Mabel Stark

Mabel Stark

Stripper, tiger tamer extraordinaire and celebrity circus star of the 20s, little is truly known of Mabel, although a recent fictionalised account of her life paints her as a hardbitten, five-times-married mental-hospital escapee and self-harmer who shared a bed (and sexual experiences) with her favourite Bengal, Rajah.

She once wrote that her trademark white leather catsuits were born of necessity, to hide the tiger semen with which she became covered during her act – she developed a trick which regularly fooled audiences into believing Rajah’s attempt to mate with her was a death-defying wrestling display. She suffered at least one serious mauling by tigers and despite an alleged wish to die at the claws of her big cats, committed suicide in 1968 by carbon-monoxide poisoning and overdose.

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