The Ginger House and heavily involved in the theater, Ginger went on to become a Broadway star at the age of 19, and shortly after, a Hollywood film actress. She is perhaps best known for the nine films she made with Fred Astaire, but she was a huge star before they began working together and making dance films. Ginger visited her hometown several times during her lifetime. In 1942, she visited the home during an interview with LIFE magazine. In 1964, President Harry Truman declared July 16 to be "Ginger Roger's Day," Ginger again visited the home in 1972 when she was in
Ginger Rogers day who worked under the name Jack Pepper (according to Ginger's autobiography, she knew Culpepper when she was a child, as her cousin's boyfriend). They formed a short-lived vaudeville double act known as "Ginger and Pepper". The marriage was over within months, and she went back to touring with her mother. When the tour got to New York City, she stayed, getting radio singing jobs and then her Broadway debut in the musical "Top Speed", which opened on Christmas Day, 1929. Within two weeks of opening in "Top Speed", Rogers was chosen to star on Broadway in "Girl Crazy" by