Marie Frances Van Schaack (June 3, 1917 – January 29, 1999), known professionally as Lili St. Cyr, was a prominent American burlesque dancer and stripper.

Idella, born in 1924, had some minor roles in films under the name Barbara Moffett before marrying Louis Marx, a millionaire toy manufacturer.

From her self-choreographed act, she eventually landed a bit part at a club called the Music Box in San Francisco, with the Duncan Sisters.

[10] St. Cyr's stage name is a patronymic of the child-saint Saint Quiricus (Cyriacus), which she first used when booked as a nude performer in Las Vegas.

At the end of the dance, a stagehand pulled a fishing line attached to St. Cyr's G-string, which flew into the balcony as the lights went dim.

[10] Over the ensuing years and in a variety of different venues, many of St. Cyr's acts were memorable, with names like "The Wolf Woman", "Afternoon of a Faun", "The Ballet Dancer", "In a Persian Harem", "The Chinese Virgin",[9] as well as "Suicide" (where she tried to woo a straying lover by revealing her body), and "Jungle Goddess" (in which she appeared to make love to a parrot).

[14] Quebec's Catholic clergy condemned her act, declaring that whenever she dances "the theater is made to stink with the foul odor of sexual frenzy.

[17]) at Ciro's nightclub in Hollywood (billed as the "Anatomic Bomb"), St. Cyr was arrested by police and taken to court by a customer who considered her act lewd and lascivious.

[17] Represented by the infamous Hollywood attorney Jerry Giesler[13] in court, St. Cyr insisted to the jury that her act was refined and elegant.

The film, described by one critic as "a voyeur's delight",[11] has St. Cyr as a principal member of a Baghdad harem populated with dozens of nubile starlets.

[20] In this film, St. Cyr plays Jersey Lili, a stripper in a Honolulu night-club and girlfriend of a soldier who boasts to his pals that he has her picture painted inside his groundsheet.

Similar to Frederick's of Hollywood, the Undie World of Lili St. Cyr designs offered costuming for strippers in addition to lingerie for personal use.

[24] Following her death and a renewed interest in burlesque, especially in Bettie Page, legions of new fans rediscovered some of the dancers in Irving Klaw's photos and movies.

In the 1975 musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the final line of the song "Don't Dream It, Be It" (sung by the character Janet Weiss, as played by Susan Sarandon) is "God bless Lili St.

"[29] In 1981, actress Cassandra Peterson became famous for her character Elvira, who achieved her trademark cleavage wearing a Lili St. Cyr deep plunge bra.

Norma Jean was a mousy, brown-haired girl with a high squeaky voice, and it was from Lili St. Cyr that she learned how to become a sex goddess.