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Washington, D.C., circa 1923. "Lucille Layton." Whose talents, to judge from her photographic oeuvre, seems to have been at least peripherally related to the piano. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Those shoes do look uncomfortable.
What an interesting life she had. Another Shorpy gem.
Here she is, two years earlier, on top of the piano, as featured in the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic. She sure knows how to tickle those 88s!
From the Journal News, Dec. 24, 2004
"Lucile Zinman, one of the last living performers in the opulent "Ziegfeld Follies," produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, died Tuesday at the age of 101. The Yonkers native was born July 22, 1903. A producer spotted her on the street and asked if she'd like to be in the movies. She decided she would, and she was cast in a silent version of "The Sign of the Cross." "They sent a car for me every morning," she said in a 1996 interview in this newspaper, "and the studio was only three blocks away." She never did another movie, but she went on to do some modeling. Then she heard of a cast call for the "Ziegfeld Follies." The dancing lessons she'd taken as a girl paid off: She was cast in the "Follies" of 1921. She performed under her stage name, Lucile Layton. She only used one L in her name, otherwise her name had 13 letters in it, which she thought was bad luck.
After the "Follies" of '24, Zinman enrolled in the Katharine Gibbs business school. In 1929, she married M. Boyd Zinman, a member of the New York Stock Exchange and a pioneer in electronic music who developed the theremin, the first truly electronic musical instrument. They had three children, Michael, Lee and Nancy. At age 40, she became an interior decorator. She is survived by her children, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. M. Boyd Zinman died in 1971. The family has asked that donations in celebration of her life be sent to Amnesty International or the American Civil Liberties Union."
I think the horse drawn hearses were much more elegant.
[And certainly much more practical, even if the piano is on wheels. - Dave]
Let's hope it's the piano and not her dance skills. She's got the legs for it, but those shoes are too small.
that will give a whole new meaning to "tickling the ivory."
I'm afraid you can't leave until we've heard a little Mozart, please! Thank you so much! Your dress will be done in a jiffy!
Apparently Lucille Layton appeared with Will Rogers (and others) in the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic in 1921.
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