Michael Kantor: Tell me about when you were hired for the Ziegfeld Follies.
Dana O’Connell: Well, I had to work for George White for two seasons, and there was a call for girls. And I went with my friend. And we were just selected like that. We had to do a time step. And it was very, very simple, very easy.
Michael Kantor: What did it mean, though, to be in that show? And getting the audience…
Dana O’Connell: I don’t think it actually, just that day it meant anything. I just thought it was another show. But after getting into the Follies and all the things that followed, they were after, oh, my word. Then it became, it was an impression, indelible.
Michael Kantor: Where did the follies take place?
Dana O’Connell: At the New Amsterdam Theater.
Michael Kantor: Give me the hole.
Dana O’Connell: Well, we went to, we had rehearsal for a month, and then we opened Cold in New York for the Follies, and it was just beautiful. Everything was beautiful, the theater, the people that came looked beautiful, they dressed for it, and it, it was a gala evening for everyone, and it it was great.
Michael Kantor: Describe the New Amsterdam Theater, if you would. Give me the name. Where did the Ziegfeld Follies take place? And describe the.
Dana O’Connell: Well, it took place right there in the New Amsterdam Theater. There were several follies before the one I entered, and it was very elaborate, beautiful girls, and the show girls were exquisite. They came from all over the country, and they were selected. They were all about six feet because they carried those beautiful costumes, and they had to learn a certain walk in order to balance the hats. The hats were huge. And their arms were outstretched. And then they found out to call it the Siegfeld Walk. But those were the showgirls, and they were very attractive. Fabulous. And I guess they were well known for just walking. They didn’t do anything else. And then he had the ponies, you know, the dancers, and we had lovely numbers. It was like a review. Because Nothing mad, nothing connected, you know. We had a beautiful number with Gilda Gray, which was Hula. We had another one where we strutted and the lights went out and we were all, our skin was dark and just our costumes, the costumes and the little hat was lit up with phosphorous and we sang a song, It’s Getting Very Dark on Old Broadway. That was when they were just starting to take care. Colored folks for their shows, you know, and did different things. It was just a beautiful review, fantastic, and we had a magnificent ballet with Mary Eaton. She was the dancer and there were six girls dancing with her. I was one of those, toe dancing. So in those years you learned how to do everything, you, know, not to just specialize to be a ballerina or this or that. You had to fit in all the different numbers. It was great.
Michael Kantor: Tell me, what was your specialty within The Follies? You were a show girl or?
Dana O’Connell: No, I was a dancer. I was dancer. And I guess I was in about four or five numbers. I did the hula with the gilder. I was on my toes with Mary Eaton. We did another number, a tap number and various dances. There was other kind of just ordinary dancing that we did, you know.
Michael Kantor: When you mentioned Gilda, what was her spec? Give me her name and what was- Gilda.
Dana O’Connell: Gilda Gray was originally from Chicago and she was from Honky Tonk and she married this rich man who owned a cafe on 45th Street. It was called the Rendezvous and after I had been there dancing in the follies about, oh I guess about 10 months, he wanted to have his wife perform at his place, the rendezvous on 45th Street. And she picked out four girls. And we four girls went there after the show, and we did a number. I did a tap number. And it was just fine.
Michael Kantor: What was Gilda Gray’s special dance?
Dana O’Connell: That’s it, just wriggling and grinding and you know. And she had a rough, harsh voice, you know, real Chicago, you know and she’s a very pretty woman, very nice and she did very well marrying Gil Bogue.
Michael Kantor: But I understand one of the dances she made famous was the shimmy. Tell me what did she dance and what was it like? Describe it.
Dana O’Connell: Well, the shimmy was raised, she shook all over and the music played loud and soft and loud and so. And that’s what she originally did in Chicago when she was just working the honky tonks around Chicago. She wasn’t in anything too spectacular till she met Gil Bogue. And of course he had her just rise right up.
Michael Kantor: The show we were talking about was called Shuffle Along.
Dana O’Connell: Shuffle Along was a review, and it was from all members from Harlem. It was a very clever show, very fast moving, lots of good dancing, of course, and a lot of very catching music. And that was what broke in in Broadway was a Negro show.
Michael Kantor: How did the Follies respond to Harlem coming down then?
