Dixie Evans, a burlesque performer (40-26-34) who retired in her late 30s to run a striptease museum in the Southern California desert, died August 3 of natural causes in Las Vegas. She was 86. Born Mary Lee Evans in 1926, the future tease queen was working in celery fields near Los Angeles when she answered an ad for Hollywood chorus girls; she got the gig, which led to modeling jobs and eventually to burlesque, where she imitated Marilyn Monroe in an act far sexier than the movie star. Though she never met Monroe, her impression was perfect. “Dixie was very good,” said fellow exotic dancer Tempest Storm, who once lived down the street from Monroe on DeLongpre Avenue in Hollywood. “Very good.” Evans, often called The Godmother of Burlesque, founded the Exotic World Museum in the desert that featured Sally Rand’s fans, lingerie from Gypsy Rose Lee, and other girlie-show pasties and tassels. When the museum moved to Las Vegas in 2006, it was renamed the Burlesque Hall of Fame. Evans also started the still-ongoing Miss Exotic World burlesque pageant. (Photos from the Dixie Evans Collection)