Editing Imogene Coca (section)

==Early life==
Born Emogeane Coca{{cn|date=October 2023}} in [[Philadelphia]] in 1908 of Spanish descent, the only child of Joseph F. Coca Jr. (the family surname was originally Fernández y Coca), a violinist and vaudeville orchestra conductor, and Sarah "Sadie" Brady, a dancer and magician's assistant,<ref name="biodata">{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3433800030.html|title=Coca, Imogene: 1908–2001: Actress|author=Savitz, Ruth|publisher=Encyclopedia.com|year=2003|access-date=2013-03-03}}</ref> she took lessons in piano, dance, and voice as a child and while still a teenager moved from Philadelphia to New York City to become a dancer. In 1925, still aged 16, she landed her first job in the chorus of the Broadway musical ''When You Smile''. She became a headliner in Manhattan nightclubs with music arranged by her first husband, Bob Burton.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Thurber |first1=Jon |title=Imogene Coca; Emmy-Winning Comic Actress |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-imogene-coca-20010603-20160601-snap-story.html |access-date=28 May 2021 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2011-06-03}}</ref>

She gained prominence when she combined music with comedy; her first critical success was in ''New Faces of 1934''. A well-received part of her act was a comic striptease, during which Coca made sultry faces and gestures but would manage to remove only one glove. She committed this routine to film in the [[Educational Pictures]] comedy short ''The Bashful Ballerina'' (1937). She received excellent notices for her Educational short ''Dime a Dance.'' In a review headlined "Swell Comic Scores," ''Film Daily'' wrote: "A real comedienne who will wow the cash customers with her zany antics, Imogene Coca is in a class all by herself, and her style of comedy does not suggest that of any other funster on the screen."<ref>''Film Daily'', December 23, 1937, p. 7.</ref> Three other newcomers to films — [[Danny Kaye]], [[June Allyson]], and [[Barry Sullivan (American actor)|Barry Sullivan]] — were featured in the short, filmed at Educational's New York studio.