I've been fascinated by the woman born Lillian Wajc in Poland, either in the late 20s or early 40s (more of than in a moment), ever since I literally almost bumped into her at the North Carolina State Fair when I was 12 or 13 years old, as she was carrying a beer and a corn dog back to the stripper tent (yes, state fairs had stripper tents in those days).

I've written of that incident before, and have now successfully pitched a cover story about the experience (and that of seeing the famous "Minnesota Iceman" at the same fair) to a local arts tabloid. Now they're asking me to write a separate sidebar article about Morgan's life.

The last time I looked Ms. Morgan up on Wikipedia, the entry was rather different from what's there now, and not just because it was less detailed. Previously, the Wiki entry had reported Morgan's measurements as the famous 73PP-32-36, but with a debunking notation that her real ones were actually somewhat "smaller" in the bust (something like 48HH, iirc) but also larger in the waist and hips. It also reported her birth as having been in 1929, whereas it now claims she was born in 1941.

The current Wiki entry is much detailed and heavily footnoted, with the information taken pretty much en toto from the Morgan entry at Boobpedia.com (a site that's definitely not work safe!). While it's heavily documented, and the most extensive and detailed account of Morgan's life and career I've ever seen, I'm somewhat dubious about some of the details. Wiki and Boobpedia give documentation for their current claim that she was born on or around 1941, citing a 1975 article from the Long Beach Independent, in which she claimed to be 34 years old. I'm sure she told a reporter that, but the woman in DEADLY WEAPONS and DOUBLE AGENT 73 looks closer to her early 40s than her early 30s (otoh, she looks like she could be in her early 30s, or even her late 20s, in the various burlesque promo photos I've seen, but I'm guessing those were heavily air-brushed). Moreover, her notorious top measurement aside, I'd say that, when she made the Wishman films, she was sporting a waist and hips that were wider than 32 and 36. Judging from her appearnace in publicity photos of her deleted scene from CASANOVA, I'd always assumed she was approaching 50 when she worked with Fellini in 1976,

Mind you, among the fascinating (well, to me, at least) info in the Wiki and Boobpedia articles is that her first husband was killed in the once-notorious Bed-Stuy "Icebox Murders in 1965. So maybe it's not surprising that the widow of a man who'd died horribly, and who had to support herself and her two daughters by stripping, might be looking a bit older than her years.

I can't give citations, but recall reading in several places that DEADLY WEAPONS and DOUBLE AGENT 73, while released in 1974, were shot "years earlier." But the Boobpedia writer (I should just cite him or her directly, since the Wiki takes all its info from that source, although it leaves some details out) claims that Morgan began stripping in 1971 and didn't become a national sensation on that circuit until 1973. It seems unlikely that Wishman would have used her if she wasn't already a star in her field. I've already noted that Morgan looks "better" -- not just younger and slimmer, but more alert and engaged -- in many of her strip club publicity photos than she does for Wishman, but I don't know if that means anything one way or the other, since I don't know how retouched those photos are.

I'm debating how much of this to use in my sidebar. I wish I could find a citation for the earlier birthdate and the more "realistic" measurements.