Offstage, she was a dumpy little frump of a Midwestern girl who lived openly with her mother and her female lover. Onstage, she was “la fée éléctricité,” who manipulated with sewn-in rods a gown made of massive lengths of white silk to create natural images and fantastical shapes under rotating colored spotlights — an act that made her a huge celebrity for decades. – The Public Domain Review