Do You See What I See?

Book Excerpt: Sally Rand

Sally Rand was a high school classmate of my mother's. As a struggling dancer, she told my mom that she would do anything to finally get a break. And my mother said, "I can help you do that." So she arranged for the former Helen Gould to permanently become the more sprightly Sally Rand. And Sally agreed to my mother's plan for her to appear as Lady Godiva at the forthcoming Art Students League Ball at the Edgewater Beach Hotel. Naturally, Lady Godiva (like her tenth-century namesake) would make her appearance by riding down Michigan Boulevard wearing only a long blond wig on a rented white horse—right into the ballroom, or as far as she could get. Of course, as planned, Sally was arrested. Her intrepid press agent—my mother—blithely told all the papers that Sally would be opening the next day as a fan dancer at The Streets of Paris show at the Chicago World's Fair.

The following day, I am told that there were ten thousand people waiting in line at the Streets of Paris. Sally was sprung from jail, and her career was made. Nothing has to be true it just has to seem true. The whole event was created out of my mother's desire, energy, and intentionality. That was my mother at her best.