Dixie Dunbar Pics

Dixie

Dunbar

19 January 1919

59.5

Slim

Brown - Light

Montgomery, Alabama

Capricorn

29 August 1991

Miami Beach, Florida

Heart Attack

White

American

Female

She was a vivacious, kewpie doll-like dancer/entertainer of 1930s Broadway and Hollywood musicals. Dixie Dunbar was born Christine Elizabeth Dunbar in Montgomery, Alabama on January 18, 1918, and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Nicknamed "Tootsie" by her mother, she took dancing lessions at an early age and it was quickly learned that Dixie had a natural talent. Her mom took her to New York where her heavy Southern drawl had her quickly renamed "Dixie." After dancing in big band orchestras, nightclubs and classy restaurants for a spell, she made her film debut at age 16 in George White`s Scandals (1934) and in the same year shouldered up to "Wizard of Oz" legends Ray Bolger and Bert Lahr on Broadway in "Life Begins at 8:40." Twentieth Century-Fox signed her up where she appeared in both dancing and non-dancing roles including the very lightweight Pigskin Parade (1936), Girls` Dormitory (1936), Sing, Baby, Sing (1936), Life Begins in College (1937), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1937), One in a Million (1937), Walking Down Broadway (1938), Alexander`s Ragtime Band (1938), and several of the `Jones Family` film series. Unhappy with filmmaking and disappointed at the lack of success she had, she left moviemaking altogether in 1939 and returned to the `Great White Way` to appear with Buddy Ebsen, Phil Silvers and Judy Canova in "Yokel Boy." She met and married the co-director of the Rockettes of Radio City Music Hall, Gene Snyder, in 1940 and later toured in a nightclub act but things died down quickly. One vision of Dixie, ironically, was of only her legs! From 1949 to 1951 she was "seen" dancing in the now-famous television commercials ads that featured her totally covered head to hips by a giant Old Gold cigarette box. Divorced in 1953 and after some TV work, Dixie retired. She married twice more and once operated a restaurant for a time in Florida. In the late 70s she began losing her eyesight to glaucoma., dying in 1991 following multiple heart attacks.

Christina Elizabeth Dunbar

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