In anticipation of our upcoming exhibition Dressed in History: A Costume Collection Retrospective, CHM costume collection manager Jessica Pushor shares about Sally Rand and a pair of her fans that will be on display.

Born Helen Gould Beck in Missouri, Sally Rand (1904–79) got her start as a chorus girl before working as an acrobat and traveling theater performer. Her career spanned more than forty years, appearing on stage, screen, and television.

Studio portrait of Sally Rand posing with her feather fans, San Francisco, c. 1933. CHM, ICHi-183610, Romaine Photography, photographer

Sally Rand arrived in Chicago in 1933 and began her infamous fan dance at the Streets of Paris Cafe de la Paix stage at the A Century of Progress International Exposition, accompanied by her backing orchestra, directed by Art Frasik. This dance was performed to Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune,” with a run time anywhere between five and eight minutes. Rand would play peek-a-boo with her body by manipulating her fans in front and behind her. In a Chicago Tribune article from July 25, 1933, she describes how she fools the audience: “After hours of practice before a mirror I learned how to manipulate the fans so that the spectators would think they were seeing something when they really were not. The routine was evolved after I was asked to dance as nearly nude as possible at one of Chicago’s better known clubs.”(1)

A crowd listens to a barker on a small stage in the Streets of Paris at the A Century of Progress International Exposition, Chicago, September 1934. CHM, ICHi-167341; O. L. Cook, photographer

Within two months of the world’s fair opening, the fan dance came under the scrutiny of local authorities and was soon characterized as lewd and lascivious. Rand was arrested four times in a single day—on August 4, 1933—after every performance of her fan dance at the Chicago Theatre on charges of putting on an indecent exhibition.(2) Rand made a concession after her arrests and coated herself with body paint, which satisfied the authorities and allowed her to continue performing the fan dance.(3)

Left: News coverage of Sally Rand the day before she was arrested four times in one day, Chicago Daily News, August 3, 1933, p. 31. Right: One way Rand appeased authorities was by wearing a dress, Chicago Daily News, August 7, 1933, p. 4.

On September 23, 1933, Sally Rand was convicted of willfully performing an obscene and indecent dance in a public place. She was sentenced to one year in county jail and fined $200. Even after the conviction, Rand was still allowed to perform, and it is estimated that at least 2 million people saw her dance at the world’s fair, making the Streets of Paris one of the most profitable concessions at the fair. The following year, in November 1934, her conviction was overturned.

In 1943, the Chicago History Museum, then the Chicago Historical Society (CHS), arranged for the donation of Rand’s feather fans, with a press release announcing the new acquisition. But before Rand’s scheduled appearance at CHS, there was an emergency Board of Trustees meeting, and CHS president Joseph M. Cudahy released this statement to the press: “The board feels that the fans used by Miss Sally Rand at a Century of Progress are not relative to the World’s Columbian Exposition material now on exhibition and does not believe they have sufficient historical interest to warrant their acceptance by the Museum.”(4)

In 1966, CHS contacted Sally Rand, who by then was the featured performer at Mangam’s Chateau, a hip restaurant and nightclub in Lyons, Illinois, that featured big names in comedy, singers, and other variety acts. CHS asked Rand if she would donate her feather fans, and she happily obliged. Then-CHS president Clement Silvestro said they were accepting the fans into the collection because “The fans made history, they represent a phase of American life.”(5)

Fans, c. 1966. Ostrich feathers, plastic, wood. Maybelle Shearer, Chicago. Gift of Miss Sally Rand. 1966.398a-b. CHM, ICHi-186021

The fans that Sally Rand donated to CHS in 1966 are not the original ones she used in 1933–34. They are very similar to those fans but were purchased by Rand in 1966 and were used during her appearance at the Mangam’s Chateau, where she performed the same fan dance that launched her to fame some 30 years prior.

Sally Rand stands atop the Great Chicago Fire relic at the Chicago Historical Society, August 30, 1966. ST-90004010-0033, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

When Rand came to the Museum to donate the fans, she climbed atop the molten metal relic salvaged from the Great Chicago Fire (which to this day still sits outside the Museum) and swirled her feather fans around her, much to the delight of the newspaper reporters and photographers in attendance. When asked if she was actually nude behind those fans back in 1933, she replied, “The Rand is quicker than the eye.”

You can see Sally Rand’s fans on display in our exhibition Dressed in History: A Costume Collection Retrospective, open October 19, 2024, through July 27, 2025.

Additional Resources

• See more images of Sally Rand in our collection
• Listen to Sally Rand talk to Studs Terkel about the creation of her signature fan dance (0:33)
• Purchase the Dressed in History: A Costume Collection Retrospective exhibition catalogue

Footnotes

1. “A FAN DANCER TELLS HOW SHE FOOLS THE BOYS: IT REQUIRES PRACTICE, SALLY SAYS.” Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963), Jul 25, 1933, 5. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/fan-dancer-tells-how-she-fools-boys/docview/181449001/se-2
2. “Sally Dances in Loop; Arrest Her 4 Times.” Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963),  August 5, 1933. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/sally-dances-loop-arrest-her-4-times/docview/181401483/se-2
3. Virginia Gardner, “Sally Listens to Judges, then Wraps Herself in Coat of Paint.” Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963), August 6, 1933, 3. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/sally-listens-judges-then-wraps-herself-coat/docview/181440393/se-2
4. Daily Times, May 10, 1943, 73. NewsBank: Selected America’s Historical Newspapers , https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=EANX-NB&req_dat=0D99702A94485B8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Aimage%252Fv2%253A176820A8B9EC1C11%2540EANX-NB-
5. Sheila Wolfe. “Sally Rand’s Fans make it into Museum.” Chicago Tribune (1963-1996), August 31, 1966. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/sally-rands-fans-make-into-museum/docview/179030860/se-2
6. Chicago Sun-Times, September 4, 1966, 27. NewsBank: Selected America’s Historical Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=EANX-NB&docref=image/v2%3A1443FD2E0D78767F%40EANX-NB-170C06B6964EAFB1%402439373-1707542CD2EC2676%4026-1707542CD2EC2676%40