Strippers, Kids, Tigers, Snakes, Sharks & Ghosts

Back in 1972 it looks like there was a lot of stuff going on for the St Kilda strippers. 

The 7 year old kid in the first story gets to be on stage with a tiger, then not long after is haunted by a ghost at his mums work. Maybe he was the person who stole the Gina's snake! I wonder where that kid is now, he'd almost be 50. If you are out there Jason, let us know what you're doing now.

I highly doubt the shark attack story is real, I dont think theres been any fatal shark attacks in Port Phillip Bay since 1930 when 19 year old Norman Clark was attacked off the end of Brighton Pier on a saturday arvo.

Melbourne Truth, Jan 8, 1972

SHOWBEAT with alec martin

One of the biggest New Year's Eve surprises at Melbourne night spots was produced at the Getcha Gear Off strip revue at the George Hotel, St.Kilda.

A live tiger from Sole's Circus walked on stage with the near-naked show girls at midnight. The audience, taken completely by surprise, lapsed into silence for about 20 seconds, then the people started to scream and shout and this almost scared the tiger. Soon after, the seven year-old son of one of the strippers followed in a man dressed as Father Time and the old year was pushed of the stage by the New Year.

Melbourne Truth, Jan 22, 1972

GHOST HAUNTS STRIP GIRLS

The ghost of room 26 at the George Hotel, St. Kilda, is on the move again and this time he's haunting the dancers and nude girls appearing in the Getcha Gearoff revue there. The star, Janette, and her little boy, Jason, have be frightened and once called the police. Even Berry Luden, wife of the show's producer, Art, visiting her husband from the gold coast, has encountered the tormented spirit.

Although the others have scoffed at the idea of a ghost, the George’s general manager, Mr Frank Sherren, says there has been enough evidence in the past years to back up the stories. Legend has it that a few days before Xmas of 1905, a young man booked into a room and refused to take part in the pub's pre-christmas festivities. One morning his body was found hanging in the room. He had suicided.

The management tried to hush up the tragedy and within a few days the room was barricaded. Later, when the new section of the hotel was built the area in which the suicide took place was closed off completely. But, over the years, there have been several sightings of the ghost, especially when people wandered into the section which is no longer used.

Mr Sherren told how a few years ago he opened one of the broken-down doors leading to the passage where No.26 is situated.

“A cloud of dust suddenly jumped up in front of me,” he said “OK, it could have been an air current, but the dust came straight toward me and even followed me down the stairs. And the noise! I heard thumps and bumps and a kind of whistle. It was eerie.”

Janette, the sensual strip-teaser who has just returned from a Far Eastern tour, is convinced that she and her son, Jason, 7, have been victims of the ghost.

“I’ve been hearing funny noises in the corridors leading to our room for two or three weeks. But the most frightening thing happened a few days before Christmas,” she declared. “While I perform, I leave Jason asleep and keep on popping upstairs to see how he is. This night I just closed the door, without locking it, leaving him fast asleep. After I’d finished my opening number, I checked and found the door locked. I thought Jason had got up and done it, so I left my vanity case containing personal things and make-up outside the door and went downstairs for a master key. I had left my key inside. When I returned my case was gone, the door was open, all the lights were on and the shower was full on too.”

FRIGHTENING

“Jason was still fast asleep. It was really frightening. I woke him and asked him if he had turned on the shower but he didn’t know anything. My case was found next morning on the hotel office floor”

Berry Luden said: “I thought I heard someone following me around the corridors. I looked around but there was nobody, yet I still heard sounds like footsteps.”

 

Melbourne Truth, Feb 19, 1972

A DOG SAVES STRIPPER FROM SHARK

by Alec Martin

A stray dog that wandered into the sea saved the life of a Melbourne stripper who was menaced by a shark while she was swimming near the pier at St. Kilda.

Amber Wild, a stripper at the Lido and Whisky A-Go-Go, was the target of the shark until the dog attracted its attention. Amber, a 22 year old, trim, exotic dancer, said she was terrified.

“I saw the shark as I was swimming a few yards off the beach,” she said, “I knew I couldn’t swim back to shore in time and was petrified. But then this big dog jumped into the water and the shark turned toward it. The dog didn’t have a chance, but it gave me time to get on to the beach. After the shark took the poor dog, it swam out to sea.

Amber Wild

shark attack!

Melbourne Truth, Feb 26, 1972

SAD STORY OF A STRIPPER'S SNAKE

Gina loses a partner

Stripper Gina of Getcha Gearoff revue has lost one of her partners – Fred, a 10 foot python.

He went walkabout two weeks ago. He had been sharing a cage with the Dragon, a 16 foot python.

“He's quite harmless,” Gina, known as the Mighty Atom, said at St. Kilda’s George Hotel, where the revue is staged. “He has to be, because in my act he wriggles all over me and has never done anything dangerous.”

Fred feeds mostly on mice supplied by Gina. He could be sliding around the basement of the George in Fitzroy Street, doing the house cat out of a job.

“Fred was in his cage with the Dragon the last time I saw him,” Gina said “The cage is kept in my room. I don’t know how he got out, because Dragon was still in there. I don’t think he’s been stolen, because a 10 foot python isn’t the sort of thing someone would steal. Most people are dead scared of snakes. He must be somewhere in the hotel. But I don’t want people to think Fred is dangerous”

MATING

“Fred's as harmless as a kitten. He is dead scared of people” Gina thinks Fred may have slid off in search of a partner because the months between November and March is the season when snakes mate. The hot weather often increases their urge to seek out a mate,” Gina said. Gina has offered a reward to anyone who finds Fred. But she says that no one can fool her into taking any old python.

“Fred has definite marks on him which I can identify, so no one will pull a fast one on me,” she said.

The Dragon is filling in for Fred when Gina goes on stage in the Birdcage Room. The Dragon isn’t all that happy, either. He's doing two shows a night instead of one – and still for his usual ration of mice.