Eddie Foy, Jr.
surrounded by "factory girls" in The Pajama Game.
Eddie was part of his family's Vaudeville act,
one of Seven Little Foys, led by his dad, Eddie, Sr.
Born in 1905,
Eddie debuting in Flo Ziegfeld's Show Girl,
with Jimmy Durante in 1929.
With Reta Shaw at the recording of The Pajama Game.
Eddie portrayed his dad (whom he closely resembled)
in several movies, including Yankee Doodle Dandy, below,
with Jimmy Cagney.
Two versions of the Seven Little Foys:
On top...as portrayed by Bob Hope (right) in the 1955 movie.
On the bottom...the real thing: From the right,
Irving, Richard, Madeline, Mary, Eddie Jr., Charles, Bryan,
and in the skirt (!) Eddie Sr.
They performed as a group between 1911 and 1913,
tho Eddie Sr. would perform until his death in 1971.
Several of the kids would go on to perform or produce,
but Eddie Jr. surpassed them all,
with stage, screen and television credits.
Carol Channing hails from Seattle
(yes, she's alive and well, at age 95!),
and her first Broadway success came at 19,
in Marc Blitzstein's No For An Answer.
From there she step-stoned to Lend An Ear
(when she understudied Eve Arden)...
finally to be "discovered" by Anita Loos
(author of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)
A few strands/strains of "Diamonds" and New York fell in love!
Hello Dolly!
made Carol a "household name"...
and an Tony award winner for Best Actress.
With her help, Dolly knocked Funny Girl (and Babs)
out of the running that year.
(And Eve Arden was one of the many babes who replaced her
in that Dolly Levi role.)
Thoroughly Modern Millie
with Julie Andrews (1967).
Carol received an Academy Award nomination
for her role as Muzzy Van Hossmere,
which seemed tailor-fit!
Over 25 stage credits to her name,
along with film, television, and (of course!) voice overs.
Four Tony Award winner,
Gwen Verdon,
above with John McCormack
and below (with top hat)
in Sweet Charity.
Gwen was born in 1925 in Culver City, CA,
and after surviving rickets (!!!), took a passle of dance lessons,
and moved to NYC...to work with Jack Cole.
Her big break came in 1953 in Can-Can,
when she stole the show from Lilo
(sort of like Cher, with that one name thing).
Damn Yankees (below as Lola),
Redhead, New Girl In Town, Sweet Charity, and Chicago followed.
Although Gwen wasn't chosen
to reprise her role as Charity Hope Valentine in the
film version of Charity,
she assisted in the choreography and helped
Shirley McClaine tackle the part.
Gwen gets a lift from two pretty impressive dancers:
Michel Barishnikov and Rudolf Nureyev.
With husband Bob Fosse,
who Gwen married in 1960,
and assisted him in several projects,
including All That Jazz and Dancin'....
and despite estrangments,
they never divorced.
She passed away in 2000, at the age of 75.
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