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| Harriet Hoctor | |
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 as herself from the trailer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) |
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| Born | September 25, 1905 Hoosick Falls, New York, USA |
| Died | Jun 9, 1977, age 71 Arlington, Virginia, USA |
Harriet Hoctor (September 25, 1905 – June 9, 1977) was a ballerina, dancer, and instructor from Hoosick Falls, New York. She is remembered best for her dance prowess, holding her body in positions seemingly impossible, and dancing with great ease.
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Family
Born to Timothy Hoctor and Elizabeth Kearny, Harriet Hoctor was one of four children; Martin Francis ("Frank") and John, and sister Eloise. Harriet Hoctor never married.
Youth dancer
Hoctor's Aunt, Annie Kearney, worked as a social secretary to a wealthy woman in Hoosick Falls who took an interest in Hoctor. At the age of twelve she was sent to New York City and placed under the tutelage of Russian ballet master Louis H. Chalif of the Normal School of Dancing. In 1930 Hoctor resided with Kearney in a house on Murray Hill, Manhattan. The home of J. Pierpont Morgan was just around the corner.
By the time she was sixteen, Hoctor was touring in vaudeville on the same bill as the Duncan Sisters. She was asked to join their act and became a key player in their Topsy and Eva show presented on Broadway. Hoctor appeared in a doll ballet and was informed that Florenz Ziegfeld was offering her a trial part in his production of The Three Musketeers (1928). By 1929, she is given the first opportunity to dance George Gershwin's An American in Paris.
Stage career
She appeared in the Vanities revue of Earl Carroll in 1932 after a year of performing in England, ingratiating/wowing audiences at the London Hippodrome tapping up and down an escalator en pointe. At the request of Ziegfeld she did not sign a contract to remain abroad. While overseas she posed for sculptor Jacob Epstein and Olive Snell. Back in the United States, Hoctor appeared with comedians like Jack Benny and George Jessel.
Movies
In the late 1930s, she performed as a dancer in a number of Hollywood movies. She appeared as herself in The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), and Billy Rose's Casa Manana Revue (1938). Shall We Dance featured Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Edward Everett Horton. Hoctor joined Billy Rose Productions in 1940, dancing and choreographing at Rose's night club, The Diamond Horseshoe.
Instructor
Hoctor opened her own dance school in Boston, Massachusetts in 1945. She commuted to New York for shows. She continued teaching in Boston until she retired in 1974. Many of her students achieved success in their careers.
Personal info
She designed her own costumes. Hoctor enjoyed ping pong as a hobby. As a trained dancer, she avoided tennis, golf, swimming, and ice skating—activities that build up the shoulders, produce arm and wrist muscles, and thicken the ankles.
Remembered
Harriet Hoctor died in Arlington, Virginia, at the Northern Virginia Doctor's Hospital, in 1977. Her death came after an extended illness. She was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in Hoosick Falls following a Mass of Christian Burial at the Church of the Immaculate Conception.
The summer she died, playwright Frank Wirmusky cast This Is Your Life, Hoosick Falls. The play transformed one hundred and fifty years of the town's history into an hour long theatrical performance. Actors depicted twelve Hoosick Falls men and women from the past who made important contributions in various endeavors. One of those portrayed was Hoctor. Actress Kelly Thompson donned beads prior to appearing on stage as Hoctor, looking like a 1920s era flapper.citation needed
References
- Bennington, Vermont Banner, Obituary, Harriet Hoctor, June 11, 1977, Page 2.
- Bennington Banner, In Falls, a proud past, a promising future, August 5, 1977, Page 6.
- Bismarck Tribune, Romantic Story of the Belle From Hoosick Falls, August 18, 1930, Page 6.
- Syracuse Herald, Foreign Nations Which Once Sent Stars To US Now Import Our Dancers, August 12, 1932, Page 14.
- Harriet Hoctor Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
External Link
- Harriet Hoctor at Dance History Archive
- Harriet Hoctor at the Internet Movie Database
- Harriet Hoctor at the Internet Broadway Database
