Carol Haney- The Early Years

Carol Haney was a talented actress, dancer, singer and choreographer who worked in Hollywood and Broadway in the 1950s-1960s. She was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts on 24 December 1924 to Norman Vincent Haney (who was a bank teller), and Ellen Haney (nee Christensen). Carol had one older sister, Marion.

Carol began taking dance lessons at the age of five, and like her future mentor Gene Kelly, opened her own dancing school in her home town of New Bedford in her teenage years ("Miss Haney's School of Dance"). It seems that Carol practiced a self destructive work ethic from an early age, working at golf ball factories, pulled sodas, and dancing at ladies clubs, in order to get the money involved to finance the dance school. At the same time, Carol was juggling her final years of high school and also continuing her dance studies, commuting in and out of town. Her hard work was rewarded, as by the time she left High School, she had 125 students enrolled at the school.  

It was also during childhood that Carol developed on of her most recognisable personal traits- her husky voice. Carol's niece Sarah Woodcock revealed that Carol ate strange things like crayons when she was young. As a result, a severe throat infection left her voice coarse and husky for the rest of her life.

Carol was also highly artistic at a young age. Besides dancing at an elite level, she designed the costumes for her dance school's productions (which mama Haney, who also happened to be a skillful seamstress, made for Carol), and played the piano, along with the other Haney girls.

After finishing high school in 1942, Carol left New Bedford for California, where she studied dance with the fathers of two of the most talented women in Hollywood- Ernest Belcher (Marge Champion), and Eduardo Cansino (Rita Hayworth). Carol also kept up her hectic schedule, working as a soda jerk at drugstores (ed: "drugstore question" answered! a big thank you to Robin from the US!) and a waitress to support herself. She occasionally landed jobs on film, until the injury prone Carol tore ligaments of her kneecap on set. When she recovered, she returned to the nightclub circuit, where her considerable talent was recognised by the legendary Jack Cole. She would spend her next years, dancing with the Jack Cole dancers and touring nightclubs all over America. Carol was also Gwen Verdon's predecessor in her capacity as Jack Cole's assistant and dance partner from 1946 to 1958.