Emma Haig was a popular Broadway dancer who overcame a career ending injury
She was born on January 21, 1899 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the age of twelve she started dancing professionally to help support her parents, Alex and Emily Haig. Emma made her Broadway debut in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1916. The diminutive dancer appeared in numerous shows including Miss 1917, Hitchy Koo, and The Magic Melody. She also performed in vaudeville with George White. Emma was briefly engaged to Broadway actor Jack McGowan. While dancing on stage in 1922 she fell into the orchestra pit and broke her spine. Her doctors told her she would probably never dance again. After a painful recovery she returned to Broadway in 1923 starring in The Rise Of Rosie O'Reilly.
Her dancing and acting got rave reviews. In an interview she said "I had a wonderful surgeon and then I determined nothing could stop my career. I knew I should dance again no matter what anyone said." She went to London in 1927 to star in a production of The Girlfriend. Emma married musician Art Fowler in 1928 and decided to quit dancing. The couple opened a popular antiques store in Hollywood. Their customers included Joan Crawford and Edward G. Robinson. In her spare time she enjoyed playing golf and gardening. Tragically on June 9, 1939 she died from heart attack at her Los Angeles home. She was only forty years old. She was cremated at Grandview Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
