Muriel Gardner is another one of those elusive, forgotten performers of the past. Described as a “blond easy to look at” and “one of the finest dancers west of Chicago,” Gardner’s film work was sparse; however, she was employed by Fanchon & Marco quite often in the late 1920s through the early 1930s as a performer […]
“Meet every obstacle with a smile. Oh, yes, it can be done. There have been times in my life when I didn’t laugh – when I felt I had the weight of the world on my shoulders, and as a result I have had to go to bed and receive medical aid. But that time […]
“Offers to come to Hollywood have been many. But I always refused unless I could play an important dramatic role. I did not wish to be just the dancer in a picture.” — Tilly Losch, pictured here in 1929 while in Great Britain.
“I like pictures better. It was different when we first started in. Then it was a novelty. Now debutantes and grandmothers are rivals in learning new steps, and all enjoy dancing themselves more than watching other people do it.” — Irene Castle Source: Nance Monde (1917) Like the photo above? Purchase your Fine Art America […]
“My Salome costume seems to me far more decent than those directoire dresses, or the bathing garments worn by respectable women – who have no intention of bathing in them – on the beach. And I am sure, quite sure, it is more decent than some of the gowns worn in opera houses. I feel […]
“I’d like to correct one impression created by the pictures generally taken of me. I really do have and do wear clothes.” — Gilda Gray Source: Wayne Weishaar (1926) Photo: Aloma of the South Seas (1926) Photos: Charles Sheldon “Fortunate to have blonde hair? Yes, I suppose I am but I can’t understand […]
The lives of few entertainers have ever matched that of actress/dancer/vaudevillian Valdeo Lord Parker and her mother, Maude. Both performed under many aliases throughout their lives, which requires a lot of reading between the lines to understand who they were and what happened to them. According to U.S. Census records, Valdeo was born in Lincoln, […]
“It’s really amazing. I couldn’t act. I had that terrible singing voice, and now I can see I wasn’t the greatest tap dancer in the world, either.” — Ruby Keeler “Dancing in speakeasies was a job, and none of us knew for sure who were gangsters. No one told us, so how could we […]
“One does not grab an intricate and complicated dance number out of thin air. It sometimes takes months of work, practicing and planning. I must first have the music to be used. When you hear an Irving Berlin song, you know that the words could not conceivably fit any other music. My dances must be […]
The first thing [Columbia Pictures] demanded was that I change my name, but I reminded them that Murphy was a fine old Irish name when Hollywood was a grazing ground for deer and told them to go to the devil. Murphy I was born and Murphy I remain. The Irish are like that!” — George […]