kathleen menzie

International vaudeville star and Broadway prima ballerina Jeanne Devereaux performed for millions across America and Europe from age 11 until her retirement at 40. A headliner at Radio City Music Hall, she led a large group of performers on one of the first USO Camp Shows tours to Japan. Born Jean Helman, she entered showbiz as a dancing trouper performing in palatial theaters and was one of the last vaudevillians surviving into the 2010s. In her later years living in Pasadena, California, Devereaux indulged her passion for research and writing in the Huntington Library’s Rothenberg Reading Room, losing none of her intelligence and wit despite a fading memory. Drawing on personal interviews, theatrical programs and her diary and letters, this biography illuminates the life and career of one of vaudeville’s stars of stage, a film and television.