SALLY RAND, FAN-TASTIC STRIPPER.

When I talk about using celebrity for the shock of their seeming irrelevance to a product, a real knockout was a testimonial for stockbrokers Edwards & Hanly from a burlesque queen. I coveted Sally Rand as the performer because her signature act involved her waving two gigantic feathered fans, shifting adroitly to give her audience a fluttering peek at her monumental nude body. Sally, the best-built grandma ever, stood center stage at the shoot, selling her heart out, as the crew and I stared in worshipful admiration. At the end of the spot, when Sally’s fans come to rest, a voiceover delivers the punch line: Edwards & Hanly, fan-tastic brokers! In 1967, ultra-traditional Wall Street, that straight-arrow, starched-collar, scaredy-cat business, was shocked out of its communications coma when the great Sally Rand, fans and all, was seen on television, delivering a testimonial to the rhythm of shifting feathers.