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Myrna Darby was an American showgirl-Ziegfeld Girl, notable for her photographic portraits by Alfred Cheney Johnston.

Darby began her stage entertainment career in 1923 in a Pittsburgh, PA, production of Abie's Irish Rose.

After she moved to New York City, Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. cast her in the 1926 musical No Foolin'. From 1927 to 1928 Ziegfeld also cast her in Rio Rita

, Whoopee, and Rosalie.



In July 1929, Myrna Darby suffered from a severe sunburn. [ 8 ] Over the next two months, her health deteriorated and she was hospitalized. She died on September 26, 1929, at the age of twenty-one, probably from a heart defect [ 9 ]. She is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. Larry Fay, a Prohibition -era bootlegger in New York, reportedly paid his hospital bills and funeral expenses. [ 10 ]

Iconography Myrna Darby was photographed by Alfred Cheney Johnston who worked for Florenz Ziegfeld for over 15 years, primarily taking advertising and promotional photographs of the Ziegfeld Follies performers. [ 11 ] The nude photos, discovered after Johnston's death, were not published until the 1920s.

In 1927, Darby posed for a Lucky Strike cigarette advertisement with fellow Ziegfeld Girls, Murrell Finley , Blanche Satchel and Jean Ackerman. [ 12 ]

Private life In 1927, Myrna fell in love with a married pianist named George A. Walsh. When George's wife discovers the affair, she files for divorce and accuses Myrna Darby of stealing from her husband.

In the spring of 1929, Myrna became engaged to a British millionaire who married another woman.

References (in) « Myrna Darby Dies.; Ziegfeld Show Girl and Beauty, 21, Was Widely Photographed. », The New York Times ,September 28, 1929 ( ISSN 0362-4331, read online , consulted on [ archive ]April 13, 2022) Norton 2002, p. 450. Norton 2002, p. 478. (in) Robert Baral, Revue: a nostalgic revival of the great Broadway period , New York: Fleet Pub. Corp.,1962 ( read online ) [ archive ] Norton 2002, p. 502. (en) The Best plays and the year book of the drama in America, New York, Dodd, Mead,1909 ( read online ) [ archive ] Norton 2002, p. 558. (in) Louis Sobol, The longest street; a memoir , New York, Crown Publishers,1968 ( read online ) [ archive ] (in) Variety ,August 1929 ( read online ) [ archive ] (en) Patrick Downey, Gangster city: a history of the New York underworld, 1900-1940 , Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books,2004 ( ISBN 978-1-56980-267-0 , read online ) [ archive ] , p.  259 (in) Hollywood Auction 65 ,October 19, 2014 ( read online ) [ archive ] (in) The Leatherneck ,November 1927 ( read online ) [ archive ] Bibliography Document utilisé pour la rédaction de l’article : documents used as a source for the writing of this article: (in) Richard C. Norton, A chronology of American musical theater , Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press,2002 ( ISBN 978-0-19-508888-5 , 978-0-19-515565-5 and 978-0-19-515566-2 , read online ) [ archive ]. external links