
Never actually baring quite all, Sally Rand was noted for saying, “the Rand is quicker than the eye.” Sally Randġ946 found Miss Rand back in court, charged with indecent exposure, corrupting the morals of an audience, and conducting an obscene show. David dismissed the case, noting that, “Some people would want to put pants on a horse…if a woman wiggles about with a fan, it is not the business of this court.” The incident’s publicity made her a burlesque sensation, her weekly pay escalating from $125 to $3,000 in a single summer. Thus began her arrest record, with a total of four arrests in a single day! Though Rand was charged with lewd conduct, Superior Court Judge Joseph B. In 1933, at the Chicago World’s Fair, she not only wielded her fans wearing nothing but Max Factor body paint, but also appeared as Lady Godiva, riding a white horse, apparently nude. Sally Randīorn Harriet Helen Gould Beck, Sally Rand was a teenage runaway, circus performer, cigarette girl, model, dancer, stage actress, and silent film star before she ever picked up a pair of ostrich feather fans. Many a famous burlesque performer has come under the scrutiny of the law here we shall spotlight fan dancing pioneer, Sally Rand, and 20 th century sex icon, Mae West. As performers pushed the envelope further and further, policing agencies and government lobbyists went tit for tat trying to pass new laws of censorship and to enforce a moral code.
SALLY RAND SERIES
When she came back and said there were just too damn many for one article, I thought- even better! What better way to kick off a new monthly series than with the delicious Mae West & the legendary Sally Rand.īurlesque house raids are as infamous as those of speakeasies during prohibition, sometimes being one and the same.

Editors note: When Femme came up with the idea to do an article on burlesque arrests, I thought it was fabulous.
