Friedman was born Harriett Jolliff in
Manila, Arkansas, the daughter of unmarried teenage parents Mabel Layson and Murl Jolliff. She never knew her father, who died in a
tuberculosis sanitarium. She was named after her paternal grandmother, Harriett Joliff (1877–1941), but as a child her nickname was Poochie. Her mother, Mabel, moved her and her sister Virginia to
Detroit, Michigan, in search of work. Finding work at nightclubs, Mabel married a local hustler who often was in trouble with the law. While ostensibly owning a bookshop, in reality he was operating an illegal business from their attic. Young Harriet's mother and step-father enforced strict
Catholic rules on her, and reportedly the home was an abusive environment. Harriet dreamed of leaving home for a career in show business, and she intently studied Hollywood movie stars like
Lana Turner and
Rita Hayworth. Harriet's unstable home life led to rebellion, and she started skipping school and staying away from home. Eventually she ran away from home with a female friend and two boys to nearby
Toledo, Ohio, and from there, the four teenagers went to
Florida. The boys
hot-wired cars to steal transportation, and soon they arrived in
Miami where they rented a room. To earn money to support themselves, the girls answered an ad in the paper for showgirls; Harriet was hired to be a topless dancer, but her friend was deemed not pretty enough and so was given a job as a
cigarette girl. Once Harriet had earned enough money for the group to continue on their journey, she quit the dancing job, and the group planned to move from
Miami Beach to
Palm Beach. The two boys she was with had enlisted in the army and were "sowing some oats" before heading to basic training for World War II. One of the boys raped Harriet while she was sleeping, which she shrugged off as "the way things were." Harriet's friend left the group and went home to Detroit. With Harriet and the two boys in need of more money, they decided to break into a
vending machine. They broke out the glass and managed to get cigarettes, candy, and cash into their pockets and escaped on foot into a nearby orange grove, but were caught by police. Once in custody, it was established that the group was responsible for several cars being stolen in addition to the theft, and Harriet was sentenced to one year incarceration at
Florida State Prison. After her release, she successfully worked as a stripper in Miami under the name Hot Honey Harlow. ==Lenny Bruce==