Reva Reyes Extremely Rare Early Autographed 8/10 Photo 1st Broadway WWII Victim

Description

Here is an extremely rare very early vintage original autographed 8" by 10" photo of actress, singer, and dancer Reva Reyes (1912-1960), from her prime in the 1920s. Described in 1939 papers as "The First Broadway Victim of The War," WWII.
El Paso's First International Star. Reva Reyes circa 1925 became an international actress, singer, and dancer who performed in New York and Europe. She was the daughter of the local band leader Rayo Reyes a musician in El Paso, Texas. Her father was a lieutenant with Pancho Villa in the Mexican Revolution. Reva Ruth Reyes was born to Jennie and Rayo Reyes in El Paso, Texas in 1912. From an early age she organized her own cultural carnivals for the fun of it and to raise money for the Red Cross. During the First World War she sang and danced in innumerable benefits for service men and patriotic causes as well as church guilds. In 1929 seventeen year old Reva moved to New York to study dancing and performed on the radio, in the Ziegfeld Follies and in on‐ and off-Broadway productions. In 1932 she moved to Paris in 1932 under contract to the Folies Bergre and became Paris highest paid foreign performer and a bona fide member of the glitterati. She hung out with Jean Bugatti, performed in the casinos of Monte Carlo, on the stage in Berlin and generally lived the good life. After 8 years in Europe, with war looming on the horizon, Reva Reyes left Paris and returned to New York. No sooner had she returned to the States than she was invited back to Europe to entertain the English and French troops. In November 1939 while returning from Rheims to Paris the car she was travelling in overturned and crushed a leg and her hip. Although her career seemed to be over, she persevered and regained some movement; not enough to dance but enough to move around. With her voice still intact, she tried to reignite her career in Rio de Janeiro at the Casino Atlantico. This attempt was cut short when the United States government ordered its citizens to leave Brazil. By the mid‐forties she had moved on to Mexico City and found some success performing in venues such as the Teatro Del Hotel Prado and singing in nightclubs such as Casanova and Ciro s Room. In the fifties, she is supposed to have performed in a number of Mexican movies. In 1960 she died in an automobile accident when the driver, Blyth Y. Morris, lost control and hit an abutment. Reva Reyes was a proto‐typical modern woman. She did not want to settle down. She did not want to fall in love and marry. She said she did not have time for them. She knew her strengths and was willing to use them go and get the life she wanted. In her first accident, more than her leg was crushed. No matter how she struggled, she had lost her independence but not her spirit. She soldiered on and showed her mettle. Extremely rare.
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