Morganna Roberts, the Kissing Bandit, is an exotic dancer and comedian that rose to fame
during the 1970s thanks to numerous public stunts where she took to the stage at notable
baseball games and “stole” kisses from famous players.
Though this series of stunts caused some trouble for the well-endowed comedian early on, it
eventually made her a famous millionaire!
Join Facts Verse as we explore the truth about Morganna Roberts, the Kissing Bandit.
Morganna Roberts has always had a love for the sport of baseball.
This love was born from the time that her grandfather took her to see a game when she
was young.
Morganna developed such a connection to the sport that she even met the man that was to
become her husband at a baseball game.
She was 22 years old when she met her husband Bill Cottrell at a World Series game, and
the two are still married all these years later!
Because of Bill’s shared love for the game, he never got jealous when his wife would later
take to the field as the Kissing Bandit to snag kisses from some of the game’s most
famous players.
Morganna was born to a fairly poor family.
Her mother was named Jane, and she disavowed Morganna when she was still very young.
Because of this, the young girl ended up being raised predominantly by her grandmother.
After staying with her grandmother and being taken care of her for six years, Morganna
was sent to a boarding school by the name of Mount Mercy Catholic Boarding School.
The school was located in the young girl’s hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.
Morganna didn’t much enjoy her time at Mount Mercy Catholic Boarding School.
She was sent to school at the age of 13 and ran away from it later the same year.
After running away from Mercy Catholic Boarding School at the age of 13, Morganna hitchhiked
with one of her friends to the city of Baltimore, where she lived homeless for a period of time.
During this time period, the young girl subsisted off of scraps from local shop owners, as well
as food that she foraged out of dumpsters behind local restaurants.
She would have worked a traditional job, but the young girl had found that she was too
young to receive a work permit.
After around a month of living homeless, Morganna saw an advertisement that was going to change
her life.
The ad that Morganna saw was a poster that had been put up by the Flamingo Club seeking
exotic dancers.
Of course, the poster dictated that anyone who was interested in such a position would
have to be above the age of 18.
Morganna wasn’t quite sure what an exotic dancer was, and she wasn’t 18.
However, she was desperate for work and decided to give the opportunity a chance.
Morganna ended up getting a job dancing at the Flaming Club by lying about her age.
It wasn’t until Morganna’s first performance that she learned what an exotic dancer was.
She had been unprepared for what the job was going to require of her, and wasn’t aware
that she was meant to bear it all before the club’s audience.
When the rowdy audience of the Flamingo Club began shouting at young Morganna to “take
it off”, she reportedly broke down in tears.
Unaware of what they were asking for, Morganna had likely thought that the crowd was heckling
her.
The head of the Flamingo Club saw that Morganna had broken down into tears on the stage, and
took the girl to the back to give her some slight coaching.
Once Morganna realized why the crowd had been shouting at her, she came to terms with what
the job demanded.
After that, Morganna didn’t have much of a problem baring all in front of the audience.
In fact, she became quite successful at it!
By the age of 17, Morganna had become one of the Flamingo Club’s most successful exotic
dancers.
As she grew more comfortable on the stage, she began to incorporate comedy into her routine.
Eventually, the girl became just as well known for her comedy as she was for her provocative
dancing.
One of her most memorable comedic routines at the time consisted of a fairly spot-on
impression of film critic Gene Shalit.
All throughout Morganna’s incredibly problematic early days as an exotic dancer, no one questioned
her age.
This was due both to the fact that the young girl had lied about it, as well as to the
fact that she had become supernaturally busty at a young age.
By the time Morganna was 12, she could pass for 18 in the eyes of the audience.
Thankfully, workplaces nowadays would require much more stringent documentation for their
exotic dancers than they did back then!
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Although Morganna Roberts, the Kissing Bandit, had become known early on for her large breasts,
she has always been adamant that she has never been a true sex symbol.
Instead, Morganna has always considered herself simply a well-endowed comedian.
To her, her breasts are nothing more than stage props that she can use to get a laugh
from the audience.
