Wish list #1: A giant moon to lounge on.

The paper moon effect has been a popular photography set, since photography’s earliest days, and has become a covetable glamour set piece for cabaret and burlesque performers…. including me! I want one!

Burlesque Frequently Asked Questions Part 3
What is the difference between burlesque and stripping?

The main difference between burlesque and stripping is the idea of the tease. Stripping is simply about revealing nudity, whereas burlesque is an entertainment art, based around dance, musicality and the art of the tease. For instance, in the time that it would take your average strip-act to have removed the entirety of their clothing, a burlesque performer may have only just finished peeling off her satin glove, before sashaying off-stage with a wink. Despite the fact that every audience member has their bare hands on display for all to see, the tension built up by the tease, the anticipation of catching a glimpse of her naked wrist, her palm, her fingers, mean every audience member is spellbound!

Burlesque also evolved alongside vaudeville and cabaret, so it has an entertainment focus that is missing in stripping. Burlesque is often light-hearted, involving comedy, parody or theatrical elements. And of course, modern burlesque celebrates real women with real bodies. If you’re looking for fake tan and plastic perfection, go to a strip club. If you’re looking for vintage glamour, sophistication, spectacular entertainment and a little bit of fantasy, see a burlesque show!

Photo: Dixie Evans

Sally Rand feather fan dance video:

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.