Dora Duby

Dora Duby, born Stephania Dubcich on October 9, 1901, was an American dancer whose career spanned Broadway, London, Paris, and numerous other international stages across the 1920s and 1930s. Her birthplace has been listed variously as Seattle, Spokane, and San Francisco. Her father, Stephen Dubcich, was born in Austria, and her mother, Augusta D. Fraude Stevens, was born in Germany. Duby received her early dance training under Luigi Albertieri, and later in her career pursued additional study with Mary Wigman in Berlin.

Before establishing herself on Broadway, Duby performed in San Francisco and danced with Anna Pavlova's company. Her Broadway career ran from 1919 to 1921 and encompassed four productions. She appeared in the musical The Lady in Red in 1919, followed by the musical Linger Longer Letty, which ran from 1919 into 1920. She subsequently took part in the revue The Midnight Rounders of 1921 and the production Bombo in 1921.

Following her Broadway work, Duby built a substantial career in Europe. In London she performed in music halls and appeared in two 1924 productions, The Whirl of the World and Dolly's Revels. Her Paris engagements during the mid-1920s included appearances at Club Daunou, Acacias, Ciro's, the Casino de Paris, and Le Perroquet, and she served as dance partner to Maurice Chevalier during this period. Her European work extended further to Venice, Vienna, Deauville, Biarritz, Monaco, Cannes, and Aix-les-Bains, and she also toured in China, India, and South America.

Beyond performance, Duby modeled gowns for Vogue and displayed jewelry in The Sketch, with detailed descriptions of her dress appearing regularly in press coverage throughout the 1920s and 1930s. In 1935, the Mexican government engaged her to direct the Escuela Nacional de Danza in Mexico City.

Among the notable events of her personal life, Duby filed a lawsuit against millionaire Harold Grier in 1923, alleging that he had promised and then refused to marry her. Her partner Ernest Van Duren died by suicide in 1930. Duby died on April 12, 1998, at the age of 96.