Doris Eaton was born in Norfolk, Virginia, into a
show business family. The young Doris began appearing on stage with her
brothers Charles and Joseph and her sisters Mary and Pearl when she was
five years old. She made her Broadway debut aside her brother Charles
in "Mother Carey's Chickens" in 1917. The following year, the
14-year-old Doris became a Ziegfeld Girl, performing in the "Ziegfeld
Follies" of 1918 and 1920 and the "Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic" in 1919.
After having served her dance apprenticeship in legendary theatrical
impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.'s
chorus for three years, she decamped for the movies. She made her
screen debut in "At the Stage Door" (1921) in support of
Billie Dove.
She moved to England to appear as the lead in three films,
Tell Your Children (1922),
The Call of the East (1922),
and
The Call of the East (1922).
Back in America, she made
The Broadway Peacock (1922)
with Pearl White and
High Kickers (1923) with Jack Cooper
and the Gorham Follies Girls.
Doris returned to Broadway in 1924, appearing in the musical "No Other
Girl" and the plays "The Sap" and "Excess Baggage." In 1925, she
co-starred with Al Jolson in the musical
comedy "Big Boy." She then appeared in the comedy "Excess Baggage" in
1927, and the musical comedy "Cross My Heart" the next year. Moving to
Hollywood in 1929, she began a career as a featured dancer at the Music
Box Review Theater on Sunset Boulevard. It was there that she
introduced the song "Singin' in the Rain." Her last appearance on
Broadway in a legitimate production was in the comedy "Page Pygmalion"
in 1932.
Her career as a dancer began to peter out during the Great Depression,
and she became an Arthur Murray dance instructor in 1936. Relocating to
the state of Michigan, she eventually became the operator of 18 Arthur
Murray dance schools. Eventually, Doris retired to Oklahoma with her
husband Paul Tavis, where they operated a quarter horse ranch. When
they built their house in Norman, Oklahoma, Doris demanded that the
house have a foyer large enough for dancing. Doris still dances in the
foyer at night.
"I have my little Victrola there and I play the records and I dance the
foxtrot and the waltz and the rumba, though swaying by myself."
Doris has become a regular performer at Broadway's annual AIDS benefit.
People express surprise that she was a Ziegfeld Girl.
"It seems that when people find out about it, they're astonished; and
possibly because I'm still walking around."
Since her husband passed away in the year 2000, Doris lets people use
the ranch to board their horses. Doris jokes, "I call it the Travis
Ranch Nursing Home for Horses."
She had dropped out of school to pursue her dance career, but in the
1980s, Travis went back to college and graduated from the University of
Oklahoma in 1992. She was named a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor
society while at the university.
At 101 years old, Doris was quoted as saying that dance was the primary
reason for her longevity. In fact, her last stage appearance was one
month short of her death at age 106.
