Helen Shipman
Channel: all the knowledge of the universe PRINCIPIA
Date: 09/01/2022

Helen Shipman, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=1004161 / CC BY SA 3.0

#1899_births
#1984_deaths
#American_film_actresses
#American_stage_actresses
#Actresses_from_Pennsylvania
#20th-century_American_actresses
Helen Phyllis Shipman （February 5, 1899–April 13, 1984） was an American singer, dancer and actress who starred in various Broadway musicals, in musical comedies in vaudeville, and in films.
Shipman was the daughter of William H. and Annie L. （Mitchell） Shipman of Pennsylvania.
Her mother was a stage actress of some note in her youth, and her father was a printer who died in 1925.
Her exact date of birth is unknown; however, it is believed that she was born in 1899.
Shipman began performing at the age of three doing impressions of famous adult stars in the entertainment business.
Her first professional job was as "Baby Phyllis" at the Duquesne Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In 1908, she toured on the B. F. Keith show circuit in a play titled Little Nemo.
After that tour, she moved with her mother and older sister to New York City to advance her career, however, she continued to tour on the Keith circuit.
Between tours, she worked in variety shows at the Palace Theatre in New York City, where she sang songs composed for her by lyricist, Neville Fleeson.
It was in these shows that she got to know other entertainers such as Jimmy Durante and the Marx Brothers.
She was childhood friends with Ira and George Gershwin, the latter of which became enamored with her.
Nelson Eddy was also one of her suitors when she was a teenager in New York.
In 1915, Shipman was invited by Florenz Ziegfeld to co-star in his new Midnight Frolic production on the rooftop of the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City.
She had her first starring role on Broadway in the musical Oh, Boy! in 1917, and followed that with another Broadway musical comedy, Oh Lady! Lady!.
She then took the 1919 Broadway musical, Irene, on tour playing the title role and introducing the song ...