02/21/2025
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Dorothy Knapp
American Venus
Dorothy Knapp (born about 1900) was an American dancer, actress, model and Ziegfeld girl. Knapp was born in Chicago, or Dallas (sources vary). She lived in New York City after 1915, and was dancing professionally by 1916, in the company of Norma Gould. Wikipedia
In 1922, she won the title of "American Venus". She met producer Earl Carroll who cast her in his popular Vanities show. Dorothy became his mistress and he tried to make her a star. Earl said she was "the most beautiful woman in the world". He commissioned a life-size n**e portrait of her and hung it in the lobby of his theater. She joined the Ziegfeld Follies in 1924 but after two seasons she quit to return to Earl Carroll's Vanities. The gorgeous brunette also modeled for artists like Alfred Cheney Johnson and Howard Chandler Christy. Dorothy fell in love with Fehner Chandler, Howard Chandler Christy's nephew, and they were briefly engaged.
Her career never quite materialized as she’d imagined. She complained that her beauty made it impossible for her to have a serious acting career. In an interview she said, "I have found it isn't a fine thing to be 'most beautiful'. If I could go through it again, I would ignore beauty and specialize in real acting."
She married Jack Edmond, a Canadian radio announcer, in January of 1933. The couple divorced a year later. Dorothy landed a role in the 1934 play Broadway Interlude. It closed after just twelve performances. Soon after she disappeared from the public eye. Facebook - Kevin Guytano Frick
According to Walter Winchell, during the 1940s she started working at a jewelry store in Los Angeles. Winchell, Walter (1957-12-05). "Broadway and Elsewhere". Logansport Pharos-Tribune. p. 4. Retrieved via Newspapers.com.
