Pearl Eaton

Pearl Eaton Levant (August 1, 1898 – September 10, 1958) was an American Broadway performer, actress, choreographer, and dance supervisor of the 1910s and 1920s.

Eaton was born in Washington, D.C., and was the daughter of Charles Henry Eaton. She began attending dance lessons in Washington D.C., along with her sisters Doris and Mary, at a young age. In 1911, all three sisters were hired for a production of Maurice Maeterlinck's fantasy play The Blue Bird at the Shubert Belasco Theatre in Washington. While Eaton had a minor role in the show, it served as her introduction to the world of professional theatre.

After The Blue Bird, in 1912, the three Eaton sisters and their younger brother Joe began appearing in various plays and melodramas for the Poli stock company. They quickly gained reputations as professional, reliable, and versatile actors, and were rarely out of work. In 1915, all three sisters appeared in a new production of The Blue Bird for Poli; Doris and Mary were given the starring roles of Mytyl and Tytyl. The siblings were subsequently invited to reprise their roles for a New York and road tour of the play, produced by the Shubert Brothers.

Although Pearl had a minor role in The Blue Bird, her dancing impressed the Shuberts, who offered her a place in the chorus of Al Jolson's latest show at the Winter Garden Theatre, Robinson Crusoe, Jr. It marked the beginning of her career as an adult musical theatre performer.

Following her performance in Robinson Crusoe, Jr., Eaton appeared in The Passing Show. When the production went on tour, Eaton remained with the cast. While on the road, she fell in love with one of the company musicians, violinist Harry Levant. The two were married in 1917; the following year, Eaton gave birth to a daughter, Doris. However, shortly after giving birth, she regained her dancing form and was back at the Winter Garden, appearing as a specialty dancer in Sinbad.^{[citation needed]} Levant and Eaton were divorced in November 1928.

In the spring of 1918, Eaton was hired as a chorus dancer for the latest edition of the Ziegfeld Follies. She would remain with Ziegfeld for five years, appearing in the Follies in 1918, 1922, and 1923 and the Midnight Frolics of 1919, 1920, and 1921. While she never was made a principal dancer with the Follies, from 1918 onwards, she also worked as an assistant to choreographer Ned Wayburn.

In April 1923 Eaton starred in Plunder at Poli's Majestic Theater in New York City. On one occasion she filled in for Marilyn Miller in a Ziegfeld chorus when the star had the mumps. Eaton was reputed to have the most beautiful legs in America. It was reported that each time Ziegfeld encountered Eaton he asked her, "How are the legs?".

After her final appearance with the Follies, in the 1923 road company, Eaton became associated with producer Charles Dillingham, becoming the only female musical comedy producer in New York at that time. She worked on Dillngham's productions for several years, both as a performer and a dance director. During this period she was a popular and respected presence on Broadway, and was even honored with a caricature on the walls at the theatrical restaurant Sardi's.^{[citation needed]} Her final Broadway show was She's My Baby at the Globe Theatre in 1928.