This is a rare program (playbill) from the one-night, benefit performance of Dancer PAUL SWAN in aid of Chicago's Babies' Free Milk Fund on Sunday, May 25th, 1919 at the Palace Theater in Chicago, Illinois. Swan's dances included "The Greek Phantasy" with music by Chaminade, "The Sea" An Impression with music by Rachmaninoff, "To Heroes Slain" with music by Grieg, "Narcissus" with music by Kreisler and "The Sphinx" with music by Caesar Qui ..... Biographical note: PAUL SPENCER SWAN (June 5th, 1883 – February 1st, 1972) was an American painter, sculptor, dancer, poet and actor. Once billed as "The Most Beautiful Man in the World," Swan has come to be looked on as a "Gay Camp Icon". Paul Swan was born in Ashland, Illinois in 1883. He and his family moved to Crab Orchard, Nebraska when he was 6 years-old. His mother's religious convictions were disturbed by her son's "strange quirks" such as the elaborate theater productions he made with his sisters' dolls. Of his Nebraska home, Swan said in 1917 "My people are very orthodox and do not believe in the life I have chosen. They believe it wrong to cultivate personal charm." As a teenager, Swan moved around various cities in the Midwestern United States. He tended to be rejected for his unconventional behavior and gender nonconformity, so he cultivated friendships with artists and LGBT figures in the area, including Willa Cather. In 1906 he was able to move to New York where he got a job with "Dilineator" Magazine drawing ladies hats. In 1910 Swan saw Russian actress Alla Nazimova perform in Ibsen’s play "Little Eyolf" in Albany, New York. He was inspired to paint her life-sized portrait and sent it to her as a gift. She was so pleased that she commissioned Swan to paint four additional portraits. He used the money from the commission to travel to Egypt and Greece. In Greece he began his career as a dancer. Swan married Helen Palmer Gavit, granddaughter of sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer, in 1911 or 1912. They had two daughters. Though Swan had a number of other lovers in his life, both men and women, he stayed close with his wife until her death in 1951. The aesthetic, Greek-inspired art and dance styles that Swan learned during this time would remain little changed throughout his life. Swan would reject what he called "all the weird-isms" of "cubism, futurism, post-impressionism." This classical style was falling out of fashion even at the time that Swan was learning it. His decades of persistence with the outdated style would lead to his eventual perception as camp. However, the eroticism of Swan's near-nude performances was shocking and innovative for the time. A journalist described the reaction of Paris audiences to shows that Swan starred in: "even this gay city has been shocked really and truly by the prevailing cult of nakedness, whose expositions grow more and more daring." Swan described himself in 1915 as "the only man in the world who has the courage to take off his clothes and dance." "What he was doing would make him liable to be in prison," observed Swan biographer Richard Londraville. "He was able to walk through the world much more freely than most homosexuals would at the time. He was very lucky to have a wife that he could fall back on." Swan became a friend and possibly lover to Isadora Duncan, a pioneer of modern dance. He painted Duncan's portrait in 1922. His training as a dancer translated to a career as a silent film actor. He appeared in the 1923 film "The Ten Commandments" by Cecil B. DeMille, and in other films of the silent era. Swan moved to Paris in the early 1930's. Much of his artwork from this period was lost as a consequence of the Nazi occupation of Paris. His fame in the United States had faded during his time overseas, but the war forced him to return. Swan took up residence at a studio in Carnegie Hall. There he performed weekly dance recitals almost every Sunday evening from 1939 to 1969. Andy Warhol included Swan's dance in "Camp", a 1965 underground film about the camp style. Swan's beauty was referenced in a routine by Fred and Adele Astaire, in which Adele joking scolded Fred "don't think you look like Paul Swan." This comedic line was reused in the 1927 song "Funny Face" by George and Ira Gershwin. Swan died in 1972 at age 88 in Bedford Hills, New York. (Wikipedia) ..... DETAILS: The sixteen page playbill measures 5 3/8" X 8 3/4" inches and includes production credits, list of dances with descriptions and a photo of PAUL SWAN as "Narcissus" ..... CONDITION: With the exception of a light vertical crease, minor soiling and moderate edge wear, this rare program is in excellent condition and will make a wonderful addition to the collection of any theatre aficionado or dance historian. This item will be carefully packaged in a protective sleeve and backed by stiff cardboard.