{{Use American English|date=July 2020}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}} {{short description|American actress, dancer, and singer in musical theatre}} {{Infobox person | name = Ethel Levey | image = EthelLevey1910.png | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = Portrait of Levey by Sarony, published in 1910 | birth_name = Grace Ethelia Fowler | birth_date = {{Birth date|1880|11|22}} | birth_place = San Francisco, California, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|1955|2|27|1880|11|22}} | death_place = | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|[[George M. Cohan]]|1899|1907|end=divorced}} * {{marriage|[[Claude Grahame-White]]|1916|1939|end=divorced}} }} | children = 1 | occupation = Actor }} '''Ethel Levey''' (November 22, 1880 – February 27, 1955), born '''Grace Ethelia Fowler''', was an American actress, dancer, and singer in musical theatre and on the [[vaudeville]] stage. She was the first wife of [[George M. Cohan]], and the second wife of aviator [[Claude Grahame-White]].
==Early life== Levey was born Grace Ethelia Fowler on November 22 1880 in [[San Francisco, California]].<ref name=Vaudeville>Cullen, Frank, Florence Hackman and Donald McNeilly (eds.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=XFnfnKg6BcAC&pg=PA679 "Ethel Levey"], ''Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performances in America'', Psychology Press (2004), pp. 679–680. {{ISBN|9780415938532}}</ref> She was the daughter of David Fowler and Mattie McGee.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} Her stepfather was Solomon Levy; she used another spelling of his surname as her professional name.<ref name=Vaudeville/>
==Career== [[File:Dear little girly, girly (NYPL Hades-608833-1256143).jpg|thumb|left|''Dear Little Girly, Girly'' sheet music featuring a photo of Levey]] Levey made her professional debut in San Francisco, in [[Charles H. Hoyt]]'s ''[[A Milk White Flag]]'' in 1897. She appeared regularly on vaudeville programs in New York and on tour. After marrying [[George M. Cohan]], she continued performing with him, in ''The Governor's Son'' (1901 and 1906), ''Running for Office'' (1903), ''[[Little Johnny Jones]]'' (1904), and ''George Washington Jr.'' (1906).<ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ethel-levey-mn0000806230 "Ethel Levey"], ''AllMusic''.</ref> After their divorce, her Broadway appearances included roles in ''Nearly a Hero'' (1908),<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3vfQ005ijLwC&dq=Ethel+LEvey&pg=RA3-PA91 "Scenes in Sam Bernard's New Piece, 'Nearly a Hero'"], ''Theatre Magazine'' (April 1908), p. 91</ref> ''[[Watch Your Step (musical)|Watch Your Step]]'' (1914), ''Go Easy, Mabel'' (1922), ''Sunny River'' (1941), and ''[[Marinka (operetta)|Marinka]]'' (1945). She was also seen in London, in the revues ''Hullo Ragtime'' (1912), ''Hullo Tango'' (1913), ''Look Who's Here!'' (1916),<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6KpEAQAAMAAJ&dq=Ethel+LEvey&pg=PA646 "Our Captious Critic"], ''[[The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News]]'' (August 5, 1916), p. 646.</ref> ''Follow the Crowd'' (1916), ''Three Cheers'' (1917), ''Oh! Julie'' (1920), and ''Blue Kitten'' (1925).<ref name=Vaudeville/><ref>Slide, Anthony. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Hu3nNSmRjZ0C&pg=PA312 ''The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville''] (University Press of Mississippi 2012): 311-312. {{ISBN|9781617032509}}</ref><ref>Hischak, Thomas. [http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195335330.001.0001/acref-9780195335330-e-1081 ''The Oxford Companion to the American Musical''] (Oxford University Press 2008). {{ISBN|9780199891474}}</ref>
[[Irving Berlin]] recalled Levey's slower interpretation of his "[[Alexander's Ragtime Band]]": "I remember how upset I was at her rendition of it. The audience, of course, did not agree with me. She was a riot."<ref>Hamm, Charles. [https://books.google.com/books?id=35t8suq9m4MC&pg=PA136 ''Irving Berlin: Songs from the Melting Pot: The Formative Years, 1907-1914''] (Oxford University Press 1997), p. 136. {{ISBN|9780195361148}}</ref>
She appeared in the film ''[[High Stakes (1931 film)|High Stakes]]'' (1931) and in a 1940 short comedy, "Tattle Television".
