Click images to enlarge

Description

Ursula Cheshire was born on June 9, 1902, the daughter of Alfred Dudley Cheshire and Clara Uphoff Cheshire. She began her dance training with Spanish dancer Senora Matildita, (one source says she was the premiere danseuse to the Court of Spain). Ursula continued her dance and theatre studies at the Egan School in Los Angeles. 
 
By age eleven she was immersed in studying acting, voice, dance – and fencing. Later, she graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. She then studied in Europe with opera star Emma Calvé. During this period she got married and divorced in quick succession.
 
During the 1920s, both Ursula and her mother acted in plays including The Sins of David, and Ursula appears to have left dance behind as a secondary pursuit and instead focused on singing and acting. 
 
She went on to marry Samuel  Bynum Riddick, and they had a daughter, Ursula Virginia Riddick.
 
Ursula Cheshire died on July 26, 1947, in San Francisco, California. She was 41 years old – her daughter was two.

This archive contains 60 plus photographs covering her childhood days to her performing career. Exceptional beautiful high-end photography on several of these images. Wonderful collection of images from the storied career of "The Mystery Dancer."


ref: georgiaarchive/fpor