103

Lucy Cotton

From the cover of

Harrison Fisher's American Girls in Miniature

published by C. Scribner's Sons, 1912

Houston born Lucy Cotton was a star of stage and screen. Her first role on stage was at

the age of eighteen in the chorus of

The Quaker Girl

. Although her singing and dancing

were not good, she became the toast of Broadway through her shining personality and

perkiness.

In this brief sketch from the 1912 Volume V edition of

The Texas

Magazine

edited by Frank Eberle and Harry Van Denmark we

learn about Lucy's modelling career with the artist Harrison

Fisher.

The Triumph of Miss Cotton

Miss Lucy Cotton, the young lady selected by Harrison Fisher,

the artist, as the most typical type of Southern beauty is a Texas

girl, formerly a resident of Houston. For some years Miss

Cotton has resided in New York. It was there she met Mr.

Fisher, who was the judge in a contest having its object the selection of a young woman

to typify the Southern type of beauty. According to reports Miss Cotton takes her honor

lightly.

Fisher's

―

discovery

‖

of Lucy brought her the success she had sought in her move to

New York. She was the model chosen by Fisher for one of his

American Girl

books. She

also posed for Charles Dana Gibson (

The Gibson Girls

) for some of his illustrations.