Background
Her mother was editor-in-chief of Vogue.
Her mother was editor-in-chief of Vogue.
Born in New York City and educated at convent and boarding schools in the United States, England, and France, she was the only child of Francis Dane Chase and Edna Woolman Chase. Stage Chase made her society debut in 1923 and her Broadway debut a year later, in The Red Falcon. Her stage appearances included roles in Days Without End, Forsaking All Others, While Parents Sleep, Small Miracle, On to Fortune, Tampico, Company-Respondent Unknown, Keep Office the Grass and In Bed We Cry, an adaptation of her novel of the same name.
She was in the original Broadway cast of Clare Boothe Luce"s play, The Women (1938), and many years later appeared in Neil Simon"s Broadway hit Barefoot in the Park.
Radio In the early 1940s, Chase was the hostess for Penthouse Party on Columbia Broadcasting System and Luncheon Date With Ilka Chase, on National Broadcasting Company Red. Foreign several years, she hosted the radio program, Luncheon at the Waldorf.
Her autobiography Past Imperfect (Volume I), which said "Those who never fail are those who never try," was published in 1942, with Volume II, Free Admission, being published in 1948. She also wrote more than a dozen other books including "The Care and Feeding of Friends", A guide to lighthearted entertaining with over 80 recipes and 20 menus, copyright 1973, Doubleday & Company, Incorporated.
Chase died in Mexico City, Mexico, aged 77.
She is interred at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New New York Her epitaph reads: "I"ve finally gotten to the bottom of things.".
Quotations: "Those who never fail are those who never try,".