Frances Dewey Wormser
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Frances Dewey Wormser (June 23, 1903[1] – January 28, 2008[2]) was an American Vaudeville and Broadway actress, entertainer and performer. [2]
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[edit] Personal life
Frances Dewey Wormser was born in New York City on June 23, 1903.[1] She was the daughter of Alfred James Dewey (1874 - 1958), a California artist who was considered the "dean" of an early art colony in Sierra Madre, California.[1] She later took up painting herself.[1]
Dewey married her first husband, Orin Zoline, in the later 1930s, approximately the same time that she retired from entertaining.[1] Zoline died in the 1950s, leaving Dewey a widow.[1] She married her second husband, Morton Wormser, during the same decade.[1] They lived in Sarasota, Florida, for over 25 years.[1] Morton Wormser was an avid tennis player and supporter of the sport.[1] As a result of this interest, professional tennis player Martina Navratilova lived with Frances and Morton when she first arrived in the United States in the early 1970s.[1]
Wormser travelled extensively during her life. She took a "around the world" honeymoon with her second husband, Morton Wormser.[1] She took her last major trip to visit friends in Maui when she was 100 years old.[1]
She was a major contributor to the Aviation Museum of Santa Paula, which she supported in honor of her brother, pilot Jim Dewey.[1]
[edit] Career
Dewey spent more than a decade in showbusiness during the 1920s and 1930s.[2] She played the lead role in a number of shows, including the 1925 revival of Sally, Irene & Mary.[2][1] It was her successful performance in The Girl Friend in 1926, which caught the attention of producer Lew Fields.[2] Fields created the Dewey and Gold Revue specifically for Dewey and her professional performing partner, Al Gold.[2] Dewey and Gold toured together on the Pantages Circuit in 1927 and 1928.[2] She also toured in Good Boy in 1929.[2]
Wormser also performed with Cary Grant in an out-of-town tryout of Boom Boom in late 1928,[1] which was one of Grant's earliest roles.[2] She later appeared in Shoot the Works, a 1931[1] revue on Broadway by Heywood Broun.[2] Dewey was also featured in the very first franchised list of Leonard Sillman's New Faces in 1934.[2] Silman's New Faces introduced audienced to new up-and-coming Broadway actors, such as Wormser. The 1934 first edition of New Faces also included Henry Fonda and Imogene Coca, a lifelong friend of Wormser.[1] Wormser also counted Leo Lerman, the former editor of Vogue Magazine and editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair, to be her professional "soul mate" until his death in 1994.[1]
Dewey officially retired from the entertainment industry during the 1930s.[2] She later became a buyer for the women's clothing company, Jane Engel, during this same time period.[1]
[edit] Death
Frances Dewey Wormser died on January 28, 2008, of natural causes in Santa Paula, California.[2] She was 104 years old.[2] She had no children.[2] Her survivors inlcluded her nephew, Mike Dewey, a retired SAG aerial stunt coordinator and pilot.[2] Her other surviving newphew and niece were Richard Dewey and Susan Harding.[2]
