Harriet Hoctor Collection
Catalog Record: http://lccn.loc.gov/2006568178
General International Standard for Archival Description
Music Division Library of Congress Washington, D.C.
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Music Division, 2010
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Harriet Hoctor Collection 1917-1972 (bulk 1923-1937)
Hoctor, Harriet
Biographical History for: Harriet Hoctor Collection 1917-1972 (bulk 1923-1937)
Biographical Note Date Event 1905, Sept. 25 Born in Hoosick Falls, New York, to Timothy and Elizabeth Kearny Hoctor. 1917 Hoctor moves to New York City to live with her Aunt Annie Kearney and to study dance at the Louis H. Chalif Normal School of Dancing. Later she studies with Ballets Russes member Ivan Tarasov, as well as with notable ballet stars Anton Dolan and Nicholas Legat. 1918 Hoctor appears in minstrel shows in her hometown of Hoosick Falls. 1920 Makes her Broadway debut in the chorus of Sally (music by Jerome Kern; ballet music by Victor Herbert; produced by Florenz Ziegfeld; and starring Marilyn Miller). 1922 Hoctor begins to work in vaudeville on the Keith and Orpheum Circuits. She also begins to study with dancer, teacher, and choreographer Merriel Abbot, who would choreograph many of Hoctor's specialty acts. 1923 Hoctor is hired by vaudeville superstars Vivian and Rosetta Duncan (known as the Duncan Sisters) to dance in Topsy and Eva (music and lyrics by Vivian and Rosetta Duncan), the Sisters's musical comedy adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The show previews in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, and Cincinnati. 1924 While in Chicago, Hoctor choreographs her first show, a Chicago Junior League production of Wizard of Oz. She also performs three solos as part of the Chicago Theatre's "Mighty Twin Organ" concerts. 1924 Topsy and Eva opens in New York City on 23 December at the Sam H. Harris Theatre and plays for twenty weeks. 1925 Topsy and Eva tours in Boston and Chicago. 1926 Hoctor returns to San Francisco to perform vaudeville on the Orpheum Circuit and begins a life-long dance partnership with William Holbrook, whom she meets at Ivan Tarasov's ballet studio. 1927 After tryouts in Boston, the Broadway revue A La Carte opens in New York City's Martin Beck Theatre (music and lyrics by Herman Hupfeld, Louis Alter, Norma Gregg, and others; dances and ensembles staged by Sam Rose; special ballet direction by Theodore Bekeli; produced by Rosalie Stewart). Critics say that "Harriet Hoctor is the only member of the cast who is certain to be pleasantly remembered." After A La Carte closes, Hoctor returns to vaudeville. 1928 Hoctor stars in Florenz Ziegfeld's Broadway musical, The Three Musketeers (music by Rudolf Friml; lyrics by P.G. Wodehouse and Clifford Grey; choreography by Albertina Rasch), which previews in Washington D.C. and Boston, opening in New York City at the Lyric Theatre. 1928 In the spring of 1928, Hoctor presents a series of Sunday evening recitals and includes her interpretation of Debussy's "Claire de Lune" and "The Raven," based on Edgar Allen Poe's poem. She also receives permission from Ziegfeld to dance in a series of Sunday night entertainments at the Selwyn Theatre. 1928 Hoctor is selected as leading prima ballerina on the American stage. 1929 Hoctor opens in Show Girl, produced by Florenz Ziegfeld (music by George Gershwin; lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn; dances staged by Beth Connell and ballets created by Albertina Rasch). Harriet Hoctor becomes the first dancer to dance to Gershwin's "American in Paris." 1930 Hoctor opens in the Broadway musical, Simple Simon (music by Richard Rodgers; lyrics by Lorenz Hart; book by Ed Wynn and Guy Bolton; sets by Joseph Urban; produced by Florenz Ziegfeld). 1932 Hoctor arrives in England to star in the musical revue, Bow Bells. One critic noted "the audience gave her an ovation such as London's representatives only give to artistes of the very front rank." 1932 Hoctor opens in Earl Carroll's Vanities (music by Harold Arlen; lyrics by Ted Koehler; costumes created by Vincent Minnelli; ballets created by Gluck Sandor, other dances by Ned McGurn; production conceived and produced by Earl Carroll). 