County Fairs

motorhead
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life
in another thread, someone mentioned seeing a strip show at a county fair in 1962. On another site, an older guy talked about seeing strippers at the fair.

As a wannabe strip club historian, I'm interested in what those shows were like. I'm kind of old - born in 1959 - so as a kid in the 60's and 70's I remember seeing the sideshows at the county fair. Alongside the tents with the bearded lady and the three-headed baby were signs advertising "exotic dancers". There were painted pictures of belly dancers, breasts bulging out of the bra top. Enough cleavage to give a 12 year boy a raging hard-on.

I never was old enough to go in. I've always wondered what these shows were like. I akwas assumed they were just hoochie coochie dancers with the girls at most stripping down to pasties and panties. Anyone old enough to go?


14 comments

Latest

georgmicrodong
13 years ago
I did manage to see one of those shows at the fair once, and it was as you describe, pasties and granny panties.
bang69
13 years ago
wow that went on?excuse my age that realy happened back then
JuiceBox69
13 years ago
Keep sharing stories I love history shit like this : )(not joking I realy do )
shadowcat
13 years ago
Back in 1960 I drove my GF and two of her friends from Long Beach Ca to Bakersfield Ca. They were part of a dance troup and were there to do a live TV show promoting the Kern County fair. They wore skimpy clothing and it was strictly chorus line dancing. The same dance troup performed for the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant during the years that it was held in Long Beach.
jabthehut
13 years ago
The ones I saw were all naked (as opposed to nude.) They were skankier than any I've seen in any strip club by a long shot. One guy in the audience shouted as one of the skanks spread open the biggest cunt I've seen that he had lost a friend down that hole and needed to go get his Mac (truck, not gun) to drive in there to try to find him.
These were in a tent with folding chairs for the customers and there was just looking allowed, not that any one would want to touch. Some I went to weren't real county fairs but carnies. Others were actually at county fairs. What is truly amazing is they were all in Georgia.
jackslash
13 years ago
I remember the stripper shows at the county fair when I was a kid. The barker would bring a lady out and extol her "virtues" while she did a little shimmy. The barker made all kinds of suggestive remarks, making it seem very sleazy. But as a 12-year-old boy, I was fascinated. However, you had to be 18 to get in, and so I never got to see the show. I expect that it would have been very disappointing.

Small town American in the 1950's and 1960's had little sexual entertainment. Even movies with adult themes would be PG movies today. I envy today's teens, who movies, internet porn and high school girls who will blow them.
Electronman
13 years ago
I was underage but I manged to sneak into a county fair strip show in Jacksonville, FL around 1966 or so. The woman stripped naked and danced to some music with the urging of the carnival barker. The teens in the audience gawked while the older men in the audience hooted and called out insults. The experience made quite an impression on me and started my enduring interest in female anatomy and strip clubs. At that time, most of the clubs in the Bible-belt south were pretty conservative and it wasn't until I traveled to Michigan that I encountered a fully nude club.

OK, I'll ask. Jabthehut-- what is the difference between naked and nude?
JuiceBox69
13 years ago
This is some kool stuff guys : )
motorhead
13 years ago
The young guys who have only been to movie theaters at the mall won't know what I'm talking about. But before the tiny 11-screen multiplexes existed, every town in America had these old, ornate, cavernous movie houses with a stage and a balcony.

Before I ever went in my first strip club I saw a performance artist get totally naked on stage. But being so far away it wasn't much of a view.
bang69
13 years ago
please keep the history lesson going
snowtime
13 years ago
I finally got to attend on of these "county fairs" around 1966 after hearing about them for years. It was an eye opening experience. It was in a rural county about 30 miles outside of Atlanta. It was in a small tent at the rear or the fairgrounds, away from the family activities. There were 2 girls and a barker/ ticket taker. As best I can remember the girls got nude immediately and each paraded on stage for about 3 songs played on one of those 50's style phonographs. All of the guys seemed to have done this in past years and were comfortable with the very crude set up. There were about 20 -30 guys standing inside the tent. Everyone, me included, stood up (no chairs) and got as close to the small stage as possible. The girls were older and not particularly attractive, but that did not seem to matter. Everone at the stage was allowed to touch the girls anywhere for a brief amount of time. Some of the braver guys even got to DATY for a brief moment. I did not attempt that based on the dirty surroundings, etc. It was a very eye opening show for a 16 year old city boy
These shows were very common in the rural parts of the country during the late 50's and 60's. They finally died out around 1970 I think. Many years ago I found a book written on this subject. Complete with many photos of the strip show exteriors and the crude interiors. There were also several nude photos of the girls performing on stage. I can't remember the title, but may see if I still have it. I loaned it out to several friends and not sure if I got it back.. It was a short book but traced the history and ultimate demise of the infamous "county fair".
These county fairs were far different than their city counterparts. When I was finally old enough to visit one of the two strip shows at the much larger Southeastern Fair in Atlanta, it was a disappointment. Lots of tease on the outside by a barker who would bring out five or so dancers on the outside stage to fire up the crowd. Once inside the tease continued, and the eventual strip down to pasties and G string. A big disappointment, especially when compared to the county fair.
Otto22
13 years ago
I visited such shows in the mid-60's at the Ionia Free Fair in Michigan. Dances were mostly strip tease style with little nudity except the occasional flash. Much more explicit were the "freak shows" where hermaphrodites were on display up-close-and-personal. (I remember for these shows they separated the men and women for viewing the freaks.)
SlickSpic
11 years ago
County fairs have changed so much. When I was a kid, county fairs had 4-H and rodeos. Y'all seen some strange county fairs. Nowadays, the LA County Fair has as many cops as gangbangers.
ilbbaicnl
11 years ago
Before my time, but I've heard stories similar to showtime's from older friends.
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