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Picture of Rozika or Rosy and Jenny or Yansci Dolly of the famous Dolly Sisters. These sister were twins who danced on Broadway then in Movies. Jenny  married Harry Fox who invented the Fox Trot dance in 1914. They would later dance Mambo a Latin dance in a few Spanish Movies.

Stage Name

Birth Name

The Dolly Sisters Yansci "Jenny" Dolly Deutsch
The Dancing Dollys Roszika "Rosi" Dolly Deutsch

    The Twins arrived in Brooklyn, NY when they were just five years of age, Rozika (Rosy) and Jenny (Yansci) Dolly of the famous Dolly Sisters were internationally known as a single sex dance team, a "Tandem act" if you will. These sister were twins who danced on Broadway plays then in movies. They were managed by their uncle. Using mirrors, lights and shadow techniques, and identical clothing they would imitate each others dancing movements to perfection.

    The twins started dancing early in life in beer halls and made their American debut in operetta entitled "The Maid and the Millionaire" (danced the pony ballet) in 1907. However, because of their age they would not be allowed to perform in New York for two more years, frustrated, they entered the Orpheum Vaudeville circuit and toured the mid west until 1909 they returned back to New York and the Keith circuit and by 1912 was with the Ziegfeld Follies, billed as the Dolly twins. Passing an important audition for Oscar

Hammerstein, the Dolly girls become international Stage headliners, but in so doing they find that their private life would be strained.

    Jenny married Harry Foxwho is credited for inventing the Fox Trot dance in 1914. Harry Fox sang the song, "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows," with the Dolly Sisters, in the 1918 Broadway musical for which it was written, "Oh, Look". Harry isn't in the film and actually sued the producers for representing him as a "lowly songwriter", he felt it was part of Rosie's "conspiracy to injure him." His suit was unsuccessful.

    Roszika would team up with Martin Brownand perform erotic Spanish ballroom dances which the audience adored. On many billings the two girls would be billed as rivals to create more income at the door. However these teaming's would not last and the sisters would be back together again, better than ever.

    Jennie Dolly was in a serious automobile accident, driving over a cliff located along the French Riviera in 1933 with her fiance Tony ???, they survived the automobile accident more or less intact -- afterwards looking exactly as she did before and still able to dance, but sadly very broke and unhappy, as Hollywood was no longer calling.

    For the next six weeks, writes Max Pierce, "she [underwent] over 15 painful and unsuccessful plastic surgeries to restore her beauty, later cursing the doctors for saving her life. This necessitated the sale of most of her jewelry" -- a fact which is included in the film.

However, never recovering mentally or physically from her 1933 auto accident, Jennie described herself to friends as a broken shell' and committed suicide by hanging herself at the Shelton Hotel in 1941. Rosie, who attempted suicide in 1962, died of a heart attack in 1970. I Think the the Sisters would later dance Mambo, (a Latin dance) in a few foreign Spanish movies as they were credited, (maybe they are other dancers sharing the same name).

Birth Place

Birth Date

Spouse (s)

Offspring

(Jenny) Budapest, Hungary

10/25/1892 - 6/1/1941

Harry Fox - (1914/21)

n/a
   

Bernard Vinissky - (1935/40)

 
 

(Rosi)  Budapest, Hungary

10/25/1892 - 1/1/1970

Jean Schwartz - (1913/21)

   
       

Mortimer Davis - (1927/31)

   
       

Irving Netcher - (1932/43)

< Died)

 

Dance Types

Dance Partners

Music Titles

Foxtrot

Harry Fox

Dance (1906)

Galop / Polka

Martin Brown

Die Aktulle Trompeten Hit Parade No. 1 (LP)

Habanera

 

?Mambo?

     

Dolly Sisters Movie Sheet Music Covers

Papaltatsa Maxixe (1914)

     

?Jardin de Dolly (1896 by Gabriel Faure)?

         
 

Night Clubs

Theaters

Stage

Casino de Paris (1922)

Keith's Union Square Theater

1907 - The Maid and the Millionaire

Casino de Paris (1927)

London Hippodrome (1922)

1908/9 - Orpheum Vaudeville Circuit

Jardin de Danse

Manhattan Opera House

1909 - Keith Vaudeville Circuit

Lews

Palace Theatre (1921)

1910 - The Echo (Rosi)

 

Shubert Theatre (1924)

1911/12 - Ziegfeld Follies

 

Theatre Edouard VII

1912 - The Merry Countess

 

Vienna Theater

1913 - Honeymoon Express (Jenny)

 

Ziegfeld Theater

1914 - Hello Broadway (Rosi)

   

1914 - Whirl of the World (Rosi)

   

1916 - His Bridal Night (Rosi)

   

1924 - Greenwich Village Follies

   

1931 - Jeannette McDonald En Person (Jeanny was Costumer in Paris)

   

"Folies Bergere"

   

"Oh LesBelles Filles"

   

"Revue Moderne" (Casino deParis)

     
       
 

Films

Television

(Other)

1913 - The Merry Countess (Brown)

n/a

2/27/1914 - Photoplay Magazine

1913 - The Maid and The Millionaire

     

Dance Till Dawn - (Book)

1915 - The Call Of The Dance (Jenny)

     

 

 

 

1915 - The Lilly and the Rose

     

 

 

 

1918 - The Million Dollar Dollies

           

1920 - The Tiger Girl (Lilly & the rose)

     

Posters

$1945 - The Dolly Sisters

     

The Dolly Sisters

??many Mexican/Spanish Films??

     

The Dolly Sisters Movie Poster

NOTE: Jenny married Harry Fox who is credited with inventing the Fox Trot.

April 25, 2006

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