Virginia Bell was a Ziegfeld Follies dancer known for using masks on stage
She was born on November 3, 1900 in North Dakota. Sadly her mother, Cora Bell, died when she was just two years old. Her father, John Bell, remarried and the family moved to Santa Ana, California. Tragedy struck again when her father passed away suddenly in 1913. Virginia would be raised by her step-mother Mary. After graduating from Santa Ana high school in 1917 she enrolled in Pomona College. She dropped out after a year to train with the Ruth St. Denis dance company. In early 1920 she went on her first vaudeville tour and was invited to join the Ziegfeld Follies. The talented brunette became a featured dancer in the Midnight Frolic and Ziegfeld's Nine O'Clock revue.
Virginia was known for using exotic masks during her performances. Her dream was to have her own dance company. In an interview she said "I couldn't have been anything but a dancer. From the time I was a very little girl I had my mind set on a stage career." She started dancing with the Greenwich Village Follies in 1922. Then she appeared in the 1925 novelty film A Girl Of A Thousand Faces. On March 3, 1934 she married Webster Terwilliger, an electrician, and quit show business. The couple, who never had children, lived in Culver City, California. They remained together until Webster passed away in 1968. Virginia died on December 5, 1975 at the age of seventy-five. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered at sea.
