Don’t take my word for. Here’s how Booklist is raving about Goddess of Love Incarnate: The Life of Stripteuse Lili St. Cyr, a new biography written by Montecito resident Leslie Zemeckis: “With tireless detail, Zemeckis brings an enigmatic and forgotten star back in the limelight and raises tough questions about beauty, sex, womanhood, and success in this fascinating, lavishly (and racily) illustrated biography.”
Before writing this book, Leslie had already made a name for herself as an expert in early forms of American entertainment, including making the award-winning documentaries Behind the Burly Q (about burlesque shows) and Bound by Flesh, which vividly explored the lives of sideshow “freaks” Daisy and Violet Hilton, who were conjoined twins. Through her comprehensive work in both books and film, Leslie restores these forgotten entertainers to their rightful place in history. She humanizes them and, in the case of St. Cyr, shows us her complexity and intelligence. The Los Angeles Times picked Goddess of Love Incarnate as one of their top holiday books of 2015.
Leslie herself is bigger than life, as entertaining, fascinating, and intriguing as the characters she champions and documents. Her daily Instagram posts are addictive. When I ran into common friend Lisa Loiacono and told her I was writing about Leslie, she told me, “Leslie is a unique and talented woman who inspires me to be strong, smart, and bold!”