Fanne Foxe

Annabel Edith Villagra was born on February 14, 1936, in Nueve de Julio, a town southwest of Buenos Aires, Argentina. One of three children, her father was Nueve de Julio's medical officer and her mother was a nurse. She grew up enjoying basketball, hunting, and folk dancing. She was a pre-medical student at the University of Buenos Aires, then left at age 20 in 1956 after marrying Eduardo Battistella, a pianist who played in clubs. She then began dancing to accompany his piano playing act. By the early 1960s, their act took them to Miami, where she began stripping, and Baltimore. At this time, she began using the stage name Fanne Foxe at the behest of her agent.{{Cite news|last=Bernstein|first=Adam|date=February 24, 2021|title=Fanne Foxe, 'Argentine Firecracker' at center of D.C. sex scandal, dies at 84|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/fanne-foxe-dies/2021/02/24/87c04e6e-5e4c-11ea-b014-4fafa866bb81_story.html|access-date=February 24, 2021}}{{Cite news|last=McFadden|first=Robert D.|date=February 24, 2021|title=Fanne Foxe, Who Plunged Into the Tidal Basin and Emerged Famous, Dies at 84|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/us/politics/fanne-foxe-dead.html|access-date=February 24, 2021}}

Foxe emigrated to the United States in 1963 and became a legal resident in 1965.{{cite news|last1=Green|first1=Stephen|last2=Hornblower|first2=Margot|date=October 11, 1974|title=Mills Admits Being Present During Tidal Basin Scuffle|newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/tours/scandal/tidalbas.htm|accessdate=September 12, 2009}} By the late 1960s, she was working in Washington, D.C. Although their marriage had collapsed, she allowed her husband to live with her in the Crystal Towers complex in Arlington County, Virginia, because, as she told The Washington Post, "I don't like him to spend money, and he is the father of my children."

In summer 1973, Foxe was introduced to Wilbur Mills at the Silver Slipper club through a common friend and fellow performer. As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Mills was considered one of the most powerful members of the United States House of Representatives, and had been a minor contender for the Democratic nomination for president in 1972. By July 1973, Foxe and Mills were regular companions at the Silver Slipper. At the time, Foxe was the featured performer and was billed as the "Argentine Firecracker". Shortly after growing close to Mills, she stopped performing at the Silver Slipper. In August, Mills moved with his wife into the Crystal Towers complex, where they frequently played contract bridge with Foxe and her husband.

According to Foxe's memoir, Mills had promised to marry her if he could get a divorce. He had also taken her on a three-week vacation to Antigua. Foxe also said that she had been pregnant with Mills's child, but got an abortion to protect his reputation. Shortly before the affair became public, Foxe divorced Eduardo.

On the night of October 6–7, 1974, Mills and Foxe were at the Silver Slipper and got into a loud argument. While being driven back by a friend, the car they were in was observed speeding, swerving, and driving without headlights by the Washington, D.C. waterfront near the Jefferson Memorial at around 2:00 a.m. The United States Park Police pulled the vehicle over, and Foxe panicked, got out of the car screaming in a mix of English and Spanish, and attempted to flee the scene by jumping into the Tidal Basin, which had an average depth of {{Convert|10|feet|metres}}. The police pulled her out and handcuffed her. She had two black eyes, and police thought she was suicidal, so she was taken to St. Elizabeths Hospital for treatment. In later interviews, Foxe said she jumped because she wanted to protect Mills's reputation and was worried that the incident would affect her recently acquired American citizenship.

The incident attracted much publicity, but Mills was re-elected to his congressional seat in November 1974. Shortly after the election, Mills attended one of Foxe's burlesque performances at the Pilgrim Theater in Boston. Apparently drunk, Mills showed up and unsteadily walked onstage, prompting Foxe to say "Ladies and gentlemen, I have a visitor for you, and he wants to say hello. Mr. Mills, where are you?" Mills then gave a rambling speech onstage and then a backstage news conference in which he angrily announced that Foxe would no longer be performing. On December 10, 1974, Mills stepped down from his position as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and did not run for re-election in 1976, ending a 38-year congressional career.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,911535-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104042053/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,911535-1,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 4, 2012|title=The Fall of Chairman Wilbur Mills|date=December 16, 1974|magazine=Time|accessdate=September 12, 2009}}{{cite book|last=Farquhar|first=Michael|title=A Treasury of Great American Scandals|publisher=Penguin Group|year=2003|edition=illustrated|pages=149–150|isbn=9780142001929|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cUha_nFJRWYC&q=%22Fanne%20Foxe%22&pg=PA149}}

The Foxe-Mills scandal was listed as number three in the top 10 U.S. sex scandals by Bloomberg in 2009, and Foxe was listed third on a list of Time magazine's top 10 mistresses.

After the Mills incidents, Foxe continued working as a stripper, changing her stage title from "The Argentine Firecracker" to "The Tidal Basin Bombshell". A month after the October 1974 scandal, Bill O'Reilly interviewed her. He recounts that she told him of an interest to attend medical school after two more years of dancing. In summarizing her appearance at the Pilgrim Theater in Boston, he wrote that the crowd loved her performance.{{cite book|last=O'Reilly|first=Bill|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhPmnfHL-_AC&q=%22Fanne%20Foxe%22&pg=PA112|title=A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity|publisher=Random House|year=2008|isbn=9780767928823|edition=illustrated|location=Full Exposure|pages=112–115}}