Dana O’Connell: Well, the way we responded, we did this number where they blackened us out and only our costumes and our hats were treated and the costumes were treated. And the rest of us in the dark and whatever they used to change our look, we looked like we were all colored and in these bright white costumes and white hats. And we did a strut number. Very good. It was a very nice number. And it was a stretch. And keeping with the kind of dancing they did.
Michael Kantor: What was that number called?
Dana O’Connell: Uh-huh.
Michael Kantor: It’s getting very always getting.
Dana O’Connell: Oh, it’s getting very dark on all Broadway.
Michael Kantor: Let’s just put that piece together. When Shuffle Along came downtown, it inspired, tell me about that.
Dana O’Connell: When Shuffler Long began to appear on Broadway, and of course it was the talk of the town because we never had any neighbor entertainment of any kind except the one man that worked for the Follies and he had to wear blackface. And that was Burt Williams. And he was very good. And Siegfeld liked him very much and had him in several Follys. And he the only one that ever worked on Broadway. And then somebody got the bright idea, well, we’ll try this. And it worked. It just went over beautifully. And then the other theaters, those in music, were trying to imitate them or give them a slide remark or something like that, you know. And we did this one number where all the lights went out. And we absolutely looked like mulattoes and these white satin suits. They were very sparse. You know, you could see as much skin, our legs and our arms and these little hats and our shoes. And the rest of us was, and it was very, very effective. Got a marvelous hand. Everybody liked the idea. And that’s when we, it was kind of a ridicule. It’s getting very dark on home Broadway, but we got away with it, yeah. But they didn’t know at first if they would because of the song. But, you know, it was with Siegfeld at those days. Siegfield could get the moon if he wanted it. I mean, everybody just gave him anything he asked for. So that was, it came out good.
Michael Kantor: Tell me about what is the scene outside the theater with waiting for the showgirls, describe that for me.
Dana O’Connell: Well, there must be at least 50, 60 men. There were a few women, but the men stood out. Some were holding flowers, some were holding gifts, some were just there to gawk. And from the stage door all the way up to Seventh Avenue and in the gutter was imported cars. They were Rolls Royces, they were Duesenbergs, a few things like that. And it was a very exciting thing. But I’m sure that there were a lot of men that went there nights just to see the spectacle because it was, oh, it was fantastic. Everybody calling to one another and, you know, a lot laughing and talking. It was very nice.
Michael Kantor: What made it fantastic for you?
Dana O’Connell: I went out a lot, Billy Rose would send his Duesenberg sometimes, George Hurst would send his limousine, Rose Royce, and that type of thing.
Michael Kantor: So how did it make a, how did you as a follies girl feel?
Dana O’Connell: Great. I couldn’t feel bad. I was sitting on a rainbow. I felt marvelous. Marvelous. It was great. I met a lot of people. I knew a lot of people from Wall Street and things like that and society people. I got to know some very auspicious society people and they invited me to their homes and to their private parties and I found that I thought that was special.
Michael Kantor: What about Ziegfeld himself? What was the man like?
Dana O’Connell: He was very fine. He was a perfect gentleman.
Michael Kantor: You’re just beginning to talk about Ziegfeld. You mentioned he could get anything he wanted. Well, how did he do that?
Dana O’Connell: I don’t know, he had power, I can tell you that, and he had got everything his way. He was very well respected, nobody questioned anything, but they dare even because he was so powerful by that time. And there were loads of other showmen, Dillingham was around, Erlanger was around and quite a few others, George White was around. He was with the scandals and I was in that. But he seemed to have… Just captured a certain element or a demeanor, you may say, that everybody just bowed from the waist. You know, they just saluted him, got anything he wanted.
Michael Kantor: What was he like as a man?
Dana O’Connell: Oh, as far as I know, he was a perfect gentleman. Very nice, dressed beautifully. And to my knowledge, he only had one lover for you. And he kept pretty much to himself. And he never gave any orders. He would give it to the stagehand or the producer or something else. He never addressed us at all in any fashion.
Michael Kantor: Where would you rehearse?
Dana O’Connell: That’s in New Amsterdam. And then there was a place that Ned Webron had for us. It was called Webster Hall. I think it’s on Sixth Avenue in the 40s. I don’t know whether it’s there, but it was in the 40s, and that’s it, Webster hall.
Michael Kantor: What did it take to be a Ziegfeld?
Dana O’Connell: I wish I could define it because everyone was different and everyone just beyond any criticism. They were beautiful girls and clever and talented with what they did and it was just fine. It was just fun. But the 1922 Follies, they were some beautiful, beautiful women and they came from all over the United States.