1933 Hoctor opens in New York City's RKO Music Hall Stage with her work, "The Nightingale and the Rose," based on a work by Oscar Wilde. New York critics hail the work as "an awe-inspiring performance which one cannot forget." 1933 Hoctor appears in previews for Hold Your Horses (music and lyrics by [Robert] Russell Bennett and others; scene and costume design by Russell Patterson; ballets created and staged by Harriet Hoctor; produced under the supervision of John Shubert). After previews in Boston and Pittsburgh, the show opens at the Winter Garden on 25 September 1933. Even though the show survives a mere eleven weeks, Hoctor receives the best reviews: "Except for Miss Hoctor's really lovely dancing, there isn't much about Hold Your Horses to recommend it to your attention." 1934 A revamped and pared down Hold Your Horses tours Chicago and Washington, D.C. 1934 The Harriet Hoctor Ballet Revue opens in New York City's Belasco Theatre. Hoctor presents six new ballets of her own creation. 1935 Columnist Louella O. Parsons announces in the New York American that the noted dance team of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are to split and Hoctor is to star in Astaire's next film, Shall We Dance (1937). Regrettably for Hoctor, Rogers decides to appear in the film. Hoctor is given a ballet at the end of the film. 1936 Hoctor opens in Florenz Ziegfeld's The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 (music by Vernon Duke; lyrics by Ira Gershwin; scenery and costumes by Vincent Minnelli; dances by Robert Alton and George Balanchine). Reviews consistently praise the show's three stars: Josephine Baker, Fannie Brice, and Harriet Hoctor. 1936 Hoctor appears as herself in the Hollywood film, The Great Ziegfeld (directed by Robert Z. Leonard; music by Walter Donaldson, starring Myrna Loy and William Powell). 1936 Hoctor signs as premier ballerina for the tenth edition of Earl Carroll's Vanities and spends the summer in St. Louis dancing in productions of Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee and Noel Coward's Bitter Sweet. 1937 Hoctor stars in Billy Rose's musical revue, Casa Manaña, in Fort Worth, Texas. More than 10,000 attend the show's four performances. One critic declares "The ballerina does her exquisite toe work so lightly it actually looks as though the breeze were blowing a slim boneless body from side to side." 1937 Hoctor appears in the musical revue Chez Paree Revue with orchestra leader Vincent Lopez. 1937 The New York Times announces that Hoctor is to be Fred Astaire's leading lady in RKO's film Damsel in Distress (1937). The part eventually goes to Joan Fontaine. 1937-1941 Hoctor appears in stage shows that preview movies, often with her own company. 1941 Hoctor is billed as "Favorite Ziegfeld Ballerina" at the Latin Quarter in Boston and appears in a solo recital at the Malden (MA) Auditorium. 1942 Hoctor appears in Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe revue, Mrs. Astor's Pet Horse, New York City. 1943 Hoctor performs in Beverly Hills in All American Revue. 1945 Hoctor choreographs the dances and performs in Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe revue, Toast of the Town. 1945 Hoctor opens a ballet school in Boston and devotes herself full-time to teaching. 1974 Hoctor retires and moves to Lorton, Virginia. 1977, June 9 Harriet Hoctor dies in Arlington, Virginia.
Scope and Content Note The Harriet Hoctor Collection is comprised of materials that document her professional life as a vaudeville, Broadway, and film dancer. The collection contains materials that span her early dance training at the Louis H. Chalif Normal School of Dancing in New York in 1917 to the founding of the Harriet Hoctor Ballet School in Boston in 1945. Some of the highlights of the collection are correspondence (letters, cards, and telegrams) and contracts. Represented in the correspondence sent to Harriet Hoctor are Mary Pickford, Ted Shawn, Walter Winchell, Billy Rose, Milton Berle, and Florenz Ziegfeld. The collection also contains one scrapbook, which includes articles, clippings, photographs, and posters, detailing the early career of Hoctor (1923-1925) as well as programs, posters, and publicity materials. A few of Hoctor's choreographic notes are in the collection, including sketches for the "Hurdle Ballet," which was originally staged by Seymour Felix for Hoctor in Ziegfeld's Simple Simon.
