Cape worn by burlesque performer Ricki Covette
date: label: date made
content: before 1974
name: label: wearer
content: Jewell, Irene
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Cape worn by "Word's Tallest Burlesque Dancer" Ricki Covette. The cape is peach colored with a seashell pattern applied with silver thread. Has a white fur trim. Features a faux pearl and bead trim with added jewels. Slits on right and left sides for arms. Tag sewn onto inside of cape reads "Paul Brume Chicago."
label: Description (Brief)
content: Entertainer Ricki Covette billed herself the world's tallest exotic dancer, measuring at 6’8” in height. Born Irene Jewell to American parents living in Canada, Ricki got her first break as a showgirl on one of Gypsy Rose Lee’s traveling burlesque shows. She landed in New York city in 1951 with intentions of applying at Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe Club, but soon discovered it had recently closed. Not to be deterred, she was hired as a showgirl at Lou Walter’s Latin Quarter. Now using the stage name of Ricki (a nickname for Irene) Covette (after the new popular car — the corvette), she went on to become a headline for Minsky’s and from there launched a nearly 2 decade burlesque career featuring appearances all across the USA, Japan and Europe.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2017.0266.01.02
label: accession number
content: 2017.0266
label: catalog number
content: 2017.0266.01.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cape
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 63 in x 66 in; 160.02 cm x 167.64 cm