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Venus DeLight Interview
Miss Nude Universe
Geraldo says, "She's a Star!" Joan Rivers says she's "Incredible." The
public finds her artistic, classy, cultured, and graceful.
Venus DeLight has been described as the most Publicized Exotic Dancer
in the World! And no wonder, just consider — Venus is a six time winner
of the Miss Nude Universe title. She's been seen over one thousand times
on the Playboy Channel, has over one hundred T.V, film, and video appearances
to her credit, and even publishes her own magazine — Cheri magazine.
We talked to Venus DeLight recently about her career.
Q. You originally wanted to be an actress didn't you?
A. Yes. I studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute, also at UCLA.
Q. Then you started dancing. Did you work initially as a house dancer
some place?
A. Yeah. I was working at some clubs in L.A. and they started bringing
in some Feature Entertainers, and that really caught my attention. I thought
that seemed a lot more enjoyable than just being a house dancer. When I
first started house dancing, I had seen the movie "Gypsy" and
had images of more of a glorified version of being a house dancer. When
I first saw a Feature, I said, yeah that's it, that's what I want to do.
Q. Who did you see that so inspired you?
A. Kitten Natividad. I started working with her manager at the time,
and he helped me put together a couple of little costumes and took me on
the road. He threatened my life by saying if I wouldn't sleep with him,
he would throw acid in my face. It turned out he had stolen Kitten Natividad's
ex-husband's credit cards and used that to buy my couple little costumes.
I called my parents, and they flew my sister out to San Francisco to rescue
me. Meanwhile, he had stolen my car and the few little possessions
I had to start dancing with. We found him sleeping in the car. I got the
help of one of the barkers in San Francisco, and he drove me up and down
the streets of San Francisco until we found him. I got away, and went back
to Minnesota and continued to pursue it on my own. But, that's how
I got started.
Q. And how did you become this famous?
A. Well, that took years of hard work and putting everything I had
into this business. I wanted to upgrade it. I really wanted to bring back
true burlesque, make it an entertaining show. I believe more in the European
philosophy as far as sexuality. I'm much more open than I guess the
general American public. So, I didn't think there was anything wrong with
nudity and I thought it should be presented in an erotic yet artistic way.
A lot of exotic dancers if they get too artistic they get away from the
erotic element of it and it becomes almost hokey, and well, not very exciting,
let me put it that way. All of the little girl shows, and the cowboy shows,
I find very boring, and not exciting at all. So, it's a real different element
to try and create something that's artistic that anyone can watch and enjoy,
and feel something from, feel an emotion from, whether it's just being sexually
excited or bringing tears to someone's eyes, or making them laugh. You know
the art of striptease. That's the thing we're losing in American culture,
with the introduction of the go-go dancer or the table dancer, the two dollar
a song, or the ten dollar a song or whatever, it doesn't inspire a lot of
creativity. It becomes just a sex industry then.
Q. How does one describe what you do? Are you a dancer? Do you take offense
to the word stripper?
A. No. I think if you're gonna do it, you should be able to say it. Yeah,
I am a stripper, but that may have a negative connotation to some people,
but, that's what I am. But, I call myself a performance artist, for those
who just can't seem to grasp and comprehend the true meaning of stripper
or striptease artist.
Q. Would you say then, a person would almost have to com to see you to
grasp what it is you do?
A. Oh, definitely. I've had my show on HBO and Joan Rivers, but it's not
the same, it's a live experience. It's like seeing David Copperfield on
t.v. There's just no comparison.
Q. After your first experience was so bad, why did you continue?
A. Well, now I wanted to be a feature dancer at that time. .Just because
the guy lied to me, and conned me, doesn't mean I took it against the industry.
It wasn't the industry that was bad; it was just that particular guy. So,
I just continued to pursue it on my own. The acting, I went to some casting
calls and what not, and more often than not, all I got was the casting couch.
I was like, this is ridiculous, I wasn't getting anywhere. I have a
real strong moral code about who I sleep with and I wasn't gonna sleep with
anybody just to get a part in a movie. If I was gonna sleep with someone
to get a part in a movie, I would've been doing X-rated movies by now, (laughs),
and sleep with the men in the movie.
Q. So you ran up against the "tasting couch" situation
in Hollywood?
A. Right, and I had been studying and acting and I'm very good at it.
I'm a great actress. I've since done a lot of little parts here and there,
but I just refused to sleep with somebody for a part, and when you're first
starting out that's really what you have to do. Just about anyone who has
ever made it in Hollywood has done it, and that's the honest to God truth.
Q. You mean to tell me that someone like Meryl Streep had to go that route?
A. No. I've never heard anything about Meryl Streep.
Q. Diane Keaton?
A. Diane Keaton was going with Woody Alien.
Q. Wasn't she famous before that?
A. Who knows? I don't know them. I've heard things about some people that
I'm not going to mention their names. You just haven't mentioned their names.
It happens to the guys too, not just the women. The point is, the modeling
industry and the acting industry are far sleazier than the adult industry.
