Doris Eaton Travis, the last surviving Ziegfeld Girl and one of the last surviving women to have appeared in the silent movies of the 1920s, died on May 11, 2010, at age 106.
The lights of Broadway were dimmed on the day she died, in her honor.
Since her death, a number of nostalgic photo collections, videos, and biographies have been published that provide an interesting and colorful view of her life as a Jazz Age flapper. Notably, she was the subject of the 2006 photo-montage book Century Girl, by Lauren Redniss, whose work was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize .
Biography
Doris Eaton was born March 14, 1904 in Norfolk, VA, to Charles and Mary Eaton. She grew up in Washington, D.C.
Doris was part of a family act, " The Seven Little Eatons," and she made her first public appearance at age 5 in "The Cupid Dance." She, her brothers and her sisters also appeared in the 1911 premiere of Maurice Maeterlink's symbolist play The Bluebird.
At age 14 Doris lied about her age to become one of the very youngest additions to the Ziegfeld Follies of 1918.
Florence Ziegfeld modelled his chorus girl show on the famous Folies Bergere of Paris. Between 1907 and 1931, Ziegfeld selected the most beautiful women in New York and put them on stage each year in lavish new productions that wowed the fashion crowd.
Doris had just completed the eighth grade when she joined the show's summer 1918 tour.
A hit, she also appeared in the Follies of 1919 and 1920. A nice two-minute video photo album of Doris modelling in her fashionable costumes may be found on YouTube under the title Loveable Doris Eaton.
Her Ziegfeld Photos
Still photos of Doris on the Art Deco sets of the Follies in the early1920s may be found at several websites that specialize in Broadway nostalgia.
Searchable webpages with vintage photos of Doris include:
- Doris Eaton Travis Fan Page
- Broadway Cares Doris Eaton Travis Page
- Ziegfeld Follies and
- Historical Ziegfeld
Film Career
Doris married in 1923, and made a successful transition into silent movies. She appeared with Billie Dove in At the Stage Door (1921), held roles in such 1920s hits as High Kicking and ended her 11-movie career with Reckless Decision (1933), a talkie in which she plays the lead.
A brilliant four-minute video summary of her entire career may be found on YouTube under the title 1920's Flapper Doris Eaton. The clip contains an outtake of Doris' solo in Street Girl (1929).
Another interesting video, titled Ziegfeld Follies Girls "Tribute to Doris Eaton" showcases Follies Girls from three decades in the the elegant costumes and high fashions of the period.
For her full filmography, see her profile on the Internet Movie Database, One may also find a summary of the Broadway plays in which she appeared at the Internet Broadway Database.
Later Life
When the Great Depression hit, Doris and many other actors found themselves in desperate straits. She managed to survive by signing on with the Arthur Murray Dance studios, working 12-hour days.
Eventually she moved to Detroit, opened the first Arthur Murray studio there, and through hard work became the manager of more than 18 dance schools.
Her talent on the dance floor also made her a hit in Detroit's social circles, where she shocked Henry Ford II with her rumba and met her next husband, Paul Travis, the owner of a million-dollar patent on a new kind of door jamb for cars.
After the end of her dance studio career in 1968, the couple moved to Norman, Oklahoma, where Doris led a fairly comfortable life raising quarter horses on an 880-acre ranch.
In the 1970s, Mrs. Travis completed her high school degree, which had been somewhat delayed. She began taking courses at the University of Oklahoma and in 1988, at the age of 84, received her B.A., graduating with honors, Phi Beta Kappa.
In 1998 Doris had a cameo role in the comedy biopic Man on the Moon, and between 1998 and 2010 she returned each Spring to Flo Ziegfeld's old theatre in New York, the New Amsterdam Theatre, to participate in the annual Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competition.
At age 101, she gave a demonstration of a 1920s tap dance, and at age 106 she gave her final 2010 speech to the Broadway Cares crowd (surrounded by bohunks without shirts!) -- a goodbye that touched many.
Memoirs and Obituary
- Doris published her memoirs in 2003 under the title The Days We Danced.
- The New York Times summarized the story of her extraordinary life as a special feature in its Dance section.
- She died on May 11, which by coincidence is the birthday of Irving Berlin, who wrote Florence Ziegfeld's theme song, "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody."
Sources
- Martin, Douglas. "Doris E. Travis, Last of the Ziegfeld Girls, Dies at 106" New York Times, May 12, 2010
- Redniss, Lauren. Century Girl: 100 Years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis, Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies (New York: Regan / Harper Collins, 2006)
- Travis, Doris Eaton and J.R. Morris. Days We Danced: The Story of My Theatrical Family from Florenz Ziegfeld to Arthur Murray (University of Oklahoma Press, 2003)
