Friday, August 8, 2025

Skip E. Lowe: Jennifer Fox

Show: Skip E. Lowe Looks at Hollywood
Release Year:  1985

In the glittering yet often under-documented world of American burlesque and public-access television, few moments stand out as vividly as Jennifer Fox’s 1985 appearance on Skip E. Lowe Looks at Hollywood. The weekly talk show, hosted by the flamboyant and endlessly talkative Skip E. Lowe, aired on public-access cable television in Los Angeles and New York City. It was a unique platform, a mix of low-budget intimacy and star-studded curiosity, that welcomed both household names and underground legends.
 
Jennifer Fox fit into the latter category, though “underground” barely describes her career. She was an internationally renowned transgender entertainer who had made her mark in Las Vegas, captivating audiences with her commanding stage presence and old-school striptease artistry. Her journey began in the late 1960s when she underwent genital surgery in 1968, at a time when trans visibility was virtually non-existent and the subject was still shrouded in taboo. Fox made her boldest career move on October 5, 1970, when she opened at the Gay 90s Club in North Las Vegas. The marketing for that engagement was sensational, literally. Fox’s surgery was promoted as a “special attraction,” a calculated publicity choice that she herself approved. “I didn't let the public know about it at first,” she admitted in interviews. “I continued to build my name as a stripper. … We decided to advertise [my surgery] as a special attraction. And it worked. It's been good for business.” It was a risky but effective move that set her apart from every other burlesque performer of her era.
 
Two years later, in 1972, Fox’s career climbed another rung when she opened at the Hippodrome Theatre in Circus Circus as part of Ann Corio’s Best of Burlesque. Corio, a legendary burlesque queen from the 1930s and ’40s, recognized Fox’s star quality and theatrical flair. This partnership would eventually lead to the television moment that captured Fox in her element. On the Skip E. Lowe set in 1985, Fox appeared alongside Ann Corio herself and fellow performer Jeanette Boyd. The format was simple: four chairs, a small coffee table, and Skip E. Lowe’s rapid-fire, almost tangential interviewing style. What unfolded was part Hollywood nostalgia, part Las Vegas showbiz gossip, and part groundbreaking transgender visibility. Skip, known for his unabashed enthusiasm, immediately complimented Fox: “Let’s get a close shot on Jennifer Fox. Isn’t she beautiful?” He teased out details of her career, marveling at her classic burlesque style, her fan dances, her tributes to Sally Rand, her blend of glamour and audience interaction.
 
Fox explained that she recreated “a striptease of the Golden Era burlesque” and ended her act with a fan dance, bringing back the elegance and mystery of mid-century erotic performance. The conversation drifted through the realities of touring shows, the camaraderie of cast members, and the enduring appeal of live burlesque. Fox, tall at 5'11", carried herself with a mix of grace and directness, speaking openly about her identity. When asked if audiences knew she was transgender, she said that her introduction on stage often included the teasing phrase, “Is she or isn’t she?”, a provocative framing she embraced. “I want it known,” she said simply. Fox’s candor was remarkable for the era.
 
The mid-1980s were not an easy time for open discussion of transgender lives, especially in mainstream entertainment. Yet on a public-access stage, Fox and Lowe addressed it head-on. She discussed her lifelong feelings of gender incongruence, her decision to pursue surgery at 18, and the importance of psychiatric evaluation before transitioning. She even touched on broader social issues, noting that visibility helped prevent the tragic suicides of young people struggling with identity. In doing so, she carved out a rare televised space for nuanced transgender representation, one that was neither sensationalized nor pitying. Instead, Fox positioned herself as a working entertainer, a showgirl who happened to be transgender, navigating both the glitzy world of Vegas and the practical realities of keeping a touring burlesque show alive.
 
The 1985 episode was also a snapshot of a unique entertainment circle. Ann Corio, by then a living legend, brought with her the credibility of classic burlesque. Jeanette Boyd, a newer addition to the troupe, represented the next generation of performers. The conversation moved from backstage anecdotes to upcoming shows at Los Angeles’s Variety Arts Center, where they performed six days a week. They spoke about standing ovations, benefit shows for AIDS (a pressing crisis of the time), and the misconceptions about burlesque, how it was rooted in satire and innuendo rather than vulgarity. “We’re the real thing,” Corio insisted, and Fox’s presence underscored that “the real thing” could evolve with the times. Jennifer Fox’s participation in Skip E. Lowe Looks at Hollywood was more than a promotional stop for a burlesque show, it was a merging of two cultural undercurrents: the fading glamour of mid-century variety entertainment and the slow, uneven rise of transgender visibility in American media. Fox had already navigated decades of show business by then, from her sensational Las Vegas debut to national tours with Best of Burlesque.
 
Her on-screen ease with Lowe’s questions reflected both her professional polish and her personal resilience. She was an entertainer first and foremost, but also a woman who understood the power of telling her own story. In the context of public-access cable, her appearance remains a remarkable historical artifact: unfiltered, charmingly chaotic, and ahead of its time in terms of representation. For viewers in Los Angeles and New York in 1985, it was a chance to see a Las Vegas star, tall, glamorous, and unapologetically herself, talk about her life not as a scandal, but as a career built on talent, beauty, and determination. Jennifer Fox may have been introduced with a playful “Is she or isn’t she?” but by the end of the interview, there was no question: she was a star.

 
via: youtube
Image credits: YouTube

No comments:

Post a Comment

Search This Blog