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LAURIE CATHRELL
As I Know Her
BY EARL J. MORRIS

A bronze silhouette, a lovely dancing faun, etched in tan shading might serve to describe Laurie Cathrell, scintillating dancing star currently appearing at the Club Harlem in Kansas City.

She dances with the ease, possessed by all geniuses of her art. . . . like sweet, mellowed intoxicating wine . . . bubbling with vitality, grace and poise, like effervescent champagne.

The staid city of St. Louis, which has spawned many gems musically and theatrically, is the birthplace of Laurie Cathrell.

Almost 21 years ago, December 4, ^[[strikethrough]]1914,[[/strikethrough]]Laurie tested her lungs and let forth a healthy yell, announcing to all who happened to be about, that she was making her initial debut on terra firma.

To the doctor, the nurses it was just another baby. The other newly born babies were too busy yelling themselves to pay any attention to little Laurie.

But there was one person who thought that she was the sweetest baby in all the world. It was her girl-mother, Mrs. Sally J. Cathrell.

The young mother looked proudly into the face of this tiny bundle, which squirmed, kicked, cried and clawed the air. The pretty little mother hugged her baby tenderly, little dreaming that there would come a time in the life of this tiny tot when she would earn her living kicking her feet in tempo with music.

Just five years from that day when her mother held her in her arms, little Laurie began her career as a dancer.

She received her education in the public schools of her birth and also attended Lincoln ’U’ in Jefferson City, Mo.

Her theatrical career really began when she won a bathing beauty contest in St. Louis.

It was Cleo Mitchell who persuaded her mother to allow the girl to embark upon a theatrical career.

Laura joined the ”Shake Your Feet” company which was traveling through St. Louis in 1929.

She traveled throughout the country with this show. Upon her return she entered Club Plantation with the first revue. After the first season, she, Mattie Hedgeman, and Anna Rose opened in Springfield, Ill., at one of the exclusive night spots there. At the close of the season she returned to St. Louis, then along comes Maceo Birch of Kansas City. The young man who had had a flare at the publicity racket was seeking talent. Laurie was just a chorus girl, but the keen analytical eye of Birch saw her possibility and signed her to appear as a soubrette in his show.

Joe Stevenson, a young producer and dance authority says, ”Miss Cathrell is one of the best dancing girls in America.”

She, however, has one eccentric habit. That of wearing trousers. She has several suits made with trousers. . . . and has often been referred to affectionately as the Marlene Dietrich of Kansas City.

Laurie is a beautiful girl, tall and stately. Light—complexioned, with a row of pearly white teeth encased by a pair of pretty-cherryred luscious kiss-inviting lips. She has a lovely, exotic figure with shapely legs.

Little did Mildred Franklin, who headed a dancing school, think that little Laurie Cathrell, who was five years old at the time and her best ballet dance pupil, would some day rise to become one of the foremost female dancers in the middle-West.

She has a sister, Sally J. Cathrell, named after their mother, who incidentally happens to be the publisher and editor of this magazine.

This article was written with the fond hope that it will serve as an inspiration to Sepia girls all over America. Also as a tribute to the many ambitious girls of St. Louis, who despite the fact they have grown into womanhood, have done their bit to add to the progress of a race with which they happen to be identified.

Bronze Silhouettes.

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