DAGMAR
Photo by the great Alfred Eisenstaedt for Life magazine Dagmar (born Virginia Ruth Egnor, November 29, 1921 –
October 9, 2001) was an American actress, model and television personality of
the 1950s. As a statuesque, busty blonde, she became the first major female
star of television, receiving much press coverage during that decade. She was an actress and singer who parlayed her dumb
blonde act into television fame. In 1950 she debuted on the TV show "Broadway
Open House." She was so popular that her mail averaged 2000 fan letters a
week. She starred briefly in her own show "Dagmar's Canteen" and
appeared on "Hollywood Squares." She also recorded a duet with Frank
Sinatra. Born in Yawkey, West Virginia, she went to high school in
Huntington, West Virginia where she was known as Ruthie. She attended
Huntington Business School and worked at Walgreens as a cashier, waitress,
sandwich maker and soda jerk. After her marriage to Angelo Lewis in 1941, she moved to
New York where he was a Naval officer, stationed at Navy Ferry Command on Long
Island. She adopted Jennie Lewis as her stage name (taken from her real life
married name, Virginia Lewis). To keep busy, she became a fashion
photographer's model, and in 1944, other models encouraged her to audition for
comedians Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson. Although she had no show business
experience, she was cast in their Broadway musical revue, Laffing Room Only, a
Shubert production at the Winter Garden Theatre. With Olsen and Johnson, she
performed in four sketches from December 23, 1944 to July 14, 1945. As a chorus girl named Bubbles, she appeared with Bert
Lahr in the Broadway comedy Burlesque, which ran for 439 performances from
December 25, 1946 until January 10, 1948. In 1950, when Lewis was hired by Jerry Lester for NBC's
first late-night show Broadway Open House (1950–52), he renamed her Dagmar.
Lester devised the name as a satirical reference following the huge success on
television of the TV series Mama (1949–57), in which the younger sister, Dagmar
Hansen, was portrayed by Robin Morgan. As Dagmar, Lewis was instructed to wear
a low-cut gown, sit on a stool and play the role of a stereotypical dumb
blonde. With tight sweaters displaying her curvy 5' 8" figure (measuring
42"-23"-39"), her dim-bulb character was an immediate success,
soon attracting much more attention than Lester. Lewis quickly showed that
regardless of appearances she was quite bright and quick-witted. She appeared
in sketches, and Lester made occasional jokes about her "hidden
talents." Her appearances created a sensation, leading to much press
coverage and a salary increase from $75 to $1,250. With Dagmar getting all the
attention, Lester walked off his own show in May 1951, and Dagmar carried on as
host. On July 16, 1951, she was featured on the front cover of Life, and the
show came to an end one month later. Everyone agrees she was just as nice and down-home folksy
as you could possibly want. They all also agree that she was a genuinely
talented comedic actress. Says Milton Berle: "She was extra-talented. She
could sing, she could dance, she knew how to throw a line, and she was a good
'feed,' like a straight woman. She was a pro." The front bumpers on the early 1950s Cadillac were
referred to as "Dagmars" by the hotrod crowd. Dagmar became one of the leading personalities of early
1950s live television, doing sketch comedy on Milton Berle's Texaco Star
Theater, The Bob Hope Show and other shows. On June 17, 1951, she appeared on
the Colgate Comedy Hour with host Eddie Cantor and guests Milton Berle, Phil
Foster and Jack Leonard. In 1951, she made a TV guest appearance with Frank
Sinatra, which prompted Columbia Records producer Mitch Miller to record a
novelty duet with Frank and Dagmar, "Mama Will Bark". That same year,
she was featured in a Life cover story with Alfred Eisenstaedt's photo of her
on the July 16, 1951 issue. For the interior photo essay, Life photographers followed
her to rehearsals and accompanied her on a vacation back to her home town in
West Virginia. After her marriage to Angelo Lewis, she was married to
actor Danny Dayton through much of the 1950s, followed by a marriage to
bandleader Dick Hinds (1957). After years on the nightclub circuit, she moved
to Ceredo, West Virginia in June 1996 to be near her family. In her last years,
she lived with her brother, Bob Egnor, and his wife. Dagmar died in Ceredo,
West Virginia on October 9, 2001 of undisclosed causes. She was survived by
three sisters, three brothers, an aunt and numerous nieces and nephews. Burial:
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