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A rarely- seen set of LIFE Magazine photos capture the legendary stripper, Gypsy Rose Lee while on tour with the carnival in 1949- Lee was the world s most famous burlesque dancer in the 1930s and 1940s
Born to a ruthlessly ambitious stage mother- Lee spent her entire childhood performing as a second-rate actor in the vaudeville circuit while playing second fiddle to her younger sister who was the star of the show
Her mother pitted the sisters against each other and dismissed Gypsy as fat and untalented - her sister later said that Gypsy was the first person to be famous for being famous