Definitely one of my great idols, she had the most beautiful lines with her graceful ballerina’s legs. If Cyd Charisse was the womanly femme fatale, Vera-Ellen was sweet, innocent, childlike, even a little goofy. She combined classical ballet and pointe work, with the 1940s style “American ballet”, ballrooming, tap, vernacular jazz and blues movement, acrobatics and even toe tap. She had the tiniest waist in Hollywood at the time. Check out Vera-Ellen dancing in these films, alongside the likes of Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Danny Kaye:

Wonder Man (1945), The Kid from Brooklyn (1946), Three Little Girls in Blue (1946), Carnival in Costa Rica (1947), Words and Music (1948), Love Happy (1949), On the Town (1949), Three Little Words (1950), Happy Go Lovely (1951), The Belle of New York (1952), Call Me Madam (1953), Big Leaguer (1953), White Christmas (1954), and Let’s Be Happy (1957).

Notorious pinup and fetish model Bettie Page, with the girl-next-door grin, sadly passed away on 11th December 2008 at the age of 85.

The wonderful Eartha Kitt, sex kitten, “the most exciting woman in the world”, Cat Woman herself, passed away on Christmas day, at the age of 81.

Born as Harriet Helen Gould Beck, the young Sally Rand literally ran away to join a carnival as a teenager. Over the years she worked as a nighclub cigarette girl, life model, cafe dancer and stage actress (working under the name Billie Beck), before finding herself in Hollywood, where she landed some roles in silent films in the 1920s. Cecil B. deMille gave her the new name Sally Rand as her career blossomed, and she was even named a WAMPAS Baby Star in 1927 (other recipients included Clara Bow, Mary Astor, Joan Crawford, Dolores Del Rio, Fay Wray, Loretta Young and Ginger Rogers).  However, the arrival of sound in motion picture brought the end to her film career, allegedly because of a lisp.

In the late 1920s she began to work as a chorusgirl and then in 1932 responded to an ad at the Paramount Club in Chicago, calling for ‘exotic acts and dancers’. She purchased two large ostrich feather fans at a second-hand store, with the intention of procuring for herself a flowing Grecian robe to wear for the act also. Running out of time, she instead performed the act naked, dancing gracefully with her feather fans to the classical tune Claire de Lune, swirling the 7-foot pink fans as she danced to cover herself, never offering more than a momentary glimpse of her bare skin. Though she promised the Paramount managers the act would be even better with the gown, not surprisingly they insisted that she continue the act exactly as it was.

Not long after this, unable to gain a role at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, she staged a Lady Godiva inspired stunt at the gates, arriving entirely nude, atop a white horse. The scandal boosted the World Fair’s popularity and Sally became a featured performer in the ‘Streets of Paris’ exhibition, performing her feather fan dance in a mock Parisian street scene.

Though she found herself in court under charges of indecency, the entire event catapulted her to stardom. She became a burlesque headliner and a household name. At the 1934 Chicago World’s Fair, Sally debuted a new act that would become another of her signatures. The bubble dance involved a translucent balloon bubble, larger than Sally herself. She had fronted the funds for the scientific experimentation to  create this bubble herself. In 1934 she also appeared in the film Bolero, in which she performs her fan dance.

Quick Facts
Birth Name: Harriet Helen Gould Beck
Birth Place: Missouri
Birth Date: 3rd April 1904
Height: only 5′ 1″
Figure: 35-22-35
Died: 31st August 1979 in Glendora, California

To find out more about Sally Rand, visit The Fantabulous Sally Rand to read her entire tale.