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.If he had createdonly the Cadillac Ranch, his outrageousness would be spokenof with amusement and delight as people drive along the high-way.But Marsh 3 is constantly imagining, and he has themoney to turn ideas into outrageous creations.He is an origi-nal and one of the best.78 outrageous texans 08_147_05_Ch04.qxd 5/13/08 6:00 AM Page 79&& Too Hot for Paris hen scandalous Texas tornado Miss Texas GuinanW tried to take her revue into Paris France, not Texasthe censors refused her entry into the country.In 1931, between the wars, France was as wild as ever.The queen ofthe New York speakeasies couldn t imagine such a thing.What was the problem? She and her troupe of 30 really rav-ishing blondes whom she lovingly called her kids had per-formed their show for the entertainment of the passengers andcrew of the steamship Paris in exchange for their passageacross the Atlantic.The outrageous dance that drew the most attention fea-tured the girls dancing nude except for high heels and twolarge fans, one held behind the back and one held over thefront.What was especially unsettling to a minister and severaleasily shocked women was that fans kept closing accidentally, sometimes when the girls were facing front and sometimeswhen they turned their backs to the audience.Guinan herself, ever the entrepreneur, had organized a tourthrough her manager, who had contacted Harry Pilcer, aFrench dancer and nightclub representative.The original planhad been for the show to land in England, perform, and moveon to France for the summer.7979 08_147_05_Ch04.qxd 5/13/08 6:00 AM Page 80To her consternation, the British would not let her off theship.The risqué show with its shocking fan dance would prob-ably have been too much for the staid, straight-laced nation,even though Queen Victoria had been dead for nearly thirtyyears.However, the show itself was not a straw that broke thecamel s back ; Guinan s reputation had preceded her.She was met by Scotland Yard with a complete dossierof her antics, including her arrest record in New York.Scandalous! Outrageous! She was on the list of barred aliens. Though she was understandably upset, Guinan pretendedto be much more upset than she really was.She called in thepress and professed herself shocked shocked almost beyondwords that the country would treat her so harshly, souncharitably. My parents were born in Great Britain, sheloudly maintained.In this she was absolutely truthful.Her parents were Irishimmigrants who settled in Waco, Texas, before her birth inJanuary 1884.Moreover, contrary to the stereotype, her par-ents were not poor, nor was her father an abusive drunk.The British would not relent.Determined to put on a show somewhere in Europe, sheand her kids were forced to stay aboard the ship while it sailedacross the channel to Le Havre.There she assumed she couldland in France and make arrangements for the group to per-form in Paris.To her horror, she was not allowed to go ashorefor the second time.Because Guinan had planned to spendtime in England before traveling onward, she had not appliedfor and received the visas required for entertainers.Guinan and her girls did not have the proper documenta-tion.Even so, armed with only their tourist authorization, shewouldn t have caused a problem for any red-bloodedFrenchman.A Gallic shrug and a c est la vie should havebeen the end of the problems except that the FrenchEntertainers and Musicians Association in Montmartre hadpetitioned the government to keep foreign employment out80 outrageous texans 08_147_05_Ch04.qxd 5/13/08 6:00 AM Page 81rather than bring the Guinan revue in to compete for a shareof the audience.While French audiences would have undoubt-edly cried, Oui, oui, Madam! the union bosses gave aresounding, Non! Disappointed and angry, Texas chose to make the refusalpersonal and to spin it to her advantage
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