Florence Walton

Florence Walton (1890 in Wilmington, Delaware – January 7, 1981 in New York City, New York) was a vaudeville dancer and cabaret performer in the 1910s and '20s.[1]

Florence Walton (LOC) (15844716562)
Florence Walton (LOC) (15659573427)

Early career

Born in 1890 in Wilmington, Delaware, Walton made her debut in 1907 in the chorus of the musical comedy The Girl Behind the Counter, produced by Lew Fields.[2] Florence helped popularize the tango, fox-trot and other forms of ballroom dancing with her husband, Swiss-born Maurice Mouvet, and later with Allan Fagan and Leon Leitrim. Walton was introduced to Mouvet by the musical manager Florence Ziegfeld in 1911 when Ziegfeld partnered the two in his production of The Rose Maid.[3] They married that same year and together formed one of the most successful exhibition ballroom teams of their day as well as became two of cabaret's earliest stars.[2] Together they were promoted as Maurice and Walton, or simply "The Waltons." [4] During America's dance mania of the 1910s Florence Walton and Maurice Mouvet were considered as a team second only to The Castles.[5] Walton claimed to be the first American to entertain American troops in the war zone during World War I, claiming in 1914 during a performance with Mouvet at the Palace that during her time abroad she has taught King George V and Queen Mary the tango.[1] The internationally famous couple divorced in 1920.[3]

Maurice and Walton

Walton first came to perform with her husband after Mouvet's dancing partner Medeleine d'Arville eloped with a young Englishman and she was picked d'Arville's replacement by Florence Ziegfeld.[6] Prior to performing with her husband Maurice Mouvet, Walton was featured in numerous shows including The Soul Kiss in 1908, The Bachelor Belles in 1910, and The Pink Lady in 1911. She later returned to the perform at the Palace with a new dancing partner, Allan Fagan. In October 1920, New York Dramatic Mirror published a rave review of Walton and Fagan's routine claiming Walton "spells and dances class." [1] Walton performed at many famous venues during her career, including New York's Club Ostend[1] and at the New York Hippodrome where she worked with other famous names in Vaudeville such as W.C. Fields and Frances White.[7] In 1913, Florence Walton and her husband notably introduced to vaudeville Luckey Roberts' "Junk Man Rag." [8] In 1916, Florence Walton and her husband starred in the silent film drama The Quest of Life.[9]

Solo career

Florence and Maurice's publicly broke up in 1919, officially divorcing in 1920. The war had strained their professional and marital relationship. From 1917 to 1919 Walton was performing with other contemporary dancers while her husband Maurice served in the army medical corps in France, although they would periodically reunite for special performances while he was on duty. Florence and Maurice performed together briefly at the war's end, appearing in The Ziegfeld Follies of 1919 before their divorce in 1920 which ended their professional relationship. Florence went on to perform briefly with the Parisian cabaret dancer Alexandre Vlad before partnering with Leon Leitrum in 1922, who she later married. Walton and Leistrum made a name for themselves in Paris before ultimately returning to the United States where they performed in supper clubs and on the Keith vaudeville circuit. Leitrum made a public engagement at the Marigny Theatre in 1923. Soon after Walton and her new husband were in a publicity war with Maurice Mouvet and his new partner Leonora Hughes.[2]

References
  1. Slide, Anthony (1994). The encyclopedia of vaudeville (1. publ. ed.). Westport, Conn.: Greenwood. ISBN 0313280274.
  2. Malnig, Julie (1992). Dancing till dawn : a century of exhibition ballroom dance. New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313276471.
  3. Parker, Dorothy (2014). Dorothy Parker: complete broadway, 1918-1923. ISBN 1491722657.
  4. Groppa, Carlos G. (2009). Tango in the united states : a history. Jefferson: Mcfarland. ISBN 0786446811.
  5. Grossman, Barbara W. (1992). Funny woman : the life and times of Fanny Brice (1st Midland book ed.). Bloomington [Ind.]: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253207622.
  6. Gushee, Lawrence (2010). Pioneers of jazz : the story of the Creole Band (1. issued as an Oxford Univ. Press pbk. ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199732337.
  7. Slide, Anthony (2006). New York City vaudeville. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. ISBN 9780738545622.
  8. Jasen, David (2013). Century of american popular music. [S.l.]: Routledge. ISBN 0415866804.
  9. Leider, Emily W. (2003). Dark lover : the life and death of Rudolph Valentino (1. ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0374282390.
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