Friday, May 14, 2010

The Last Ziegfeld Follies Girl Had Rewired Many Times



You might not recognize the name, Doris Eaton Travis, but she just passed away at 106. She was the last of the Ziegfield Follies chorus girls and had been a "hoofer" for over 90 years! She was from Michigan, which I am also, so I took extra interest in this unbelievable woman!

They said that Travis' love of dancing and musical theater was shaken when the stock market crash of 1929 ushered in the Depression and many theaters closed. Travis had been dancing on Broadway since 1907 so in the early 1930's, as a result of the Depression she had to rewire!

She took a job as a tap dance instructor at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in New York, then branched out into social dancing, which led to her opening a Murray franchise in Michigan, which became a second career. Sound familiar?

Doris Eaton Travis used her passion for dancing and her love of the stage as the foundation for her lifelong career. How about you? Has your job become redundant? Has your industry been affected by the economy? Think about it. Do you have a passion or idea that you could pursue as your encore or next career?

Having to rewire into a new career is nothing new! Today there are more tools and resources to help you jumpstart your thinking.




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