
Image from Life [source]
While reading this article about some Life photos of burlesque dancers, I found out about an interesting little stage story: Oyster Girl smashes water tank with dancer inside.

Image from Life [source]
According to the Nov 28, 1949 issue of Life, the way the story unfolds is that veteran show girl Evangeline Sylvas heard of a new act to share her stage that was similar to hers. Sylvas, who was known as The Oyster Girl, emerged from a large oyster shell and launched into her routine. The new girl performed some of her act in a water-filled tank, and then emerged from the tank to complete her routine. Divena was rumored to get top-billing over the sexy oyster pearl. Sylvas did not like this.

Two action shots of Sylvas breaking the water tank. Images from Life [source]
In the middle of Divena's act, Sylvas broke open her stage tank with an axe, with Divena still in it! The water rushed to the floor, ruining the carpet for the venue, and (according to Life) Sylva's reached into the tank and pulled Divena by her hair.

Image from Life [source]
Sylvas went to jail for her actions, but according to a later Life article, she was extremely remorseful immediately following the incident. The two dancers reconciled and were long-time friends after the whole ordeal.
You can read the original article in Life via Google Books here. You can also view the later Life photo-article interviewing Sylvas in March 2011 about the incident here.
Regarding the title of this post - I'm not sure if I should be embarrassed at the pun, or congratulate myself. It is definitely a headline I would expect from a 1930s rag!
Image Note: Life Magazine so awesomely has an iframe feature that allows you to place their images in your blog (just click the "Link" button while in their image galleries). Unfortunately, the iframe coding wasn't loading in my blog, so I had to stick to doing the old fashion linking the source through the caption. Please note that all these images are copyrighted by Life Magazine.