Sticky Vicky

Sticky Vicky

Vicky Leyton and her daughter María
Born Victoria María Aragüés Gadea
(1943-04-15) 15 April 1943
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, España
Residence Benidorm
Nationality Spanish
Occupation Illusionism
Known for her vaginal magic show

Victoria María Aragüés Gadea (born 15 April 1943), also known as Vicky Leyton, known professionally as Sticky Vicky, is a retired dancer and illusionist known for her vaginal magic show.[1]

Early life

Born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on 15 April 1943, she later moved to Barcelona with her mother because her father left their home and never came back.[2] Vicky studied classical ballet for 15 years and later worked as a dancer. Together with her sister, who was a contortionist, they performed as a duo in a musical dance show. While performing this show, a businessman gave her the stage name of Vicky Leyton, by which she was known for the rest of her life. She later became manager of El Molino, a theatre on the Avinguda del Paral·lel in Barcelona.[3]

Magic show

With the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and the relaxation of sexual censorship, she experienced difficult times as the public wanted more sexually explicit shows and the employers began to hire foreigners who were willing to perform in the nude.[2] A fellow magician suggested that she do a magic number by removing unusual objects from her vagina. After practising with simple objects such as handkerchiefs, Vicky premiered her show in several cabarets in Barcelona. Her show was a success and led to her touring in several northern cities in Spain and at many variety theatres abroad.[2]

At the beginning of the 1980s, following the advice of her sister, she moved to Benidorm, Alicante. Her intention was to take a break after a decline in her career, but her sister convinced her to perform at a hotel. After this success, she decided to stay in Benidorm, in part due to its constant tourism influx.[2]

Sticky Vicky's show started with her undressing slowly to background music. Later on, she pulled several objects out of her vagina, including ping-pong balls, eggs, handkerchiefs, sausages, or even several shaving blades tied along a rope. The lights were then turned off and she would take out a lit light bulb. She finished her number by opening a bottle of beer with her vagina, pouring all over the stage.[3] She did not characterise herself or the show as pornographic. In her own words: "To do what I do you must have a lot of delicacy. It is necessary to give it a touch of elegance".[2]

She never married and had one son, Eduardo Romero Aragüés, and one daughter, María Gadea Aragüés. María saw the show for the first time when she was 13 years old and afterwards decided to follow in her footsteps.[2] In her later years Vicky and her daughter performed together.

In 2001 Vicky sued a fellow performer, María Rosa Pereira (stage name: “Sexy Bárbara”) for undue use of the distinctive stage name of Sticky Vicky. María Rosa, which performed a similar show, had registered the name that Vicky had been using for many years but had not registered. Vicky won in the first instance in the Courts of Benidorm. This was appealed at the Audiencia Provincial of Alicante and the demand was overruled, denying protection to her show, but recognising that it could be eventually protected, in the form of choreographic work.[4][5] Eventually, in 2009, the Audiencia Provincial of Valencia determined that María Rosa had acted with bad faith and generated confusion by registering the name, awarding Vicky the legal trademark for her stage name.[6]

Vicky performed her last show in Autumn 2015, some days before undergoing a hip operation. In February 2016, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer and, in a post via Facebook, she announced her retirement shortly before turning 73 years of age. Her daughter María, who performed under the artistic name Demaria Leyton, also decided to pursue other interests.[7] The news of Vicky's retirement elicited words of affection from her admirers and expressions of disappointment by those who would no longer be able to see her show.[8]

Legacy

During her three decades in the city, Vicky has performed her magic show for thousands of people. According to the Spanish newspaper El País, her show was seen every year by as many as 300,000 people (approximately six million throughout her career).[3] Vicky generally appeared six times a night, six nights a week.[9] A complete show lasted roughly half an hour, although she could perform fifteen times a night by shortening the length of the show to ten minutes.[10] Her show was advertised as a "new fashion sexy show" or "vaginal magic".

Due to her advanced age and the uninterrupted length of her show, she has been regarded as a living myth of Benidorm, especially among British tourists.[11][12] Leyton herself was surprised about her own success, when saying in her web page: "I never thought I could be on a stage at my age, and it is all thanks to the English public".[6]

She appeared as a secondary character in the first and sixth episodes of the third season of the British TV series Benidorm.[13] In the sixth season of that show, one of the characters, Jacqueline (Janine Duvitski), has to pass as her since Sticky Vicky is on holiday. In a poem titled "Jack The Lad", Robert Fallon describes Vicky's show.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Mercader, Alba (22 February 2016). ""Sticky Vicky": La reina del "show erótico" se retira tras 35 years actuando en Benidorm". Diario Información (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Suárez, Eduardo (28 February 2012). "El último desnudo de 'Sticky Vicky', la estrella de las noches picantes de Benidorm". El Español (in Spanish). Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  3. 1 2 3 Castillo, Sergi (22 August 2007). "Benidorm, mágico y picante". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  4. ↑ "Sentencia n.º 73/2003 de la Audiencia Provincial de Alicante". Poder Judicial. 10 February 2003. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  5. ↑ Clara Ruipérez de Azcárate (1 January 2012). Las obras del espíritu y su originalidad (in Spanish). Editorial Reus. pp. 115–116. ISBN 978-84-290-1711-3.
  6. 1 2 Marín, Julio (17 July 2009). "El pleito por la magia vaginal". Levante-EMV (in Spanish) (Benidorm). Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  7. ↑ Couzens, Gerard (22 February 2016). "Benidorm tourist favourite Sticky Vicky, 72, retires after 35 years of 'sexy magic show' as she is diagnosed with cancer". The Daily Mail. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Nevett, Joshua (22 February 2016). "Iconic Benidorm showgirl Sticky Vicky retires 'X-rated magic show' age 72". The Sun. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  9. ↑ "Sticky Vicky and Demaria "Uncovered".". All About Benidorm. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  10. ↑ Martin Kelner (2012). When Will I Be Famous?. Ebury Publishing. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-4481-4047-3.
  11. ↑ Cy Flood (2012). Confessions of a Holiday Rep - My Hideous and Hilarious Stories of Sun, Sea, Sand and Sex. John Blake Publishing. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-78219-030-1.
  12. ↑ Philip Nolan (2012). Ryanland: A no-frills odyssey across the new Europe. Hachette Books Ireland. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-4447-4365-4.
  13. ↑ Govan, Fiona (22 February 2016). "Benidorm's Sticky Vicky, 72, retires from sexy magic show". The Local. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  14. ↑ Robert Fallon (2012). The Sassenach from Ireland. Troubador Publishing Ltd. p. 137. ISBN 978-1-78088-822-4.
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