Marjorie Guthrie

Background

She was born Marjorie Greenblatt (Yiddish: חנה גרינבלאַט‎) in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States of America, to Aliza Waitzman and Izadore Greenblatt.

Career

They had four children together, the oldest of whom, Cathy, died in a fire when she was just four years old. This eventually became the Huntington"s Disease Society of America. She met Guthrie in 1940 as a Martha Graham Dancer trained in Modern Dance, while she was adapting some of Guthrie"s Dust Bowl Ballads to a routine.

Though she was Guthrie"s second wife (of three) they maintained a close relationship throughout his life and she provided constant care to Guthrie until his death.

She also founded the Marjorie Mazia School of Dance on Sheepshead Bay Road in Brooklyn, New York, which trained young dancers in Modern Dance and Ballet in the 1950s, "60s and "70s. In 1950, Mazia also recorded, Dance Along on Folkways Records, a dance album for children.

Joe Klein"s 1980 biography, "Woody Guthrie: A Life" is based extensively on Marjorie Guthrie"s recollections and collected papers, and contains substantial details of her life up through Woody Guthrie"s passing in 1967. Publication information: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.

Mistress Guthrie was instrumental in creating the World Federation of Neurology"s Research Commission on Huntington"s Chorea.

She headed a Federal commission for control of the disease in 1976 and 1977, and lectured to medical students about the illness and how it affects the patient and the patient"s family. (Quoted from New York Times obituary: MARJORIE GUTHRIE, SINGER"South WIDOW, 65, March 14, 1983)

In 1975, Mistress Guthrie married Martin B. Stein, who was vice president of the Committee to Combat Huntington"s Disease.

(Source: ibid).

Achievements

• She is extensively cited in the book, Outwitting History by National Yiddish Book Center founder/director Aaron Lansky.

Membership

She also headed the public and governmental information committee of the National Committee for Research in Neurologic and Communicative Disorders, was a member of the New York State Commission on Health Education and Illness Prevention and of the state"s Genetic Advisory Committee, and was a lay member of the advisory council of the National Institute of General Medical Science.

Connections

teacher:

Martha Graham