Duncan Sisters
Encyclopedia
The Duncan Sisters were a vaudeville
duo who became popular in the 1920s with their act Topsy and Eva.
, California
, the daughters of a violinist turned salesman. They began their stage careers in 1911 as part of the cast of Gus Edwards
' Kiddies' Revue.
During the next few years they perfected their act with Rosetta as a foghorn-voiced comedienne and Vivian as the pretty but dumb blonde type. Within a few years they "matured into first-rate vaudeville troopers who wrote much of their music in dialogue." They subsequently played not only in vaudeville
, but also in night clubs and on stage in both New York and London. They made their first important Broadway
appearance in 1917 at the Winter Garden Theatre
in a show with Ed Wynn
and Frank Tinney entitled Doing Our Bit.
In 1923 the Duncans created their signature roles in Topsy and Eva (Rosetta as the former, Vivian as the latter), a musical comedy derived from the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
. For this production they wrote and introduced the songs "I Never Had a Mammy" and "Rememb'ring". A huge hit in its day, Topsy and Eva was subsequently adapted into a 1927
silent movie
, directed by Del Lord
with some additional scenes by D.W. Griffith.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
released their early sound musical
The Broadway Melody
, starring Bessie Love
and Anita Page
as the fictional Mahoney sisters. The film proved to be highly successful so MGM decided to follow it up with a similar film, this time starring the real-life Duncan Sisters in the leads. The result was It's a Great Life (MGM
, 1929
), directed by Sam Wood
and featured three sequences filmed in Technicolor
. In the film the Duncan Sisters performed two of their most popular songs, "I'm Following You" and "Hoosier Hop."
Photoplay
magazine stated in their review:
Unfortunately, the film "faltered at the box office and helped to cut short the Duncans' movie career." The movie, seldom seen for decades in part due to the color footage being missing, resurfaced in 2010 in a restored print released by Warner Bros. Archive.
MGM
did cast the Duncans in their all-star 1930 extravaganza The March of Time, but that film was never completed. In 1935 the Duncans returned to the screen in the short musical Surprise! which featured footage of them reprising their Topsy and Eva characters.
, who had co-starred with her and Rosetta in the film version of Topsy and Eva. Rosetta (who was lesbian) attempted a solo career for a few years, but was rejoined with Vivian in 1932 after Vivian's divorce from Asther.
Although by now past their prime, the Duncan Sisters continued as popular night club entertainers act for several more decades. They also appeared in several soundies
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/onstage/films/cameos/hollywood.html and also on television
's You Asked For It
. In the late 1940s the Duncans wrote and recorded four Christmas selection for the Hollywood Recording Guild Inc.: "Dear Santy", "The Angel on the Top of the X-mas Tree", "Twimmin' de Cwis'mas Twee" and "Jolly Ole Fella". These appeared on 7" extended play 78rpm kiddie records.
In 1956 both Rosetta and Vivian appeared on Liberace
's television show. They sang some of their songs and did their Topsy and Eva routine.
Their act ended in 1959 when Rosetta died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in Acero, Illinois
. Vivian subsequently continued performing as a single act on the club circuit. She died of Alzheimer's disease
in 1986.
. The project never got beyond the idea stage.
In 1952, Paramount Pictures
announced plans for a biopic on the Duncans to star Betty Hutton
and Ginger Rogers
. Ms. Hutton demanded a rewrite after reading the first script draft and soon afterward walked out of her contract with the studio. Production plans for the film were then abandoned and never resumed.
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
duo who became popular in the 1920s with their act Topsy and Eva.
Early career
Rosetta (November 23, 1894 – December 4, 1959) and Vivian Duncan (June 17, 1897 – September 19, 1986) were born in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, the daughters of a violinist turned salesman. They began their stage careers in 1911 as part of the cast of Gus Edwards
Gus Edwards (songwriter)
Gus Edwards was an American songwriter and vaudevillian. He also organised his own theatre companies and was a music publisher.-Early life:...
' Kiddies' Revue.
During the next few years they perfected their act with Rosetta as a foghorn-voiced comedienne and Vivian as the pretty but dumb blonde type. Within a few years they "matured into first-rate vaudeville troopers who wrote much of their music in dialogue." They subsequently played not only in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
, but also in night clubs and on stage in both New York and London. They made their first important Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
appearance in 1917 at the Winter Garden Theatre
Winter Garden Theatre
The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1634 Broadway in midtown Manhattan.-History:The structure was built by William Kissam Vanderbilt in 1896 to be the American Horse Exchange....
in a show with Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor....
and Frank Tinney entitled Doing Our Bit.
