Patsy O'Connor

Patsy O'Connor (January 23, 1930 – July 4, 2017) was an American actress and entertainer born in Bay Shore, New York, who gained recognition as a child performer in vaudeville before extending her career to Broadway and film. Her parents, Mildred and John "Jack" O'Connor, were members of "The O'Connor Family – Royal Family of Vaudeville," a family act with roots stretching back to 1907, when her paternal grandparents, John Edward "Chuck" O'Connor and Effie Irene (née Crane) O'Connor, established it. Chuck had been an acrobat with Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus, while Effie was a dancer and bareback rider. All four of their children eventually joined the act, among them Patsy's father and her uncle, actor and tap dancer Donald O'Connor. After Chuck O'Connor died of a heart attack on stage in 1926 and a daughter was killed by a car that same year, Effie O'Connor continued leading the act with her three sons and daughter-in-law. The O'Connor family maintained a friendship with fellow vaudevillians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.

O'Connor made her stage debut at three months of age alongside family members and became a permanent part of the act at age two. At three, she performed at the Irish Village during A Century of Progress International Exposition — the Chicago World's Fair of 1933–1934 — with her parents, grandmother, and two uncles. Her presence in the act, along with that of her nine-year-old uncle Donald, drew complaints from the Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago. She began her film career in 1935 at age four with an appearance in Redheads on Parade, and continued performing with her family in 1936 under the stage name "Baby Patsy," working as a singer, dancer, and comedian. In 1940, she signed a year-long contract with Columbia Pictures.

O'Connor's Broadway career began in 1941 with the Cole Porter musical Panama Hattie. She replaced Joan Carroll in the role of Hattie and performed the number "Let's Be Buddies" opposite Ethel Merman. That same year she participated in a vaudeville tour through Canada with her family. In 1942, Abbott and Costello helped facilitate a long-term contract between O'Connor, then eleven years old, and Universal Studios. She appeared alongside the duo in the 1943 film It Ain't Hay, where she had a featured role as Peggy/Princess O'Hara and performed the songs "Sunbeam Serenade" and "Old Timer." Her film work across the 1930s and 1940s included roles in I Promise to Pay (1937), Girl Loves Boy (1937), Saratoga (1937), Too Hot to Handle (1938), You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith (1943), Moonlight in Vermont (1943), Pardon My Rhythm (1944), and Quicksand (1950), among others.

By 1946, critics were praising O'Connor's singing within the family's vaudeville act, noting her performances of songs including "Yes, My Darling Daughter," "My Buddy," and "Come Rain or Come Shine." O'Connor died on July 4, 2017, in New Jersey, from complications related to Alzheimer's disease.