Rosemary Magrill (stage name Rose Marie Magrill; 1924 – 19 March 2016) was

Miss Florida The Miss Florida competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Florida in the Miss America pageant. Florida has twice won the Miss America crown. In the fall of 2018, the Miss America Organization terminated Miss F ...

in 1939. At the time she was crowned, she was underage. She went on to place as a semi-finalist in

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

and became widely known as a "

tap dance Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely perfo ...

r extraordinary" with shows in a number of famous venues including

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

Childhood

Magrill grew up in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

.Described as a "Miami girl" in 1940 () Her lifelong interest in dance already showed by age 7, at which age the

Miami News ''The Miami News'' was an evening newspaper in Miami, Florida. It was the media market competitor to the morning edition of the '' Miami Herald'' for most of the 20th century. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called ''The Miami ...

says she was "teaching playmates at 10 cents per lesson". The 1941 article continues to track her career - running a dance school of 150 pupils by age 12, and "Miss Florida" at age 14, until her 17th pageant win at age 16, which won her a tour of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

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1930s - 1940s fame

Magrill was a Miss Miami local contest winner. In order to compete in the

pageant, girls were required to be at least 18 and were carefully screened for age, but there were 260 other girls in the contest and Magrill was able to complete the screening process without being asked her age. The finals took place in

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

in September 1939.The final was stated to have been "10 years ago this week" in the 10 September 1949 edition of a local newspaper () Her true age was not revealed to contest officials until after her crowning, when she was competing for the title of

. Magrill was permitted to continue in the Miss America contest, where she ultimately finished as a semi-finalist. At some time after the Miss America contest, Magrill lived in New York and became a Broadway dancer. She was the cover girl for True Story magazine in October, 1939 - a major national magazine at the time. A November 2006 article in the

South Florida Sun-Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Br ...

described her dance career: : " ose Marie Magrillwas called "tap dancer extraordinary" by newspapers in the 1930s. She danced on

and in the George White Scandals of 1939 and the Duke Ellington Review of 1943. She danced in hotel venues and all the big clubs in the country, including the Martha Raye's Five O'clock Club in

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

. Her name was in lights on the marquee at the 500 Club in

." According to ''Broadwayworld.com'' her Broadway performances included dancing girl and performer roles for: * ''

George White's Scandals ''George White's Scandals'' were a long-running string of Broadway revues produced by George White that ran from 1919–1939, modeled after the ''Ziegfeld Follies''. The "Scandals" launched the careers of many entertainers, including W. C. Fie ...

'' (1939) * '' A Connecticut Yankee'' (Broadway Revival, 1943) * '' Bright Lights of 1944'' (Original Broadway Production, 1943) She also performed with the June Taylor Dancers.

Later life and death

For many years (in the 1960s and 1970s), Magrill ran a dancing school in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

with her husband, Ned Walsh. Until 2012, Magrill was a dance instructor in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

. Magrill died on 19 March 2016, at the age of 92, after a very brief illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magrill, Rose Marie 1924 births Miss America 1930s delegates 2016 deaths American female dancers