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Barefoot to the Chin - The Fantastic Life of Sally Rand
by Jim Lowe
Hardcover : 820 pages
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Introduction
"In addition to being a very detailed biography of its subject, it is simultaneously a wonderfully readable history of the era's popular culture." - John Greenya, Washington Times. This definitive biography, which includes 100 pictures, is based on exclusive access to Sally's voluminous filing cabinets and scrapbooks. Once the most talked about woman in America, now, nearly 40 years after her passing, her story, in all its warts and wonders, is finally being told. Remembered primarily as a "fan dancer,"there was so much more to this extraordinary woman. She plowed her way through life with an exuberance and determination matched by few. As a young girl, she sat on the lap of Teddy Roosevelt and dated Casey Stengel. Following her success at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, she performed for more than four decades, flashing her seemingly nude body on stages from coast to coast. But her fan dance is only part of the story. Sally was a gritty and determined woman who time after time astonished others with her wit and intellect, doing things her way at a time when women were not expected to compete with men. Her fame inspired many others who wished to cash in on her popularity, foremost among them the "original" fan dancer Faith Bacon. Born in 1904, Sally's career spanned vaudeville, silent films, talkies, the carnival circuit, radio, television and live theater, from summer stock to Broadway, as well as extended runs as a headliner in Las Vegas. In demand as a public speaker, she even addressed the freshman class at Harvard on more than one occasion. Married and divorced three times and a single mother at 44, Sally was irrepressible. She made millions yet went bankrupt more than once. Arrested or sued on a regular basis, she persevered, working 40 weeks a year for 40 years. Once proclaimed by Cecil B. DeMille as the most beautiful girl in America, her amazing story, long lost in the fog of history is now available to one and all.
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