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Person of the Month - June Havoc
Some of you may be familiar with the blonde beauty serving as our Person of the Month; June Havoc, born Ellen Evangeline Hovick, was the real life Dainty June, a child star managed by her mother 'Mama' Rose Thompson Hovick. The story of June's childhood (and that of her sister, Rose Louise Hovick aka Gypsy Rose Lee) is chronicled in the Stephen Sondheim/Jule Styne musical Gypsy, which is based on Louise's memoirs.
Not to be out done, in 1959 (shortly after the premiere of Gypsy), June released her first memoir, Early Havoc, which recounted her life from birth to 1933, when she competed in her first marathon dance contest to make ends meet. The book was a success, and June's then costar on Broadway, Julie Harris, convinced her to turn the marathon dance sections into a play, Marathon '33, which came to Broadway starring Harris in 1963. While the show did not run for very long, it received four Tony nominations, spurring June into a secondary career as a writer and dramatist.
June died on March 28th 2010, at what is believed to be the age of 97; her mother had long ago destroyed her birth certificate, and June herself was never sure when her actual birthdate was.
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