ABSTRACT
Elizabeth Severn was born Leota Loretta Brown on November 17, 1879 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and died in New York City in February 13, 1959 at 80 years old. Severn's life and family background were chronicled in her daughter' Margaret's autobiography, Spotlight: Letters to my Mother. According to Peter Lipskis, Margaret's personal friend, she wrote this autobiography at his suggestion after she attempted suicide in April 1983. This autobiography consists of her reminiscences and a select number of letters. Margaret wrote to her mother throughout her adolescence and adult years when she traveled on the road in the United States and Europe performing as a dancer. The manuscript in its original form is housed in its entirety at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, New York City. Margaret finished the manuscript in 1989 and sent it to 100 publishing houses, but no one was interested in its publication.
