Violet (Arnold) Dickey (1911 - 1992)

Born Aug 1911 in Passaic, New Jersey, United States

Wife of William Malcolm Dickey — married 5 Oct 1932 (to 1979) in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, New York, United States

Died Jun 1992 at age 80 in San Antonio, Bexar, Texas, United States

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Biography

Violet was the youngest of two children born to Frederick and Caroline Arnold. Frederick was the son of German immigrants and was an hotel proprietor according to the 1920 US Census data.

Violet left high school when she was 16 years old to begin a career in theatre as a Broadway showgirl. She was the last girl chosen by Flo Ziegfeld to be a Ziegfeld Girl before he died in 1932. She appeared in Ziegfeld's Showboat and Earl Carroll's Sketchbooks although the two producers were rivals.

Violet gave up her career when she married William "Bill" Dickey in 1932 at St. Mark’s Church in Jackson Heights, New York, and devoted herself to following him as he played professional baseball and later coached. They had one daughter, Lorraine, in 1935.

While Violet's stage career ended, her love of theater remained. After she divorced Bill Dickey in 1979, she moved to Texas to be with her daughter and grandson. There she helped her grandson establish the Woodlawn Theater to help train young, aspiring actors.

Violet died in 1992 at the age of 80.

Sources

• "New Jersey State Census, 1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV93-VLMY : 8 October 2014), Violet B Arnold in entry for Fred E Arnold, 1915.

"United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M454-H21 : 14 December 2015), Violet Arnold in household of Fredrick Arnold, Cape May, Cape May, New Jersey, United States; citing sheet 8A, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,821,025.

"United States Census, 1930", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4D3-N3D : 8 December 2015), Violet Arnold in entry for Caroline Arnold, 1930.

Genealogy Bank - http://www.genealogybank.com/doc/obituaries/obit/0FF81EEDDCD82132?s_referrer=FamilySearch%3DFamilySearch%3DFSIndex%3DFSIndex%3DOT_FSrch_Index_1408_00%3DOT_FSrch_Index_1408_00