Kitty West

Burlesque dancer and stripper Kitty West was born Abbie Jewel Slawson on June 8, 1930 in Uniontown, Alabama. The second in a family of six children, West moved with her family to Shuqualak, Mississippi when she was a child. Since Kitty's family was poor, they had to travel throughout the area to pick cotton in order to keep themselves afloat. West left home at age sixteen and went to New Orleans, Louisiana, where she began dancing so she could make money to send back home to her family. Kitty established herself as a popular attraction at Bourbon Street's Casino Royale club with her alluring alter ego Evangeline the Oyster Girl, who emerged from an oyster shell wearing just a few strategically placed pearls like Venus rising forth from the sea while "Ebb Tide" played in the background. West remained a major headliner at Casino Royale for almost two decades before eventually retiring from burlesque in the mid-1960's and going on to become an active and generous mentor to New Orleans performers in the 1990's and 2000's. Kitty was married to former amateur boxer turned jockey Jerry West. Moreover, West also worked as a sales clerk at two hotels in eastern New Orleans as well as was a hair stylist who owned two beauty salons. Kitty died at age 89 on August 18, 2019 from cancer at her home in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. She was survived by her sons Gary and Robert, her brother Johnny Slawson, and two grandsons.