Martha Caroline Theresa Lorber (June 11, 1900 – July 2, 1983) was an American dancer, actress, singer, model, and

Ziegfeld Girl Ziegfeld Girls were the chorus girls and showgirls from Florenz Ziegfeld's theatrical Broadway revue spectaculars known as the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1907–1931), in New York City, which were based on the Folies Bergère of Paris. Descripti ...

Early life

Martha Caroline Theresa Lorber was born in New York City, to Frederick, a waiter, and Marie Lorber (née Westfeldt), who were both German immigrants. She graduated from

Girls' High School Girls High School is a historically and architecturally notable public secondary school building located at 475 Nostrand Avenue in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. It was built in 1886.''Brooklyn: a soup-to-nuts g ...

in Brooklyn. She studied dance with Alexis Kosloff, Ekaterina Galanta, and

Michel Fokine Michael Fokine, ''Mikhail Mikhaylovich Fokin'', group=lower-alpha ( – 22 August 1942) was a groundbreaking Imperial Russian choreographer and dancer. Career Early years Fokine was born in Saint Petersburg to a prosperous merchant and a ...

Career

Martha Lorber's Broadway career began when she was still in her teens, and included roles in ''Over the Top'' (1917–1918), ''Mecca'' (1920–1921), ''Tangerine'' (1922), '' Ziegfeld Follies of 1922'', '' Ziegfeld Follies of 1923'', ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1924'', ''Mozart'' (1926), and ''Three Little Girls'' (1930). In the Ziegfeld Follies she played opposite

W. C. Fields William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946), better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler, and writer. Fields's comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist who remained a sympathe ...

in some sketches, showing some comedic talent. She played a lead role in

Ferenc Molnár Ferenc Molnár ( , ; born Ferenc Neumann; 12 January 18781 April 1952), often anglicized as Franz Molnar, was a Hungarian-born author, stage-director, dramatist, and poet, widely regarded as Hungary’s most celebrated and controversial playw ...

's ''The Play's the Thing,'' in Baltimore in 1928. In 1929, she was in London, playing in ''

Little Accident ''Little Accident'' was a 1928 Broadway three-act comedy written by Floyd Dell and Thomas Mitchell (who also played Norman Overbeck in the play). It was based on Dell's 1927 novel ''An Unmarried Father''. It was produced by Crosby Gaige and direc ...

''. In 1930 she broke away from musicals with a dramatic part in the

Zoe Akins Zoe Byrd Akins (October 30, 1886 – October 29, 1958) was an American playwright, poet, and author. She won the 1935 Pulitzer Prize for drama for '' The Old Maid''. Early life Zoe Byrd Akins was born in Humansville, Missouri, second of three ...

drama ''The Greeks Had a Name for It''. She starred in another drama the following year, ''Torch Song'' (1931), in Canada. In 1933, she was featured in two roles in another musical, ''The Red Robin'', in Chicago. In 1934 she was in ''True to the Marines'' in

Locust Valley Locust Valley is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 3,406 at the 2010 census. History The rolling h ...

. In 1941, she toured in a one-woman show, ''Songs in Action''. In 1951, she was hired by the U. S. State Department for a cultural relations position. Lorber was also a model, posing for works by photographers

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography. Steichen was credited with tr ...

Nickolas Muray Nickolas Muray (born Miklós Mandl; 15 February 1892 – 2 November 1965) was a Hungarian-born American photographer and Olympic saber fencer. Early and personal life Muray was born in Szeged, Hungary, and was History of the Jews in Hungary, Je ...

, and

Arnold Genthe Arnold Genthe (8 January 1869 – 9 August 1942) was a German-American photographer, best known for his photographs of San Francisco's Chinatown, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and his portraits of noted people, from politicians and socialite ...

, pin-up artist

Alberto Vargas Joaquin Alberto Vargas y Chávez (9 February 1896 – 30 December 1982) was a Peruvian-American painter of pin-up girls. He is often considered one of the most famous of the pin-up artists. Numerous Vargas paintings have sold and continue to sel ...

, and sculptor

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth Harriet Whitney Frishmuth (September 17, 1880 – January 1, 1980) was an American sculptor known for her works in bronze. Life She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her parents divorced when she was in her teens, and she moved to Europe wi ...

, among others.

Personal life

Martha Lorber died at her home in Lebanon Township, New Jersey, in 1983, aged 83 years.

References

External links

*
Photographs of Martha Lorber
at

Getty Images Getty Images Holdings, Inc. is an American visual media company and is a supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three markets— creative ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lorber, Martha 1900 births 1983 deaths American dancers American actresses Actresses from Brooklyn 20th-century American women