypsy – at home in her Upper East Side mansion, performing on stage, touring Europe in a Rolls-Royce, interacting with celebrities, giving interviews and rare quiet family moments – creating a vast archive of his mother’s remarkable life.
He took the videos and compiled, edited and turned them into his documentary.
Another clip Preminger shared with DailyMailTV, shows Gypsy on her 1965 television talk show, Gypsy.
Sitting on a chair, she retells a story of meeting one of Hollywood’s Golden Age actors, Spencer Tracy.
Gypsy recalls visiting her friend, model and actress Fanny Brice on the lot of MGM Studios, who introduced her to Tracy, much to Gypsy’s delight.
But the following week, Tracy didn’t remember meeting Gypsy when she bumped into him again at the studio. The same thing happened a few weeks later, with Tracy introducing himself to her for the third time.
Laughing, Gypsy tells her audience: ‘So I let that go, that’s par for the course for me, story of my life.’
But six months later in New York, Gypsy makes an appearance at a dark nightclub with friends when she hears a familiar voice shouting her name across the room.
Another clip Preminger shared with DailyMailTV, shows Gypsy on her 1965 TV television talk show, Gypsy (pictured). Sitting on a chair, she retells a story of meeting one of Hollywood’s Golden Age actors, Spencer Tracy
Preminger is Gypsy’s only child (pictured together) and he was by her side until the age of 17, traveling with her to gigs and helping her change backstage. When he was old enough to work a camera, he began filming Gypsy – at home in her Upper East Side mansion and performing on stage – creating a vast archive of his mother’s remarkable life
At the screening of his new documentary, which was hosted at the Hollywood Heritage Museum, was burlesque star Dita Von Teese (pictured with Preminger on Wednesday). She joined Preminger for an Q&A after the film
She said: ‘I’m looking around because the voice is familiar, you know it’s a well-known voice. Way in the back of this padded cellar is Spencer Tracy.
‘My friends are so impressed, ”Gyp that’s Spencer Tracy, do you know him?”.’
Gypsy giggles and tells her audience: ‘I went ‘Hi Spence!’ as the crowd laughs with her.
The legendary performer was born on January 8, 1911, in Seattle, as Rose Louise Hovick. She got her start in show business in part to her sister, actress and dancer June Havoc, whose real name was Ellen June Evangeline Hovic.
June supported Gypsy and her mother through singing, dancing and acting, with Gypsy joining in, after their mother Rose divorced her second Judson Brennerman.
But in 1928, June ran off and eloped with a fellow dancer.
Gypsy’s singing and dancing couldn’t support the act on its own, so she turned to burlesque aged 16 in order to make money.
‘My mother always said she got into stripping through the starvation route,’ Preminger previously told DailyMail.com. ‘But at last she’d found something she was good at.
‘There are many versions of why she chose to be called Gypsy and my mother would never commit to one.
‘She was born with a caul – a membrane enveloping the baby’s head when it comes out of the womb – which was said to mean she had the ability to see the future.
‘She used to read tea leaves and cards even as a child so my guess is she was known as Gypsy long before she became Gypsy Rose Lee.’
The legendary performer was born on January 8, 1911, in Seattle, as Rose Louise Hovick. She got her start in part to her sister actress and dancer June Havoc, whose real name was Ellen June Evangeline Hovic. Pictured: Gypsy as a 10 year-old girl, wearing a feathered hat and posing with her hand on her hip, circa 1924
‘My mother always said she got into stripping through the starvation route,’ Preminger previously told DailyMail.com. ‘But at last she’d found something she was good at.’ Pictured: Gypsy getting a $10 star plucked from her nude netting by wealthy mogul William Rhinelander Stewart during her show to raise money for the British War Relief Society in 1941
But her popularity wasn’t just due to her amazing figure and good looks – it was her ability to work the audience. ‘My mother’s act was comic rather than sexy,’ Preminger said. ‘She took her clothes off but never showed the audience her full nakedness. She was famous for teasing; she could spend 45 minutes taking off a glove. She was known for her wit as well as her body.’ Pictured: Gypsy in front of her dressing room trailer in May 1949, Memphis, Tennessee
Within a year of her debut striptease, Gypsy was headlining at Minsky’s, New York’s brashest and most popular burlesque club.
But her popularity wasn’t just due to her amazing figure and good looks – it was her ability to work the audience.
‘My mother’s act was comic rather than sexy,’ Preminger said. ‘She took her clothes off but never showed the audience her full nakedness.
‘She was famous for teasing; she could spend 45 minutes taking off a glove. She was known for her wit as well as her body.’
Although she tried to branch out, writing two murder mysteries and acting in a handful of Hollywood movies, Gypsy continued with her burlesque routine until she was 42. Preminger was born in 1944 when Louise was 33.
Although Preminger says he wouldn’t want to have been brought up any other way, he had some gripes with his mother, who died of cancer aged 59 in 1970, including not telling him who his true father was until he was 17 years old.
Preminger said until learning the truth, he always believed his father was Gypsy’s second husband actor Alexander Kirkland, who had split up with Gypsy shortly before his birth.
Preminger was set off on his discovery when Gypsy refused to buy him a car, so he turned to Kirkland.
Although Preminger says he wouldn’t wish to have been brought up any other way, he had some gripes with his mother, who died of cancer aged 59 in 1970, including not telling him who his true father was until he was 17 years old
Preminger said until learning the truth he always believed his father was Gypsy’s second husband actor Alexander Kirkland, who had split with the entertainer shortly before his birth. But Gypsy later revealed that his father was film producer Otto Preminger (pictured together)
Preminger told Fox News in a recent interview: ‘I went to the man whose name was on my birth certificate, who I understood was my father, although I already heard some rumors. I asked him for money to buy a car.
‘I was seeing a therapist at the time … and the next time I saw my therapist he said Mr. Kirkland wanted me to know that he was not my father and he couldn’t give me a car. So that got the ball rolling.’
Preminger went straight back to his mother and asked who his real father was.
The striptease star replied with a curt ‘It’s none of your business.’
Finally she revealed his father was film producer Otto Preminger, but she made Preminger promise not to contact him.
After leaving college early Preminger joined the army and while there Otto, having heard his son now knew who he was, got in touch and the two became close, with Otto legally adopting Preminger in 1970 – the same year Gypsy died of cancer. Otto, who had dementia, died in 1986.
Preminger also fought with Gypsy about money, as she would splurge on luxury cars but hated buying clothes and books for him, believing he should earn the money himself.
He said: ‘She came from an environment where everyone was expected to contribute and that’s what she expected from me from the age of about five. It bothered me for a long time. I never finished college because we argued over paying the fees.’
But Preminger will always adore his mother, adding: ‘I am the luckiest person I know.
‘I’ve had a life that’s been blessed from birth. It’s still blessed… I just feel so lucky at every stage.
‘Not that there weren’t some difficult moments looking back. God knows they were…. But if I would have been born into any other family, I certainly wouldn’t have had the life I lived.’