CALIFORNIA SOCIETY
LOST DEBUTANTE IN
ERLANGER DANCER
BY FRANK DANIEL
San Francisco is short one debu-
tante because the Johnsons’ daugh-
ter preferred to make history in
the theatrical columns rather than
in the society sections.
Atlanta: knows
the
Johnsons"
daughter as Amerique, the feminine
half of the team of Amerique and
Neville, whose dances are an-unfail-
ingly delightful
attraction of the
comic operas the Atlanta Municipal
Opera association is producing at
the Erlanger theater.
But even be-
fore the time arrived when, in the
natura! order of things, the society
columns should have apprised San
Francisco that Miss Janette John:
son, charming subdeb daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Marcus Morton John-
son, was attending the junior prom |
at the University of California or at
Stanford
university—long
before
that time the Johnsons’
daughter
had decided to do her dancing in
the theater instead of in the correct
country clubs and fraternity houses.
When Amerique was two years
old she made her first appearance.
Her audience was an Italian organ-
his
monkey,
and several
grinder,
She had evaded the
street childrne.
Johnsons’
nurse and gone to look
at the monkey, and when the hand
organ began to play “Santa Lucia,”
the little girl began to dance. A few
minutes later her nurse found her,
flushed with triumph, and with her
infantile subconscious all adjusted to
@ dancing career.
Parents Accept Inevitable
Her parents bowed before the in-
evitable—that is, a daughter's de-
termination—and_ when
Amerique
was 10 years old she entered the
dancing school of Mahr and Miecz-
kowski in San Francisco.
During
the next six years she became their
star pupil—so excellent a dancer, in
fact, that her teachers predicted a
career.
.
Mrs.
Johnson accompanied her
@aughter to New York, where she
continued’ her studies and soon be-
gan to appear in stage and in pri-
When
the
vate
entertainments.
Hippodrome
became a&
vaudeville
house, with the finest vaudeville ob-
tainable on its bill, one of the attrac-
tions was Amerique and Neville.
That was the beginning df the new
celebrated team.
Mrs. Johnson still
@ccompanies her daughter.
Neville, whose sirname is Goddard,
was at that time a pantomimist. He
had come to America from the Brit-
ish West Indies, seeking a stage ca-
reer.
His father is a wealthy mer-
chant in Barbados—as wealthy as
the father of nine sons and a daugh-
ter ought to be.
He had agreed
to provide each of his children with
career they
training for whatever
chose.
Cecil, the eldest,
is a bank-
er; Lawrence, the next
is a gradu-
ate of McGill university, where he
studied to be a physician;
Victor,
studied
law,
but
is now working
in his father’s offices; Neville, the
next son, disturbed his parents by
wanting to go on the stage, but true
to their promise they sent him to
America.
Valentino Type Then Popular
‘The Valentino type was then much
in demand, and Neville found work
rather more easily than he expect-
ed.
He was, the managers decided,
the Valentino type.
Several genera-
tions of Scottish ancestry had prob-
ably
acquired a Latin complexion
under the tropical West Indies’ sun.
Since
the
formation
of
the
Amerique and Neville partnership,
they have been eminently success-
chant in Barbados—as wealthy as
the father of nine sons and a daugh-
ter ought to be. … Cecil, the eldest,
is a bank-
er; Lawrence, the next
is a gradu-
ate of McGill university, where he
studied to be a physician;
Victor,
studied
law,
but
is now working
in his father’s offices;