(Submitted photo/Mel Rothenburger).

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Strip clubs are dead, thanks to attitudes and technology

Oct 9, 2021 | 6:46 AM

STRIP CLUBS, or “peeler bars” as some call them, are, it seems, officially dead in Kamloops. Few will mourn their demise, but they were certainly part of an interesting and lively era in River City.

The Duchess was the last holdout, for years being the only remaining place in the ‘Loops where those so-inclined could go to drink beer and watch women take their clothes off and dance around a pole on stage.

Sale of the Duchess to the City along with the Northbridge sealed its fate. Former councillor Nancy Bepple tweeted, “With the sale of the Duchess nightclub, strip clubs are gone in #kamloops. Zoning changes made about 10 years ago no longer allow adult entertainment in pubs/ cabarets/ nightclubs/ lounges.” In 2013, I prematurely wrote an obituary on the Duchess and strip clubs in general (‘Last strip show will mark end of an era’). It’s only appropriate that I update said obituary.

The Duchess, you might recall, was visited two years ago by adult film star Stormy Daniels, yes, the one who revealed all about an affair she had with Donald Trump. She held a meet and greet that was, apparently, a very tame and somewhat boring affair with sparse attendance.

It was a sad reminder that the glory days of strip clubs, which were anything but tame and boring, were past. Back in the ‘80s, the Rendezvous, the Village, the Bar-K (now Bailey’s) and the Plaza Hotel all played host to peelers booked mainly through Vancouver agencies.

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The most legendary was Michelle Pradia, who performed under the name Mitzi Dupree, a 22-year-old from Los Angeles who famously employed ping pong balls, a flute, cigarettes and other objects in a manner we can’t describe in detail here.

However, legend has it that she could shoot a ping pong ball 18 metres into a patron’s beer mug. She sometimes autographed the ping-pong balls afterwards.

During the early 1980s she was in big demand at bars all around B.C. and Alberta, running afoul of the law on more than one occasion for public lewdness.

Her Kamloops gig was at the Bar-K in 1981, and although I can’t personally attest to her act there was no shortage of candid descriptions available from reporters who enthusiastically emptied out the newsroom to attend and bear witness in the name of investigative journalism.

As it happened, several RCMP constables also attended, presumably to serve and protect community standards. At any rate, Mitzi landed in court charged with violating obscenity laws.

Ron Thompson, who ran the Bar-K at the time, testified as a character witness. “She’s not a drinker, she doesn’t do drugs. All she does is dance and shoot ping pong balls and send half her money home to her mother who has cerebral palsy,” he told the judge.

The charges were dismissed, though she received a fine in Calgary when she faced two counts of “performing an immoral, indecent and obscene theatrical act.” In that one, a professor testified that her act was “clearly within simple erotica,” demonstrated “athletic skill” and didn’t adversely affect men’s attitudes towards women.

Patrons described her act as “educational.” A petition in her support collected 6,000 signatures. Bill Brennan, the presiding judge, was henceforth known as “The Ping Pong Judge.”

Mitzi Dupree achieved immortality in a 1987 song by British rock band Deep Purple: “I’ve always wanted a girl, With a name, A name like Mitzi Dupree.”

Though I never saw Mitzi, I did once interview Miss Nude California when she danced at the Plazoo, then the nightclub in the Plaza. And I was there when Linda Adams took it all off — I mean, all of it — at Friar Tuck’s on West Victoria Street.

Adams’ bottomless act was a first, and she, too, landed in court, defended by the able Rafe Mair as her lawyer. She was fined a dollar.

Some 20 years ago, the Rendezvous was issued a bylaw violation notice for depicting an unclad woman on its sign and writing suggestive wording on its marquee. The sign was legalized with a bit of paint and the marquee was tamed down.

Despite these occasional legal interruptions, the “exotic dancer” scene in Kamloops and the rest of B.C. thrived for many years. The shows were packed with men and women from all walks of life. It was actually regarded as proof that women’s liberation had come of age. The attitude was that it was their body, their choice and they could do with it as they wished.

There was also a certain admiration for the talent and flexibility involved in making your living swinging on poles. Indeed, pole-dancing classes became a thing.

Nowadays, of course, attitudes have swung back the other way. Stripping is generally regarded as degrading and exploitive. And, of course, there’s the Internet. As columnist and former Kamloops newspaper reporter Jack Knox wrote a couple of years ago, “Strip clubs closed as laptops opened.”

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.