Miriam LaVelle

Miriam LaVelle, a home-grown American girl from Chester, Pennsylvania achieved fame as a 'speciality' dancer throughout the 1940s. Pretty, with thick, billowing auburn hair, and a lithe, athletic figure, she never failed to garner good reviews from the variety critics. Her acts comprised sequences of beautifully choreographed acrobatic moves executed to music in a way that was totally unique. Essentially a cabaret artiste, she also featured in several films and television shows. As a young child, Miriam LaVelle lived in Lynne Crum, a small locality on the outskirts of Chester. Her real name was Miriam LaVelle Patterson, and aged three, she was encouraged to practice dance steps to rectify a foot ailment. Through that, she took a keen interest in acrobatics and dancing at her primary school in nearby Ridley Park. Chester Times columnists covering the various school concerts Miriam appeared in 1934 through 1938 quickly picked up on her outstanding ability and waxed highly complimentary in their editorials. In 1941, aged 15, Miriam was given a minor role in the Broadway play 'Sunny River' at the St James theatre. A year later she appeared in 'Keep 'em laughing' at the 44th Street theatre. Her big break came later in 1942 when an animated electric sign on Broadway that featured a woman dancing, and which was modelled on Miriam, caught the eye of MGM talent scouts, who tracked her down and signed her. During 1943 she made four films: 'Meet the people' - MGM, 'The Gang's all here' - Twentieth Century Fox, 'Cover Girl' - Columbia, and 'Seven days ashore' * RKO. Miriam's brief appearances in these films were essentially a showcase for her dancing talents, and had no relevance to the plots - which in any event had little substance. Many such films of the day were little more than a compilation of popular entertainers glued together by a flaky storyline. Miriam's dalliance in films was brief, the mainstay of her career being musical reviews and cabaret. She appeared in many productions across America, but the epicentre of her career was in New York City. She did a long run at Nicky Blair's Carnival Room, a circus-themed night club within the Capitol Hotel on Eighth Avenue, Nicky Blair being an impresario from prohibition days. Miriam also featured at the Capitol Theatre on Broadway, and the Copacabana Club. In 1946, she made a film-short called 'Love me tonight', an enchanting dance routine accompanied by Dick Stabile's orchestra. In 1949, she appeared on the Ed Wynne TV show - which was recorded, a grainy transcript of this episode surviving. And almost certainly, she would have appeared on quite a few TV shows in the late 1940s. References to her in the media started to fizzle out as 1950s approached, the last mention being in mid-1950. Many of the nightclub entertainers would have been feeling a cold draft at that point with the decline in live variety, Miriam no exception. And although there's no further mention of her, it's possible that her career persisted for a few more years, but not so prolifically as to catch the columnists' attention. Virtually nothing is known of Miriam LaVelle's private life. During her early career, her mother, Mrs J A Patterson, was in evidence - a stage mum perhaps. Two living memories have surfaced, both being from men who dated Miriam in their teens, and who remember her as a charming and attractive young lady. There's no mention of her father. However, she had an uncle, her father's brother, William Patterson, living in Chester and he had a daughter Patricia. In 1946 newspapers reported Miriam as claiming she was engaged to George Auld, a popular bandleader. But it was probably a female ploy on her part to get Carlos Ramirez in tow, as she appeared to have had the hots for him. Carlos Ramirez was a Colombian tenor who famously appeared in 'Bathing Beauty' with Esther Williams in 1944. In May 1949, the Olean Times Herald reported Miriam as having gotten married in Vegas, although no further reports of this appear to have come to light.