Print, Photographic
Museums of Mississauga
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| Object Name: | Print, Photographic |
| Medium: | paper, emulsion, ink |
| Accession Number: | BR2012.2.58 |
| Earliest Production Date: | 1950 |
| Latest Production Date: | 1951 |
| Description: | A black and white photograph with white borders of a group of people standing outdoors with tress and a car in the background. From left to right: a woman (Dora Forbes) wearing slacks and a short-sleeved shirt. Her proper right hand is in a pocket; a woman (Naomi Harris) sanding behind Dora; a woman (Gwen Roberts McVitty) wearing a dress. Her proper left arm is crossed over her chest; a man (Ralph Forbes) wearing slacks and a t-shirt. Handwritten on the back: "Dora, Na, Gwen Rafe McVitty, 1947". |
| History of Use: | Date of photograph (handwritten on back: 1947) misidentified. More likely early '50s. Edith Gwendolyn Roberts McVitty was a long time friend to Annie and Naomi. Gwen worked as a music teacher and would later marry Henry Harold McVitty in Jan of 1908.>Dora Sayers Caro (1915-2004) was born in Clarkson in 1915, to Beverly and Annie Sayers (n‚e Harris). Dora lived close to Benares in a number of homes, including Skidoo, The Pines, and later The Log Bungalow. During World War I, Dora lived at Benares with her mother and brother while her father was overseas as an officer. Dora first started acting at age 10, appearing in school plays, and later in local stage productions in Mississauga and Oakville. To gain experience, she found work at the University of Toronto's Hart House Theatre, working with children's theatre productions. In 1936, at the age of 21, Dora moved to New York and found work with the touring company of What Every Woman Knows. Dora's first big break came a year after arriving in New York, in 1937's Stage Door. She later appeared in the long-running Broadway production of My Fair Lady. The pinnacle came in 1941, when Dora was chosen to be the understudy for the legendary Katherine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story. The Tony award winning playwright, Moss Hart, took one of his shows to the American-occupied Pacific islands during World War II, to entertain the troops. Dora joined his cast for The Man Who Came To Dinner. Dora also helped form the United Services Organization in 1941. The USO provided health and recreational facilities for soldiers and administered church services, but was best known for the travelling vaudeville reviews that entertained Allied troops in Europe and the Pacific during WWII. Dora married actor Ralph Forbes (pronounced RAYF) in 1946. Forbes appeared in over 70 movies from 1921 to 1944. He and Dora met in 1942 during the stage production of No‰l Coward's Private Lives. Ralph died 5 years after he and Dora married in 1951. Dora later married Jim Caro in 1954 and retired from the stage. Jim and Dora were avid equestrians. They also enjoyed breeding and showing thoroughbred dogs. Dora and Jim lived in France and the Bahamas before settling in the United States. She lived in McLean, Virginia - near Washington D.C. - until her death in 2004. |
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| Institution City: | Mississauga |
| Institution Province: | Ontario |
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