From the beginning, Erna Segal (nee: Grabler), aka "Chiquita," wanted to be a dancer. Born in Prague in 1938, she gave her first performance when she was three and by twelve left Czechoslovakia
with Jonny Johnson, a man thirty years her senior. Together they became the overnight, international dance team sensation "Chiquita and Johnson." Memoirs In Toe Shoes takes us on a fantastic
journey from this small country, first controlled by the Nazis and then Communists, through Europe where Chiquita and Johnson's meteoric success began. They traveled the Middle East, to Mexico,
Pre-Castro Cuba and finally, a little more than a year later, to America and the White House, receiving greater and greater acclaim. Chiquita and Johnson arrived in the United States in 1953
and appeared first on Ed Sullivan's "Toast of The Town" on CBS and became an instant success with offers pouring in. Throughout the 1950s and early 60s, they played every major nightclub in Las
Vegas, Miami, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, as well as the top TV shows including "The Red Skelton Show," Jack Benny's "Shower of Stars," "Colgate Variety Hour," "The Perry Como Show,"
and "The Ed Sullivan Show" many more times. With their breathtaking, unparalleled ballet-adagio, and Chiquita's exquisite figure, coupled with her formidable ballet training and ability to
perform the most breathtaking, dazzling lifts, jumps and acrobatic moves, they were show stoppers who thrilled audiences Coast to Coast. One of the most sought after opening acts in show
business, Chiquita and Johnson performed with a Who's Who in the entertainment business including Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis, Carol Channing, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Red Skelton, Liberace,
Perry Como, Jack Benny, Lena Horne, Mae West, Tony Martin, and George Burns. In Memoirs in Toe Shoes, experience the first twenty-three years of Erna's life in this extraordinary autobiography
- from her earliest recollections as a child until she retired from dancing at twenty-three. A story told with honesty, humor and uncanny insight into her own motivations and personality, as
well as those of the people around her, Memoirs in Toe Shoes is an amusing, delightful, and engaging book to read.
