June 24
Born Today:
Margaret Kelly
Irish-born dancer Margaret Kelly (1910-2004), also known as Miss Bluebell, founded the Bluebell Girls dance troupe in 1932. Kelly began dancing as a child to help strengthen her frail legs and in 1930 she began performing at the Folies Bergère in Paris. In her own work, she employed dancers deemed too tall for ballet careers and created a popular cabaret stage show. Following WWII, the Bluebell Girls found a permanent home at the Lido Club in Paris, where they still perform to this day.
Also Born Today: Broadway and TV actor Michele Lee (1942-) might be best known for her role on the TV show Knots Landing (1979-1993), but she began her career singing and dancing on Broadway in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961), and was in the movie version in 1967.
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Dance History: On this day in 1374, a sudden outbreak of Dancemania, also called St. Vitus’ Dance, caused people in the streets of Aachen, Germany to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapsed from exhaustion.
Movie: Darling Lili in 1970 and Rize in 2005