Candy Barr
1935--2005
Dallas stripper, Ruby associate Candy Barr dead at
70
09:22 AM CST on Monday, January 2, 2006
By DAVID RENFROW / The Dallas Morning News
In an era when June Cleaver wore pearls while doing the housework, Candy
Barr worked the house wearing little more than a cowboy hat and two cap
pistols.
The exotic dancer who entertained downtown Dallas clubgoers in the 1950s
died of pneumonia Friday in a Victoria, Texas, hospital. She was 70.
Ms. Barr was born Juanita Dale Slusher on July 6, 1935, in Edna, Texas.
At 16, she starred in the 1951 erotic film Smart Alec, reputedly performing
at gunpoint.
But the petite and curvaceous entertainer earned fame titillating patrons
as part of the burlesque show at Dallas nightclub owner Abe Weinstein's
Colony Club, two doors down Commerce Street from competitor Jack Ruby's
Carousel.
Ms. Barr and Mr. Ruby were acquainted, and the man who gained notoriety
for shooting an accused presidential assassin once gave her a dachshund
puppy from a litter born of his own prized pair.
In 1956, Ms. Barr was charged with assault to murder in the shooting
of her estranged second husband, Troy B. Phillips Jr. He was not seriously
wounded and charges were subsequently dropped.
Ms. Barr had a brief presence on the legitimate stage, performing the
role of Rita Marlowe in Dallas Little Theater's production of Will Success
Spoil Rock Hunter? in 1957.
Later that year, Ms. Barr was arrested for possession of marijuana.
She was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
While her case was on appeal, Ms. Barr performed in Las Vegas and Los
Angeles. During that time she had a brief and turbulent romance with Los
Angeles mobster Mickey Cohen.
In 1959, Ms. Barr's career was abruptly ended when the Texas Supreme
Court affirmed her conviction. She served just more than three years of
her sentence before being paroled in 1963.
Although hardly in a position to do so, Mr. Ruby offered to help Ms.
Barr get out from under a Texas parole restriction forbidding her return
to work as a stripper. She declined the offer. The FBI a week earlier had
questioned Ms. Barr about Mr. Ruby, who was charged in the shooting death
of Lee Harvey Oswald.
In 1970, Ms. Barr was charged with marijuana possession in Brownwood,
but the case was dismissed for lack of evidence.
After the 1970 case, Ms. Barr disappeared from the public eye.
Ms. Barr was married four times and had at least one child, a daughter.
No funeral is planned.
E-mail drenfrow@dallasnews.com
Candy Barr's Femme Fatale Gallery>>>
