She was born in New York City in 1904. Her parents, Lillian Fitzgerald and William H. West, were both vaudeville performers. Fay was educated at St. Clair Academy, a boarding school for girls, in New Jersey. She joined the Ziegfeld Follies in the Summer of 1919. Because she was only fifteen her mother would not allow her to go on tour with the show. In 1920 she performed in Ed Wynn’s Carnival show. Fay also starred on Broadway in Hitchy-Koo and Two Little Girls In Blue. The brunette beauty became a popular singer and dancer. She returned to the Ziegfeld Follies in 1922 and stayed for two seasons. Then she started performing with her mother in vaudeville.
While being treated for a toothache she met Dr. John Jaffin, Flo Ziegfeld’s personal dentist. They were married in Connecticut on July 28, 1926. After they married she converted to Judaism and decided to give up her career. The couple lived a quiet life in New Jersey. They separated in 1936 but remained legally married. Fay moved to an apartment on West 55th street in New York City. In August of 1938 she became ill and was taken to Mt. Sinai hospital. Tragically on August 16, 1938 she died from pelvic peritonitis, an infection of the fallopian tubes. She was only thirty-four years old. Fay was buried at Old St. Raymond’s Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.
With her husband Dr. John Jaffin
