Introduction

Leslie Zemeckis continues to discover the forgotten feminist histories of the golden age of entertainment, turning her sights on the lost stories of Sally Rand and Faith Bacon?icons who each claimed to be the inventor of the notorious fan dance

Some women capture our attention like no others. Faith Bacon and Sally Rand were beautiful blondes from humble backgrounds who shot to fame behind a pair of oversize ostrich fans, but with very different outcomes. Sally Rand would go on to perform for the millions who attended the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, becoming America’s sweetheart. Faith Bacon, the Marilyn Monroe of her time––once anointed the “world's most beautiful woman”––would experience the dark side of fame and slip into drug use.

It was the golden age of American entertainment, and Bacon and Rand fought their way through the competitive showgirl scene of New York with grit and perseverance. They played peek-a-boo with their lives, allowing their audiences to see only slivers of themselves. A hint of a breast? A forbidden love affair? They were both towering figures, goddesses, icons. Until the world started to change. Little is known about who they really were, until now.

Feuding Fan Dancers tells the story of two remarkable women during a tumultuous time in entertainment history. Leslie Zemeckis has pieced together their story and?nearly one hundred years later? both women come alive again.

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Excerpt

Chicago, 1956
It had been a terrible day. A terrible few weeks, months, years if she was honest.
September 26, 1956, was an unseasonably cold day in Chicago with temperatures in the 30s. It was evening and the roommates had been arguing for hours. Money, or rather the lack of it. The slender blonde had just returned from a futile trip home—if one could call it that—begging for money, her roommate would later say. But it wasn’t to her mother that she had pled—and fled—but to an uncertain lover, still married, with a kind heart. He probably gave her a little cash, but not enough. Later, the one thing the roommate said that was true (and God knows there wasn’t much) involved the blonde’s lack of money. The years had caught up to her. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. What did you think of both Sally and Faith’s actions regarding their feud? Did they behave appropriately?

2. What, if anything, do you think could have saved Faith?

3. What about the theme of a girl being only beautiful when she’s told she’s beautiful? And how does this relate to today’s girls?

4. Do you think Sally and/or Faith found freedom and independence in their work? Did it make you think differently about “fan dancers” and possibly society and your perception of someone who dances nude for a living?

5. How did you feel about Faith’s ending? And Sally’s? Did you “like” one character more than the other?

6. Do you have a new perspective on showgirls? What?

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