necking.”
Miss Marsh smiled.
“She is the society type,” said Mr. Burger. “Yes,” said Miss Marsh.
She said that recently she saved up some money and decided to come to New York City and go on the stage.
“I had this idea about reversing the strip-tease,”she said, “and people told me I was crazy. Then I heard about Mr. Burger, and I decided he must have the same kind of mind I have. I went to see him and I found he had.”
“Great minds run in the same channel,” said Mr. Burger, flicking some cigarette ashes out of the white carnation in the lapel of his overcoat.
3. T ANYA
At one time or another I have talked with several of the lovely young women who hope to become the Sally Rand of the New York World’s Fair of 1939 and I know how ambitious they are. I hope none of them felt thwarted when they read that Mr. Grover A. Whalen had decided to ban “all amusements of the fan-dance type” from the Fair’s 280-acre Midway. I hope they will pay no attention to Mr. Whalen and will keep right on trying to invent a new dance, something to take the place of those exposition favorites—the muscle dance, the hootchy-kootchy, the fan dance, the butterfly dance, the bubble or balloon dance, and the swan dance, all of which are rather old-fashioned now.
Mr. Whalen is president of the New York World’s Fair Corporation and it is only natural that he should want to ban such artistry, but it surprised me when he took the bit in his teeth and also banned that good sound American word “Midway.” He appears toprefer the pompous phrase “Amusement Area.” Speaking about the carnival section of the Fair, Mr. Whalen said, “It has been definitely decided not to call it a “Midway.” The word seems to have a connotation of evil to Mr. Whalen, although every state and county fair, and nearly every amusement park, has a Midway and the word is recognized in the dictionaries. I don’t believe Mr. Whalen’s ban on “amusements of the fan-dance type” will be enforced; in fact, I believe the Flushing Meadows will practically crawl with nude wrigglers of one sort or another in 1939. I also believe that most visitors to the Fair will call the carnival section the Midway; the headline-writers on the newspapers will see to that.
Mr. Whalen’s outburst of euphemism is unusual, but his decision to ban wriggle dancers is not. The making of this decision is one of the routine duties of exposition executives. Mr. Rufus C. Dawes made the decision when the Century of Progress Exposition was being planned in Chicago in 1929. Mr. Dawes was the president, and he said, “No entertainment of the Little Egypt type will be permitted at the Exposition.” Mr. Dawes is probably sitting somewhere at this moment staring at a ceiling and mumbling those words over to himself, dully; by the time his Exposition was dismantled, Sally Rand was a national figure, and there still are millions of Americans who have never even heard of Mr. Rufus C. Dawes.Mr. Whalen practically duplicated the Dawes decision. He said, “No entertainment of the Sally Rand type will be permitted at the Fair.” After the Fair gets under way, Mr. Whalen will certainly be surprised when the newspapers start paying more attention to the inevitable nude wriggler than they do to him, or even to George Washington, whose inaugural as the first President of the United States the Fair is supposed to commemorate. Mr. Whalen is an idealist and he thinks his trylon and his perisphere are more important than sideshows. He can’t be blamed for hoping that visitors will be less interested in the Midway dancers than in such educational exhibits as “The Arts and the Basic Industries.” Exactly the reverse of this, however, has been the traditional fate of American expositions, and there is no reason the New York World’s Fair of 1939 should escape.
I don’t really believe many people will take Mr. Whalen seriously. I know a girl who is all prepared to become the Sally Rand
Miss Marsh smiled.
“She is the society type,” said Mr. Burger. “Yes,” said Miss Marsh.
She said that recently she saved up some money and decided to come to New York City and go on the stage.
“I had this idea about reversing the strip-tease,”she said, “and people told me I was crazy. Then I heard about Mr. Burger, and I decided he must have the same kind of mind I have. I went to see him and I found he had.”
“Great minds run in the same channel,” said Mr. Burger, flicking some cigarette ashes out of the white carnation in the lapel of his overcoat.
3. T ANYA
At one time or another I have talked with several of the lovely young women who hope to become the Sally Rand of the New York World’s Fair of 1939 and I know how ambitious they are. I hope none of them felt thwarted when they read that Mr. Grover A. Whalen had decided to ban “all amusements of the fan-dance type” from the Fair’s 280-acre Midway. I hope they will pay no attention to Mr. Whalen and will keep right on trying to invent a new dance, something to take the place of those exposition favorites—the muscle dance, the hootchy-kootchy, the fan dance, the butterfly dance, the bubble or balloon dance, and the swan dance, all of which are rather old-fashioned now.
Mr. Whalen is president of the New York World’s Fair Corporation and it is only natural that he should want to ban such artistry, but it surprised me when he took the bit in his teeth and also banned that good sound American word “Midway.” He appears toprefer the pompous phrase “Amusement Area.” Speaking about the carnival section of the Fair, Mr. Whalen said, “It has been definitely decided not to call it a “Midway.” The word seems to have a connotation of evil to Mr. Whalen, although every state and county fair, and nearly every amusement park, has a Midway and the word is recognized in the dictionaries. I don’t believe Mr. Whalen’s ban on “amusements of the fan-dance type” will be enforced; in fact, I believe the Flushing Meadows will practically crawl with nude wrigglers of one sort or another in 1939. I also believe that most visitors to the Fair will call the carnival section the Midway; the headline-writers on the newspapers will see to that.
Mr. Whalen’s outburst of euphemism is unusual, but his decision to ban wriggle dancers is not. The making of this decision is one of the routine duties of exposition executives. Mr. Rufus C. Dawes made the decision when the Century of Progress Exposition was being planned in Chicago in 1929. Mr. Dawes was the president, and he said, “No entertainment of the Little Egypt type will be permitted at the Exposition.” Mr. Dawes is probably sitting somewhere at this moment staring at a ceiling and mumbling those words over to himself, dully; by the time his Exposition was dismantled, Sally Rand was a national figure, and there still are millions of Americans who have never even heard of Mr. Rufus C. Dawes.Mr. Whalen practically duplicated the Dawes decision. He said, “No entertainment of the Sally Rand type will be permitted at the Fair.” After the Fair gets under way, Mr. Whalen will certainly be surprised when the newspapers start paying more attention to the inevitable nude wriggler than they do to him, or even to George Washington, whose inaugural as the first President of the United States the Fair is supposed to commemorate. Mr. Whalen is an idealist and he thinks his trylon and his perisphere are more important than sideshows. He can’t be blamed for hoping that visitors will be less interested in the Midway dancers than in such educational exhibits as “The Arts and the Basic Industries.” Exactly the reverse of this, however, has been the traditional fate of American expositions, and there is no reason the New York World’s Fair of 1939 should escape.
I don’t really believe many people will take Mr. Whalen seriously. I know a girl who is all prepared to become the Sally Rand
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