Early Life
Smith was born Elinor Regina Patricia Ward (her actor father changed his name to Tom Smith, thus she became Elinor Smith) in New York City and grew up in Freeport, Long Island, New York. Her mother had been a professional singer, but had retired from performing when she got married. Her father was a comedian, singer and dancer. He toured extensively (including to Great Britain and France) in the role of the Scarecrow in a stage production of The Wizard of Oz and was a star of the Orpheum Circuit. He wrote his own material for his vaudeville act, and in the 1920s would go on to write comedy bits for Broadway shows as well.
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Famous quotes related to early life:
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)