==Personal life== [[File:Grahame-White group- Arnold Daly, I. Berlin, Grahame White, Ethel Levey, J.W. Southern & wife LCCN2014712488 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Arnold Daly]], [[Irving Berlin]], [[Claude Grahame-White|Grahame-White]], Levey, her daughter Georgette, and Georgette's husband, 1921]] Levey married George M. Cohan in 1899, in [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]].<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21471614/ethel_levey_1906/ "Cohans have Separated"] ''Boston Globe'' (December 28, 1906): 1. via [[Newspapers.com]]{{open access}}</ref> They had a daughter, Georgette (1900–1988),<ref>[http://archives.nypl.org/the/22473 Georgette Cohan photographs and memorabilia, 1895–1978], New York Public Library, Archives & Manuscripts.</ref> before they separated in 1906 and divorced in 1907.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21471352/ethel_levey_1913/ "Ethel Levey Isn't Earning Any Money Now"], ''Wichita Beacon'' (October 11, 1913), p. 11. via [[Newspapers.com]]{{open access}}</ref> She was rumored to be engaged to actor [[Robert Edeson]] in 1907.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21468339/ethel_levey_1907/ "Ethel Levey Injured"] ''Washington Post'' (August 25, 1907), p. 3. via [[Newspapers.com]]{{open access}}</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21471514/ethel_levey_1907/ "'Strongheart' to Wed Ethel Levey"], ''Daily Arkansas Gazette'' (March 4, 1907), p. 4. via [[Newspapers.com]]{{open access}}</ref> There was another rumor that Levey had married a French equestrian, Pierre Crespina, in 1910.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21472306/ethel_levey_1910/ "Ethel Levey Married Abroad"], ''[[The New York Times]]'' (July 8, 1910), p. 7. via [[Newspapers.com]]{{open access}}</ref> Levey and her daughter lived in Paris before [[World War I]].<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21471685/ethel_levey_1911/ "American Best Dressed Says Miss Ethel Levey"], ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' (July 18, 1911), p. 18. via [[Newspapers.com]]{{open access}}</ref> Levey married again, to English aviator Claude Grahame-White, in London in 1916.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21471456/ethel_levey_1916/ "Ethel Levey Bright of Grahame-White"], ''Boston Globe'' (December 22, 1916), p. 9. via [[Newspapers.com]]{{open access}}</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21468823/ethel_levey_1921/ "When You're Divorced Your Troubles Begin"] ''The Times'' (December 11, 1921), p. 51. via [[Newspapers.com]]{{open access}}</ref> With Grahame-White, she flew over wartime France and regularly commuted by air between Paris and London.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21471915/ethel_levey_1921/ "About Ethel Levey"], ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' (March 8, 1921), p. 8. via [[Newspapers.com]]{{open access}}</ref> Grahame-White disliked her continuing stage career;<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21472012/ethel_levey_1921/ "Grahame-White Detests Stage"], ''Boston Post'' (March 30, 1921), p. 2. via [[Newspapers.com]]{{open access}}</ref> the couple divorced in 1939.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1937/12/03/archives/ethel-levey-to-file-petition-for-divorce-former-wife-of-george-m.html "Ethel Levey to File Petition for Divorce"], ''The New York Times'' (December 3, 1937), p. 29.</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21472107/ethel_levey_1939/ "Gay 90's Girl Divorced"], ''Daily News'' (March 31, 1939), p. 570. via [[Newspapers.com]]{{open access}}</ref>
In 1942 she unsuccessfully sued [[Warner Brothers]] for invasion of privacy over ''[[Yankee Doodle Dandy]]'', a film biography of George M. Cohan. (His domestic life is highly fictionalized in the film.)<ref>John T. Aquino, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-fNWBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 ''Truth and Lives on Film: The Legal Problems of Depicting Real Persons and Events in a Fictional Medium''] (McFarland 2005), p. 31. {{ISBN|9780786420445}}</ref>
Levey died in 1955, aged 74, in New York City.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21472170/ethel_levey_1955/ "Ethel Levey Dies of Heart Attack; Funeral is Tuesday"], ''The Town Talk'' (February 26, 1955), p. 18. via [[Newspapers.com]]{{open access}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{IMDB name|0505405}} * {{IBDB name|49633}} * {{Fg|93749492}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Levey, Ethel}} [[Category:1880 births]] [[Category:1955 deaths]] [[Category:American vaudeville performers]] [[Category:American musical theatre actresses]] [[Category:20th-century American actresses]]