During his 30-year career of being the conscience of the community, the late local reporter Bill Casteel wrote three columns a week covering many aspects of culture which provided humor, intrigue and sometimes embarrassment to Chattanooga and Hamilton County.
Although he reported that Morganna “The Kissing Bandit” (Roberts-Cottrell) would be performing her adult dance routine on the site of a now non-existent cabaret on Main Street titled the “Classic Cat” and that the lady with an ample superstructure had granted him a personal interview, he did not report on the location and circumstances of the news scoop.
He did report that she was going to be paid $3,500 for her week of artistic performances at the adult entertainment facility. In October 1978 this would have been a tidy sum for taking off her clothes and displaying a figure of 60-23-39 inches on a 5’9”, 112-pound frame.
Bill, being an amateur historian, obtained the necessary facts as to how she had used her outstanding physical features to obtain nationwide success.
Coming from a poor family, she lied about her age and claimed that she was 18 rather than her biological age of 13 to apply for a job as a “Cigarette Girl or Camera Girl” at a strip club in Baltimore, Maryland.
After the management observed her physical attributes, she became a successful exotic dancer by the age of 17.
She first “burst” onto the television screens of America when she ran onto the baseball diamond in Cincinnati and planted a kiss on all-star outfielder Pete Rose at Crosby Field in August, 1969.
At first Rose was very angry and cursed the young maiden with the charming personality, but the next night Pete tracked her down at the local adult night spot where Morganna was displaying her talents and presented her with a dozen roses.
With the printing of an article of the puckering event by a local sportswriter titled “Bandit steals kiss from Pete Rose”, her nickname as “the Kissing Bandit” came into existence.
Over the years until she retired at the end of 1999, she had allegedly kissed 37 Major League Baseball players, 12 National Basketball Association players and dozens of minor league athletes plus umpires, managers and owners.
On one occasion she even kissed the famous mascot, the San Diego Chicken.
One of the most famous confrontations was with third baseman George Brett of the Kansas City Royals in Baltimore.
When Morganna tried to place her customary kiss on the cheek (she was afraid of tobacco juice) Brett responded with a lengthy throat clearing kiss of his own.
A member of the Detroit Pistons famously commented, “It was like hugging a mattress. When I saw her coming at me, I thought it was like a Mack truck. I had two options – either get hit or get out of the way. I decided to get hit!”
She was able to profit significantly and prosper from her “kissing career” with her own set of baseball cards and partial ownership of a minor league club, the Utica Blue Sox, and endorsements from the “Morganna Kissing Bandit peanuts” brand from a snack company in 1990.
Off the field she continued her work as an entertainer doing comedy and dancing for the weekly salary of $7,000-$10,000.
She denied being a sex symbol claiming, “I’m a comedian. I make people smile. I make them laugh – and that makes my day.”
The top-tiered talent also appeared on many television late night talk shows including Johnny Carson and David Letterman and appeared as a mystery guest in a 1978 episode of the game show, To Tell The Truth.
Such an occupation was not without risks. She got beat up by security guards in Cincinnati, sustained injuries jumping from the stands and was arrested and charged with trespassing almost 20 times.
She stood trial in Houston, Texas and had a creative lawyer in her trespassing case who used the original “gravity defense” to justify her unauthorized presence on the playing field.
He explained that this woman with a 112-pound body and 15-pound chest leaned over the railing to catch a foul ball and the rest is history. The judge laughed and dismissed the case.
Over the years she earned millions of dollars.
At the age of 22 she married an accountant from Columbus, Ohio who offered to help her with her taxes after they met at a World Series game.
Bill made the careful observation that she had physical features that “made Dolly Parton look like Twiggy, has beautiful eyes and teeth, and has 112 pounds well-distributed on her frame and hates the New York Yankees."
(This had to be a highlight of his newspaper reporting career.)
* * *
Jerry Summers
(If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact Mr. Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com
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