Barbara Perry (June , â€" May , ) was an American actress, singer and
dancer who worked in Hollywood and on Broadway. Her acting career was
one of the longest in history, spanning years.Perry was born in
Norfolk, Virginia. Her father, William Covington Perry, of Hopewell,
Virginia, was a classical and jazz keyboardist/orchestra+band
conductor/orchestral arranger with the Happiness Boys, the New York
NBC Radio Studios' (Blue Network) "Interwoven Stocking Co. Hour", his
own band called "Perry's Hot Dogs", with Ben Selvin and his Orchestra,
and with many Broadway shows. He died of tuberculosis in Banning,
California on October , . Her mother, Victoria Mae (Gates) Perry of
New Castle, Pennsylvania, sang soprano in the chorus of the
Metropolitan Opera, at the Old Metropolitan Opera House, starting
around , under General Manager Giulio Gatti-Casazza.Being separated
from her husband around the time she sang with the Metropolitan Opera
Chorus, as a form of "childcare", she enlisted her only daughter,
Barbara, as a member of the children's ballet of the Met's corps de
ballet. This was the start of Barbara's lifelong dance training and
career. Barbara's daughter also became an international opera singer
in the s, and her ancestor, Harriett Bellows Pierce, "... was educated
in a college of music in Boston. She gave music and singing lessons on
the frontier" while emigrating West.
dancer who worked in Hollywood and on Broadway. Her acting career was
one of the longest in history, spanning years.Perry was born in
Norfolk, Virginia. Her father, William Covington Perry, of Hopewell,
Virginia, was a classical and jazz keyboardist/orchestra+band
conductor/orchestral arranger with the Happiness Boys, the New York
NBC Radio Studios' (Blue Network) "Interwoven Stocking Co. Hour", his
own band called "Perry's Hot Dogs", with Ben Selvin and his Orchestra,
and with many Broadway shows. He died of tuberculosis in Banning,
California on October , . Her mother, Victoria Mae (Gates) Perry of
New Castle, Pennsylvania, sang soprano in the chorus of the
Metropolitan Opera, at the Old Metropolitan Opera House, starting
around , under General Manager Giulio Gatti-Casazza.Being separated
from her husband around the time she sang with the Metropolitan Opera
Chorus, as a form of "childcare", she enlisted her only daughter,
Barbara, as a member of the children's ballet of the Met's corps de
ballet. This was the start of Barbara's lifelong dance training and
career. Barbara's daughter also became an international opera singer
in the s, and her ancestor, Harriett Bellows Pierce, "... was educated
in a college of music in Boston. She gave music and singing lessons on
the frontier" while emigrating West.
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