Meglin Kiddies
Meglin Kiddies was a well-known troupe of acting, music and dance performers, consisting of children up to the age of 16. (AKA: The Meglin Professional Children's School, The Meglin Dance Studio, Meglin's Dance School and Meglin's Wondrous Hollywood Kiddies).
Background
The troupe was started by Ethel Meglin in 1928. Meglin was a Ziegfeld girl in feature films.[1] Director/actor and Slapstick Keystone King Mack Sennett was supportive of the formation of the troupe's studio. Sennett donated a Meglin Kiddie studio building sign and assisted in securing an operations location on his lot.[2] The Johnny Grant Building[3] at 7018-7024 Hollywood Blvd once housed the Meglin Dance Studio on its second floor.
One of the most successful child stars of all time, Shirley Temple, was once a Meglin Kiddie dancer. Producers from Educational Studios recruited her from the Meglin Kiddie studio.[4] "Charles Lamont, a director from Educational Studios visited the “Meglin Kiddies” and chose Shirley, hiding under the piano, for a part in a movie that the studio was about to make."[5]
Superstar Judy Garland was a Meglin Kiddie also.[6] Garland's mother, Mrs. Gumm, played the piano at the Meglin Kiddie studio to help pay for Garland's singing and dancing lessons there.[7] The film debut of Judy Garland was in Meglin Kiddie short films.[8] Garland also performed with the Meglin Kiddies over the radio, and live at theaters such as: Shrine Auditorium, Pantages Theatre (Hollywood), and Loew's State Theater in Los Angeles, California.[9]
In the 1950s, the Meglin Kiddies had a television show.
Ethel Meglin retired in 1962, as did the studio and dance troupe.[1]
Movies
- Reg'lar Fellers (1941) --Billy Lee's Band --Associate Producer: Ethel Meglin
- The Wizard of Oz (1939) --Munchkin child actors and dancers
- Maytime (1937) --Children In Maypole Number
- Roarin' Lead (1936) --Dancers
- Too Many Parents (1936) (uncredited) --Themselves
- In Love with Life (1934) --Floor show performers at the Kiddie Kabaret
- Show Kids (1934)
- The Land of Oz (1932) --Production company and actors/dancers (Film adapted from the book, Land of Oz)
- The Big Revue (1929) --AKA "The Meglin Kiddie Revue" & AKA "The Starlet Revue" --with Judy Garland (Francis Gumm & Sisters)[10]
Notable Meglin Kiddies
- Scotty Beckett
- Jackie Cooper
- Nola Fairbanks
- Judy Garland
- Farley Granger
- Virginia Grey
- Darryl Hickman
- Dwayne Hickman
- June Lang
- Billy Lee
- Paul Marco
- Ann Miller
- Mickey Rooney
- Melody Thomas Scott
- Shirley Temple
- Jane Withers
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Cary 1978:202
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- The Meglin Kiddies at the Internet Movie Database
- The Meglin Kiddies production of Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). The Land of Oz at IMDb
