Bennington Banner from Bennington, Vermont • 31

Prima Ballerina Harriet Hoctor: Stage, Film Star From Village By Matt Kelly HOOSICK FALLS Prima Ballerina Harriet Hoctor, a native of Hoosick Falls, was one of the finest dancers the world has ever known, and performed on film, with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies and the Hippadrome in London. As a dancer, Ms. Hoctor was unparalleled because she was double jointed and could bend over backwards to an unbeleivable degree. She was quoted once as having said people thought I was meant to be a dancer when I was a child because I could take my hair ribbon off with my feet." In her performance of Dying Swan at Rockefeller Center in 1932, she was the only toe-dancer in the world who could arch her back until her hair touched the floor. In that performance, she had to dance across the stage in that position, and, fearing that she might fall into the orchestra pit, a brightly-colored line was drawn the length of the stage, for her to follow with her eyes.

The crowd was hushed when she performed her intricate dance, traveling across the stage arched over backwards, and when she reached the other side of the stage, the center shook with a standing ovation. While she had a career on stage and in films, Ms. Hoctor opened a ballet school in Boston in the early 1940s and gave lessons there on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, taking the train from New York City after her Saturday night performances with the Ziegfeld Follies. Harriet Hoctor was born in Hoosick Falls on September 25, 1905, the daughter of Timothy and Elizabeth Kearney Hoctor. She had been named after her grandmother, Harriet Baker Hoctor, from East Dorset, Vt.

She was one of four children. The family lived at 148 Church St. in a large house, with much coming and going among the neighborhood children. Her unde was William Jokes Kearney, well-known raconteur, also from Hoosick Falls. Her aunt, Annie Kearney was the greatest influence on Harriet as a child, however, and was the one who recognized her talent as a dancer.

Annie Kearney was the one who brought Harriet to New York City at the age of 12 to study dance, and while there acted as her guardian and chaperone. Ms. Hoctor began her career in 1920, and appeared in such films as The Great Ziegfeld and Shall We Dance, with Fred Astaire. Harriet Hoctor, born in Hoosick Falls, is pictured here with Fred Astaire. She appeared in the two films with Mr.

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