In America, new recruits included Yvonne Chouteau, one of five American Indians who joined the companies; Raven Wilkinson, who became in 1954 the first African American woman hired as a permanent member of a major ballet company and who was later forced to retire when the Ku-Klux-Klan invaded the stage in Alabama; and Yvonne Craig who later became Batgirl in the Batman television series. By the end of the 1950s, despite their enormous popularity, the companies were past their heyday and finances were low. They had their last performance in Brooklyn in 1962.

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