Lucille Cavanagh (October 6, 1895 – July 13, 1983) was an American dancer and singer on the vaudeville stage. Later, as Lucille Leimert, she was a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
Early life Lucille Cavanagh was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri."St. Louis Dancer Marries California Realty Man" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (August 22, 1919): 4. via Newspapers.com Her younger sister, Marie Cavanagh, followed her into vaudeville as a dancer."Vaudeville Gossip" Daily Times (April 30, 1927): 8. via Newspapers.com
Stage career
Cavanagh danced with George WhiteAnthony Slide, The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville (University Press of Mississippi 2012): 550-551. in vaudeville."The Stage" Munsey's Magazine (June 1916): 499. She was nationally known as a youthful beauty, enough to endorse a soap brand, Sempre Giovine, in print advertisements.Advertisement, Pittsburgh Press (December 29, 1916): 22. via Newspapers.com Her song and dance act headlined variety shows in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco in 1918 and 1919, billed as "the Darling of the Dance"."Lucille Cavanagh at the Orpheum" Town Talk (June 15, 1918): 15."Lucille Cavanagh Dances at Palace" New York Times (September 24, 1918): 11."The Orpheum" The Argonaut (May 17, 1919): 315. Her act, "Kaleidoscope of Dance", featured brightly-colored costumes designed by Lady Duff Gordon,"Has Snug Fortune in Vaudeville Act" Pittsburgh Press (June 22, 1919): 46. via Newspapers.com and music by songwriter Dave Stamper."At the Palaces of Amusement" New Rochelle Pioneer (December 28, 1918): 3.
Critic Nellie Revell described Cavanagh's act in 1917: "She sets up a fairyland castle with huge gates, and therefrom she conjures a wardrobe to make even the most fashionable rainbow-clad ladies of fairyland jealous. There are effects in Russian, Spanish, and American — Miss Cavanagh dances in all languages... There are songs too, which Miss Cavanagh delivers in a delightfully distracted out-of-breath manner, mingled with apologetic ripples of laughter."Nellie Revell, "Will They Never Stop Dancing?" Theatre Magazine (November 1917): 294.
Cavanagh aspired to a film career,"Lucille Cavanagh to be Movie Star" Los Angeles Herald (June 11, 1919): 13. via California Digital Newspaper Collection and appeared in one silent film, Leave It to Me (1920). By then, she was married and retired from the stage. In 1921 she was a charter member of the All Arts Club in San Francisco."A New Art Club" Town Talk (February 5, 1921): 11.
Los Angeles society and newspaper work Later in life, Lucille Leimert was active in the Junior League of Los Angeles,"Junior Leaguers Honor Her" Los Angeles Times (January 18, 1933): 20. via Newspapers.com serving as its president in 1930. She was a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, writing the "Soundings" and "Confidentially" columns until she retired in 1947."Lucille Leimert, L. A. Socialite, Columnist" Los Angeles Times (July 15, 1983): 27. via Newspapers.com She also covered political conventions and the organization of the United Nations."Times Writer to Speak on 'Everybody's Hour'" Los Angeles Times (January 20, 1946): 24. via Newspapers.com She flew with aviator Jacqueline Cochran on assignments for the Times, and in 1946 wrote a series of columns from Hawaii, while recovering from a fall off an elephant's back."Los Angeles 'Airborne Reporter' Writing Mainland Column Here" Honolulu Star Bulletin (October 22, 1946): 11. via Newspapers.com
Personal life Lucille Cavanagh married California real estate developer Walter H. Leimert in 1919, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York."Walter H. Leimert Marries Stage Star; Miss Lucille Cavanagh Becomes Bride" Oakland Tribune (August 16, 1919): 1. via Newspapers.com They had two children, Walter Jr. and Patricia. In 1923, the Leimert family were among the first to live at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, while their home in Hancock Park was under construction.Cynthia E. Exum, Maty Guiza-Leimert, Leimert Park (Arcadia Publishing 2012): 15. Lucille Cavanagh Leimert was widowed in 1970, and died in 1983, aged 87 years, in Carmel, California.
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