American burlesque dancer Zorita was BOTD in 1915. Born Kathryn Boyd in Youngstown, Ohio, she was adopted as a baby and raised in Chicago in a strict Methodist household. Married at 15, she left high school and worked as a manicurist, working as a stripper to earn extra money. At 17, she moved to San Diego to work in the Zoro Garden Nudist Colony. After winning a beauty pageant in 1935, she began work as a burlesque artist, named Zorita by the owner of the San Francisco nightclub where she first performed. She became (in)famous for her elaborate striptease routines, most notably “The Consummation of the Wedding of the Snake”, performed with two live boa constrictors named Elmer and Oscar. In another act, she dressed half her body as a bride and the other as a groom, then undressed each half, leading to a “wedding night romp”; in another, she emerged from a giant spider’s web, while black-gloved hands slowly removed her clothes. In 1941, she was arrested for indecent exposure while performing at the Kentucky Club in Toledo. Found guilty by a jury, she was sentenced to six months imprisonment. After her release, she was arrested again for animal cruelty, resulting in her losing custody of Elmer and Oscar. In the 1950s, she had cameos in a series of softcore erotic films, including I Married a Savage, Naughty New York and Judy’s Little No-No. Married and divorced two further times, she was openly bisexual, travelling to performance venues with a series of girlfriends. She died in 2001, aged 86.