Was there ever really a "Kissing Bandit"?

Factual Questions
1

Any truth to the myth?

There have been movies, TV show episodes, plays, stories etc. all based on the concept of a burgler who gives a sleeping woman a peck on the cheek (or perhaps a rose) while making off with a sack of household goods, jewelry, money etc. It all seems rather preposterous, and yet this story is pretty much known by everyone, and most folks I’ve talked to seem to think there must have been one or several actual kissing bandits—though these same folks can’t be more specific.

What about it?

2

Well, there was Morganna, the Kissing Bandit, who was a real person who ran onto sporting events and kissed various sports stars.

3

There was Morgana, the Kissing Bandit, who used to run out onto the field during sporting events and kiss the players…

4

Right, but Morganna became the “kissing bandit” after the whole KB tale had been well told. Furthermore, I can’t recollect her ever making off with the player’s jewelry.

No, I’m looking for more of a cat burgler thing…

5

There was an infamous Floridian cat burglar called “Murph the Surf” maybe the kissing bandit was another of his monikers?

6

I don’t know of any real-life kissing bandits but there was the Illinois Enema Bandit who robbed co-eds back in the early 70’s at the U of I. Frank Zappa wrote a song about it.

7

Somehow all the mystique disappears when the “Kissing Bandit” becomes the “Enema Bandit”. Or maybe that’s just me…

8

I believe that first use of the term “kissing bandit” was in the movie entitled “The Kissing Bandit”. Does anyone know of an earlier usage?

9

Then there was the infamous BVD bandit of Ohio (second item from the bottom of the page). I went to high school with this guy.

10

For some reason, the link I posted gives a different page than when I first clicked it. Oh well.

11

I can’t find any references to a “Kissing Bandit” prior to the Sinatra movie. This is most disappointing. Everyone has heard of KB’s, but few know the old film.

Alas, I guess it was too much to hope for that there was actually some debonair thief robbing the wealthy and leaving only a rose and a smooch.

12

So he was kissing them on the other cheek?

13

My wife, who’s mother grew up in Abbeville, AL, tells about Hugging Molly. It seems that any children out after a certain time in Abbeville were in danger of being hugged by Molly. Seems to me this was just a story designed to keep kids from wanting to stay out late. The Kissing Bandit doesn’t seem to serve any such useful purpose. :wink:

14

There was a guy in Atlanta in the late 40s or early 50s that gained fame for walking up to well-endowed women and stuffing $20 or $50 bills into their shirts. Somewhat surprisingly (to me), after the first few women found out that he wasn’t doing anything other than stuffing a bill into their bra, he actually became popular.

I can’t find a reference for it via Google, but if anyone has an paid subscription to the AJC Online, you might be able to find it there, because that’s where I first heard the story.

15

Kissing bandits in 1930s movies include Ronald Colman in Raffles (1930), Herbert Marshall in Trouble in Paradise (1932), and John Barrymore in Arsène Lupin (1932), which is from a 1908 play.