She gained prominence when she combined music with comedy; her first critical success was in New Faces of 1934. A well-received part of her act was a comic striptease, during which Coca made sultry faces and gestures but would manage to remove only one glove. She committed this routine to film in the Educational Pictures comedy short The Bashful Ballerina (1937). She received excellent notices for her Educational short Dime a Dance. In a review headlined "Swell Comic Scores," Film Daily wrote: "A real comedienne who will wow the cash customers with her zany antics, Imogene Coca is in a class all by herself, and her style of comedy does not suggest that of any other funster on the screen."Film Daily, Dec. 23, 1937, p. 7. Three other newcomers to films -- Danny Kaye, June Allyson, and Barry Sullivan—were featured in the short, filmed at Educational's New York studio.
