Editing Ginger Rogers (section)

=== 1925–1929: Vaudeville and Broadway ===
[[File:Ginger Rogers and the Redheads advertisement - Yale Theater, TX (1926).png|thumb|left|Advertisement for Ginger Rogers and the Redheads]]
Rogers's entertainment career began when the traveling [[vaudeville]] act of [[Eddie Foy]] came to Fort Worth and needed a quick stand-in. In 1925 the 14-year-old entered and won a [[Charleston (dance)|Charleston dance]] contest; the prize allowed her to tour as Ginger Rogers and the Redheads for six months on the [[Orpheum Circuit]].<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XAzP__xv7CkC&q=ginger+rogers+charleston+dance+contest&pg=PA150| title=The Wicked Waltz and Other Scandalous Dances: Outrage at Couple Dancing in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries| last=Knowles| first=Mark| date=2009-06-08| publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-5360-3|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite magazine| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K04EAAAAMBAJ&q=house+where+ginger+rogers+born&pg=PA62| title=She Adds New Chapter to Her Success Story| date=1942-03-02| pages=60–65| magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]]|publisher=Time, Inc.| language=en}}</ref> In 1926, the group performed at an 18-month-old theater called [[The Craterian]] in [[Medford, Oregon]]. This theater honored her years later by changing its name to the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater.<ref>{{cite web| title=Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater| url=http://www.oregon.com/attractions/craterian-ginger-rogers-theater| website=Oregon.com| first=Patrick| last=Johnson| access-date=August 25, 2019}}</ref> When the M.G.M film ''[[The Barrier (1926 film)|The Barrier]]'' premiered in [[San Bernardino, California|San Bernardino]], California, in February 1926, Rogers's vaudeville act was featured. The local newspaper commented, "Clever little Ginger Rogers showed why she won the Texas state championship as a Charleston dancer."<ref>"World Premiere of Picture Viewed by Thousands Here - 'The Barrier' Voted Mighty Spectacle, Vaudeville Fine," ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', Monday 1 March 1926, Volume LVIII, Number 1, page 6.</ref>

At 17, Rogers married Jack Culpepper, a singer/dancer/comedian/recording artist of the day who worked under the name [[Jack Pepper]] (according to Ginger's autobiography and ''Life'' magazine, she knew Culpepper when she was a child, as her cousin's boyfriend).<ref name=":1"/> They formed a short-lived vaudeville double act known as "Ginger and Pepper". The marriage was over within a year, and she went back to touring with her mother.<ref name=":1" /> When the tour got to New York City, she stayed, getting radio singing jobs. She made her Broadway debut in the musical ''[[Top Speed (musical)|Top Speed]]'', which opened at [[Chanin's 46th Street Theatre]] on [[Christmas]] Day, 1929<ref>{{cite book|first1=Dan|last1=Dietz|title=The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield Publishers]]|year=2019|isbn=9781442245280|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LRmGDwAAQBAJ|chapter=Top Speed|pages=557–558}}</ref> following the musical's premiere in Philadelphia at the [[Chestnut Street Opera House]] on November 13, 1929.<ref>{{cite news|title="Top Speed" New Musical Comedy|work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]|date=November 13, 1929|page= 4}}</ref>

Within two weeks of the  New York opening of ''Top Speed'', Rogers was chosen to star on Broadway in ''[[Girl Crazy]]'' by [[George Gershwin]] and [[Ira Gershwin]]. Fred Astaire was hired to help the dancers with their choreography. Her appearance in ''Girl Crazy'' made her an overnight star at the age of 19.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}