This silent home movie dates to July, 1933 and shows highlights of the Chicago World’s Fair. At :26 a panoramic shot shows the parking lot completely filled with vehicles. At :35 the entrance to the Fair with a Baby Ruth candy bar banner is briefly seen, followed by a pan across the entire fairgrounds. At :55 people are seen entering the venue. At 1:06 the Streets of Paris exhibit is shown. At 1:23 a sign reads “Casbah Des Ouydayas”. At 1:25 the Goodyear blimp soars overhead. At 1:31 Admiral Byrd’s Antarctic ship is seen. At 1:35 is a shot of the skyride.At 1:47 the Midway is shown, and a huge group of people do calisthenics or some other type of display. At 2:24 aerials shot from the Skyride are shown. At 2:39 the Henry Van Porter car slides past. At 2:48 the submarine S-49 is shown at dock. At 3:03 the Goodyear blimp Reliance NC-14A is shown landing. At 3:33, professionally shot footage — possibly from Burton Holmes’ film about the Streets of Paris exhibition — is shown. This includes scantily clad models at 3:41, nude shadow dancing at 4:00, an all-female band at 4:14 including belly dancing or exotic dancing, and at 6:19 fan dancing by the legendary Sally Rand. At 7:53 part of Rand’s secret is revealed … if you still frame you can see her birthday suit (or is it?)
Sally Rand (April 3, 1904 – August 31, 1979) was an American burlesque dancer, vedette and actress, most noted for her ostrich feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance. She also performed under the name Billie Beck.
During the 1920s, she acted on stage and appeared in silent films. Cecil B. DeMille gave her the name Sally Rand, inspired by a Rand McNally atlas. She was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1927.
After the introduction of sound films, she became a dancer, known for the fan dance, which she popularized starting at the Paramount Club, at 15 E. Huron, in Chicago. Her most famous appearance was at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, known as the Century of Progress, accompanied by her backing orchestra, directed by Art Frasik. She would play peek-a-boo with her body by manipulating her fans in front and behind her, like a winged bird as she swooped and twirled on the stage, usually to “Clair de Lune”. She was arrested four times in a single day during the fair due to perceived indecent exposure after a fan dance performance and while riding a white horse down the streets of Chicago, where the nudity was only an illusion, and again after being bodypainted by Max Factor, Sr. with his new makeup formulated for Hollywood films. She also conceived and developed the bubble dance, in part to cope with wind while performing outdoors. She performed the fan dance on film in Bolero, released in 1934.
The Chicago World’s Fair reported 22 million paid admissions, and two million attributed to Streets of Paris.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