Michael Kantor: Describe yourself at that time, what were your special attributes?
Dana O’Connell: Nothing, I was just an ordinary dancer. I don’t think I had anything outstanding. I was able to do whatever they wanted us to do in certain numbers.
Michael Kantor: That was it. Why were you chosen?
Dana O’Connell: I never asked, I didn’t want to find out. I have no idea. I guess because I know the time step and a few other things.
Michael Kantor: You must have been pretty good-luckin’ yourself.
Dana O’Connell: Well, I don’t know, I never heard about it.
Michael Kantor: Okay, describe Eddie Cantor.
Dana O’Connell: Oh, he was wild. He was wild, he’s great. You know, like he hopped all over the stage back and forth. That’s how he was all the time. He was always, you know, like you pressed a button and he was ready to spring. He was very energetic. I think that’s about the best way you can describe him. Very nice man, very nice wife, Ida. Yeah, they were fine.
Michael Kantor: And going back to Gilda Gray and the shimmy, tell me about that dance. What did that dance look like?
Dana O’Connell: Well, she just stood still and just shook her body all over, you know, and she would do it to the timing of the music, whatever she was singing. And it was a little on the rough side, yeah, from Chicago.
Michael Kantor: Yeah can you can you do any for was that your could you do a shimmy no now you mean no okay that’s fair Who called New York the Big Apple?
Dana O’Connell: Walter Winchell, God bless his soul. And he took, in one of his broadcasts, he was beginning, you know, to broadcast his night and he’d broadcast most of the time from the store club and we all used to hang out there and he’s, one time he said, New York is the Big Apple and Siegfeld had to pick that up, you know. He had a lot of vision. It’s amazing how he put this together. He wanted to know, it was around the end of October is, what day is that again? Halloween, yes. And he said, he mentioned something about how people would be doing it. And Siegfeld got a few, I think there were four of us, got us together. And he didn’t tell us personally, but the stage manager did. He picked up myself and three other girls. And he said, you’re going to be ducking for apples? And he told us about what Walter Winschel had said. And Mr. Siegfeld wants to publicize that. He thinks it’s a good cue for him. So we all came in, you know, and we thought we were going to be ducking for apples in a wooden bucket or something, you know. Not with Siegfield. You had to go to Central Park in the big lake to duck for apples. That’s where we were. And that picture that you saw, that’s where we were. And they had me holding my legs up and all that. I was ready to dunk into the big lake in Central Park. That’s how that came. And he always called it the big apple thereafter. And I think they still do sometimes, some of them. The one who emphasized the importance of New York.
Michael Kantor: Tell me, when you started out, there was no Actors’ Equity Union, was there? What happened?
Dana O’Connell: That was in 1919. There wasn’t any, the reason I know about it is I was going to Washington Irving High School. I was in my second year at high school. And I was studying ballet. Just my mother thought it would at least have me walk graceful or do something or give me some department. And that’s the only reason I took ballet with no intention of thinking of theater. And the ballerina that I studied with. She worked at the hippodrome. The hippodome had everything, animal acts, ballets, everything. It was just a hodgepodge of everything, but it was very, very popular. It was at 43rd Street and 6th Avenue. Took a whole block. And she suggested that when I had my summer vacation from high school that I would come to the hippo-drome and that she would sponsor me to… Learn stage deportment, with no idea of ever using it, you know. I had said that to her, and I was going to be a librarian. I lived next door to a library on 13th Street and Greenwich Avenue, and I just loved the librarians and I used to go there and do my homework.
Michael Kantor: But let me steer you toward that strike in 1919. What happened?
Dana O’Connell: When it was time to quit, it was around September, and there was a big strike. And she said to me, will you have to represent us now? And we went on a parade over there on Broadway. I know we marched some. And the thing that broke the strike was that the musicians came out. You can’t run theater without musicians. And then the the stagehands and electricians came out, and it was over in two days. You can’t run a theater, the theaters went dark. So that’s why we got equity as fast as we did. And I joined in, because from there, rather than go back to high school, another girl and I, we said, let’s go answer the call for George White’s candles. She says, come on, let’s see if they even take us, even if they look at us. And we were both accepted. So that’s how it all started and we had to join equity, of course, it was the beginning.
Michael Kantor: Describe what Broadway looked like back in those days.
