Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
As It Happens

Topless dancer Carol Doda put stripping in the spotlight

In 1964, Carol Doda's topless act at the Condor Club in San Francisco made her into a legend - and marked a change in American culture. She died on Monday at 78.
CBC Radio ·
In this Sept. 21, 1978 file photo, Carol Doda performs at the Condor Theater in San Francisco. (AP)
As It Happens1:25Topless dancer Carol Doda dragged stripping out of the shadows

Carol Doda was a model, comedian, singer and band member of the Lucky Stiffs, but she was best known for changing the world of live entertainment in the '60s with her topless dancing act.

Doda died from kidney failure Monday at the age of 78.

When I was 15, I had a vision type thing.- Legendary stripper Carol Doda

It's difficult now to get a sense of just how big a deal Carol Doda's nightclub act was back when she first bared her breasts on stage in 1964. Others had gone topless before, but she took it mainstream and became a household name.

"When I was 15, I had a vision type thing. I thought I would be in the entertainment business. I didn't know what," she told CBC's Daryl Duke in 1965 in an interview on This Hour Has Seven Days.

In this December 1985 file photo, stripper Carol Doda holds up her tassels while posing in her apartment in San Francisco. (Norbert von der Groeben/Palo Alto Times Tribune via AP, File) (Norbert von der Groeben/Palo Alto Times Tribune via AP)

Her decision to get a then-novel procedure — silicone breast injections — made the public even more fascinated with her.

Her friend, music publicist Lee Housekeeper, said this about her to the Associated Press: "In a funny way, Carol's impact on the history of that era was as great as Lenny Bruce."

More from this episode