A friend told me about the book Century Girl: 100 years in the life of Doris Eaton Travis, last living star of the Ziegfeld Follies, by Lauren Redniss, a mind-blowingly original and unique illustrated biography of Doris Eaton. I love this book so much for all its cultural cross referencing and magnificent handwritten text, memorabilia and photo montages. It discusses the social and cultural movements that shaped her career from the age of fourteen when she became the youngest chorus girl to ever join the Follies. She interacted with so many stars and famous people, you’ll hardly believe it’s possible! It would take 10 lifetimes for most people to accomplish what she was able to do in just one: “from receiving her honorary doctorate at age 101, she starred in silent and talking pictures, performing for presidents and princesses, bantered with Babe Ruth, offended Henry Ford, outlived six siblings, wrote a newspaper column, hosted a tv show, earned a Phi Beta Kappa degree in history (at 88), raised turkeys, and raced horses. And that’s just for starters.”– from the title page. I can’t say enough wonderful things about this one-of-a-kind book–by far the best I’ve read in a long time. March 14th is her 104th birthday—Happy Birthday Doris!
~ Amy
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