- Won the "Professional Division" of Atlantic City's "Bather's Revue" at what would later become known as The Miss America Pageant. She came in second in the race for "The Golden Mermaid" behind the "Inter-City Division" winner and eventual Miss America of 1922, Mary Katherine Campbell of Columbus, Ohio.
- A star of the New York stage in the 1920s, she was proclaimed and billed as "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" by Earl Carroll.
- In 1925, she returned to the Miss America Pageant as "Miss Manhattan". She was asked to withdraw from the competition due to her professional work on the New York Stage.
- She was famous for starring in the biggest flop in Broadway history up until that time. A lavish 1929 Broadway musical, "Fioretta," was built around her astonishing beauty by her boyfriend, producer/director Earl Carroll. Knapp was badly miscast (she couldn't sing) in the starring role. The production was panned by critics and Carroll's backer, Mrs. Anne Weightman Penfield, lost a whopping $350,000. After it failed at the box-office, a promoter had her fired. Dorothy sued. Soon after the lawsuit was filed, she announced to the press that she was entering a cloistered convent.
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