Marjorie Bentley

Bentley was born in Philadelphia^[1] or Brooklyn,^[2] and raised Brooklyn.^[3] She said that she began dancing when a doctor recommended more exercise.^[4] She trained at the Metropolitan Opera Ballet School,^[5][6] as the "favorite pupil" of ballet teacher Malvina Cavallazzi.^[1]

Bentley was a professional dancer from her teen years.^[5][7][8] Her roles on the New York stage included appearances in Chin-Chin (1914–1915),^[9][10] The Riviera Girl (1917),^[11] Oh, My Dear! (1918)^[12] and La La Lucille (1919).^[13] She was premiere danseuse at the New York Hippodrome in 1915, when she appeared in Hip-Hip-Hooray.^[14] She contributed a recipe for "welsh rarebit au gratin" to a charity cookbook compiled by Mabel Rowland during World War I.^[15] She modeled a dress made of net flouncing for a garment industry magazine in 1916.^[16] She toured in La La Lucille in 1919 and 1920.^[17][18]

Boston artist Louis Kronberg made a pastel portrait of Bentley in 1913.^[19] Of her performance as "Mademoiselle Victorine" in the musical La La Lucille, Dorothy Parker wrote that "The comedy introduces a charming new dancer, Marjorie Bentley—you can stand even another bedroom farce for the sake of seeing her."^[20]