Doris Eaton Travis

Biography

Doris Eaton Travis (March 14, 1904 – May 11, 2010) was an American dancer, stage and film actress, dance instructor, owner and manager, writer, and rancher, who was the last surviving Ziegfeld Girl, a troupe of acclaimed chorus girls who performed as members in the Broadway theatrical revues of the Ziegfeld Follies. She began performing onstage as a young child, and along with her siblings, she was one of The Seven Little Eatons, an extended family of show-business performers. She made her Broadway debut in stage production at age 13, and a year later she was cast as a member of the famed Ziegfeld Follies—the youngest ever cast in the show. She continued to perform in stage productions and silent films in the 1920s and early 1930s. When her career in stage and screen declined, Travis started a second career as a dance instructor for the Arthur Murray Studios and was a local television personality in Detroit. Her association with Arthur Murray lasted for three decades, during which time she rose through the ranks to own and manage a chain of nearly twenty schools. After retiring from her career with Arthur Murray, she managed a horse ranch with her husband and returned to school, eventually earning several degrees. Travis was featured in several books and documentaries about the Ziegfeld Follies years, and her other stage endeavours. Travis also returned to the stage as a featured performer in benefit performances. She died at the age of 106 in 2010, a month after her last performance.

== Early life ==

She was one of seven children born to Mary (née Saunders) and Charles H. Eaton in Norfolk, Virginia. She was raised as a Christian Scientist and remained a practitioner for the rest of her life. At the age of four, Travis began attending dance lessons in Washington, D.C., along with her sisters Mary and Pearl Eaton. In 1911, all three sisters were hired for a production of Maurice Maeterlinck's fantasy play The Blue Bird at the Belasco Theatre in Washington, D.C. While Travis had a minor role in the show, as a sleeping child in the "Palace of Night" scene, it marked the beginning of her career in professional theatre.

== Career ==

=== Theatre === After The Blue Bird, in 1912, the three Eaton sisters and their younger brother Joe began appearing in plays and melodramas for the Poli Stock Company. They quickly gained reputations as professional, reliable, and versatile actors, and were rarely out of work. In 1915, all three sisters appeared in a new production of The Blue Bird for Poli. Doris and Mary were given the starring roles of Mytyl and Tyltyl. The siblings were subsequently invited to reprise their roles for a New York and road tour of the play, produced by the Shubert Brothers. When the show closed, Doris and her brother Charles, who had followed his four siblings into show business, resumed their work with Poli and appeared together in their first Broadway show, Mother Carey's Chickens at the Cort Theatre. The entire Eaton family relocated to New York City, where the children pursued their careers in stage projects.

=== Ziegfeld Follies ===

By 1918, Pearl Eaton had become a dancer and assistant to the director with the Ziegfeld Follies. The Follies were a series of elaborate musical revues on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931. Inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris, the Follies were conceived and produced by Florenz Ziegfeld. When Travis accompanied Pearl to a rehearsal, dance supervisor Ned Wayburn spotted her and hired her for a role in the summer touring company of the 1918 Follies. The day she finished the eighth grade, Travis began rehearsals to become a Ziegfeld Girl in the Follies. To circumvent child labour laws and the attention of the Gerry Society, she performed under the stage names "Doris Levant" (her young niece's name) and "Lucille Levant". As soon as she turned sixteen, she began using her real name again. Wayburn was one of only a few people who were aware of her true age, and arranged for her mother to accompany her on the Follies tour as a paid member of the company. Travis was associated with Ziegfeld for several years, appearing in the 1918, 1919, and 1920 editions of the Ziegfeld Follies and the 1919 Midnight Frolics. She was the understudy to star Marilyn Miller. Travis was not the only member of the Eaton family to prosper in the show: by 1922, siblings Mary, Pearl, Doris, Joe, and ten-year-old Charles had all performed in one edition of the Follies or another. Her last appearance with the Follies was in the 1920 edition.

=== Film === Travis made her motion picture debut at the age of 17 in the 1921 romantic drama At the Stage Door, opposite silent film star Billie Dove. Her career flourished in the 1920s and early 1930s. She appeared in a number of additional silent films, including Tell Your Children with director Donald Crisp in England and Egypt. She performed in five different Broadway shows. She danced in the Hollywood Music Box Revue and the Gorham Follies in Los Angeles and the Hollywood Club in New York. While in the Hollywood Music Box Revue, Travis debuted two important songs, both composed by Nacio Herb Brown: "Singin' in the Rain" and "The Doll Dance". Travis was the lyricist for The Doll Dance, but did not receive due credit. In 1929, she appeared in The Very Idea, which has been shown on cable. At the age of 18, she married Joe Gorham, producer of the Gorham Follies. The union lasted for six months, ending when Gorham died of a heart attack.