Dana O’Connell: Well, it was just a very nice street. It wasn’t as crowded as it is now, of course. But it was plenty of lights, plenty of light and plenty of ballyhoo and things like that. But there was no comparison to what it is today. They didn’t have any signs on it, any advertisements of any kind.
Michael Kantor: When you heard the word Broadway back then, what did you think of?
Dana O’Connell: Having just a lot of bright lights and theater district and things like that. But there weren’t any ads. The ads came much later, yeah. Now it’s, oh, it’s crowded with ads, isn’t it? Yeah.
Michael Kantor: What about the shows then? Describe how big they were.
Dana O’Connell: Well, they were big because in 1920 and 21, I was in scandals and it was at a theater on 46th Street and Broadway, it was called The Globe. And there was the Follies, the early Follys. There was a, Hammerstein had a show, musical. Claude Nerlanger had something going. And Georgie Wright, as they say. And, uh… It was just a happy, gay place, lots of bright lights, bright lights. No ads of any kind. And everybody was very happy to be on Broadway, but, you know, it’s changed so through the years.
Michael Kantor: How would people dress when they came?
Dana O’Connell: Now, when they went to the theater, they respected the theater and what they were going to see, and they dressed accordingly. They dressed in their best. And, of course, coming to the follies, they were all in dinner jackets, you know. They were all tuxedos. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah.
Michael Kantor: Who was Lillian Lorraine?
Dana O’Connell: Eileen Moraine was a very beautiful girl, very much sought after. She was in the Follies, and Siegfeld loved her very much. And it was before my time. I’ve seen photos of her. She was a well-known girl, you know. Shell girls just strutted across the boards. They didn’t speak, they didn’t have to do anything. They were so beautiful to see. And of course, they always had enormous costumes. They had to stand very straight, their arms were extended, and they had to hold their head a certain way because the hats were enormous and they have to balance those. And when they would walk, it was like putting one foot very slowly in front of the other. It was like a glide. You could hardly see them taking a step. That the effect with the costumes covering their feet, it just looked like they were floating across the wall. It was very, very attractive, and it always got a big hand. Yeah, it was lovely. And they would have five or six numbers like that that would be pertaining to what the dancers had done, you know.
Michael Kantor: Tell me the dancers or something else.
Dana O’Connell: Oh, yes, the dances. We had to get out and hoof it. But it was always very nice. It was great. We had beautiful costumes.
Michael Kantor: What would the what can you imitate the look that the showgirls would make?
Dana O’Connell: They would look straight ahead, no smile, no nothing, just their faces just composed and never look at the audience, just float on along, just like that.
Michael Kantor: You said earlier that to make it in Broadway in the 20s, you needed a push. Why was that?
Dana O’Connell: Well, there were a lot of girls to do it, and they were talented girls. I mean, the dancers that I was associated with, they were all very clever dancers. And as a matter of fact, we have one that’s still dancing, and that’s Doris Eaton. Her sisters were in the show, too. Her sisters didn’t come up to her, either. It was just a certain clip that you might have, and somebody maybe catch it just could see what he could produce better. And, uh…
Michael Kantor: But what role did the gangsters play in the Twenties?
Dana O’Connell: Oh, they monopolized all the girls. They always gave beautiful parties. Well, they were in position. They were riding high. And the society people associated with them, too. They were very concerned about them. And, of course, the Wall Street, we had prohibition, and then Wall Street got all ganged up with it, you know. Everybody was making a lot of money. And the nice thing about it is the gangsters who never had any training of any kind finally outshowed those that had used to beautiful clothes and everything. They looked just as good. Of course, their money was a little greener.
Michael Kantor: Who were some of the gangsters who were tied to Broadway in particular?
Dana O’Connell: Well…
Michael Kantor: Feed that back to me.
Dana O’Connell: The ones that were tied in with Broadway were those that went out with the girls in the different shows that Legs Diamond did, Dutch Shelves did. When Al Capone came to New York, it was a Roman holiday. He’d come for a weekend or so and he’d give a huge party and he had the best of everything there. And everybody was very happy to go because he made it so wonderful for everyone. And I was ever in the business of hustling up some liquor here and there, you know.
Michael Kantor: Could a showgirl get ahead by sleeping with a gangster?
