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Former Ziegfeld Follies Girl celebrates 100th birthday

Haymond Sisters LaVerne McClellan
Sydney “LaVerne” Haymond McClellan (left) and her sister, Mildred (right), were exceptional dancers, able to perform a special routine while connected together by two 8” chains attached to their ankles. Sydney “LaVerne” Haymond McClellan (center), with son, Jim McClellan, and daughter, “Becca” Peckham.

 

Sydney “LaVerne” Haymond McClellan, best known during her vaudeville days as “Sandy,” due to her blond hair, marked her 100th birthday on Tuesday, November 9th. At a family gathering to celebrate the special occasion, LaVerne dazzled guests with a dance performance, something she’s been known to do from time to time.

Born in 1910 to Oresta “Ray” Haymond and “Edna” Maurine Palmer Haymond, LaVerne had two older sisters, Pauline and Mildred, and one younger sister, Betty Ann. LaVerne’s early years were spent with her family in Balboa, Panama, in the Panama Canal Zone. Her father was working as an accounting comptroller for the Panama Canal.

When LaVerne was eight-years-old, they boarded a ship to return home to the U.S. During their voyage, the ship was spotted and followed by a German submarine. Her sister Pauline remembers life boat drills every morning. The skill of the ship’s captain brought them safely through the ordeal by piloting the ship in a zigzag pattern.

They lived in Tennessee for a short while, and then moved to Flint, where Ray accepted a position as an accountant with the IMA (Industrial Mutual Association).

At an early age, LaVerne discovered she loved dancing. Her career in vaudeville began at 14, when her dance teacher needed a replacement team for a stage show. Together with her sister, Mildred, the two learned the dance steps over a weekend, and then gave a flawless performance in the show.

LaVerne and Mildred began performing on the vaudeville circuit, dancing on stage in Detroit, Chicago, New York, and many stops along the way. They became known as “The Haymond Sisters” as an act in the Ziegfeld Follies for about six years. The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. One of girls’ special routines included performing synchronized dance steps while their ankles were connected by 8” chains.

The stage hands were infatuated with the young teenage girls, constantly competing for glances and attention from the beautiful Haymond Sisters. LaVerne was even approached by a Hollywood talent scout, but because her mother, Edna, wouldn’t have been able to manage her daughter’s career, she refused.

To further her notoriety, when she was around 15-years-old, LaVerne won a robin’s egg blue Chevy Cabriolet Convertible Coupe in Flint, posing for a photograph with the car and nothing but a luxurious fur coat. The photograph, along with an article, appeared in a Flint newspaper.

LaVerne spent many of her later years in Boca Raton, Florida, in a condo overlooking the beautiful beaches of the Atlantic Ocean. While in her 80’s, LaVerne and a group of fellow Ziegfeld Follies Girls gathered together for a reunion. LaVerne dressed in a costume that included fish-net stockings, a top hat and cane, and performed a tap routine. She currently lives in Saginaw Township, close to her family.

 

 

 

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