Emma Haig

Emma Haig (January 21, 1898 – June 9, 1939) was an American dancer and actress born Emma Haig McGowan in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She performed on Broadway between 1916 and 1925 and built a parallel career in vaudeville, becoming a recognized headliner in both arenas.

Haig's professional activity is documented as early as August 1914, when a news article noted her traveling to Richmond, Virginia, with H. Hickman Walton Jr. to organize dance classes. By January 1915 she had been announced as a cast member of the Ziegfeld Follies, and she subsequently toured with the production nationally alongside Ann Pennington, Bert Williams, and W.C. Fields. The tour ran through at least April 1916, with Haig billed at various points as Emma Mabel Haig. That same year she appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1916 in the role of Puck, described in billing as a specialty dancer.

Her Broadway career continued with Miss 1917 (1917–1918), followed by Hitchy-Koo in 1918, a credit also reflected in the verified database record for the 1920 edition of that revue. She next appeared in The Magic Melody (1919–1920) before taking on the Music Box Revue, which the database records as the 1922–23 edition. During a performance of that production in 1922, Haig fell from the stage and sustained a broken spine. Physicians told her she would not dance again, but she returned to Broadway within a year. Subsequent Broadway credits included Our Nell, The Rise of Rosie O'Reilly (1923–1924), and Tell Me More in 1925.

Alongside her Broadway work, Haig maintained an active vaudeville career in both solo acts and partnered routines. George White served as her dance partner before being replaced by Jack Waldron; Waldron and Haig performed together at Henderson's on Coney Island in June 1919. A critic reviewing her 1919 solo engagement at New York City's Palace Theatre wrote that she was "a whirlwind of speed, a gifted kicker, and a tireless worker," while noting that performing without a partner cost her "that touch of gracefulness and team rhythm." By 1923, Variety covered her return to the New York Palace Theatre and described it as the best act she had shown in or out of vaudeville, praising her ankle bends, trick pirouettes, and light acrobatics and calling her a headliner suited to any major house.

Following her American stage career, Haig worked extensively in London. In 1927 she starred in The Girl Friend at the London Palace Theatre, where critics called the show the best musical comedy in town and described Haig as a comedian of the first rank with elfin charm. She returned to the London Palace Theatre in 1928 in Virginia, again to favorable notices. In 1930 she appeared in Silver Wings at the London Dominion Theatre alongside Art Fowler and Lupino Lane, and in early 1931 she performed at the London Palladium in More Squabbles. She retired from the stage that same year.

In 1928 Haig married actor and musician Arthur Gladstone Fowler, known as "Dustbowl" Fowler, at the Savoy Chapel in London. After leaving the stage, she and Fowler reportedly operated antique shops in Newport, Rhode Island, and Manhattan. Haig died of a heart attack on June 9, 1939, and was cremated at Grand View Crematory in Glendale, California.