More Ziegfeld folly! Can you still be a Follies girl at 105?
Of course you can! Doris Eaton Travis was the last surviving girl from the Ziegfeld Follies.
She joined the company in 1918 at the age of 14, and in this picture with her younger self is the remarkable Doris at 105.
She died a year after this photo was taken, in 2010.
In 1998 she returned Broadway‘s New Amsterdam Theatre where she had first appeared in 1918, 80 years earlier. This time it was to participate in a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and she continued to participate in this annual event to the end of her life.
Her last time on the New Amsterdam Theatre stage was just two weeks before her death. The next evening the lights of Broadway were dimmed in her honour.
Below are some more of the dancing girls from the Ziegfeld Follies.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
