Candy Barr: America's First Porn Princess
Teaching Sensuality
By the time the shooting played out, everyone in Texas knew Candy's name.
Robert Glenn, a producer with the Little Theater in Dallas, seized on her fame in 1957 by casting Candy in the featured role of Rita Marlowe — played on Broadway and on film by Jayne Mansfield — in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Tony Zoppi, the Dallas Morning News' intrepid nightclub reporter, wrote that the producer found Candy Barr to be "the logical choice" for the role, which keys on the sex appeal of a lipstick model.
Candy told Zoppi, "It's quite a challenge, but I'll do my best. I've always had an ambition to do a stage play, and this one seems especially suited for me.'"
She got through the brief run, but further legitimate roles did not materialize. It was her first and last stage job that did not require the removal of her clothing.
But she did get dozens of fresh offers to strip, and she branched out by taking high-paying special guest gigs at clubs in New Orleans, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
While in Hollywood, she hired on as a consultant to actress Joan Collins, who was studying for a role as an exotic dancer in the film Seven Thieves. Collins later said, "Candy taught me more about sensuality than I had learned in all my years."