In 1923 the Duncans created their signature roles in Topsy and Eva (Rosetta as the former, Vivian as the latter), a musical comedy derived from the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman....
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was a depiction of life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and United Kingdom...
. For this production they wrote and introduced the songs "I Never Had a Mammy" and "Rememb'ring". A huge hit in its day, Topsy and Eva was subsequently adapted into a 1927
1927 in film
-Events:*January 10 - Fritz Lang's science-fiction fantasy Metropolis premieres in Germany.*April 7 - Abel Gance's Napoleon often considered his best known and greatest masterpiece, premiers at the Paris Opéra and would demonstrate techniques and equipment that would not be used for years to...
silent movie
Silent Movie
Silent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...
, directed by Del Lord
Del Lord
Del Lord was a Canadian film director and actor best known as a director of Three Stooges films.-Career:Delmer Lord was born in the small town of Grimsby, Ontario, Canada...
with some additional scenes by D.W. Griffith.
It's a Great Life
In 19291929 in film
-Events:The days of the silent film are numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound is on.*January 20 - The movie In Old Arizona is released. The film is the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors....
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
released their early sound musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
The Broadway Melody
The Broadway Melody
The Broadway Melody is a 1929 American musical film and the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It was one of the first musicals to feature a Technicolor sequence, which sparked the trend of color being used in a flurry of musicals that would hit the screens in 1929-1930...
, starring Bessie Love
Bessie Love
Bessie Love was an American motion picture actress who achieved prominence mainly in the silent films and early talkies. With a small frame and delicate features, she played innocent young girls, flappers, and wholesome leading ladies. Her role in The Broadway Melody earned her a nomination for...
and Anita Page
Anita Page
Anita Evelyn Pomares , better known as Anita Page, was a Salvadoran-American film actress who reached stardom in the last years of the silent film era. She became a highly popular young star, reportedly at one point receiving the most fan mail of anyone on the MGM lot...
as the fictional Mahoney sisters. The film proved to be highly successful so MGM decided to follow it up with a similar film, this time starring the real-life Duncan Sisters in the leads. The result was It's a Great Life (MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, 1929
1929 in film
-Events:The days of the silent film are numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound is on.*January 20 - The movie In Old Arizona is released. The film is the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors....
), directed by Sam Wood
Sam Wood
Samuel Grosvenor "Sam" Wood was an American film director, and producer, who was best known for directing such Hollywood hits as A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and The Pride of the Yankees...
and featured three sequences filmed in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
. In the film the Duncan Sisters performed two of their most popular songs, "I'm Following You" and "Hoosier Hop."
Photoplay
Photoplay
Photoplay was one of the first American film fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded a similar magazine entitled Motion Picture Story...
magazine stated in their review:
Unfortunately, the film "faltered at the box office and helped to cut short the Duncans' movie career." The movie, seldom seen for decades in part due to the color footage being missing, resurfaced in 2010 in a restored print released by Warner Bros. Archive.
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
did cast the Duncans in their all-star 1930 extravaganza The March of Time, but that film was never completed. In 1935 the Duncans returned to the screen in the short musical Surprise! which featured footage of them reprising their Topsy and Eva characters.
Later years
In 1930 Vivian married actor Nils AstherNils Asther
Nils Anton Alfhild Asther was a Danish-born Swedish actor active in Hollywood from 1926 to the mid 1950s, known for his beautiful face and often called "the male Greta Garbo"...
, who had co-starred with her and Rosetta in the film version of Topsy and Eva. Rosetta (who was lesbian) attempted a solo career for a few years, but was rejoined with Vivian in 1932 after Vivian's divorce from Asther.
Although by now past their prime, the Duncan Sisters continued as popular night club entertainers act for several more decades. They also appeared in several soundies
Soundies
Soundies were an early version of the music video: three-minute musical films, produced in New York City, Chicago, and Hollywood between 1940 and 1946, often including short dance sequences. The completed Soundies were generally released within a few months of their filming; the last group was...
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/onstage/films/cameos/hollywood.html and also on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
's You Asked For It
You Asked For It
You Asked for It is a popular human-interest show created and hosted by Art Baker. Initially titled The Art Baker Show, the program originally aired on American television between 1950 and 1959...
. In the late 1940s the Duncans wrote and recorded four Christmas selection for the Hollywood Recording Guild Inc.: "Dear Santy", "The Angel on the Top of the X-mas Tree", "Twimmin' de Cwis'mas Twee" and "Jolly Ole Fella". These appeared on 7" extended play 78rpm kiddie records.
