Prodded by her prototypical "stage mother" Lela, Ginger Rogers made her performing debut as a dancer at the age of 14 and became a regular on the vaudeville circuit after winning a statewide Charleston contest in Texas. She achieved her breakthrough in 1929-30 when she was prominently cast as second lead in the Broadway musical, "Top Speed" (1929, singing "Hot and Bothered") and then as female lead in the Gershwins' landmark "Girl Crazy" (1930), in which she introduced the song standards "Embraceable You" and "But Not for Me". Having made a few film shorts, she began landing feature film roles
Subject of a custody battle between parents when they separated; at one point the infant Rogers was kidnapped by her father
1917
Offered a part in a Fox film while mother was working as a scriptwriter; mother refused to let her work after the first day
Moved with family to Forth Worth, Texas while in high school; took part in school dramatics and took dancing lessons
1925
Briefly worked as substitute dancer for Eddie Foy in vaudeville
1926
Began working regularly on the vaudeville circuit: billed as "Ginger and Her Redheads", toured Oklahoma and Texas with two other dancers, after winning a statewide Charleston contest in Texas; the two "redheads" who performed with her had finished second and third in the contest and were engaged by Rogers' mother; later did a solo act
