Nancy Kulp, who once performed on the Manhattan stage as Chickee James, dies at 83

Nancy James dressed in sequins in the 1950s when, under the stage name Chickee James, she performed at Manhattan's legendary Latin Quarter nightclub.

She made several television appearances back then and dated Joe DiMaggio and Steve McQueen.

She was the owner of a Merrick cosmetics store, Silk and Pearls, in the early 1960s when Richard Kulp came in to sell her a background-music system. Even after they married in 1965, his wife rarely talked about her days as a New York City showgirl.

"You would never know," he said. "She didn't talk about it. Very humble."

Nancy Kulp died on Nov. 5 after suffering a heart attack at the couple's Massapequa Park home. She was 83.

A former cheerleader at Mepham High School in Bellmore, where she graduated in 1950, Nancy Kulp moved to Manhattan and began dancing in clubs.

She appeared on "What's My Line?" and toured the United States with actors Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie to promote defense bonds during the Korean War, Richard Kulp said. A first marriage hadended in divorce and produced a son, Robert Kulp of Idyllwild, California.

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Nancy Kulp dropped out of show biz and opened Silk and Pearls, where she sold her own line of cosmetics and hair care products. She sold the store after she married Richard Kulp and they started a family.

She resumed her acting career in the 1980s with appearances as an extra in films such as "The Flamingo Kid" with Matt Dillon, "Falling In Love" starring Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep and "Prizzi's Honor" with Jack Nicholson, her husband said.

Around that time, she led a club for former dancers, Latin Quarter Showgirls Inc., which held dinners to raise money for missing and abused children, Richard Kulp said. He said the group no longer exists, though former showgirls still hold occasional reunions.

Guests arriving for Nancy Kulp's burial on Nov. 10 at Pinelawn Memorial Park in Pinelawn heard an entertainer singing Irving Berlin's "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody." As they left, the crooner sang, "Someone to Watch Over Me," by George and Ira Gershwin.

"She was always a happy person," Richard Kulp said. "She was so beloved by everybody she knew."

Besides her husband and oldest son, Kulp is survived by a brother, Edwin James of Corona, California; two sons, Clayton Kulp of Wichita, Kansas, and James Kulp of West Babylon; six grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.