Elizabeth Burton - interview

Elizabeth Burton insists she's not a ‘chatty' person, but hers has been a bare and bold life and her story is a ripping yarn, epic in the telling: from go-go dancing in Kings Cross to warzones in Vietnam, through striptease residencies in Japan and New York, conversion to Buddhism in Tibet and back to Sydney to help raise awareness for HIV and AIDS. "I'm a woman, I'm a mother, I'm a happy human being," she tells Time Out. And the secret of her success? "Love yourself naked!"

Leslie Margaret Elizabeth Burton-Cloyde was born on 4 October, 1947 at St Margaret's Hospital, Surry Hills. As a child, Elizabeth's family was relocated to Captain's Flat outside Canberra so they could be close to the mines where her father worked, but they returned to Sydney as Elizabeth turned 13.

It all started for Elizabeth in the 60's. "I always loved performing, and in 1966 started as a go-go dancer at the Here Discotheque in North Sydney, at the Whisky-A-Go-Go on William Street and also at the Menzies Keller on William where they used to have a beer barrel cut in half, and the go-go girls dancing on it while the band had a break."

Go-go dancing would take Elizabeth all over the world - and even to war. "A girl named Virginia Maranisi, whose father owned the Here Discotheque, got me in touch with Robert Riviera who was taking a troupe of go-go dancers and musicians to Vietnam - The Rainbow Show. Well, I got over there and I was absolutely in shock. I really had no idea what war was about. I know that there are no winners in a warzone. Everybody that goes into battle is affected in a negative way by it - it's a pretty horrible thing, but for me, an amazing experience as well."

From 'Nam, Elizabeth travelled to America. Going on a tip she had been given that you didn't need a greencard to be a stripper, she auditioned at a strip joint on the corner of 42nd Street and 8th Avenue, called the Psychedelic Funhouse, and got the job on the spot. However, she quickly learned that striptease was about wearing more clothes - not less.

"When I did striptease in the Big Apple we girls would always have a theme to the show, so we wore many garments because a normal set ran 20 minutes so you needed lots of clothes so you weren't naked in the first five minutes. I would wear gloves and stockings and suspender belts...oh, and ten g-strings!"

Elizabeth's first marriage was a solution to the ever-present visa problem. The gloriously shotgun wedding to a fellow nightclub performer amid the neon of Las Vegas that followed saw Elizabeth spending her first night as a married woman with her boyfriend, while her newly appointed husband spent their "honeymoon" with his girlfriend.

After ten years of travelling, Elizabeth returned to Sydney in 1979. Here she married for the second time. These nuptials were no less orthodox than the first. This time she wed herself to a gay man, Michael Cloyd, with whom she burst from a giant cake on the day- he in a veil and she in top hat and tails. Having consummated neither marriage, she then had a daughter, Libity, in 1982 to a musician now living in Bermuda.

Today, Elizabeth speaks with trademark frankness about her liberated approach to life and love, confessing that being targeted by feminists and having fruit thrown at her on stage, hurt. Alas, striptease and single motherhood wasn't on the politically correct agenda in the 80s. "As the years have gone on, women have become more comfortable in their own bodies... I mean, it's all about being liberated isn't it? Women today say they're liberated, but can't stand in front of a mirror naked!"

Regardless of the fact she considers her body ‘saggier and baggier' than in her heyday, Elizabeth still performs in a show called ‘Gurlesque' - a burlesque show for women, by women. She also gives of her spare time to work as a hairdresser for local charity the Luncheon Club. "I've had so many friends die from HIV and AIDS, I'm just happy to give a little bit back. I think it's so sad that people have forgotten that the virus is still here - there are so many people living with it still and it's very important people understand that AIDS isn't going away."

Although Elizabeth has lived a full and feisty life, she's unassuming about the mark she's left on Sydney. There's a significant pause when Time Out asks, a silence filled with self-doubt... until the old Elizabeth Burton spirit surges forth: "Y'know, I do believe I've left some kind of a mark on Sydney. I did a Gurlesque show a little while ago and this woman came up to me and said: "You really inspire us." Why? Because at 60 years old I'm still up there, taking my clothes off. I like my body - I know it's not perfect, but you've gotta love what you're in, haven't you? You only get one chance at being what you are. I like to think I remind people that they're perfect for them."

Lifeline

1947 Born at St Margaret's Maternity Hospital, Surry Hills
1966 Starts to go-go dance in Sydney clubs
1969 Entertains Aussie troops in Vietnam
1972 Marries in Las Vegas. Works as striptease artist in New York
1979 Returns to Australia
1980 Marries Michael Cloyde, a gay man. Two marriages, neither consummated.
2006 Starts work with The Luncheon Club, an AIDS charity

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