This 1925 press photo of a seemingly “wholesome” young actress making use of an innovative radio/dance floor gives an early look at Sally Rand, a performer whose career would shift greatly with the advent of sound films.

Discovered and renamed by Cecil B. Demille, Sally Rand was a stage and screen actress in the 1920s, but transitioned to a straight dancing career in the 1930s. She became famous, or rather infamous, for her provocative Fan Dance and Bubble Dance. Her most well-known performance of the Fan Dance was at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, where she was arrested four separate times within a single day on charges of indecency. 

To judge her performance yourself, you can view this footage of her performance at that very event in this video, shared on YouTube by the Travel Film Archives.

(credit: American Theatre Architecture Archive, Theatre Historical Society of America)