City, on the marquee "On Stage Michael Rose Capers PARIS SPICE, in person Mara Gaye. Her many shows were met with reviews such as "An Instant Hit" Boston Record, Mara was once the birthday surprise for Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop Phil Rizzuto. Numerous display ads for her act appeared in the NY Daily News, NY Daily Mirror, NJ newspapers, as well as mentions in the NY Burlesque Bits and gossip columns. On stage she performed with Peaches at the Empire, Lili St. Cyr at Minsky's, Lotus DuBois, Flash O'Farrell, Georgia Sothern and many others. Her friends included Ann Corio, Comic Lou Ascol and his wife stripped talker Petti Dayne who named their child after Gaye. In 1954 at Minsky's in Newark, Mara Gaye and Lili St. Cyr had a feud over who would be the first to introduce the black eye patch to burlesque. In the 1960s, she and Tana Louise started an exotic bizarre costumes mail-order catalog company called Tana and Mara. Tana was the wife of Lenny Burtman, who published Exotique Magazine. Photographs of Gaye can be found in many of the early pin-up magazines and publications of the 1950s and 1960s, including Bold, Calvacade of Burlesque, Cherchez la Femme, Dazzle, Frolic, Gala, Hollywood Confidential, Night and Day, Play, Playgirl, Pose, Tab, Tom Boy, Uncensored, and Vue. The magazine photos do not always credit her by name. Mara Gaye's vanity and a few personal items are on view in the ongoing spotlight section of the Museum of Sex in New York City. References External links American burlesque performers American stage actresses Actresses from New York City 1920 births 2005 deaths American female erotic dancers American erotic dancers 20th-century American dancers 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American women