Talk:Ann Miller

Name and other matters
Various names are given

Colliers (1939) says

I Forgot To Remember To Forget, Norman Johnson gives a different story. {{Block quote|"Clarence[?} Emma Birdwell and John Alfred Collier" were her unmarried parents. Collier was a lawyer who represented various well known gangsters, including Bonnie and Clyde, Babyface Nelson and Machine Gun Kelly. He goes on to say that the abused and neglected "Johnnie Lucille Ann Collier" ran away aged 12 and hitch-hiked to California, getting a job in The Black Cat Club, where she was spotted by Lucille Ball and scout Benny Rubin. In 1936 Ball got her a contract with RKO.}}

Ann Miller: Tops in Tap gives Johnnie Lucille Collier but also says

That's Dancing 1984 says of the birth certificate

Turning Points (1992) says

So it seems there is no definitive tale.

All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 15:01, 29 September 2016 (UTC).

Black Cat Club
Not clear if this is the (then) gay club at 710 Montgomery Street, aka the Black Cat Bar.

All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 16:06, 29 September 2016 (UTC).

Heinz Great American Soup Commercial
Ann Miller starred in a classic television commercial for H.J. Heinz Company's "Great American Soup" line in 1970. The commercial was produced by comedian and advertising great Stan Freberg, and was the most expensive commercial ever produced at that time. The commercial may be viewed on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jU2pl7bqKg

Birth certificate
A birth certificate from the Texas Dept. of Vital Statistics, accessible via Ancestry.com, shows a Johnnie Lucille Collier born on April 12, 1923 in Houston. That coincides with Ann Miller. But the certificate gives the name of her father as Thornton Skeen (Collier?), an automobile mechanic, and her mother as Hulda Francis Wallis. This contradicts the information in the article for Miller. So either her father wasn't a criminal defense lawyer and her mother wasn't Clara Emma Birdwell or this is not the right person. Per WP:PRIMARY I am omitting. However, the preexisting 1930 Census entry, used as a source for the birth date, does give her age as 7 and her father's occupation as lawyer and her mother as Clara. So that is usable I think and should be retained. Figureofnine (talk • contribs) 14:34, 10 August 2022 (UTC)