Dorothy Wegman Raphaelson

Dorothy Deborah Wegman Raphaelson (November 27, 1904 – November 7, 2005) was an American dancer, Ziegfeld Girl, vaudeville performer, and novelist.

Early life

Dorothy Deborah Wegman was raised in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. Her parents were immigrants from Russia. She had a sister Esther and a brother Daniel; their father was Abraham Wegman and their mother was Pasha (Krynsky) Wegman, and their father was an engineer.

Career

Dorothy Wegman left high school to work full-time after her father's death. She worked for a clothing manufacturer while auditioning for stage roles. She danced in ''The Whirl of New York'' (1921), ''Bombo'' (1922), ''The Dancing Girl'' (1923) ''Topics of 1923'' (1924), ''Big Boy'' (1925), ''No Foolin (1926), and ''Rio Rita'' (1927–1928).
She also appeared in the ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1924'', the ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1925'', and the ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1926''. Her last show was the 1928 Ziegfeld production ''Rosalie'', which she from which she "retired
permanently, thanks to the stork and the increasing responsibilities of the domestic life she was eager to adapt.".

It is said that Marion Benda, "a well-known Ziegfeld beauty," nicknamed Wegman "Dorshka," but there is no evidence that Wegman ever performed on stage using that name. A 1935 newspaper article states that Wegman "distinguishes between old friends and newer friends and acquaintances now by the greeting they give her. 'Hello. Dolly,' belongs to her pre-Follies days; 'Hi, Dorothy' to the Follies period; and
those who call her 'Dorshka' she knows from her later days in the theater and in Hollywood.".

Wegman did, however, publish two novels under the name Dorshka Raphaelson: ''Glorified'' (1930), based on her time as a dancer, and ''Morning Song'' (1948), which was also autobiographical.

Personal life

Dorothy Wegman married writer Samson Raphaelson in late 1927. They had a son, Joel (1928–2021), and a daughter, Naomi (1930–2009). She was widowed when Samson Raphaelson died in 1983. She died in 2005, aged 100 years, in New York; at the time of her death, she was believed to be the second-to-last surviving Ziegfeld Girl. Her husband's papers, archived at the University of Illinois, includes a taped interview with Dorothy Wegman Raphaelson.

References

External links

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A photograph of Dorothy Wegman
by Alfred Cheney Johnston, in the collection of the Library of Congress.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raphaelson, Dorothy Wegman
20th-century American dancers
1904 births
2005 deaths
American women novelists
Ziegfeld girls
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American women writers
People from Washington Heights, Manhattan
Writers from Manhattan
Novelists from New York City
Dancers from New York (state)
American women centenarians
21st-century American women