{{Short description|Swedish-American vaudeville performer (1890–1963)}} thumb|Paterson on the cover of Variety, January 1917 '''Signe Paterson''' (May 6, 1890 – August 15, 1963), sometimes written as Signe Patterson, was a Swedish-born American vaudeville dancer, celebrated both for her solo performances and as one-half of the jazz duo Hale and Paterson alongside Frank Hale.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|date=5 January 1917|title=Variety magazine|work=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety45-1917-01|access-date=23 December 2020}}</ref>

Paterson introduced the shimmy — a dance known at the time as the Shimmy-She-a-Wabble —onto the American stage.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Levitt|first=Paul|title=My Life In Vaudeville: The Autobiography of Ed Lowry|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8093-3016-4|location=Library of Congress|pages=201}}</ref> She is also credited as the first non- Hawaiian to introduce the Hula to the United States, in the 1920s, raising awareness of the Hawaiian national dance on American shores.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|date=17 September 1916|title=Hula-Hula Coming to Hub! That's the Definite Announcement of Swedish "Goddess of the Dance"|work=Boston Post|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/74642200/?terms=signe%20patterson&match=1|access-date=23 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=7 September 1916|title=Miss Signe Patterson Dancing the "Hula"|work=Arkansas Democrat|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/166378682/?terms=signe%20patterson&match=1|access-date=23 December 2020}}</ref>

== Early life == Paterson was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1890 as the eldest of eleven siblings, including one brother and six sisters.<ref>{{Cite news|date=17 August 1963|title=Mrs. Gervers, Civic Leader, Editor, Dies|work=The Tampa Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/329018825/?terms=signe%20gervers&match=1|access-date=22 December 2020}}</ref> As a teenager, Paterson performed around Sweden, including as the principal dancer of King Gustav V of Sweden, reportedly his favorite performer.<ref>{{Cite news|date=30 September 1917|title=Now Comes the Whirling Dervish Dance|work=Nashville Banner|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/604615630/?terms=signe%20patterson&match=1|access-date=23 December 2020}}</ref> At age 14, she left her hometown of Sundleyberg to become an Actor in America.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Baubie, Jr|first=James A.|date=29 December 1929|title=Famous Dancer of Few Years Ago is Now More Interested in Recipes Than Steps|work=The Pittsburgh Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/141345369/?terms=dancer%20signe%20marries%20gervers&match=1|access-date=23 December 2020}}</ref>

== Career == After leaving Sweden, Paterson moved to Rhode Island to live with family friends while studying English and dramatic arts. While still a young teenager, she joined the chorus of the Chicago production of Prince of Tonight, touring the US and Canada.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|date=23 February 1930|title=First White Exponent of The Hula Returns to the Stage|work=The Pittsburgh Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/141320751/?terms=signe%20paterson&match=1}}</ref>

Soon after, Paterson joined the Chicago chorus of the show A Modern Eve, where she met her longtime dance partner Frank Hale. Due to the female lead's illness, Paterson was promoted to perform alongside Hale on opening night. Her debut was received enthusiastically by the audience, and Hale and Paterson went on to perform 300 shows in Chicago, a record for the era.<ref name=":2" /> alt=Signe Paterson in a 1921 advert|left|thumb|Signe Paterson in a 1921 advert Following her early success, she traveled to Paris where she performed on the stage at venues including Ciro's Paris and received top billing.<ref>{{Cite news|date=29 March 1925|title=Broadway to Feature Famous Swedish Dancer|work=Richmond Times Dispatch|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045389/1921-03-20/ed-1/seq-37/|access-date=22 December 2020}}</ref> She mingled in upper class and high society circles and was friendly with Grand Duke Boris of Russia, who regularly came to see her perform, as well as Alexander Montagu, the Duke of Manchester. Back in America, she taught society figures to dance in Newport, Palm Beach, and New York City,<ref>{{Cite news|date=23 September 1916|title=Dances to Be Fashionable This Winter|work=The New York Sun|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/207161589/?terms=signe%20patterson&match=1|access-date=23 December 2020}}</ref> including Edith Rockefeller McCormick, who she taught to tango.<ref name=":2" />

