Doris Eaton Travis

Here are two famous songs performed by the great Fred Astaire, chosen to illustrate the beauty of another legendary dancer, Doris Eaton Travis, the "Century Girl", who passed in 2010, at the age of 106 years!
Doris Eaton Travis was a Broadway and film performer, dance instructor, and author. She was also the last surviving Ziegfeld girl. She began performing onstage as a young child, and made her Broadway debut at the age of 13. A year later, in 1918, she joined the famed Ziegfeld follies as the youngest Ziegfeld girl ever cast in the show. She continued to perform in stage productions and silent films throughout the 1920s and early 1930s. As of 2010, she was one of the last surviving non-child actors who appeared in silent films. When her career in stage and screen declined, she started a second career as an Arthur Murray dance instructor and 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 20 schools. After retiring from her career with Arthur Murray, she went on to manage a horse ranch with her husband and returned to school, eventually earning several degrees. In 1992, aged 88, Eaton Travis graduated cum laude from the University of Oklahoma. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oakland University in 2004 at the age of 100. In recent years, Doris Eaton Travis had returned to the public eye. As the last surviving Ziegfeld girl, she was been featured in several books and documentaries about the Ziegfeld follies and her other stage endeavors. In 1999 she made her first film appearance in over sixty-five years with a small role in Man on the moon with Jim Carrey. Her last public appearance was the opening of the 2010 Easter Bonnet show on April 27, 2010.
Her most memorable events include:
1913 - on stage performance in front of President Woodrow Wilson,
1918-1923 - she starred with Fred Astaire,
1929 - she was the first theatrical actress to perform Singin' in the rain
1950 - she had her own television show.
Here she is dancing to her 1919 dance number on her 101st birthday!
Enjoy Doris Eaton Travis' artistry and beauty!