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Known throughout the country — and the world — for its historic happenings, Philadelphia has always provided opportunities for those who want to enjoy insights and tidbits from long ago. Though the well-known spots include the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, there are buildings all over the city that secretly bear heavy amounts of history — especially in South Philly.
Here, residents and visitors alike may walk by legendary landmarks without realizing it and one such site is the home and birthplace of famed high-kicking actress Charlotte Greenwood.
At 1507 Reed St., the building is still a home for current inhabitants Dawn and Gilberto Wilson. The husband and wife didn’t know their rowhome once had the famous singer-actress — whose career spanned almost 50 years and included vaudeville, Broadway, film and television — walking through its halls decades before until recently, when author Grant Hayter-Menzies contacted them for a book he was writing about Greenwood. Living there 12 years, it came as a great surprise when the author informed the couple they were living in a house with such history.
"[Hayter-Menzies] had done some extensive research to find out who the owners of the house were," Dawn said. "We were very shocked and then we became intrigued. We were very excited. We spoke with Grant and he had told us how art lived on."
With the couple’s help and access to their rowhome, Hayter-Menzies recently published "Charlotte Greenwood: The Life and Career of the Comic Star of Vaudeville, Radio and Film."
In the book, an entire page is dedicated to a photo of 1507 Reed, a black-and-white print capturing how it looked when Greenwood lived there as a child.
And Dawn claims her home remains exactly the same. "The house looks just as it did in the picture," she said. "It hasn’t changed from the outside."
Coincidentally, the couple cultivates a tradition of art themselves — she as a designer, he as a photographer — but they never thought they would carry on an artist’s legacy through their own home.
"I knew [of Greenwood] from theater, that’s how I recall her," Dawn said. "I knew her and my mother knew her. We used to know this show where Charlotte loved to dance and she used to kick high. And also from ‘Oklahoma!’"
Born June 25, 1890, Greenwood was the sickly child of a hardworking mother and a barber father. She would go on to be one of the most successful vaudeville characters due to her sensationally high kicks, which were forever immortalized in Warner Bros. cartoons, and her efforts during wartime that included an invitation to the White House with the Hollywood Victory Caravan.
After her father left when Greenwood was just 2, it took a strong South Philly woman like her mother to endure single-parent life in the late 19th century. Though her future was bright, Greenwood, too, would find her share of hardships.
Greenwood left school at 15 to become a chorus girl in "The White Cat." Two years later in 1907, she was cast in a speaking role in an act with comedy team The Rogers Brothers.
With a taste for the spotlight, Greenwood left South Philly to take on the Great White Way and Tinseltown. Broadway saw her play Queen Ann Soforth of Oogaboo in "The Tik-Tok Man of Oz" in 1914 and, a year later, she made her film debut as the title character in "Jane," a silent comedy from Oscar-winning director Frank Lloyd.
But the South Philly girl gained noterity for her dancing. Standing almost 6 feet with a lanky build, blonde hair and blue eyes, as well as the ability to hit the rafters, Greenwood became known as "the only woman who could kick a giraffe in the eye."
As the film world grew, so did Greenwood’s resume: "Palmy Days" with Eddie Cantor; "Star Dust" with Linda Darnell; "Moon Over Miami" with Don Ameche and Betty Grable; and "Dangerous When Wet" with Esther Williams. A triple threat as a dancer, singer and actress, Greenwood was the star of a self-titled radio show from 1944 to ’46.
Her most well-known role — and for what resident Dawn remembers her most — came towards the end of her career as Aunt Eller Murphy in the 1955 film "Oklahoma!" She even sings on one of the most beloved songs from the musical, "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top."
According to multiple biographers, Greenwood wanted desperately to be a dramatic actress, but eventually accepted the world of vaudeville and developed a persona as a dancing comedienne with her signature burlesque style and manner.
While her career soared, Greenwood’s personal life became press fodder when her first marriage to actor Cyril Ring ended in divorce. She eventually found marital bliss with composer Martin Broones, a union that ended with his death in 1971.
Greenwood’s last credit was a 1961 television show and she died 15 years later.
With her fade to black 30 years ago, the Wilsons want to see to it Greenwood no longer goes unrecognized in her hometown.
"My husband and I were talking about the potential of the house becoming a historical landmark," Dawn said. "We don’t even know how to go about it, but we want to find out to do it. I think it would be interesting to go about [it] and make this place a historical site."
