Meglin_kiddies

The Meglin Kiddies was a prestigious performance troupe (acting, music and dance). The troupe was composed of child actors up to the age of 16. (AKA: The Meglin Professional Children\'s School, The Meglin Dance Studio, Meglin\'s Dance School and Meglin\'s Wonderous Hollywood Kiddies, as well as other variations.)

The troupe was started by Ethel Meglin in 1928. Meglin was a Ziegfeld girl in feature films.Ethel Meglin filmography. NYTimes.com. Director/actor and Slapstick Keystone King Mack Sennett was supportive to the formation of the troupe\'s studio. Sennett donated a Meglin Kiddie studio building sign and assisted in securing an operations location on his lot.Cary, Diana Serra (1978). Hollywood\'s Children. Texas: Southern Methodist University Press. ISBN 0870744240.  The Johnny Grant BuildingThe Johnny Grant Building. Hollywood Historic Site Walk web site. at 7018-7024 Hollywood Blvd was once the Meglin Dance Studio. The studio was located on the second floor.

One of the most successful child stars of all time, Shirley Temple, was discovered when she was a Meglin Kiddie dancer. Producers from Educational Studios recruited her from the Meglin Kiddie studio.More About Shirley. The Official Shirley Temple Web Site. "Charles Lamont, a director from Educational Studios visited the “Meglin Kiddies” and chose Shirley, hiding under the piano, for a part in a movie that the studio was about to make."Mckenzie, Loretta. Shirley Temple\'s Childhood. Loretta\'s Shirley Temple Dolls.

Superstar, Judy Garland, was a Meglin Kiddie also.Who were the Meglin Kiddies?. Kansas Wizard of Oz \'N More Store. Garland\'s mother, Mrs. Gumm, played the piano at the Meglin Kiddie studio to help pay for Garland\'s singing and dancing lessons there.Cary 1978:202 The film debut of Judy Garland was in Meglin Kiddie short films.Brogan, Scott. About Judy. The Judy Room. Garland also performed with the Meglin Kiddies over the radio, and live at theaters such as: Shrine Auditorium, Pantages Theatre (Hollywood), and Loew\'s State Theater in Los Angeles, California.Brogan, Scott. 1922-1939 Timeline. The Judy Room.

In the 1950s, the Meglin Kiddies had a television show.

Ethel Meglin retired in 1962, along with the studio and dance troupe.

Movies

• Reg\'lar Fellers (1941) --Billy Lee\'s Band --Associate Producer: Ethel Meglin
• The Wizard of Oz (1939) --Munchkin child actors and dancers
• Maytime (1937) --Children In Maypole Number
• Roarin\' Lead (1936) --Dancers
• Too Many Parents (1936) (uncredited) --Themselves
• In Love with Life (1934) --Floor show performers at the Kiddie Kabaret
• Show Kids (1934)
• The Land of Oz (1932) --Production company and actors/dancers
• The Big Revue (1929) --AKA "The Meglin Kiddie Revue" & AKA "The Starlet Revue" --with Judy Garland (Francis Gumm & Sisters)Brogan, Scott. The Gumm Sisters/Garland Sisters Early Short Subjects. The Judy Room.

Meglin Kiddies

• Beverley DeLay (actor/dancer in Land of Oz (1932))
• Nola Fairbanks
• Judy Garland
• Virginia Grey
• Donna Hardway (Munchkin in the 1939 Oz film and was in Our Gang Comedies)
• Donald Henderson
• Darryl Hickman
• June Lang
• Billy Lee
• Ann Miller
• Mickey Rooney
• Melody Thomas Scott
• Shirley Temple
• Jane Withers

References

External links

• The Meglin Kiddies at the Internet Movie Database
• The Meglin Kiddies production of The Land of Oz at the Internet Movie Database

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