Fourteen-year-old Ginger Rogers danced circles around the competition at the Baker Hotel in Dallas on Nov. 9, 1925, to win first place in the state Charleston contest.
Virginia Katherine McMath was born in Independence, Missouri – Harry Truman’s hometown – but like most “naturalized” Texans came to the Lone Star State just as soon as she could. In the case of Ginger, a nickname from a cousin who could not pronounce Virginia, it was in 1922 at the age of 11 when she moved to Fort Worth with her mother and stepfather, John Rogers.
Ginger’s mother, a former movie scriptwriter, took a job as theater critic for a Cowtown newspaper. Her daughter’s formal education ended three years later with a six-month Vaudeville contract, top prize for her judge-pleasing rendition of the Charleston.
Three years later, the teenager was half of a song-and-dance act called “Ginger and Pepper” with the first of her five husbands. Her marriage to Edward “Jack Pepper” Culpepper did not survive the year, and the young divorcee resumed her solo career under the protective wing of her savvy mother.
They jumped off the Vaudeville merry-go-round in New York, where Ginger found work singing on the radio. That left her ample time for auditions, and she soon landed a part in the Broadway musical “Top Speed” that opened on Christmas Day 1929.
The talented Texan made such a strong impression on George and Ira Gershwin that the brothers chose her for the leading role in their new musical. In a few whirlwind weeks, “Girl Crazy” made 19-year-old Ginger Rogers the brightest star on Broadway.
Happy as she was with her overnight success on “The Great White Way,” Ginger with her mother’s enthusiastic blessing regarded New York as merely the launch pad for a career in motion pictures. Deciding time was of the essence, they moved to Hollywood at the peak of the promising performer’s stage success.
In a three hectic years, Ginger made one feature film after another (a total of 22) for six different studios. Her selection as one of 15 “Baby Stars” signaled she had officially arrived in Tinsel Town.
Then in 1933, in what proved to be a studio-saving stroke of genius, RKO paired Ginger, all of 22 at the time, with Fred Astaire, 34, for “Flying Down to Rio.” The dream couple danced their way into America’s heart and in the process, to quote a movie historian, “revolutionized the Hollywood musical, introducing dance routines of unprecedented elegance and virtuosity, set to songs specially composed for them by the greatest song composers of the day.”
RKO, as well as its box-office attractions, knew a good thing when they saw it, namely the ticket sales. As a result, eight more Ginger-and-Fred vehicles packed theaters from coast to coast between 1934 and 1939. MGM persuaded the duo to work their magic one last time in their 1949 reunion “The Barkleys of Broadway.”
Astaire had nothing but the highest praise for his beautiful partner. “All the girls I ever danced with thought they couldn’t do it, but of course they could. So they always cried. All except Ginger. No, no, Ginger never cried.”
To that tribute to her toughness, he graciously added, “Ginger was brilliantly effective. She made everything work for her. Actually she made things very fine for the both of us and she deserves most of the credit for our success.”
During the decade between her ninth and final on-screen collaboration with Astaire, Ginger established herself as a dramatic actress of the highest order. Her outstanding title-role performance in Kitty Foyle earned the 1941 Academy Award for Best Actress.
Her Oscar gave Ginger the clout to break out of the studio system, an unprecedented act of rebellion in those days. Once again, Lela Rogers showed she was much more than a parasitic “stage mother” by helping her only child chart an independent course in the shark-infested waters of Hollywood.
By the mid-1950’s, however, Ginger’s big-screen career was coming to a close. Parts for middle-aged actresses were few and far between, and she made only five of her 73 films after 1955.
Determined to prove she was far from over the hill, Ginger returned to the New York stage. She played to rave reviews and packed houses in long-running productions of “Hello, Dolly!” and Mame.
Ginger took the latter musical to London in 1969 to the delight of British playgoers and the queen, who requested a Royal Command Performance. The American icon left 14 months later as the highest paid performer in the history of the West End theater district.
Ginger’s personal life did not measure up to her public accomplishments. She went through five marriages with none lasting more eight years. After showing her final husband the door in 1969, she did not walk down the aisle again.
Ginger Rogers passed away in 1995 at her California home. In her 83 years, the Christian Scientist had never visited a doctor or set foot in a hospital.
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