Bessie (Hall) Dempsey (1914-1971) moved to Seattle as a child with her mother, seamstress Jessie (Des Champs) Hall, and her older sister, Irma Beatrice Hall. The sisters attended Broadway High School and the Cornish School of Fine Arts, where they studied classical ballet, folk dance, music theory, composition and choreography. Bessie was an excellent student and also studied physics, mathematics, and foreign languages. In the late 1920s Bessie and Irma began performing as the Hall Sisters in northwest vaudeville theaters. Later, Bessie Hall pursued a solo career in San Francisco and Los Angeles performing in ballets, nightclubs, and movies under the stage name Yvonne St. Clair.
In California in 1935 Bessie met and married Leland F. "Lee" Dempsey (1898-1971), a retired minor league baseball player; their son, Herbert Lee "Mark" Dempsey (1936-1994), was born soon after. Bessie earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from USC in 1947, and moved back to Seattle with Mark after her divorce from Lee. Bessie was hired by Boeing under the name B.H. Dempsey, a name she used professionally in order to hide her gender, and became the company's first female engineer. During her 24-year Boeing career, Bessie continued to perform in local dance and theater productions and lived on a Seattle houseboat with Mark, also an actor.
In this photo, high school student Bessie Hall poses in costume with two cats dangling from her arms.
Inscribed on verso with Bessie Hall's stage name and address in Seattle, Washington.
Caption information source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Hall_Dempsey Caption information source: https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=dempse001lel
ID Number: 1982.172.58
Date: Circa 1920
Physical Description: 1 photographic print : b&w ; 14.25 x 9.5 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State. View the finding aid for this collection at https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv39364
Credit: MOHAI, Mark Dempsey Collection on Bessie Hall Dempsey, 1982.172.58
