Candy Barr, America's First Porn Princess

Mickey Cohen's Squeeze

Mickey Cohen, L.A. Mob Kingpin

The West Coast jobs put her in touch, literally, with a circle of famous patrons who were attracted to Candy in the way pack rats are drawn to glitter. Gary Crosby, Bing's son, is said to have remarked, "One thing about that broad: She can make you feel like a real man."

Barr became a squeeze of Mickey Cohen, the L.A. mob kingpin, whom she met while headlining at the Largo Club on Sunset Boulevard. (He was a sucker for strippers; Tempest Storm and Beverly Hills had been in his bed, too.)

In one of the more curious news bulletins of that era, scores of newspapers ran stories when the gangster and his moll announced they were splitting up.

"It's just one of those things," said Cohen. Added Candy, "He's a nice guy, but we just weren't meant for each other."

Candy Barr and Jack Sahakian

Instead, Candy settled into an equally peculiar pairing. She married Hollywood hairdresser Jack Sahakian, the Vidal Sassoon of his day, in Las Vegas in 1959.

They didn't have much of a honeymoon.