Lydia the Tattooed Lady Stock Exchange by commandeering a microphone and singing the song before telling jokes for 15 minutes, during which time traders suspended their work to watch him perform. Lydia the Tattooed Lady "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady" is a 1939 song written by Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen. It first appeared in the Marx Brothers movie "At the Circus" (1939) and became one of Groucho Marx's signature tunes. The complex lyrics by Harburg – with clever rhymes such as "Lydia/encyclopedia" and "Amazon/pajamas on" – were inspired by W. S. Gilbert. Harburg made many contemporary references to topical personalities such as Grover Whalen,
Tattooed Lady statement reveals that no woman remained safe from oppressive societal standards of beauty. Indeed, a tattooed woman remained especially vulnerable to social commentary concerning aspects of her body outside of her control. With this in mind, how the media treated a tattooed lady ultimately determined her star's ability to rise. In turn, once tattooed women began to change their stories and use the media to their advantage, they experienced more longevity in their careers. Not much is known about Irene Woodward's origins before her career as a tattooed lady. In fact, the "New York Times" claimed that "She was the