The Moves of Mitzi Mayfair

Before Mitzi Green and Mitzi Gaynor, show biz had Mitzi Mayfair (Juanita Emylyn Pique, 1914-1976).

This Mitzi started out as a kid act in vaudeville at age 11 in her hometown of St. Louis, eventually commanding the attention of Gus Edwards, who put her in his famous troupe. Her specialty was dance; all of her stage and appearances foregrounded this skill. She was only 15 when she made her screen debut in an MGM short called Manhattan Serenade (1929), featuring Raymond Hackett, Nina Mae McKinney, and The Brox Sisters. This was followed by the feature Paramount on Parade, and the Vitaphone short Girls We Remember, with The Aherns, The DeMarcos, and The Mack College Quartet. These were both in 1930.

From here she moved to Broadway in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931, and for the next several years she went back and forth between stage and screen appearances. There were several additional film shorts: including Tip Tap Toe (1932), The Way of All Freshman (1933), Use Your Imagination (1933) and The Policy Girl (1934), alternated with the Broadway shows Take a Chance (1932-33), Calling All Stars (1934-35), At Home Abroad (1935, subbing for Eleanor Powell), and The Show is On (1936-37).

In 1938 she married a beverage heir, and left the biz for a few years. When World War Two hit she took the opportunity to go on a U.S.O. tour, and also appeared in the films Stage Door Canteen (1943), Show Business at War (1943), and Four Jills in a Jeep (1944), which was based on her wartime experiences touring with Kay Francis, Carole Landis, and Martha Raye. The change seemed to be too much for the first husband, who divorced in 1943. The following year she married a gent in the music department at 20th Century Fox, at that point leaving performing for good.

For more about show business history, including vaudeville, where Mitzi Mayfair got her start,consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous,