Miriam LaVelle on the Ed Wynn Show - October 1949

Miriam LaVelle guesting on the Ed Wynn Show - a rather grainy capture from this TV broadcast, but nevertheless, a rare piece of the small but priceless legacy from this lady's heyday.

[@quixotic4233]

Amazing level of control! Your entire channel is fascinating. Thank you for salvaging so much of this early work.

[@julianbonser]

Thanks, Quixotic42 - took a bit of digging. To think Miriam LaVelle was around in my lifetime and I didn't know at the time!

[@esmeephillips5888]

In July 1950, Variety reported, Miriam at 23 sustained an injury which forced her out of cabaret at the Latin Quarter, NYC. Her death eight years later was ascribed to nephritis, often a euphemism for cirrhosis. Hope that was not true of this limited but spirited 'aero dancer' from Pennsylvania.

[@julianbonser]

Thanks for commenting, Esmee. It would be a shame if cirrhosis was the cause of Miriam LaVelle's demise. However from the research I did on this lady it would seem that she had a drink problem. But in her short life she left a fascinating heritage for people like me to discover.

[@esmeephillips5888]

@@julianbonser She was at the Biltmore Bowl, LA, in June 1949, and had toured Australia (her only overseas engagement?) the previous autumn. But after looking at your site, I guess there is nothing I could add. Hope she found some consolation in her brief 1957 marriage, if it happened and although it was in Vegas😶. Any young lady who dallied with Spike Jones deserves some married bliss.

[@julianbonser]

@@esmeephillips5888 Hello Esmee, thanks for the additional info. I became interested in Miriam's life around 10 years ago, and at that time I fancied she was now a silver haired lady in her dotage. I wrote a short novel called Miranda Duvalle that sort of parodied her life, but with a solid helping of fiction. If you want I can email you the PDF.

[@julianbonser]

@@esmeephillips5888 Further - I was offered, and bought, 14 letters Miriam wrote to a friend/fan in the early 1940s. They are in her hallmark green ink and give an interesting insight into Miriam's young, bright mind. Dean Martin gets a brief mention...

[@esmeephillips5888]

On March 2, 1946, Miriam was among the performers at the first postwar dinner of the White House Corrrespondents Club at the Statler Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC. President Truman was guest of honor and Ed Sullivan emceed.

[@ricHarder]

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[@llahi1926]

Asombrosa