REAL-LIFE ROSE, LOUISE, AND JUNE– WHO WERE THEY?
The musical Gypsy is based on the memoirs of real-life Burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee, whose real name was Louise. Louise and her little sister June supported their family by touring as child performers in the vaudeville circuit in 1920’s America. They did not attend school.
Their mother was Rose. During the early 1900’s a young teenage Rose got married right out of convent school. She became Rose (Thompson) Hovick. The couple had two children – Louise and June. Even though the marriage ended, she kept the name “Hovick” for the rest of her life.
After the marriage breakup, Rose moved with her girls to Seattle, Washington to live with her parents.
Rose’s father never allowed her to pursue a life on the stage, and now, she wanted theatre careers for her children. Rose created stage acts for her daughters – with June as the star. Rose’s dogged determination and strong will led to great stage successes for her daughters on the Vaudeville circuit.
She was notorious for lying, bullying, cajoling, stealing, sabotaging rival acts and was masterful at conning people with her genteel, brave-but-helpless single mother act.
Once her daughters were grown up and on their own, Rose’s life continued to be remarkable. Stories include love affairs with both men and women, the operation of a "lesbian pick-up joint" where she sold homemade bathtub gin, wild attempts to extort money from both Louise and June, two stints as a chicken farmer, and three allegations of cold-blooded murder. No wonder Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the lyrics for Gypsy, said ..."The fact that she's monstrous to her daughters and the world is secondary... She's a very American character, a gallant figure and a life force."
June, the younger daughter, was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, sometime in the 1910s (her mother changed her birth certificate to evade child labour laws). June appeared on the Vaudeville stage as “Baby June” at the age of 2 and was called "the Tiniest Toe-dancer in the World", then "the Pocket-sized Pavlova", then Dainty June, "the Darling of Vaudeville.” After leaving her mother and ‘the act’, June continued to work in show business, both on stage and screen. She died in 2010 at the age of 97.
As a child performer, Louise was not as talented as her sister June, but became a bigger star through her burlesque persona as Gypsy Rose Lee. Gypsy Rose Lee was famous for her sophisticated onstage wit and casual banter. She was one of the first burlesque artists to imbue her act with grace and style.
Louise became a very wealthy woman performing as Gypsy Rose Lee. She also became an author, penning her own biography, two murder mystery novels, and a play. She appeared on television, in films, hosted her own radio show, and entertained troops in Vietnam during USO tours. Fun fact: She loved to go fishing.
