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 spectators. Even the Ringling Brothers Circus management remained cognizant of this and encouraged employees, particularly women, to maintain respectable behavior on and off stage to dispel stereotyping associated with their acts; "we should want the "Town folks" to feel that the "Show folks" are real men and women and ladies and gentlemen as well." In this way, the image of respectability encompassed not only a tattooed woman personally, but the entire reputation of the show she worked for. Nora Hildebrandt, one of the first tattooed ladies to perform in the US, wildly fictionalized her pasts to attract audiences captivated by