(Laughs.)
Q. Have you appeared in Adult Films?
A. I've made Adult Films, never Triple X films, the R rated films.
Q. About other dancers you've said, "We're in it together. We're
not against each other." I don't believe dancers have a Union or a
Guild do they?
A. Unfortunately, I have that philosophy and my friends have that philosophy,
but there are just so many young, innocent, naive, girls that are starting
out in the industry who have stars in their eyes and don't know what's going
on. They're just willing to do anything to get out there, and be a Feature.
There's nothing to protect the performers in Vegas. The musicians have their
union, but the performers don't. There's always somebody willing to
come along, and do it for less. They'll do anything to get that job.
Q. So everybody isn't in this together?
A. No. That's my philosophy. I didn't say that was everyone's philosophy.
I wish it was everyone's philosophy. I said that specifically to educate
some young girl that might come along and read that and go, 'Oh, o.k.' instead
of having just that competitive I'll do anything, stab this girl in the
back to get this job or whatever. It doesn't have to be that way. Unfortunately,
I've known some people who have tried to start unions, and it just hasn't
gone over.
Q. Do you have any idea how many people there are, dancing across the
world?
A. Well I think Continental Agency alone has 250 entertainers. That's
just one agency.
Q. So there must be thousands.
A. Yeah.
Q. You say that you're the most publicized exotic dancer in the world.
How did you come up with that?
A. Well it's just because I've done the most things around the world that
have been publicized, as an exotic dancer.
Q. Can anyone else challenge you on that title?
A. Not that I'm aware of.
Q. Your costumes alone cost $4,500 each. With that kind of investment,
it must limit the types of places you perform.
A. Yeah. I make a good salary. There are clubs all over the world that
bring in Feature acts.
Q. Your show includes pyrotechnics, lights, special effects, and
exotic animals. You can't play just any club can you?
A. You know what I do, if a club is not set up to bring in that big of
a show, I would have them book me as an appearance. I'll come in, dance,
do Polaroid’s, talk to the customers, just be there and make an appearance.
Then, I would just bring in a smaller show. I'd still probably bring in
some lights, and maybe my shower show. I wouldn't bring all the pyrotechnics
and lights and stuff.
Q. With all the traveling you must do, how do you keep in shape? Do you
visit a gym?
A. Well, the dancing and being on the road is so physically exhausting
that there's really not a lot of spare time to going to a gym and working
out. Once in awhile you might get away a couple of times a week, if you're
lucky, to go do that. But really doing the shows in itself is enough of
a workout, four times a day, six days a week, and the packing up the whole
thing, and traveling again. That is your exercise. The hard part is trying
to eat properly on the road. The hours are tough, you're working 13, 14,
15 hour days. Your first show is at noon; your last show is at midnight.
You got to get up, prepare for the show, and then when you get done with
the whole day, then unwind, wash off the make-up, get cleaned up, and try
to catch some sleep, before you got to get up and do it all over again.
So, there's not a lot of time to eat somewhere healthy. You don't know where
anything is. You're in a new city. You end up eating what you can get, and
it's usually not very healthy. So being on the road is really unhealthy.
It's not a normal lifestyle. It's unique unto itself.
Q. Your first show is at 12 noon?
A. Sometimes, yeah.
Q. And the last show is at midnight?
A. Or later, yeah.
Q. How long does each show last?
A. Most girls' shows vary. The average show is around 20 minutes. Many
shows usually run about a half an hour.
Q. You're a six time winner of the Miss Nude Universe title?
A. Yes. I'm actually the only girl that's out on the circuit that really
won that title, Miss Nude Universe. There's a bunch of new girls out on
the circuit right now that are calling themselves Miss Nude Universe. There's
some irreputable agents who are claiming they have a trademark on the
title, but I did a trademark search, and they're lying, and they're charging
girls money and making them pay for my title. (Laughs.) I actually won,
and they're like handing out my title now. So, there's a few Miss Nude Universes
running around, but basically, they got ripped off. They paid this guy a
grand to call themselves Miss Nude Universe, and the guy they paid the money
to has no right to even sell it to them.
Q. How does the judging work in a Miss Nude Universe Contest?
A. Usually they're entertainers that they get for judges. Some of 'em
are legitimate celebrities, t.v. celebrities, agents, talent scouts. They're
looking for poise, personality, beauty, innovation in their shows,
stage presence...
Q. A date after the show?
A. (Laughs.) No. Actually some of them are women too.
Q. How do you find time to publish a magazine along with everything else
you do?
A. Well as we speak, I'm in negotiations right now with Cheri. I don't
know if I'm going to be continuing on, just for that very reason. It's been
really difficult to try and juggle five different projects, (Laughs), and
still find time to go out on the road and tour, which helped with publishing
Cheri. I would scout out magazines we cover in the magazine and look
for girls and stuff. So, I'm thinking of turning that over, but, I don't
know right now, at this point.
© Gary James All Rights Reserved
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