How Don Cullen, a Canadian cultural icon, ran a striptease club – Part 3 of 3
Dave Hughes concludes his story (which started HERE) of his friendship with future Canadian cultural icon Don Cullen who owned and ran the Le Strip 'burlesque' club in Toronto in the 1980s and 1990s... Many might question how a luminary in Canadia…
Dave Hughes concludes his story (which started HERE) of his friendship with future Canadian cultural icon Don Cullen who owned and ran the Le Strip 'burlesque' club in Toronto in the 1980s and 1990s...
Many might question how a luminary in Canadian arts and entertainment like Don Cullen was once the owner and operator of a place like Le Strip...a place where - toquote the words of an Ontario judge opining on his judgment in a 1985 case involving a stripper who was raped a knifepoint - "a particular class of women" was employed.
Those five words uttered by a judge in our judicial system were to inspire one of Le Strip's performers (Janet Feindel) to write, publish and star in a play she performed called A Particular Class of Women and which was published as a book in 1988.
It was a play in which Janet initially played all 8 characters… a live show that gave an intimate look at the lives and backgrounds of those who were in the striptease business... In later years, as it gained critical acclaim, the roles would be played by 8 different performers.
After 10 years in the business Janet Feindel went on, for 20 years, to become a tenured professor of voice at Carnegie Mellon University in the USA. Even in retirement she is still an active teaching and coaching "voice" in the entertainment industry.
Janet's career, I think, illustrates how Don Cullen viewed the business of Le Strip.
Strippers were employees who were treated as professionals practicing their craft. Don was adamant that drinking on the job was not tolerated…drugs were also forbidden in the workplace (other than pot - which, as far as I know, Don did not partake in). Don was respectful and tolerant towards his employees... to a point.
Engaging in prostitution with customers was very high on the list of 'no-no's as it exposed the club and its employees to the risk of prosecution under Canada's criminal code and City of Toronto bylaws that regulated the industry.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that "strippers" and "hookers" were not synonymous with one another... "Working girls" were the exception rather than the rule in the business.
Don was always available for any performer who was having personal issues in their lives if he became aware of it. The list of times he helped those who were struggling is endless. It was, in my opinion, a profound example of Kurtz's 'Eupraxophy' in practice in the real world.
An example that springs to mind was about six months after I had been hired as the doorman and I was now working as cashier.
My ex-girlfriend (stage name 'Black Magic') and her boyfriend/manager got into a dispute with Don about her wages and business relationship.
Customers could buy a yearly membership at Le Strip by paying a small fee (less than the cost of admission) and then paid a lower admission fee than non-members each time they attended the club and showed their membership card. Non-members were able to view the show but had to pay a higher price for admission.
Patrons could tip performers while they were onstage during their 15 minute endeavor... which they performed 4 or 5 times per shift. It never ceased to amaze me how the sight of female anatomy could vacuum the greenbacks from patrons' wallets.
As a cash business, each night the day's proceeds were counted and deposited into the safe located in the DJ's booth. Le Strip was open 7 days a week and closed on only one day of the year. (I can't remember if it was Christmas or New Year's.)
At the end of each week, the twelve Monday-Saturday performers and the six Sunday performers were paid out of the accumulated deposits.
What was left over paid the salaries of the two DJs, the cashiers and, lastly, the cleaners (who happened to be me - Yes, I admit, I was double dipping at Le Strip, earning an extra $30 to cleanup the detritus that accumulated at the end of each day!)
Whatever was left over went to the maintenance and operation of the club and what was left over after that went to Don... which often wasn't much.
The dispute between my ex-girlfriend 'Black Magic' (at the time a star performer who commanded and received $5,000 per week to perform all over Canada) and Don reached a peak the day before payday, when the safe was full of that week's take.
She and her boyfriend entered the premise after hours and helped themselves to the contents and, without warning, left the business arrangement she had with Don and Le Strip.
Don was devastated. He had full trust in Black Magic and her boyfriend and their actions hurt him deeply. Later on Don showed me the letter she had left inside the safe outlining her grievances and itemizing the amounts she and her boyfriend believed were owed to them. An amount, incidentally, that just so happened to be what was in the safe at the time... roughly $5,000.
Now $5,000 in 2024 doesn't sound like a lot of money but, in 1983/84, it was a significant amount. There were 21 employees expecting to receive their week's wages on Saturday... employees who had bills to pay, families to feed, clothe and shelter...and the safe was empty! Seizing the moment, Don made an emergency trip to his bank and withdrew the funds from his personal bank account. Everyone was paid on time.
That's the kind of man Don was.
***
My employment at Le Strip began to wind down in September 1986, when I was hired on to the railway in Toronto and started a career with the Canadian Pacific Railway that lasted 33 years.
Don told me that, as a young man, he had worked as a clerk for the same company.
From 1986 onwards, I worked part time-less and less at Le Strip and full-time more and more at the railway.
By 1994 I worked my last shift in the hallowed halls.
The girls working that night presented me with a leather wallet and I walked down the stairwell and out onto Yonge Street for the last time.
I kept in close contact with Don until 1998 when I moved to London, Ontario, to work out of that terminal.
In November of that year Don phoned with the tragic news of Ron Hedland's murder..
I last saw Don in person at the hugely successful memorial held for Ron Hedland at the Brunswick Tavern where the mourners raised enough money to pay for an album of Ron's music to be produced and published... Don being one of the major contributors.
By 2000, my seniority had me working at the railway 24/7 and I was never able to catch up again with Don in person (other than on Facebook in the past few years).
It was an omission I now deeply regret.
In July 2019, I retired as a locomotive engineer working out of London, Ontario, running freight trains in and out of Windsor/Detroit.
Farewell Don. You were a friend and mentor at a time when I most needed one. I will never forget you.
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