You would expect fireworks from someone named Tempest Storm, and that’s what she gave.
She was more than just a burlesque dancer; she had bright red hair, a lot of confidence, and a career that lasted for 80 years. For years, people talked about her.
But beyond the jewels and glitz was a woman who became the Queen of Burlesque after going through a lot of trouble in the segregated South.
From Annie to Storm
Tempest Storm ruled the stage for more than 60 years. Her journey to the top was amazing, starting with a childhood that was anything from glamorous.
Annie Blanche Banks was born in Eastman, Georgia, on February 29, 1928. She was born and raised in a small farming village.
She grew up in poverty and violence, and by the time she was 14, she had run away from home to get away from it all. She got a job as a waitress in Columbus, Georgia, and married a U.S. Marine so she could leave her parents for good. But the marriage was over in barely one day. She married a local shoe salesman a year later, when she was 15. His sister worked with her in a hosiery mill.
Tempest Storm went to a reception at the Savoy Hotel in London on December 27, 1960. She will be at the Raymond Revuebar for a while.
In a 1968 interview with Roger Ebert, Storm remarked that thinking back on his second marriage years later, “I just left one day.” I still really wanted to go to Hollywood.
When she was in her late teens, she went to Los Angeles. A casting agent offered the moniker Tempest Storm, which would change her life.
“I asked her if she had any thoughts. She questioned, “What about Tempest Storm?” I asked her if she had any further thoughts. “What about Sunny Day?” she inquired. “I guess it could be Tempest Storm,” I responded.
She became famous after she changed her name. A customer who observed Ms. Storm working as a cocktail waitress thought she was so lovely that they asked her to do a striptease.
“What’s that?” I asked. In an interview with The Quad-City Times in 2013, Ms. Storm talked about it. “I didn’t know because I grew up in a little town. He explained it was merely dancing, but you had to take off your clothes. I said, “Oh, no, not me.” “My mom would cut me off.”
A star is born.
People soon fell in love with Storm when she first performed burlesque in the late 1940s. Her routines weren’t cheap strip displays; they were well-planned shows full of glamor and glam. She teased with style, not just shock, in gowns encrusted with rhinestones.
In an interview from 1973, she commented, “I was more respectable then.”
“You had to wear a net bra and panties with jewels on them.” You couldn’t wear a G-string.
People reported that Tempest was making $100,000 a year by the middle of the 1950s. That’s more than $950,000 currently. People say that Lloyd’s of London insured her breasts for $1 million since they were so well-known. The news called her “Tempest in a D-Cup” and “The Girl Who Goes 3-D Two Better.” They had a lot of fun with her.
She worked with well-known people like Blaze Starr and Lili St. Cyr and appeared in burlesque movies like Teaserama (1955) and Buxom Beautease (1956) with Bettie Page. These movies were very different for their time since they mingled comedy, sex, and censorship.
They rushed her like a herd of cows.
Tempest Storm was not merely a performer. She was a trailblazer who pushed the bounds of what women could say on stage. Her red hair and natural curves were her most well-known features.
But she didn’t get plastic surgery like a lot of her friends did since she thought her natural beauty was enough. She didn’t smoke and stayed away from anything stronger than 7-Up or orange juice.
She would have crunchy granola for breakfast at home and then spend the rest of the day having massages, going to the sauna, and relaxing in the hot tub.
How famous was she? When she got to the University of Colorado in 1955, that was a very interesting time. A group of 1,500 students almost created a riot, and they left behind a lot of damage.
Storm said, “They must have been locked up for months without women; they rushed me like a herd of cattle.”
Getting married to someone of a different race
Storm’s life off stage was just as exciting as her performances.
She dated Elvis Presley, Mickey Rooney, and gangster Mickey Cohen. But what truly made news was her marriage to jazz icon Herb Jeffries in 1959. He was the first Black cowboy that sang in Hollywood.
Their daughter was Patricia Ann Jeffries.
The New York Times claims that her marriage to Jeffries “broke midcentury racial taboos, costing her work.” In much of the U.S., it was still illegal for people of different races to marry. People suddenly lost interest in Storm.
The media didn’t care as much, and she was almost disregarded. There were fewer photographers and reporters who came to her village to write about her.
The marriage didn’t last, but Storm never backed down from a confrontation. After the divorce, she and Jeffries were “closer than ever.”
Still beautiful in her 80s
Most stars get less bright as they age. Tempest Storm didn’t.
She kept performing until she was in her 60s, and her last performance came when she was in her 80s. She remarked that being in the spotlight made her feel the most alive, even when she was older.
In 1999, Storm returned to the stage in San Francisco’s O’Farrell Theatre to mark the club’s 30th anniversary. Mayor Willie Brown declared a “Tempest Storm Day” in her honor. At least until 2010, she maintained showing up at the yearly Burlesque Hall of Fame Pageant events.
Tempest Storm (2016) and other documentaries recounted her story and celebrated her lasting legacy.
A legacy that will last
In the later years of her life, Tempest Storm lived in Las Vegas, Nevada.
She passed away in 2021 at the age of 93, leaving behind more than just memories of her stunning clothes and performances.
She began a cultural revolution.
She showed that being sexy doesn’t go away as you get older. Long before the term “feminist empowerment” became widespread, she fought against prejudices about women and beauty. And she helped modern burlesque stars like Dita Von Teese become who they are now.
Tempest Storm lived up to her name. She couldn’t be stopped. You couldn’t get her out of your mind. She had a strong presence.