Leonora Hughes

Leonora Marion Hughes (March 31, 1897^[1] – February 1978), also seen as Leonore Hughes, was an American dancer, one of the partners of Belgian dancer Maurice Mouvet.

Leonora Hughes
Leonora Hughes, photographed by Edward Steichen for Vanity Fair (1924)
Born	Leonora Marion Hughes March 31, 1897 Chicago, Illinois
Died	February 1978 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Other names	Leonore Hughes, Lenora Basualdo
Occupation(s)	Dancer, socialite

Early life and education

Leonora Hughes was born in Chicago and raised in New York City,^[2] one of the eight children of Thomas Hughes and Mary McGuire Hughes.^[3] Her parents were Irish immigrants to the United States.

Career

 

A drawing of Leonora Hughes and Maurice Mouvet by Sem, originally published in 1923^[4]

Hughes was a telephone operator as a young woman.^[2] She was the third dance partner of Maurice Mouvet,^[5] beginning after his divorce from Florence Walton, until Hughes retired from dancing to marry in 1925.^[6] "Her principal qualification as a partner was her ability to meet the moods of Maurice," recalled a 1927 article, "and their work together was remarkable".^[7][8] They toured together for several years in Europe and North America,^[9] and appeared on Broadway together in the musical Good Morning Dearie (1922).^[10]

Hughes was considered a stylish beauty in the 1920s and 1930s.^[11][12] Edward Steichen photographed her in 1923, for Vogue magazine, and in 1924 for Vanity Fair.^[13] She appeared in two silent films: The Indestructible Wife (1919) starring Alice Brady, and The Rejected Woman (1924) starring Bela Lugosi and Alma Rubens.

Personal life

Alfonso of Spain and his cousin, Duke Ferdinand of Dúrcal, both wooed Hughes in the early 1920s.^[4] In 1925, Hughes married wealthy Argentinian Carlos Ortiz Basualdo at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.^[14][15] They had two children, Carlos Fermín and María Matilde.^[16][17][18] They hosted international visitors, including British princes, John J. Pershing, and Noël Coward, at the Basualdo family's cattle ranch near Lake Nahuel Huapi.^[19][20] Her husband died in a speedboat accident in 1935.^[21] She died in 1978, in Buenos Aires, at the age of 80.

References

1. Some sources give 1898 or 1899 as the year of her birth.
2. Hellinger, Mark (June 16, 1929). "About Broadway". Daily News. p. 309. Retrieved April 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Mary Hughes (death notice)". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 12, 1930. p. 20. Retrieved April 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "How a King Makes Love". The Macon News. October 28, 1923. p. 23. Retrieved April 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Society's Latest Playground". The Sketch. 109: xii. March 31, 1920.
6. "Famous Dancer in a New Role". Johnson City Staff-News. October 29, 1928. p. 6. Retrieved April 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "When Death Played for the Dance". The Spokesman-Review. June 19, 1927. p. 62. Retrieved April 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
8. Malnig, Julie (1995). Dancing Till Dawn: A Century of Exhibition Ballroom Dance. NYU Press. pp. 110–111. ISBN 978-0-8147-5528-0.
9. Giordano, Ralph G. (October 23, 2008). Satan in the Dance Hall: Rev. John Roach Straton, Social Dancing, and Morality in 1920s New York City. Scarecrow Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-8108-6363-7.
10. Dietz, Dan (April 10, 2019). The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 88–89. ISBN 978-1-5381-1282-3.
11. Lake, Talbot (February 23, 1938). "Glamour Girl in U.S. Again for a Visit; Leonora Hughes Dances No More". The Evening Sun. p. 20. Retrieved April 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Distressing Tragedy of Mrs. Nash's Evening Gown". The San Francisco Examiner. July 27, 1924. p. 113. Retrieved April 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
13. Steichen, Edward (October 1924). "Leonora Hughes: International Dancer and Favourite". Vanity Fair. p. 71.
14. "Argentine Who Wed Dancer Leonora Hughes Drowned in Speedboat". Hartford Courant. December 14, 1935. p. 18. Retrieved April 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
15. Hunt, C. de Vidal (August 30, 1925). "Little Miss Bennett and the Rich South American". The Spokesman-Review. p. 61. Retrieved April 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
16. "Milestones: Mar. 29, 1926". Time. March 29, 1926. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
17. Hope, Jane (March 10, 1935). "Leonora Hughes, Once Famous as Dancer, Prefers Argentinian Husband to Broadway". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. 42. Retrieved April 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
18. Nisonoff, Louis (September 14, 1927). "Leonora Hughes Turns Honeymoon Steps Homeward". Daily News. p. 314. Retrieved April 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
19. Hoare, Philip (May 21, 2013). Noel Coward: A Biography of Noel Coward. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4767-3749-2.
20. Coward, Noël (August 22, 2014). Future Indefinite. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 297. ISBN 978-1-4081-9148-4.
21. "Basualdo Drowns in Lake Accident; Husband of Leonora Hughes Killed When His Speedboat Overturns in Argentina". The New York Times. December 14, 1935. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 11, 2023.

External links

• A 1920 photograph of Leonora Hughes and Maurice Mouvet, by Bassano Ltd, in the National Portrait Gallery
• A Fox Movietone News clip of Leonora Hughes on the deck of a ship in 1920, online at University of South Carolina Libraries Digital Collections