Dana O’Connell: Well, she ought to, if she had any sense. I don’t know what any of them actually accomplished or wound up with. I mean, I never discussed any of that with anybody. But I should imagine it was worth their while. Had to be, had to be. Because they were just throwing money all over. Our showgirl could get ahead with any of those that were doing a little something besides keep me in the law. Because they made it worth their while. There was so much money around and some of the girls took advantage of it.
Michael Kantor: Wasn’t there a connection between Uptown and Harlem because of the gangsters? Tell me about that.
Dana O’Connell: There was a connection because they owned it. Ony Madden owned the Cotton Club. And Ony Manning was very popular in Manhattan. I mean, he was a boy from the old west side and he had gone on up the line. He had a lot of people on his staff. And when he bought the Cotton club, everybody went. I must tell you, in those days the Cotton Clubs, the entertainers were strictly within their limits. We didn’t associate with anybody there and they didn’t associate with anyone in the audience. That was a strict rule. So going to Harlem in those days was just for the fun of it and the music was fantastic. No matter where you went, there was somebody banging on a piano that sounded great, you know. And that was it. It was very safe to go to Harlem. I mean, that’s where everybody went up. I can tell you one thing about going to Harlem. I had a friend, his name was George Ruben and he was from Chicago. And his friend was a fellow that opened up staff, Eddie somebody, Eddie, I’ve forgotten his last name for the moment. And they were both from Chicago and I had gotten acquainted with them. George, George, his cousin. Was one of the boys that Leopold and Loeb murdered. There was a big scandal. I don’t know whether you know it or not, but there was a very big scandal, they castrated a boy. And my father worked for the Schubert.
Michael Kantor: Okay, without going into all the details, tell me about how your life was changed very briefly from, you grew up in New York, you almost were a librarian, but bang, you became a So I’m talking the way he’s talking to you now. You grew up in New York. You grew?
Dana O’Connell: I grew up in New York. I was born in London, came over when I was six months old. I went to school on Greenwich Avenue, PS 41. It was a very famous school. I lived next door to Jackson Square Library on 13th Street and Greenwich avenue. I used to go there and do my homework every night, every day after school. There were two other girls and myself. And my mother thought I ought to have some dancing lessons that I wouldn’t be walking around awkward. And she was a very nice English lady and thought I had to have the benefits of certain things. And I got a taste of the theater by going to the hippodrome, although I didn’t dance at the hippo drum. I was put in a pair of pajamas that had feet. And I carried a little candle and I walked on the stage with a baby elephant.
Michael Kantor: Tell me how the follies…
Dana O’Connell: And then, yeah.
Michael Kantor: Just to compare, you could have been a librarian in bed.
Dana O’Connell: Well, I could very well have been a librarian, but I got a taste of Broadway. There was the strike, and there was all these lovely girls, some dances, some showgirls, and it just got to me. I caught the fever and decided I wanted to be right there on Broadway, and the lights of Broadway fascinated me a lot, too, at night. It was very, very attractive to me.” And then I met nice people.
Michael Kantor: Is it sort of a fantasy land?
Dana O’Connell: Yeah. You know, you walk in and out. There were loads of things that I’m sorry now I didn’t keep or do something about. But you just took it as a matter of course because everybody was idolizing you. You know they were all, everybody was spoiling you, no matter what. You’d go into a restaurant and they’d say that was a Seyfeld girl. My goodness, they parted the ways like it was the Red Sea. And, you know, it’s a. It was fantastic and it lasted a long mile and while it did, it was wonderful.
Michael Kantor: Will there ever be another 20s? No. Tell me that.
Dana O’Connell: I don’t think it can be duplicated in any way. You haven’t got the personalities that for them. People in the theater today are very matter of fact. I don’t know. They haven’t gotten the vision that they had in those days. It’s not the same. It’s a good theater, of course, because they’re successful, but it didn’t have that little extra something. They’ll never duplicate it. From 1920 to 1929, you were really sitting on a rainbow. Everything was lovely. Everything.
Michael Kantor: What about the new Amsterdam? Is that now back to its?
Dana O’Connell: The New Amsterdam, I’m very happy to say, has been restored to how it was originally. It is exquisite. It’s in beautiful, beautiful restoration.
Michael Kantor: Does it look like it? Tell me from your perspective.
Dana O’Connell: It looks exactly as it was. I keep, the carpeting keeps fascinating me because in those days they had carpeting with a lot of little flowers in it. And they’ve, they’ve duplicated that. You know, you walk in now it’s either solid maroon or green or no, they duplinated even the carpetings.
