Carol Doda, Pioneer of Topless Entertainment, Dies at 78
By SAM ROBERTS

Carol Doda, who was widely credited with triggering a nationwide topless revolution as a 26-year-old go-go dancer in 1964, died on Monday in San Francisco. She was 78.

Her death was confirmed by the St. Luke’s campus of California Pacific Medical Center. Friends said the cause was complications of kidney failure.

To understand the scandalousness of Ms. Doda’s precedent-setting impromptu performance in San Francisco, on June 19, 1964, consider that it was followed less than a month later in that same city by the Republican National Convention that nominated the conservative Barry Goldwater.

Delegates flocked from the Cow Palace convention hall to the Condor Club in the North Beach neighborhood to see her act. As word spread, toplessness became a sensation in clubs and bars across the country.

The San Francisco newspaper columnist Herb Caen characterized Ms. Doda as “the Susan B. Anthony of this particular liberating movement.”

Ms. Doda, a platinum blonde, gained particular attention for injecting her breasts with enough silicone to expand her bra size to 44DD from 34B. The author Tom Wolfe gushed about them in his book “The Pump House Gang.”

Earlier this year, Ms. Doda told the website babyboomerdaily.com, “I was the first to go topless in 1964 and started a sexual revolution that spun as fast as twirling tassels.”

In a 2009 interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, Ms. Doda, a former secretary and cocktail waitress, said: “The minute I knew I existed in life was the night I started the Condor thing. The only thing that mattered to me was entertaining people.”

She underwent 44 surgical treatments (the number was “just a coincidence,” she said) in which emulsified silicone, the chief component of Silly Putty, was injected at a cost of about $12,000 in today’s dollars. The procedure has since been banned, but Ms. Doda, who began every day with a bowl of Wheaties, said she suffered no health complications.

Her bust was said to have been insured for $1.5 million.

The Condor was raided, but she was found not guilty of indecency according to community standards. She continued to bare her breasts nightly, eventually earning the equivalent of about $4,000 a week today.

Her example inspired Russ Meyer’s film “Mondo Topless.” She appeared (as Sally Silicone) in Bob Rafelson’s movie “Head” (1968), starring the Monkees. Ms. Doda went to further extremes, even going bottomless in 1968, until California ruled that women could not perform completely naked in clubs that served alcohol.

Carol Ann Doda was born in Solano County, in Northern California, on Aug. 29, 1937, and raised in San Francisco. Her parents divorced when she was 3.

Ms. Doda told interviewers that she had dropped out of school and became a cocktail waitress at 14 before attending the San Francisco Art Institute. She never married, and there was no immediate word on survivors.

She found work singing at the Condor, where she would make a dramatic entrance dancing atop a white grand piano as it was lowered from the ceiling. She made her topless debut after Davey Rosenberg, the club’s publicist, proffered a “monokini” swimsuit by Rudi Gernreich, the avant-garde designer, and suggested, “Try this in the act.”

She continued dancing topless into the 1980s.

Ms. Doda later started a rock band, the Lucky Stiffs, regularly appeared as a host on local cable television and ran a lingerie boutique in San Francisco.

In 2009, when she was still dancing, fully clothed, at North Beach clubs, Ms. Doda told an interviewer, “The only way I’ll stop performing is when I can’t walk anymore, honey.”

酒吧上空秀開山祖 杜達病逝

歷史留名有多種方式，卡洛杜達（Carol Doda）因為是美國首位在上空酒吧表演的脫衣舞孃而被寫入歷史。她在發跡的舊金山兀鷹俱樂部（Condor Club），靠自稱「舊金山新雙峰」（the new Twin Peaks of San Francisco）的44吋人工巨乳，從26歲繼續跳到48歲。友人宣布，杜達已於9日下午因腎衰竭併發症在舊金山聖路加醫院（St. Luke`s Hospital）去世，享年78歲，身後未留後人。

兀鷹俱樂部位於舊金山北灘（North Beach）百老匯與哥倫布街（Columbus Avenue)交口街角，1964年開張。當年6月19日推出破天荒上空鋼管秀，轟動全球，卡洛杜達一炮而紅。她躺在一架鋼琴上面，從下方冉冉升上舞台，次日舊金山報紙頭版全是「鋼琴女郎」（The Girl on the Piano ）新聞，聲勢甚至直逼總統。當天詹森總統剛好訪問舊金山，引來50萬人夾道歡呼。

杜達的成功徹底改變了舊金山北灘街景，也帶動全美風潮。1970年代全盛時期，北灘百老匯沿街上空酒吧如雨後春筍出現超過20家，酒吧派人站在人行道向路人喊叫有上空秀可看，此股盛況延續20年。身為「開山祖奶奶」，杜達透過隆乳把胸圍從34吋增大為44吋，號稱「雙44」（twin 44s）與「舊金山新雙峰」。1969年9月3日，她開始加碼跳「下空」（bottomlessness）舞，三點全露。可想而知，杜達成為兀鷹俱樂部招牌秀，霓虹招牌也是她的形象。

杜達在舊金山長大，八年級輟學，14歲成為雞尾酒女侍。終身未婚，亦無子女。跳脫衣舞之外，她開過內衣店、組樂團在夜店表演、做模特兒、拍電影。好友說，杜達對朋友非常好，會耐心聽人訴苦並提供意見。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/arts/dance/carol-doda-pioneer-of-topless-entertainment-dies-at-78.html

紐約時報中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytstyle.com/people/20151112/t17doda/zh-hant/

2015-11-13．世界日報 編譯組