Fourteen-year-old Ginger Rogers danced circles around the competition at the Baker Hotel in Dallas on Nov. 9, 1925, to win first place in the state Charleston contest.
Virginia Katherine McMath was born in Independence, Missouri – Harry Truman’s hometown – but like most “naturalized” Texans came to the Lone Star State just as soon as she could. In the case of Ginger, a nickname from a cousin who could not pronounce Virginia, it was in 1922 at the age of 11 when she moved to Fort Worth with her mother and stepfather, John Rogers.
Ginger’s mother, a former movie scriptwriter, took a job as theater critic for a Cowtown newspaper. Her daughter’s formal education ended three years later with a six-month Vaudeville contract, top prize for her judge-pleasing rendition of the Charleston.
