The Resume

(March 14, 1904-May 11, 2010)
Born in Norfolk, Virginia
Appeared on Broadway in 'Mother Carey's Chickens' (1917), 'No Other Girl' (1924), 'Big Boy' (1925), Excess Baggage' (1927), 'Cross My Heart' (1928) and 'Merrily We Roll Along' (1935)
Member of the Ziegfeld Follies (1918-20)
Appeared in the films 'At the Stage Door' (1921), 'Tell Your Children' (1922), 'The Broadway Peacock' (1922), 'High Kickers' (1923), 'Fashion Follies' (1923), 'Street Girl' (1929) and 'Man in the Moon' (1999)
Wrote the autobiography 'The Days We Danced' (2003)
Was the last surviving Ziegfeld Girl

Why she might be annoying:

She first appeared on stage at age five.
She joined the Ziegfeld Follies at 14, lying about her age and using a pseudonym to evade the child labor laws.
At 18, she married a theater producer twice her age.
She was better known for her longevity than her acting.

Why she might not be annoying:

Her second marriage, to engineer Paul Travis, lasted 51 years until his death.
When acting work dried up, she became a tap instructor for Arthur Murray, eventually owning a chain of 18 studios in Michigan.
At age 88, she graduated cum laude from the University of Oklahoma.
At 94, she returned to Broadway for the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter benefit, became an audience favorite, and returned for over a decade.
Two weeks before her death, she appeared at Broadway Cares and performed a few high kicks, apologizing to the audience that she could no longer do handstands.

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 29]
• Child Stars [1900s and 1910s]
• Film Pioneers [Silent Era]
• Horse Owners
• I Am Vaudeville [M-Z]
• I Attended University of Oklahoma
• I Died in 2010 (Ranked: 106)
• I Have A Well-Rounded Birthday: Born On Pi Day (March 14) (Ranked: 1904)
• I Lied About My Age - I Made Myself Older
• I Lived to 100 (Ranked: 106)
• I Was a Child Star
• I was a Ziegfeld Girl
• Look at Young Me and Old Me
• My Spouse is at Least Ten Years Older than Me
• Nobody Told Me I'm Old
• Profiles 28751-29000 (Ranked: 28948)
• Tap Dancers
• We Celebrated Our Golden Anniversary

Year In Review:

For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2023, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 16.67% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 76.92% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 12 Votes: 58.33% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 15 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 15 Votes: 46.67% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 61 Votes: 36.07% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 257 Votes: 49.81% Annoying