Background
Louise Groody was born on March 27, 1897 at Waco, Texas, the first of three girls and a boy raised by Thomas and Irene Groody. Her father, a native of Pennsylvania, supported his family as a drug store manager and pharmacist.
Louise Groody was born on March 27, 1897 at Waco, Texas, the first of three girls and a boy raised by Thomas and Irene Groody. Her father, a native of Pennsylvania, supported his family as a drug store manager and pharmacist.
Over the early years of her childhood Louise Groody "s family would live in Houston and later Atlantic City, New Jersey Louise Groody began as cabaret dancer in New York and while still in her teens drew the attention of Broadway producer Charles Dillingham that led to a dancing role in the 1915 C. M. South. McLellan musical revue, Around the Map. She would go on to appear in nine more Broadway productions, mostly musical comedies, of which four would prove to be major hits with runs of well over 300 performances. In 1920 the diminutive five-foot brunette played Barbara, a principal role in The Night Boat, at the Liberty Theatre and the following year Rose-Marie in Good Morning Dearie at the Globe Theatre.
She played the title role Nanette in the 1925 hit Number, Number, Nanette, also staged at the Globe and in 1927, her favorite role, Loulou in Hit the Deck, at the Belasco Theatre.
Audiences of the day most likely best remembered Louise Groody for the popular song Tea for Two, from Number, Number, Nanette. Louise Groody"s great success in the 1920s was tempered by the financial losses she suffered in the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
In the early 1930s she branched out to perform in vaudeville acts and on radio. By 1941 Groody"s affluence was such she was able to lease a fashionable apartment on Manhattan"s Park Avenue.
During World World War II Louise Groody joined the American Red Cross and served for some time in the Allied Mediterranean Theatre of Operations.
After the war she went on to appear in several 1950s television drama and celebrity panel shows. Louise Groody died on September 16, 1961 at her summer home in Canadensis, Pennsylvania after a long battle with cancer.
