Toy

Dorothy Takahashi was born in San Francisco to Japanese immigrants, and moved to Los Angeles as a child where her parents owned and operated a "Chinese" restaurant. She received her first formal dancing lessons in return for free meals at her parents' restaurant. She and her sister Helen met dancer Paul Wing in 1934 and they formed a group called "The Three Mahjongs--Kicking the Gong Around". Soon after, Helen decided to concentrate on her singing, and Paul and Dorothy went to Chicago where they formed the dance duo "Toy and Wing" and went on the vaudeville circuit, where they were a success, playing all over the United States and at the Palladium in London. During World War II, the group split, with Wing going into the Army and Toy, whose family had been interned in a reclamation camp in Utah, performing on the East Coast with her sister Helen as the "Toy Sisters". After the war's end, Toy and Wing got back together and performed in various venues in both the United States and Europe. In later years, Dorothy Toy continued dancing and opened her own dance school in Oakland, California. She also was the founder of the first Asian-American female dance troupe. Show less «