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Harry Fox photo 2

Stage Name

Birth Name

Harry Fox Arthur Carringford

   -- Mr. Fox was and actor, Singer and comedian in the Vaudeville circuit as well as the Broadway Stage. Harry took the Stage Name of "Fox" in respect for his grandfather. Harry had a good sense of humor a nice snile and was considered a pleasing chap.

-- Harry was on the road by the age of 15 and took up many different jobs, such as playing Baseball, or acting and singing in vaudeville houses. Harry got his big break in 1904 in the play in San Francisco called "Mr. Frisky of Frisco," he was a success. By 1910/11 his style of comedy was that of Eddie Foy. During this time he was partnering with a Lillian and Flora Millership (aka Millership sisters) and had put together an Song and Dance act called "Artisitc Nonsense" with the Sisters dancing and Harry doing the comedy. Eventually, this success would lead him to New York and Broadway. It was here in New York where he would meet his first wife, "Ms. Yansci Dolly" of the famous "Dolly Sisters." By 1913 Harry and Yansci were being billed at the Orpheum in an act called "Smart Fooling" and were deemed as the best entertainers on the vaudeville circuit. Harry married Yansci Dolly, in April of 1914, however it is said she only married Harry to further her career.

-- During the same year in May, while the Dolly Sisters were performing atop the New York theater (Jardin de Danse), Harry was to get an even greater break while performing with his brevity of "6 American Beauties" downstairs. It was

Pictures

here that Fox is credited with inventing the Ballroom dance called the "Fox-trot" (Fox's Trot). This has also been reported to have taken place in a 1913 Ziegfeld play. Arthur Duryea would later refine the Fox-trot to more of a glide than the laborious trot. Harry and Dolly invariably split up and went their separate ways. Harry would go on to perform many popular songs and supposedly even wrote some popular music of the time as well. -

Foley States:
"Fox certainly didn't write the songs in the movie "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows," which the Harry Fox character sings, it was written by Joseph McCarthy (words) and Harry Carroll (adapted from a Chopin melody). The real Harry Fox did sing the song, 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" ... More to come.

 

Birth Place

Birth Date

Spouse

Offspring

Pomona, Ca. 5/22/1882 - 7/20/1959 Yansci Dolly (1914-1921) n/a
            Evelyn Brent      
            Beatrice Curtis      
 

Dance Types

Sheet Music Covers

Music Titles

Ballroom I'm Always Chasing Rainbows 1909 - Bless my Swanee River Home
Foxtrot 1909 - I Lost my Heart in Dixieland
            1924 - In The Evening

Dance / Stage Partners

      Anything if it comes from Dixieland
James Barton       Harry Fox-trot (by Lew Pollack & Victor Arden)
Millership Sisters (1910) (Lillian, Flora and ?)      
Yansci "Jenny Dolly" Deutschi       I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
 

Night Clubs

Theaters

Stage

Jardin de Danse Apollo Theater (1925) 1904 - Mr. Frisky of Frisco
      B.F. Keiths Colonial Theatre (1921) 1912 - The Passing Show of 1912
      Century Promenade (1924) 1913 - The Honeymoon Express (w/ Jenny Dolly)
      Globe Theatre (1915)
      Grand Theatre (1911) w/ Millership Sisters 1913 - Ziegfeld Follies
      Jardin de Paris (1911) 1915 - Made In America
      Manhattan Opera House 1915 - Stop, Look and Listen
      New York Theater 1917 - The Passing Show
      Orpheum (1910) w/ Millership Sisters 1918 - Oh Look!
      Palace Theare (1921) 1924 - Round the Town
      Vanderbuilt Theater (1918) 1925 - George White's Scandals
      Winter Garden Theatre (1912) Easter Parade
            The Girl I Love is on a Mag Cover
 

Films

Publications

1916 - Beatrice Fairfax episodes (Cub Reporter) 11/12/1911 - Harry and the Millership Sisters (Grand Theatre Adv.)
9/13/1913 - Manitoba Morning Free Press (Photo of Harry)
1928 - The Lemon 10/2/1913 - Manitoba Morning Free Press (Harry and Yansci)
1929 - Harry Fox and his 6 American Beauties 1914 - Variety Magazine
1929 - Harry Fox and Bee Curtis 2/27/1914 - Photoplay Magazine
1929 - Fox and The Bee 8/11/1918 - Variety Magazine
1930 - The Playboy 1961 - A Pictorial History of Vaudeville
1930 - Lucky Break      
1931 - Fifty Million Frenchmen      
1934 - Love Time      
$1934 - 365 Nights in Hollywood (Joe)      
1937 - The Cherokee Strip      
1937 - The Missing Witness      
1937 - The Talent Scout      
1937 - The Go Getter      
$1948 - The Easter Parade (desk clerk)      
1990 - Hollywood on Cayuga      
NOTE:Special thanks to Jack Foley for additional Info on Harry Fox.
July 22, 2006
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