Nellie Rodreguez. Times-Tribune Archives
June 8, 1969
On the job with an exotic dancer
Nellie Rodreguez said that exotic dancing “is the sensuous living music, the feeling of sound and the excitement of freedom.”
Rodreguez spoke to The Scranton Times about the life of an exotic dancer. She said that during the past five years she had worked as a go-go dancer, a stripper and an exotic dancer. She said she enjoyed exotic dancing the best.
Rodreguez, who at the time was performing in Hazleton, made $200 a week as a dancer working in cities big and small. She said that when she performed, “I don’t take it off, so they wait and watch.”
But there were drawbacks, she said. “People tend to look at you as some kind of sex symbol,” she said. “The women in the audience are prone to shouting rude remarks at me.” She said that during her dancing career, only about 20 men had tried to get onto the stage with her.
“She’s a fabulous performer,” said Stanley Slazak, Rodrequez’s manager and a Dupont resident. “Everywhere she appears they always want her to come back. She’s putting a new life in the ancient art of exotic dancing.”
Park in disrepair
Connell Park in South Scranton was once an oasis for city residents. But that was before it was filled with bottles, cans and car parts. The pavilion was covered in vulgar graffiti and the remains of smashed picnic tables. And a car with smashed windows had been parked in the park’s driveway for some time.
Park Superintendent Thomas Coyne said “we’ll clean and fix it up and the park will be ready to open June 21.” He added that “a good share of this destruction and littering is done by adults.” Coyne said residents living around the park needed to call police when they suspected vandalism was going on.
BRIAN FULTON, library manager, oversees The Times-Tribune’s expansive digital and paper archives and is an authority on local history. Contact Brian at bfulton@timesshamrock.com or 570-348-9140.
Brian Fulton has been the librarian at The Times-Tribune for the past 15 years. On his blog, Historically Hip, he writes about the great concerts, plays/musicals and celebrity happenings that have taken place throughout NEPA. He is also the co-host of the local history podcast, Historically Hip. He competed and was crowned grand champion on an episode of NPR quiz show “Ask Me Another.” Contact: bfulton@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9140; or @TTPagesPast
