Tanqueray, Humans of New York Star, Brings in Over $2.5 Million in Donations
Stephanie Johnson, 76, returned to the blog to share stories from her incredible life, this time for a cause.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/28/style/tanqueray-humans-of-new-york.html
In the 1960s, Stephanie Johnson, 76, worked as a burlesque dancer known as Tanqueray. Her story, as recounted by the blog Humans of New York, first went viral in November.Credit…Paul Ninson
Last November, the internet fell in love with Tanqueray, a straight-shooting New Yorker who shared memories of her life as a burlesque dancer in the 1960s and ’70s with the many millions of people who follow Humans of New York on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.
Her tales were full of underground glamour and gritty city characters — “mob guys,” “strippers and porn stars in Times Square” and a madame who “controlled all the high dollar prostitutes back then” — as well as resilience and humor. She told of the time her mother kicked her out of the house for getting pregnant at 17; how her mother had her arrested but “the warden did some tests on me and found out I was smart, so I got a scholarship to go anywhere in New York.”
“I chose the Fashion Institute of Technology, which I hated,” she told Humans of New York.
The post was shared widely and received tens of thousands of comments on Instagram, including one from the actress Jennifer Garner, who asked: “Why is this not a @netflix series?”
For almost a year, there were no updates from Tanqueray, whose real name is Stephanie Johnson. Then last week, Brandon Stanton, the creator of Humans of New York, announced he would post 32 more quotes by Ms. Johnson, 76, on Instagram in an effort to raise money for her medical expenses and ongoing care.
“Stephanie’s health has taken a bad turn, and she’s in a really tough spot,” Mr. Stanton wrote in the post that introduced the series. “I’m going to tell her story right here, right now.”
The internet immediately rallied to her aid. A GoFundMe campaign started by Mr. Stanton for Ms. Johnson raised over $2.5 million dollars in a week.
In the new series, Ms. Johnson revealed bits and pieces of a life that took many unexpected turns, including newfound fame (which, she said, a psychic once predicted).
“When this photo was taken, ten thousand men in New York City knew that name,” Ms. Johnson is quoted in the caption of a Instagram post, where she is holding up a photo that depicts her younger self in a magenta burlesque costume, complete with a feathered headpiece. “They’d line up around the block whenever I was dancing in Times Square, just so I could sign the cover of their nudie magazine.”
In another post she speaks about finding herself in the city’s burlesque clubs.
“The clubs weren’t like they are today,” the caption reads. “There was no VIP section. No velvet ropes and champagne service. Everyone mingled: the pimps, the hustlers, the entertainers, the tourists.”
Mr. Stanton, who started Humans of New York in 2010, said he met Ms. Johnson last year when he was leaving the gym one day. He noticed her outfit, a leopard faux fur coat and a headband she had made, and he complimented her. It was the beginning of a budding friendship.
“She’s lived such a life and she has such a voice,” Mr. Stanton said in an interview. “She describes things in ways and puts together strings of words that I have never heard someone say before.”