Candy Barr, America's First Porn Princess

Craving Candy

Juanita's body became a hot commodity when she returned to Commerce Street after the film shoot.

Playbill from the Carousel Club

Commerce runs parallel to Main Street in the heart of downtown Dallas. The strip was a magnet for out-of-towners with heavy wallets, drawn to venerable hotels like the Adolphus and the Magnolia. Nightclubs like the Century Room, the Theater Lounge, the Carousel and the Colony Club vied for these customers, offering nightly variety shows — the next generation of Vaudeville — that included comedy, live music and stripping.

Juanita had her pick of the clubs as she graduated from cocktail waitress to star stripper. She took an $85-a-week gig at Abe Weinstein's Colony Club, at 1322 ½ Commerce St., which had a more civilized reputation than Jack Ruby's Carousel, two doors down.

Abe Weinstein

It was Weinstein who gave Juanita the stage name that made her famous. He said that he was looking for something sexy and catchy, like Tempest Storm, but came up with the girlish Candy Barr because the teenage Juanita craved confection.

And Dallas soon began to salivate over Candy.