Buddy Ebsen - Professional Career

Professional Career

Ebsen left Orlando in the summer of 1928 to try his luck as a dancer in New York City, arriving with only $26.75 in his pocket, equal to $362 in 2012, and worked at a soda fountain shop. He and his sister Vilma Ebsen performed as a dance act in supper clubs and in vaudeville — they were known as "The Baby Astaires". On Broadway, the Ebsens appeared as members of the chorus in the musicals Whoopee, Flying Colors and Ziegfeld Follies of 1934. A rave review from New York columnist Walter Winchell, who saw them perform in Atlantic City, New Jersey led to a booking at the Palace Theatre in New York City, the pinnacle of the vaudeville world.