Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 23, 1995                   TAG: 9507240083
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA                                LENGTH: Medium

`FALLEN AND CAN'T GET UP' ACTRESS DIES

The former Ziegfeld Follies burlesque dancer died in a nursing home Wednesday after a week of suffering several strokes, said her niece, Maureen Rokita.

McHugh was hired about 10 years ago by Lifeline Systems Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., and launched a marketing campaign that became the butt of jokes for years.

``Everyone still talks about that commercial. She was very popular,'' said Jean Shea, customer administrator for Lifeline. ``It's something people will never forget. She sure made her mark.''

McHugh was offered the job by a Lifeline advertiser who was a tenant in an apartment building she owned and asked one day: ``How would you like to fall off a chair for $60?'' Rokita said that was all she was paid.

``It was absolutely right up her alley. She would've gone for anything,'' Rokita said.

A sixth-grade school dropout, McHugh worked for a rug factory in as a teen-ager. In her off hours, she watched burlesque shows and memorized routines, eventually filling in for an ailing showgirl, Rokita said.

Later, she talked her way into the Ziegfeld Follies. Though she was only 5 feet tall, she became a centerpiece in the dance line, standing on platforms and kicking her legs above the rest.

McHugh also became an artist's model, posing for illustrations in the Saturday Evening Post. She appeared in the 1937 film ``Artists and Models,'' starring Jack Benny and Ida Lupino, Rokita said. In 1939, McHugh was a model at the New York World's Fair.

McHugh was married and divorced twice. She is survived by four nieces and two nephews.