One of her favorite jokes used to be to say that her bras had to be custom-made by the
same people that put together the domes for stadiums.
Of course, Morganna has since become much better known for her days as the Kissing Bandit
than for her days as an exotic dancer.
Morganna’s career as the Kissing Bandit began in August of 1969.
After receiving a dare from one of her friends, Morganna took to the stage at a baseball game
and kissed one of the players.
The game was at Crowley Field in Cincinnati, and the player that Morganna had been dared
to steal a kiss from was Pete Rose.
Pete memorably didn’t have the most positive reaction to Morganna’s theft of the kiss
but tracked her down the next day to apologize about his negative reaction, even giving her
some flowers.
The incident that occurred between Morganna and Pete Rose was written about in Cincinnati
papers, and that was when Morganna was officially given the nickname of “the Kissing Bandit”.
Morganna took to the name and decided that kissing baseball players could be her new
career.
Over the course of Morganna’s time as the Kissing Bandit, she was said to have kissed
nearly 40 Major League Baseball Players, as well as dozens and dozens of players from
less notable leagues and other sports.
In addition to kissing players, Morganna also kissed managers, umpires, and even owners
of the teams!
On one memorable occasion, Morganna even kissed the San Diego Chicken.
As Morganna gained notoriety as the Kissing Bandit, she was eventually able to make somewhat
of a career out of it.
However, the pastime didn’t come without its share of dangers.
Not only was Morganna injured multiple times while performing public stunts as the Kissing
Bandit, but she also got into legal trouble on several occasions.
Morganna has shared that she was arrested and charged with trespassing somewhere around
20 times over the course of her career as the Kissing Bandit.
As well, she was injured multiple times while jumping from the stands and was once even
hit by a pitch while out on the field.
It has also been said that she had several violent run-ins with security guards.
When it came time for Morganna to stand trial for her crimes in Houston, her lawyer argued
that Morganna was far too small to present a threat to the players.
As well, he claimed that Morganna’s original kissing incident had occurred without prior
meditation, with Morganna’s heavy bosom having caused her body to fall onto the field
by accident.
Morganna’s body had an overall weight of 112 pounds at the time, 15 of which were made
up of her hefty breasts.
Although Morganna certainly got into some trouble as the Kissing Bandit, the career
choice paid off for the comedian in the long run.
Morganna has made millions of dollars thanks to her time as a popular baseball character.
The Kissing Bandit also proved profitable for Major League Baseball, with appearances
from Morganna sometimes doubling profits at games during the height of her notoriety.
Morganna’s monetization of the Kissing Bandit character led to her getting her own set of
baseball cards.
As well, she became a part-owner of the Utica Blue Sox during her career.
At some point, Morgana was given her own line of snacks by Carolina Fine Snacks, and she
even has her picture featured in the Baseball Hall of Fame!
The picture memorably shows her trying to kiss Frank Howard.
Although Major League Baseball originally considered the Kissing Bandit a nuisance,
teams eventually took a liking to her both for her incredible good looks and for the
fact that she helped increase attendance at games.
The Kissing Bandit was good not only for Morganna but for baseball!
Nowadays, Morganna is 74 years old.
She has been retired from her career as the Kissing Bandit since 2000 and prefers to take
it easy in her old age.
She’s still with her husband, and the two live together with their dog in Ohio.
Before retiring from her role as the Kissing Bandit in 2000, Morganna made an appearance
as herself in the cult comedy Kingpin, which was released in 1996.
The film was directed by the Farrelly brothers and featured comedic actor Bill Murray.
With all of the millions of dollars that Morgana made during her years as the Kissing Bandit,
she is likely living the high life in retirement with her husband and dog.
Although Morganna Roberts took some risks when becoming the Kissing Bandit, the choice
certainly paid off for the well-endowed comedian!
Comment down below to share if you wish that you could have had a kiss stolen by the Kissing
Bandit, or if you were shocked to learn about her incredibly problematic early days as an
underage exotic dancer.
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