HIGH BUTTON SHOES, 1948-1949

In 1948, the nineteen year old Audrey and her mother left the Netherlands to pursue her ballet studies with Madame Rambert. Unable to afford the fees, Audrey was fortunate in the patronage of Rambert, who not only offered a scholarship, but also took the young ballerina into her home in Campden Hill Gardens. However, as the months went on, Audrey realised that her height was becoming an obstacle to her ballet ambitions, preventing her securing a place in Rambert's company. Eager to make a living, Audrey attended a casting call for the London production of the hit Broadway musical High Button Shoes and was one of 40 girls to be selected out of 3000 candidates for the chorus of bathing beauties. The production opened at the London Hippodrome on 22 December, 1948, where it ran for 291 performances. By the time the show closed in Spring 1949, Audrey had bid farewell to her dreams of becoming a ballerina.