Frontier Days 'Fandango'
Sally Rand performed at Cheyenne Frontier Days in 1935. Not generally known for breathtaking attire, she arrived wearing a stunning white buckskin outfit the rodeo committee was so impressed they made it tradition. Cheyenne’s Miss Frontier rodeo queen wears white buckskin. The outfit evolved over the years that followed with styles and tastes of the queens who wore them, but white buckskin remained the signature look.
Sally Rand was better known for white ostrich feathers than buckskin, she used those feathers in the act she took to Cheyenne’s entertainment stage. Her famous fan dance performed fanciful illusions between fans to the accompaniment of Clair de Lune. The dance made its first appearance at the Paramount Club in Chicago and later gained notoriety at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, where her act, illusion or not, ruffled the feathers of decency for an arrest or two. No convictions resulted as the judge, after examining the evidence, decided he liked the show.
Rand’s career was colorful to say the least. She got her start in showbiz early, performing as a chorus girl at thirteen. She worked her way to Hollywood in part performing as an acrobat in Ringling Brothers Barnum & Baily Circus. In Hollywood she caught on in silent films where none other than Cecil B. DeMille came up with her stage name inspired by Rand McNally’s Road Atlas. The name stuck in more ways than one.
A deceptive football play called ‘Sally Rand’ borrowed her moniker. It featured a run fake flowing in one direction while the ball carrier, usually the quarterback carried the ball in the opposite direction without blockers on what some to this day call a naked reverse. Sally had her moments on the small screen too, appearing on 1950’s game shows, ‘What’s My Line?’ and ‘To Tell the Truth,’ using her given name Helen Beck. Neither panel was stumped.
A brief romantic fling with Charles Lindbergh made for a life long interest in flying. She earned her pilot’s license and flew herself to performances crisscrossing the country. Deeply in debt, Rand died of congestive heart failure in 1979. Sammy Davis Jr. paid her final expenses.
Next Week: Full of Bulls
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
Sally Rand was better known for white ostrich feathers than buckskin, she used those feathers in the act she took to Cheyenne’s entertainment stage. Her famous fan dance performed fanciful illusions between fans to the accompaniment of Clair de Lune. The dance made its first appearance at the Paramount Club in Chicago and later gained notoriety at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, where her act, illusion or not, ruffled the feathers of decency for an arrest or two. No convictions resulted as the judge, after examining the evidence, decided he liked the show.
Rand’s career was colorful to say the least. She got her start in showbiz early, performing as a chorus girl at thirteen. She worked her way to Hollywood in part performing as an acrobat in Ringling Brothers Barnum & Baily Circus. In Hollywood she caught on in silent films where none other than Cecil B. DeMille came up with her stage name inspired by Rand McNally’s Road Atlas. The name stuck in more ways than one.
A deceptive football play called ‘Sally Rand’ borrowed her moniker. It featured a run fake flowing in one direction while the ball carrier, usually the quarterback carried the ball in the opposite direction without blockers on what some to this day call a naked reverse. Sally had her moments on the small screen too, appearing on 1950’s game shows, ‘What’s My Line?’ and ‘To Tell the Truth,’ using her given name Helen Beck. Neither panel was stumped.
A brief romantic fling with Charles Lindbergh made for a life long interest in flying. She earned her pilot’s license and flew herself to performances crisscrossing the country. Deeply in debt, Rand died of congestive heart failure in 1979. Sammy Davis Jr. paid her final expenses.
Next Week: Full of Bulls
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
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