Lucille Cavanagh

Lucille Cavanagh (October 6, 1895 – July 13, 1983) was an American dancer and singer on the vaudeville stage. Later, as Lucille Leimert, she was a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

Lucille Cavanagh, from the cover of a 1918 publication.
Lucille Cavanagh, seated with a small dog, from a 1916 publication.

Early life

Lucille Cavanagh was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri.[1] Her younger sister, Marie Cavanagh, followed her into vaudeville as a dancer.[2]

Stage career

Cavanagh danced with George White[3] in vaudeville.[4] She was nationally known as a youthful beauty, enough to endorse a soap brand, Sempre Giovine, in print advertisements.[5] Her song and dance act headlined variety shows in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco in 1918 and 1919, billed as "the Darling of the Dance".[6][7][8] Her act, "Kaleidoscope of Dance", featured brightly-colored costumes designed by Lady Duff Gordon,[9] and music by songwriter Dave Stamper.[10] Critic Nellie Revell described Cavanagh's act in 1917: "She sets up a fairyland castle with huge gates, and therefrom she conjures a wardrobe to make even the most fashionable rainbow-clad ladies of fairyland jealous. There are effects in Russian, Spanish, and American — Miss Cavanagh dances in all languages... There are songs too, which Miss Cavanagh delivers in a delightfully distracted out-of-breath manner, mingled with apologetic ripples of laughter."[11]

Cavanagh aspired to a film career,[12] and appeared in one silent film, Leave It to Me (1920). By then, she was married and retired from the stage. In 1921 she was a charter member of the All Arts Club in San Francisco.[13]

Los Angeles society and newspaper work

Later in life, Lucille Leimert was active in the Junior League of Los Angeles,[14] serving as its president in 1930. She was a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, writing the "Soundings" and "Confidentially" columns until she retired in 1947.[15] She also covered political conventions and the organization of the United Nations.[16] She flew with aviator Jacqueline Cochran on assignments for the Times, and in 1946 wrote a series of columns from Hawaii, while recovering from a fall off an elephant's back.[17]

Personal life

Lucille Cavanagh married California real estate developer Walter H. Leimert in 1919, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.[18] They had two children, Walter Jr. and Patricia. In 1923, the Leimert family were among the first to live at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, while their home in Hancock Park was under construction.[19] Lucille Cavanagh Leimert was widowed in 1970, and died in 1983, aged 87 years, in Carmel, California.[15]

References
  1. "St. Louis Dancer Marries California Realty Man" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (August 22, 1919): 4. via Newspapers.com
  2. "Vaudeville Gossip" Daily Times (April 30, 1927): 8. via Newspapers.com
  3. Anthony Slide, The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville (University Press of Mississippi 2012): 550-551. ISBN 9781617032509
  4. "The Stage" Munsey's Magazine (June 1916): 499.
  5. Advertisement, Pittsburgh Press (December 29, 1916): 22. via Newspapers.com
  6. "Lucille Cavanagh at the Orpheum" Town Talk (June 15, 1918): 15.
  7. "Lucille Cavanagh Dances at Palace" New York Times (September 24, 1918): 11.
  8. "The Orpheum" The Argonaut (May 17, 1919): 315.
  9. "Has Snug Fortune in Vaudeville Act" Pittsburgh Press (June 22, 1919): 46. via Newspapers.com
  10. "At the Palaces of Amusement" New Rochelle Pioneer (December 28, 1918): 3.
  11. Nellie Revell, "Will They Never Stop Dancing?" Theatre Magazine (November 1917): 294.
  12. "Lucille Cavanagh to be Movie Star" Los Angeles Herald (June 11, 1919): 13. via California Digital Newspaper Collection
  13. "A New Art Club" Town Talk (February 5, 1921): 11.
  14. "Junior Leaguers Honor Her" Los Angeles Times (January 18, 1933): 20. via Newspapers.com
  15. "Lucille Leimert, L. A. Socialite, Columnist" Los Angeles Times (July 15, 1983): 27. via Newspapers.com
  16. "Times Writer to Speak on 'Everybody's Hour'" Los Angeles Times (January 20, 1946): 24. via Newspapers.com
  17. "Los Angeles 'Airborne Reporter' Writing Mainland Column Here" Honolulu Star Bulletin (October 22, 1946): 11. via Newspapers.com
  18. "Walter H. Leimert Marries Stage Star; Miss Lucille Cavanagh Becomes Bride" Oakland Tribune (August 16, 1919): 1. via Newspapers.com
  19. Cynthia E. Exum, Maty Guiza-Leimert, Leimert Park (Arcadia Publishing 2012): 15. ISBN 9780738595870
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