series
Photographs
file
Harriet Hoctor Alone
Hoctor, dancing as a child
Topsy and Eva
A La Carte
Three Musketeers
Simple Simon
Hold Your Horses
"The Raven" from Ziegfeld Follies of 1936
Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe
Show Girl
Shall We Dance (RKO Film)
The Great Ziegfeld (Universal)
Unidentified photographs
Publicity photographs
Negatives
Photograph of portrait of Harriet Hoctor by Abram Poole
Headshots
Harriet Hoctor with Others
Hoctor and Edward Chalif at Chalif's dancing school, New York
Hoctor and Chalif's dancing school
Hoctor and others (unidentified)
Hoctor and others at London's Hippodrome
Hoctor and sculptor Jacob Epstein
Hoctor and William Holbrook in A La Carte
Hoctor and unidentified partner in Three Musketeers
Locations
Hoctor's New York City apartment
Unidentified set locations
Hoctor Family Members
Unidentified Hoctor family members
Identified Hoctor family members, including Anna Carney Elizabeth Kearney Hoctor (grandmother) Eloise Hoctor (sister) Frank Hoctor (brother) Frank Hoctor's children (Elizabeth, Frances, and Harriet) Fred Hoctor (nephew) John Hoctor (brother) Tim and Elizabeth (Libby) Hoctor (parents) Pat Kearney (uncle) Marguerite Sage Oetjen (niece)
Harriet Hoctor's students and dance school
Students and dance school (negatives, slides, and contact sheets)
Others-Identified, including The Bennetts Tom Chatterton Dennis King Anna Ludmila (a.k.a. Jean Marie Gee) Mario and Desha Alicia Markova Edwin Tyler Walter Winchell
Others-Unidentified
Others-Identified, including Lester Allen Edwin Booth Clarence Derwent Jimmy Durante Leon Errol Ruth Etting Rupert Hughes Marilyn Miller Wendy Toye
Scrapbook
Clippings
Undated clippings
Harriet Hoctor Ballet School
Fred Hoctor and John Hoctor
Miscellaneous typed reviews
Posters, Programs, and Publicity Materials
Posters
Ballet Revue preview to W.C. Fields's film It's a Gift
The Manchester Hippodrome, June 1932
Leo Litwin and his Concert Orchestra, with the Harriet Hoctor Dancers, undated
The Three Musketeers, Lyric Theatre, New York, 1928
Programs
Souvenir program: Ziegfeld Follies, 1936
Harriet Hoctor presents The Dollies' Follies, Boston Opera House, 1945
Harriet Hoctor Ballet (Dance Recitals), 1943-1972
The Boston Ballet Company, The Nutcracker [choreography and costumes for "Candy Canes" by Harriet Hoctor]
Simple Simon, Majestic Theatre, New York City, 1931
Harriet Hoctor and her Ballet Revue, Belasco Theatre, Los Angeles, undated
Souvenir program: The Great Ziegfeld (MGM, 1936)
Second Twilight Concert Benefit Building Fund, The University of the American Theatre, East Hampton, L.I., New York, undated
Unique Sunday Night Divertissements, Selwyn Theatre, 1928
Flyer: Ziegfeld Follies [1936]
Topsy and Eva, Sam H. Harris Theatre, New York City, 1925
The Three Musketeers, Lyric Theatre, New York City, 1928
Other Publicity Materials
Postcards: The Manchester Hippodrome, 1932
Mail order application: Belasco Theatre, undated
Flyer: The Three Musketeers, 1928
Farewell supper in honor of the Duncan Sisters, 1923
Sample stationery: Harriet Hoctor's Boston Ballet School, undated
Publicity materials, Harriet Hoctor School of Ballet, 1969-1970; 1970-1971
Miscellaneous items: students, Harriet Hoctor Ballet School
Choreographic Notes
