Raven
de la Croix
Raven
De La Croix Josh,
Raven on Midnight Blue Raven
De La Croix Photos
of Raven
I was smitted by Raven de la Croix in the new documentary Blacks
and Jews.
There's an excerpt from Al Goldstein's show Midnight Blue:
Josh: "Headling at the Melody Burlesque this week is Raven
de la Croix. [Photos
of Raven.] She ran off to live with bikers, to make X films. She's
had a recording career.
"You've worked a lot on the Canadian circuit."
Raven: "That's where I started. After I had starred in my first
film [Up!], I was in the music business as a record promoter before
then, I was asked by Creative Directions, a California company, to write
a screenplay [about strippers]. They liked my flair in writing, so they
handed me a project.
"I got a phone call at the same time asking me to headline in
Canada. I had never taken off my clothes in front of anybody... Then
I figured I'd combinate the two, getting the material on strippers by
performing in places and interviewing the girls and getting firsthand
experience so I could write the star character in from a real point
of view."
According to IMDB.com,
Raven was born Lynn Christie Anna De La Croix on August 24, 1947.
Has worked as an actress, a stripper, a writer and a psychic. Is
3/4th Cherokee and French Indian.
Measurements: 42DD at the time of her burlesque career, now a 38D
after reduction procedures. (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
Raven appeared
in the 1976 Russ Meyer film Up! along with Kitten Natividad.
Josh replies to my question: "Of course I banged Raven, and thought
she was totally charming, terrific, sincere and innocent."
I dug out his 1986 book Tales
of Times Square to reread his chapter on her:
She lists a jumble of occupations leading up to her reigning tit
stardom: real estate agent, nursery school teach, L.A. roofing contractor,
record promoter, nurse at Columbia-Presbyterian near the Bronx, where
she grew up. She spent years in the Hell's Angels, married one, then
broke into prison to f--- him, when he did time. She supervised
something called "Narconon," a drug rehab program in the
California jail system -- dressed conservatively, she says, she would
mingle with addict prisoners and pit the biggest black guys against
the fiercest rednecks in encounter-group staring exercises.
Now in her thirties, Raven has landed dim-witted Hollywood cameos
for big-boobed broads, in The Blues Brothers and other such rubbish.
But she starred in Russ Meyer's Up!, which carries a lifetime constituency;
she's since had to continually do men's magazine spreads to keep the
fans succored... With a teenage son, she's come through like a Mack-truck
Mary Tyler Moore. And now, clinging to the underside of show biz,
bent on bigger movie roles, she commands $2,000 a week, plus accommodations,
in what's vaguely definied as the burlesque circuit, here and in Canada.
"What freaks me a bit," says Raven, "are the guys
who tremble in their seats with their mouths hanging open." She
relates the incident of a pen pal, a lawyer, one of many who persistently
write her... "So the guy came to one of my shows, talked to me
a bit in the lobby. But he'd never been here before, and he overreacted
to Mardi Gras by pulling down his pants and whacking off in the seat.
Someone stopped him before he got tossed out."
Raven can deal with wackos in the audience, humor them perfectly.
Like the guy out West who falls to his knees and prays to her -- she
works it into her routine and obliges him with a religious spell.
It's more dangerous for strippers in Middle America, where folks
are more apt to figure her profession qualifies her as rape meat or
something. Yet some porn starlets have claimed that they run less
risk of being raped because they're perceived as too powerful sexually...
"Everyone finds the weakness of the other, in this business,"
says Raven. "I've seen girls forced to give head. If a girl is
easily scared or thinks her job is more important than her integrity,
the guy'll find out what the weak point isand dive in there. I see
thirteen year-old girls whose parents have put 'em to work in strip
clubs."