Topless dancers around the world should be lighting a candle for Carol Doda, who at San Francisco’s Condor Club in the 1960s became the most famous stripper in the world thanks to her silicone chest.
Doda died Monday at 78, according to friends and media reports.
Her enhanced breasts — cup size 44D — became known as the “new Twin Peaks of San Francisco,” said SFWeekly. “By transforming her body and donning a ‘topless bikini,’ she also transformed adult entertainment.”
RIP Carol Doda https://t.co/46QdX6ssJz
— Margaret Cho (@margaretcho) November 11, 2015
In “The Pump House Gang,” Tom Wolfe wrote: “She blew up her breasts with emulsified silicone, the main ingredient in Silly Putty and became the greatest resource of the San Francisco tourist industry.”
She died of lung and kidney failure, said confidant Dick Winn, who confirmed her death to the San Francisco Examiner.
Doda described performing in San Francisco during the height of the women’s liberation movement: “The women used to parade outside, saying, ‘Burn your bras, burn your bras,’ and I said, ‘What are you talking about? I’m not wearing a bra!'”
She continued dancing at The Condor until 1985, when she quit because she wasn’t make enough money, according to the Chronicle.
SF’s North Beach is in mourning as news spreads of the death of Carol Doda at 78 pic.twitter.com/mkwREe2muz
— Doug Sovern (@SovernNation) November 11, 2015
RIP Carol Doda. An icon, a legend. Met her many many times at my lunch spot. Sweet lady. https://t.co/p1tfJavJqU
— Trisha F (@Pkittytrisha) November 11, 2015