Capitalizing on her notoriety, she was able to increase her appearance fees for performances at clubs. When hired by Michael Pinter Jr. for a December 1974 show at Club Juana in Orlando, Florida, she increased her fee for a two-week stint from $3,500 to $15,000 per week.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rf4LAAAAIBAJ&pg=4739,1858417&dq=fanne-foxe|title=Fanne Foxe Booked|date=December 7, 1974|newspaper=The Evening Independent|accessdate=February 21, 2015}} On December 12, 1974, during the first week of her Orlando engagement, she was arrested for indecent exposure, allegedly after going completely nude during her act.{{cite news|url=http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=10826|title=Requiem for a Strip Club|last=Stolzenbach|first=Issac|date=July 13, 2006|newspaper=Orlando Weekly|accessdate=September 13, 2009}} Club owner Pinter was arrested for letting it happen.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vA4QAAAAIBAJ&pg=4834,1642074&dq=fanne-foxe+indecent+exposure|title=Fanne Foxe is arrested in Florida|date=December 12, 1974|newspaper=Free Lance-Star|accessdate=September 13, 2009}} When arraigned on December 21, both Foxe and Pinter entered innocent pleas to the charges.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=e0ENAAAAIBAJ&pg=3156,3095663&dq=fanne-foxe+indecent+exposure|title=Strippe Fanne pleads innocent|date=December 21, 1974|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|accessdate=September 13, 2009}} The charges against both were dismissed on January 28, 1975, when the judge ruled that prosecutors failed to prove their case.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iucTAAAAIBAJ&pg=5029,4899292&dq=fanne-foxe+charges+dismissed|title=Fan Foxe's Charges were Dismissed By Judge|date=January 28, 1975|newspaper=Ocala Star-Banner|accessdate=September 13, 2009}} After the Florida incident, Foxe announced her retirement from the stage. With the attention from the Mills scandal, she was able to land multiple media appearances and film offers.

In 1975, Battistella published the memoir The Stripper and the Congressman with the help of ghostwriter Yvonne Dunleavy. She also starred as herself in Posse from Heaven. With the proceeds from her fame, Battistella moved to an eight-bedroom house in Westport, Connecticut, with her three children from her marriage to Eduardo before 1976. In January and February 1976, she performed, but not as a stripper, at the Riverboat at the Empire State Building.{{cite journal|date=February 2, 1976|title=Best Bets|journal=New York|publisher=New York Media, LLC|volume=9|issue=5|pages=19, t52|issn=0028-7369|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O-MCAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Fanne%20Foxe%22&pg=PA52}}{{cite magazine |magazine=New York|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O-MCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA52 |title=Foxe Fire |accessdate=February 21, 2015|date=February 2, 1976|publisher=New York Media, LLC|page=52|issn=0028-7369}} In September 1976, she was featured in Playboy,{{cite journal|date=September 1976|title=And Now... DC's Dynamic Duo|journal=Playboy|volume=23|issue=9|pages=132}} and again in February 1977.{{cite journal|date=February 1977|title=The Year in Sex|journal=Playboy |volume=24|issue=2|pages=137}} In April 1977, she was interviewed in depth by Cheri magazine.{{cite journal|last=Wolff|first=Peter|date=April 1977|title=Fanne Foxe Finally Tells All! Meet the newest member of the 'Cheri' family!|journal=Cheri |volume=1|issue=9|pages=14–15, 91, 96–98}} Also in 1977, she starred in the documentary This Is America.

She also appeared in an off-Broadway production titled Women Behind Bars.

In 1980, Battistella married her manager, businessman Daniel Montgomery, and had a daughter before their 1985 divorce. In 1981, she gave an interview to The Washington Post in which she spoke about being upset that Mills claimed not to remember what he was doing during his affair, and was particularly hurt by his saying that he had "learned not to drink with foreigners".

Under the name Annabel Montgomery, she moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, in the late 1980s. She earned a bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Tampa in 1995 and master's degree in marine science and business administration—both magna cum laude—from the University of South Florida in 2001 and 2004, respectively. She worked as a divemaster for the University of South Florida and participated in underwater filming in Cozumel, Mexico.

Foxe died on February 10, 2021, in Clearwater, Florida, four days before her 85th birthday.{{cite news |last1=Bernstein |first1=Adam |title=Fanne Foxe, 'Argentine Firecracker' at center of D.C. sex scandal, dies at 84 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/fanne-foxe-dies/2021/02/24/87c04e6e-5e4c-11ea-b014-4fafa866bb81_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 24, 2021}}

• Posse from Heaven (1975)
• This Is America (1977)
• Hay que parar la delantera (1977){{Cite web|title=Fanne foxe|url=https://cinenacional.com/persona/fanne-foxe|website=Cinenacional.com|date=January 4, 2023 }}

{{Reflist}}

• Annabel Battistella with Yvonne Dunleavy, Fanne Foxe. New York: Pinnacle Books, 1975. {{ISBN|0523007523}}

• {{IMDb name|0289318}}
• {{cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/tours/scandal/tidalbas.htm |newspaper=The Washington Post |title= Mills Admits Being Present During Tidal Basin Scuffle |first1= Stephen |last1= Green |first2= Margot |last2= Hornblower |date= October 11, 1974 }}
• {{cite web |url= http://www.nbcnews.com/slideshow/today/sex-scandals-and-elected-officials-31531286/#img21 |date= February 14, 2011 |title= Sex scandals and elected officials: A photographic retrospective of embarrassing episodes |work= #21 – Wilbur D. Mills and Fanne Foxe |publisher= MSNBC }}
• [https://ghostsofdc.org/2019/02/20/arkansas-congressman-and-the-argentine-stripper/ Arkansas Congressman and the Argentine Stripper] – Ghosts of DC blog

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Category:1936 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:American female erotic dancers

Category:American erotic dancers

Category:People from Buenos Aires Province

Category:Argentine emigrants to the United States

Category:Argentine people of Italian descent

Category:University of Tampa alumni

Category:University of South Florida alumni

Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States

Category:21st-century American women

Category:University of Buenos Aires alumni