Paterson performed around the globe at notable venues, including New York's Winter Garden Theater and Shubert Theater<ref>{{Cite news|date=28 September 1919|title=Shubert Gaities|work=New York Herald|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/466233008/?terms=signe%20patterson&match=1|access-date=23 December 2020}}</ref> and the London Opera House, and participated in numerous touring productions around the US, including the George M. Cohan Review, which toured in 1918.<ref>{{Cite news|date=28 April 1918|title=Doings in Vaudeville|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/169010513/?terms=Signe%20Patterson%20dancer&match=1}}</ref> At the height of her fame, she appeared on the cover of Variety in January 1917, with five photos on the cover, including solo portraits as well as photos together with her partner Hale.<ref name=":4" /> In 1921, she was presented to President Warren G. Harding in Washington D.C.<ref name=":5" />

During her years on the New York stage and in the theater circuit, Paterson worked with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band on the Keith-Albee circuit of vaudeville and motion picture theaters. She was well known for introducing dance styles that American audiences were unfamiliar with. She learned to dance the Hula in the Sandwich Islands and adapted it for Western audiences, performing in Sweden and Paris before attempting to raise its profile in America by performing it in Central Park in 1916.<ref>{{Cite news|date=7 September 1916|title=Signe Patterson Startles Gotham With Hula Dance in Central Park|work=The Arkansas Democrat|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/166378682/?terms=signe%20patterson&match=1|access-date=24 December 2020}}</ref> While performing the Hula, she was backed by The Royal Hawaiian Orchestra.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|date=15 October 1921|title=Signe Paterson Well Known Among Best|work=The Evening News Harrisburg Pennsylvania|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/57733820/?terms=signe%20paterson&match=1|access-date=23 December 2020}}</ref> In addition to the Hula and the Shimmy, she is credited with introducing the Tango onto Broadway.<ref name=":1" />

Together with her manager and eventual husband, F. Ralph Gervers, she is credited with producing the first large-scale stage presentation running at motion picture theaters.<ref name=":2" />

Throughout her career, various nicknames included "The Sprite from Sweden".<ref>{{Cite news|date=25 September 1916|title="Hawaiian Swede" is Now Claimed by the Windy City|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/301199757/?terms=signe%20patterson&match=1|access-date=23 December 2020}}</ref> and "Goddess of the Dance"<ref name=":0" />

== Personal life == alt=Signe Paterson Gervers with her son James|thumb|Signe Paterson Gervers with her son James Following Paterson's marriage to F. Ralph Gervers, she left her career to start a family and moved to Pittsburgh in 1928,<ref name=":1" /> before moving to Tampa, Florida in 1934. In Tampa, she was active in civic affairs, working as society editor and associate editor of the Port-Tampa Interbay Beacon,<ref>{{Cite news|date=26 October 1958|title=Gervers Move to Two Papers in Everglades|work=The Tampa Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/328330835/?terms=signe%20gervers&match=1|access-date=22 December 2020}}</ref> president of the Port Tampa Women's Club, and helped organize the Port Tampa Library and Port Tampa Blood Bank.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|date=17 August 1963|title=Mrs Signe Gervers Dies at 73|work=The Tampa Tribune|department=Deaths in the Tampa Bay Area}}</ref>

Paterson contributed to war efforts on multiple occasions. During World War I, she served in the Women's Service Division in New York, also performing in training camps to entertain American troops.<ref name=":2" /> She also used her fame to appeal to Swedish-Americans to supply tobacco and pipes to those serving in the United States Army.<ref>{{Cite news|date=30 August 1917|title=Signe Patterson|work=Carbondale Free Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/10325350/?terms=signe%20patterson&match=1|access-date=23 December 2020}}</ref> In Tampa, she helmed the Red Cross Canteen during World War II.

She had two children, a son named James A. Gervers and a son named Albert Gervers.<ref name=":1" /> Through her son James, she is the grandmother of filmmaker Erik Courtney.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Erik Courtney|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1852080/|access-date=24 December 2020|website=IMDB}}</ref> Paterson died August 15, 1963, aged 73.<ref name=":3" />

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paterson, Signe}} Category:1890 births Category:1963 deaths Category:Musicians from Stockholm Category:Swedish emigrants to the United States Category:Swedish vaudeville performers Category:Swedish female dancers Category:American vaudeville performers Category:American female dancers