Queen of Burlesque: The Autobiography of Yvette Paris

Born Barbara Ann Baker in 1952, the author has worked as a go-go dancer, a stripper in burlesque, a model and a ``booth baby'' in New York City's 42nd Street porno shops. She was the daughter of alcoholic but rather prudish parents, and in her travels down streets full of prostitutes, druggies, alcoholics, transsexuals, homosexuals, lesbians, transvestities--and others considered by many in the straight world to be lost souls--she has retained both a strict and conventional moral code and an unwillingness to render judgement, except, predictably, in the cases of pimps, pushers and pedophiles. Her picture of this shadowed province of the metropolitan area makes for an absorbing read, and is enlivened by dozens of anecdotes--some sad, some amusing. Photos not seen by PW. (Dec.)