Lillian Kiernan Brown comes to us from the St. Johns River Branch (Florida) with the intriguing tale of a brief moment in the history of American women, the post-World War II era when "our boys" came back from overseas and found that women no longer saw themselves as only housewives and mothers. They were out of the house! There had been great technological leaps, tremendous social changes, and the freedom to work could now be had by everyone. One emancipated woman was Lillian who decided at fourteen (after a rough and poor childhood) that she had to earn her fortune. Lillian followed her mother and three aunts into the world of burlesque. Show business was in her blood. What she had not realized was that vaudeville and burlesque were on their last legs, put out of business first by movies and then by television.

Lillian was on stage from 1947 to 1950. Her good looks won her jobs and friends with rapidity. She was Sally Keith's protégé (Keith was one of the most famous) from the start, and, as Lillian ingenuously tells it, she just kept getting one lucky break after another. In her book, Banned in Boston: Memoirs of a Stripper, she also recounts an incident or two with interesting gentlemen. Show biz at the turn of an era.

Lillian has been a journalist for forty years. Her career began with the Armed Forces newspaper and radio. She went on to become a featured correspondent and regular columnist in the Palatka (Florida) Daily News, and her work has appeared all over the country. She also has written plays, short stories, and a movie. Lillian was co-founder and past president of the Ocala Branch (Florida), and also of the St. Johns River Branch. She was honored as Florida State Pen Woman of the Year 1999-2000.