Notes for The Blue Danube Ballet and Hurdle Ballet
Monographs and Poems
Poem: "To Harriet Hoctor Dancing"
Poem: "Dancer" by Jack Walsh
Poem: "A Ballade to Harriet Hoctor"
"Ballet is Magic: Harriet Hoctor," by Walter Ware
The Ballet in England (1932) "Dedicated to Harriet Hoctor," by Arnold L. Haskell
Unidentified
Correspondence to and from Harriet Hoctor
Family Members
Harriet [Hoctor Groeschel] (niece)
Eloise [Hoctor] (sister)
Elizabeth Kearney Hoctor (mother)
Frances H. Hoctor (niece)
John Hoctor (brother)
Tim Hoctor (father) to his sister
Laurel [?] (niece)
Jane Moon Love (niece)
Nancie [?] (niece)
Jane Simms (niece)
Others
Mrs. John W. (Maryann) Antoine
Marlena Atamanui
Gladys Balestrassi
Sandra Balestrassi
John Gibson Bliss
Marcy Blinderman
Edward Caton
Louis H. Chalif
Ed Corcoran
Frank Crowninshield
Joyce Cuoco
Mary H. Dockham
Renée George
Connie Herbert
Mrs. F. Sheppard (Emily) Holt
La Bossiere Family
Sophie S. McMillen
Mrs. Charles (Vivian) W. Middleton
Marilyn Miller
[Robert?] Newman (with synopsis for revue)
Mrs. Morgan (Gloria) Nilsen
Mrs. Gustav Oetjen
Mary Pickford
Ted Shawn
Mary Vasel
Allen S. Wilber
Walter Winchell
Virginia [?]
Florenz Ziegfeld
Former students and fans
Business correspondence to Hoctor (1931-1934)
Unidentified and Fragments
Telegrams from well-known producers, composers, photographers, performers, writers, film and stage directors, casting directors, and other show business luminaries: [John] Murray Anderson; Bobbie Arnst; Milton Berle; Ben Bernie; Anatole Bourman; Russel Crouse; Clarence Derwent ; Ralph G Farnum; Rudolf Friml; Daniel Frohman; Arnold Genthe; Billy Grady; Cornwell Jackson; Jules Lande; Arthur S Lyons; William Morris; Billy Rose; Madam and Monsieur Senia Russakoff; Milton Schwarzwald; Louis Shurr; Margit and Ivan Tarasoff; Ed Wynn.
Telegrams from Broadway and film performers
Telegrams, various
Various
Music
"Petite Suite de Concert," S. Coleridge-Taylor
Piano conductor's score with some choreographic notes
piano conductor's score with some choreographic notes
"I wish I had never seen sun shine" [Jimmy Davis]
"Hora Staccato," Dinicu-Heifetz
"Tarentelle" op. 85, no. 2, Stephen Heller
"Gallop," Aram Khachaturian
Piano conductor's score with choreographic notes
piano conductor's score with choreographic notes
"Waltz at Maxims," Frederich Loewe
"Valse Bleue," A. Margis
"Orpheus Can Can" [Jacques Offenbach]
"Poupée Valsante," Ed. Poldini
"Pas de Quatre," Pugni (Markova Dolin Ballet)
"A Game of Tag," Geo. J. Trinkaus
"The Cockatoos" [unidentified]
Magazine Articles about Harriet Hoctor
Theatre Magazine, "The Homes of American Celebrities," December 1928, no. 7, p. 57.
The Dance Magazine, "The All-American Choice of Dancers for 1928," January 1919, pp. 34-35.
Vanity Fair, "The Theatre," December 1933, pp. 40-41.
Picture Play, February 1936, p. 20.
Motion Picture, June 1937, p. 55.
Dance, June 1937, cover and p. 13.
Dance Magazine, December 1965, pp. 112-117.
Magazine clippings, 1920s
Magazine clippings, 1930s
Magazine clippings, undated
Personal Papers, Magazines, Costume Designs
Newspapers, publications, and magazines relating to Hoctor's hometown of Hoosick Falls, New York
Elementary school papers
Magazine covers
Costume sketches
Prints and postcards
Magazines, programs, and non-dance newspaper clippings