Mark Dempsey, son of Bessie Hall Dempsey, attended Queen Anne High School in Seattle and majored in drama at the University of Washington. He pursued an acting career in Hollywood and had parts in various films and popular television programs. In the late 1960s he appeared in New York theatrical productions including “Oh, Calcutta” and “Mata Hari.” Mark Dempsey returned to Seattle in the 1970s and was active in local theater until his death in 1994.
The collection consists of photographs, musical scores, 78 rpm records, family papers and articles that document the professional and personal life of Bessie Hall Dempsey. A series of photographs depict her early years as a student, ballet dancer and vaudeville performer. Other photographs show her posing in theatrical costumes created by her mother, Jessie Hall. A collection of sheet music with handwritten notations includes a separate series of original compositions by Bessie Hall. Newspaper clippings, obituaries and a detailed family history written by Mark Dempsey provide extensive background on her professional life and activities. The collection includes a 1964 Boeing technical report written by Bessie Hall Dempsey.
Bessie Hall Dempsey was born in Arkansas on October 5, 1914 to Leroy Leister and Jessie Des Champ. When her parents divorced in 1918, her mother Jessie moved to Montana with Bessie and her older sister Irma Beatrice. Jessie Leister remarried briefly and changed her name to Hall. She operated a successful seamstress studio in Missoula and designed costumes for the vaudeville circuit. After her second marriage failed in 1922, Jessie Hall moved again with her daughters, this time to Seattle where the girls attended Broadway High School and were later enrolled at the Cornish School of Fine Arts. The family lived for several years at the Moore Hotel in downtown Seattle, which had an adjacent vaudeville theater at the time. Bessie and Irma Hall studied classical ballet, folk dance, music theory, composition and choreography. Bessie was an excellent student and also studied physics, mathematics and foreign languages. In the late 1920s Bessie and Irma began performing as the Hall Sisters in Northwest vaudeville theaters.
During the Depression in 1932, the family moved to California seeking show business opportunities. After the collapse of vaudeville and a permanent separation from her sister, Bessie Hall pursued a solo career in San Francisco and Los Angeles performing in ballets, nightclubs and movies under the stage name Yvonne St. Clair. In 1935 she married Lee Dempsey, a former first baseman for the New York Giants. Their son Herbert Lee (Mark) Dempsey was born in 1936. They were divorced in 1939.
Bessie Hall Dempsey then entered the University of Southern California where she earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Aerodynamics. While attending the University, she supported her family by working full-time at the Bank of America. She graduated with honors and changed her name again, this time to B.M. Dempsey in an attempt to avoid the bias against women in engineering fields. She moved to Seattle in 1948 and was hired by Boeing Airplane Company as a Junior Engineer Class B, becoming the company’s first female engineer. She received several promotions at Boeing and in 1951 was the first woman elected to Tau Beta Pi, the honorary engineering society. Bessie Hall Dempsey worked at Boeing for nearly 24 years. During her Boeing career, she still enjoyed local amateur performing and lived on a Seattle houseboat with her son Mark. Bessie Hall Dempsey died in Seattle on September 16, 1971 after a long illness. She was 57 years old.
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Arranged in five series:
The collection is open to the public by appointment.
The Museum of History & Industry is the owner of the materials in the Sophie Frye Bass Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from MOHAI before any reproduction use. The museum does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Mark Dempsey Collection on Bessie Hall Dempsey, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle
Gift of Mark Dempsey, December 21, 1982
These materials are part of a donation that also included a number of artifacts. These artifacts are cataloged and stored separately by MOHAI's Collections Department.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
Includes two biographical essays written by Mark Dempsey (1980, 1985); published newspaper obituaries for Bessie Dempsey; photocopies of clippings and photographs; and a photocopied contract between the Pantages Theater and the Hall sisters for performances in January 1930.
Handwritten on back: Suit and hat and bag designed and made by Jessie Hall - modeled by her daughter Bessie Dempsey. L.A. Ca. 1942
Handwritten on back: Costumes by Jessie Hall, L.A. Ca. c. 1940
Handwritten on back: Costumes by Jessie Hall, L.A. Ca. c. 1940
Handwritten on back of duplicate: Yvonne St. Claire. Marimbaphone act. Exotic character dances.
Handwritten on back: Beatrice Hall, Harem Dance, costume by Jessie Hall, Seattle, 1932
Handwritten on back: "Russian" costumes designed by Jessie Hall and worn by 2 daughters Bessie-Beatrice (middle girl not known). Costumes were white with bright red-green flowers - black piping - red leather boots. Cornish School - Seattle. c. 1926
Handwritten on back: Costume by Jessie Hall, 1935
Eleven ethnic dances listed on back.
Handwritten on back: Costume designed and executed by Jessie Hall (very similar to yellow satin flowered scarf.)
One folder of photographs of actress and dancer Dorothy Provine, who grew up in Seattle and attended the University of Washington. Provine was friends with Mark Dempsey.
Handwritten on front: Mark was 5 years old, L.A. 1941
Handwritten on front: In High School
Handwritten on front: In High School
Handwritten on back: Ivonne (Bessie Hall), 627 Taylor St. San Francisco 1931
Handwritten on back: Bessie Hall modeling waltz costume designed by Jessie Hall, Seattle 1926
Handwritten on back: Bessie Hall modeling waltz costume designed by Jessie Hall, Seattle 1926"
Handwritten on back: Lee Dempsey L.A. 1961 photo by Peter Caine
Handwritten on back: USC Los Angeles 1948
Performed by Gordon Jenkins and His Orchestra, Decca Records, Inc.
Performed by Clara Inter with Al Kealoha Perry and His Singing Surfriders, Decca Records, Inc.
Performed by Dorothy Lamour with Dick McIntire and His Harmony Hawaiians, Decca Records, Inc.
Performed by Ray Kinney with Dick McIntire's Harmony Hawaiians, Decca Records.
Original compositions by Bessie Hall Dempsey
Music for piano.
Includes parts for piano, clarinet, violin and drums.
Music for piano.
With parts for piano, trombone, alto sax, drums and trumpet.
With parts for piano, trumpet, bass, alto sax and tenor sax.
Music for piano.
Music for piano.
Music for piano.
Parts for piano, violin, bass, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, alto sax, tenor sax and percussion.
Parts for piano, violin, trumpet, trombone, tuba, alto sax and drums.
Published sheet music used by Bessie Dempsey.
Binder includes a four-page typewritten essay by Jessie Hall titled "Costume Design as Vocation," plus pages with fabric swatches, photographs, pencil drawings, designs and magazine clippings. Probably part of a Queen Anne High School school project about vocational interests of girls.