Burlesque dancer Candy Barr, went behind bars after turning herself in to Bexar County Sheriff near noon, Thursday, Dec. 3, 1959, San Antonio, Texas. Under a 15-year sentence assessed in Dallas for possession of Marijuana, the stripper has exhausted all appeals. A Dallas deputy escorted Candy to the womens prison at Goree. (AP Photo)
She was then arrested for drug possession, convicted, and given a 15-year prison sentence, However, Candy has stated it was set up and she was only holding the marijuana for a friend.
She was given the stage name "Candy Barr" at this time (given to her by Weinstein, reportedly because of her fondness for Snickers bars), bleached her hair platinum blond, and became famous. She worked at Weinstein's Colony Club during her career as a porn star.
Candy Barr, whose legal name when she was convicted was Mrs. Juanita Phillips. Before she entered prison she married her third husband, Jack Sakhian of Hollywood, Calif., and she said she would like to live with him now that she is out of prison.
She pauses. “You want to know what the hell’s happened to me.”. Before she was Candy Barr she was Juanita Dale Slusher , the daughter of a South Texas bricklayer and harmonica player. When Juanita was nine, her mother died and her father married a woman who cared little for the offspring of his first marriage.
The DA’s office offered her a two-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. Candy, then 23 years old, wouldn’t budge. Despite the fact that juries in conservative Dallas were sentencing people to life for marijuana possession, she wanted her day in court.
The police said there was enough marijuana in that bottle to roll 125 joints.
In October 1957 they raided her apartment (Candy’s attorneys said the search warrant was blank) and found a small bottle of marijuana hidden in her bra.
Among her enemies were the old-money Dallas women’s clubs, composed of the wives of many of the prominent men who had been willing to pay up to $500 to get their hands on Candy Barr.
One afternoon a man forced her to be filmed while having sex with another man in a motel room. The grainy black and white film (there was no audio), titled Smart Aleck,was circulated nationwide and became the Deep Throatof its time.
July 6, 1935 – December 30, 2005. Candy Barr (July 6, 1935 – December 30, 2005) was an American stripper, burlesque dancer, actress and adult model in men’s magazines of the mid-20th century. During the 1950s, she received nationwide attention for her stripping career in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas; her troubles with the law;
Barr established herself in burlesque and striptease with her trademark costume—cowboy hat, pasties, scant panties, a pair of pearl handled cap six-shooters in a holster strapped low on her hips, and cowboy boots.
While the marijuana case devolved into a lengthy series of appeals, her fame spread nationwide and Barr became the toast of the strip club runways, reportedly earning $2000 a week in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, as well as at the Sho-Bar Club on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
"It's one thing to have a great stage name, but it's the personal story that really makes one legendary. For Candy Barr, her personal life and trials (literally) are just as noteworthy as her life as a famous Dallas and Vegas stripper in the 1950's. In 1956, she shot her drunk and violent husband, and even though he wasn't badly hurt, Barr's manager actually arranged it with the sheriff to increase her bond because it made better press. In 1957, Dallas police stormed into her house and arrested her on drug charges. Because of the storm trooper tactics of the police, the case was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, who refused to hear the case. She spent three years in jail starting in 1959. In the years while she waited on the appeal she hooked-up with Vegas mobster Mickey Cohen. After she got out she was befriended by club owner and J.F.K. assassination player Jack Ruby. Also, in the 1970's she had a brief weekend affair with Hugh Hefner. Quite a cast of characters within her personal drama! When classic strippers were no longer in demand, Barr retired to Texas where she lives today. "
Captain Gannaway (at that time known as "Mr. Narcotics") had been in charge of the notorious 1957 undercover operation and raid that culminated in stripper Candy Barr being arrested for possession of half an ounce of marijuana. For this offence, she was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, actually serving less than three years before being paroled. (Michael Hogan)
Candy Barr, an ex-stripper, walked out of Goree Prison after being paroled. She served three years and four months of a 15-year sentence for possession of Marijuana. Candy Barr, whose legal name when she was convicted was Mrs. Juanita Phillips.
They were convicted of conspiracy to possess marijuana. Jerry Gieser, Mitchum’s attorney, has his back to the camera. At right is V. G Brumdaugh, Ford’s Attorney. Trial on the other count in their indictments, possession of narcrotics, was postponed.
Ref #: PA.8646646. Beatle John Lennon, right, and companion Yoko Ono are arrested for possesion of marijuana after their flat was raided in London, England, on Oct. 18, 1968.
Movie actor Robert Mitchum embraces his wife after returning to his Hollywood home, March 30, 1949 from jail where he served 50 days of a 60 day sentence for a marijuana violation. (AP Photo) Ref #: PA.4949533.
17, 1980. He was arrested at Tokyo’s Narita Airport after customs officers found marijuana in his luggage. (AP Photo/Sadayuki Mikami) Ref #: PA.9323033.
But that’s marijuana for you; it renders you too stupid to realise how bad you are: Robert Mitchum and Lila Leeds, both at left, talk with their attorneys and real estate man Robin Ford, second from right, immediately after the screen players and Ford were convicted, Jan 10, 1949 in Los Angeles.
Timothy Leary, a New York researcher who experiments with changing human consciousness, is scheduled to go on trial in Laredo, March 2, 1966, on a charge of smuggling marijuana into the United States. His 18-year-old daughter is also charged and is to stand trial at the same time. (AP Photo) Ref #: PA.9789470.