Irma, whos real name was Mary Elizabeth Goodneighbor started her career as a chorus dancer. While a stripper was on a State Fair stage, the audience would boo the stripper and cheer for Irma in the background. So the stripper got pissed and turned the show over to Irma and the rest just came naturally. Irma won a few awards, namely "Miss Guaranteed All Woman" and "Miss Heavy Armored Maintenance."

On 10/30/1953: Irma was arrested at the Old Howard Theatre and had been charged with "open and gross lewdness" and "taking part in an immoral show." ... The trio: "Rosa La Rose, Irma the Body, and Marino Russell" ... pleaded innocent and were released on $500 bail each. The police said that films, taken at the performances, would prove the validity of their judgment on the morality of the shows. This was really nothing but the state/city’s usual use of employment at the time, however, It seems teens were present before the laws mandating they couldn’t attend these shows, or at least enforcing them.