Louise Groody

Louise Groody (1897–1961) was an American Broadway musical comedy star of the 1920s who introduced to New York audiences the song "Tea for Two" in the musical No, No, Nanette.

Louise Groody
Photo-Era Magazine, 1919
Born(1897-03-27)March 27, 1897
Waco, Texas, USA
DiedSeptember 16, 1961(1961-09-16) (aged 64)
Canadensis, Pennsylvania, USA
OccupationActress, Singer and Dancer
Spouse(s)William Harrigan
William F. McGee
John G. Loofburrow

Early life

Louise Groody was born on March 27, 1897, in Waco, Texas, the first of three girls and a boy raised by Thomas and Irene Groody. Her father, a native of Pennsylvania, supported his family as a drug store manager and pharmacist. Irene Groody was from Louisiana and had married Thomas in 1893. During the early years of her childhood Louise Groody's family would live in Houston and later Atlantic City, New Jersey.[1][2][3][4]

Career

Groody began as cabaret dancer in New York and while still in her teens drew the attention of Broadway producer Charles Dillingham that led to a dancing role in the 1915 C. M. S. McLellan musical revue Around the Map. She would go on to appear in nine more Broadway productions, mostly musical comedies, of which four would prove to be major hits with runs of well over 300 performances. In 1920 the diminutive five-foot brunette[5] played Barbara, a principal role in The Night Boat, at the Liberty Theatre, and the following year she played Rose-Marie in Good Morning Dearie at the Globe Theatre. She played the title role Nanette in the 1925 hit No, No, Nanette, also staged at the Globe and in 1927, her favorite role, Loulou in Hit the Deck, at the Belasco Theatre. Audiences of the day most likely best remembered Louise Groody for the popular song "Tea for Two", from No, No, Nanette.[6][7]

The Night Boat: Louise Groody with ensemble players; (insert) John F. Hazzard
The Green Book Magazine, January, 1920
Louise Groody, 1920[8]

Marriages

Groody married on April 8, 1920, actor William Harrigan, the son of a prominent lawyer. The couple had hoped the ceremony would be conducted by Newark, N.J. Mayor, Charles P. Gillen, but as he became unavailable, settled upon Police Judge Michael J. Quigley instead.[9]

She married stock broker William F. McGee a year or two later and soon became embroiled in a bucket shop scandal in which her husband's firm was accused of bilking some four thousand investors out of millions of dollars. Groody later cooperated with investigators and was able to prove she had also lost money in the scheme. She divorced McGee in 1923 shortly before he entered Sing Sing Prison to serve out his one-year sentence.[10][11]

On January 8, 1949, she wed John G. Loofburrow (1902–1964), a one-time actor from Ohio who went on to serve for many years as New York night editor for the Associated Press. The couple remained together until her death in 1961.[12][13]

Later life

Groody's great success in the 1920s was tempered by the financial losses she suffered in the Wall Street Crash of 1929. In the early 1930s she branched out to perform in vaudeville acts and on radio. By 1941 Groody's affluence was such she was able to lease a fashionable apartment on Manhattan's Park Avenue.[14][15] During World War II she joined the American Red Cross and served for some time in the Allied Mediterranean Theatre of Operations. After the war she went on to appear in several 1950s television drama and celebrity panel shows.[16] Groody died from cancer on September 16, 1961, at her summer home in Canadensis, Pennsylvania.[17]

Sources
  1. Louise Groody Harrigan-US Passport Application May 9, 1921-Ancestry.com scan
  2. Louise Groody – Passenger Manifest SS Olympic – July 13, 1921, Ancestry.com scan
  3. Louise Groody, Houston, TX, 1900 US Census Records, Ancestry.com scan
  4. Louise Groody, Atlantic City, NJ , 1910 US Census Records, Ancestry.com scan
  5. Louise Groody Harrigan-US Passport Application May 9, 1921-Ancestry.com scan
  6. Louise Groody, Ex-Comedy Star New York Times - September 17, 1961; pg. 86
  7. Louise Groody Internet Broadway Database
  8. "New York Clipper". Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  9. Wm. Harrigan Marries - The New York Times April 9, 1920
  10. Wives Help the Law Officers - The Davenport Democrat and Leader – August 20, 1923 – pg. 14
  11. Death Reveals Secrets In Life of W. F. McGee-Lima News (Ohio) February 27, 1934 pg. 3
  12. John Loofburrow, Ex-Actor, A.P. Editor- The New York Times February 25, 1964
  13. Louise Groody a Bride - New York Times; January 9, 1949; pg. 59
  14. Louise Groody Acts and Sings at Palace - New York Times; August 18, 1930; pg. 24
  15. Notables on Lists of Late Renters - New York Times; September 19, 1941; pg. 42
  16. Louise Groody, Ex-Comedy Star New York Times - September 17, 1961; pg. 86
  17. Louise Groody Dies; Stage Star of 1920s- Bridgeport Post, September 17, 1961; pg. 90
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