In 1956 both Rosetta and Vivian appeared on Liberace
Liberace
Wladziu Valentino Liberace , best known simply as Liberace, was a famous American pianist and vocalist.In a career that spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures, television and endorsements, Liberace became world-renowned...
's television show. They sang some of their songs and did their Topsy and Eva routine.
Their act ended in 1959 when Rosetta died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in Acero, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. Vivian subsequently continued performing as a single act on the club circuit. She died of Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
in 1986.
Unrealized movie project
In 1946, Twentieth Century-Fox considered making a musical biography about the sisters' life after the success of a film of another sister act, The Dolly SistersThe Dolly Sisters
The Dolly Sisters is a 1945 American biographical film about the Dolly Sisters, identical twins who became famous as entertainers on Broadway and in Europe in the early years of the twentieth century. It starred Betty Grable as Jenny and June Haver as Rosie.-Cast:*Betty Grable as Yansci "Jenny"...
. The project never got beyond the idea stage.
In 1952, Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
announced plans for a biopic on the Duncans to star Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer.-Early life:Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg, daughter of a railroad foreman, Percy E. Thornburg and his wife, the former Mabel Lum . While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for...
and Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
. Ms. Hutton demanded a rewrite after reading the first script draft and soon afterward walked out of her contract with the studio. Production plans for the film were then abandoned and never resumed.
Broadway appearances
| # | Title | Dates | Rosetta's Role | Vivian's Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doing Our Bit | Oct 18, 1917 – Feb 9, 1918 | Herself | Herself | Their Broadway Broadway theatre Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City... debut. |
| 2 | She's a Good Fellow | May 5, 1919 - Aug 16, 1919 | Mazie Moore | Betty Blair | |
| 3 | Tip Top | Oct 5, 1920 - May 7, 1921 | Herself | Herself | A revue. |
| 4 | Topsy and Eva | Dec 23, 1924 - May 9, 1925 | Topsy | Eva St. Clare | Their biggest success, a musical comedy adapted from Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was a depiction of life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and United Kingdom... 's Uncle Tom's Cabin Uncle Tom's Cabin Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman.... . |
Screen appearances
| # | Title | Year | Rosetta's Role | Vivian's Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Topsy and Eva | 1927 1927 in film -Events:*January 10 - Fritz Lang's science-fiction fantasy Metropolis premieres in Germany.*April 7 - Abel Gance's Napoleon often considered his best known and greatest masterpiece, premiers at the Paris Opéra and would demonstrate techniques and equipment that would not be used for years to... |
Topsy | Eva | A silent film adaptation of their stage hit. Partially directed by D.W. Griffith. |
| 2 | Two Flaming Youths | 1927 1927 in film -Events:*January 10 - Fritz Lang's science-fiction fantasy Metropolis premieres in Germany.*April 7 - Abel Gance's Napoleon often considered his best known and greatest masterpiece, premiers at the Paris Opéra and would demonstrate techniques and equipment that would not be used for years to... |
Herself | Herself | A now-lost Lost film A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons... silent film Silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards... starring W.C. Fields, with the Duncans doing a cameo appearance. |
| 3 | It's a Great Life | 1929 1929 in film -Events:The days of the silent film are numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound is on.*January 20 - The movie In Old Arizona is released. The film is the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors.... |
Casey Hogan | Babe Hogan | An early sound musical with Technicolor Technicolor Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952... sequences. |
| 4 | The March of Time The March of Time The March of Time is a radio series, and companion newsreel series, that was broadcast on CBS from 1931 to 1945 and shown in movie theaters from 1935 to 1951. It was created by Time, Inc. executive Roy Edward Larsen, and was produced and written by Louis de Rochemont and his brother Richard de... |
1930 1930 in film -Events:* November 1: The Big Trail featuring a young John Wayne in his first starring role is released in both 35mm, and a very early form of 70mm film and was the first large scale big-budget film of the sound era costing over $2 million. The film was praised for its aesthetic quality and realism... |
Herself | Herself | An all-star extravaganza - never completed. |
| 5 | Surprise! | 1935 1935 in film -Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:... |
Rosie and "Topsy" | Vivian and "Eva" | A two-reel short. |
Selected recordings
| Year | Title | Year | Title | Year | Year | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1923 1923 in music -Events:*November 11 - Premiere of John Foulds's World Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It is repeated on that date each year until 1926.... |
The Music Lesson (Do-Re-Mi) | 1924 1924 in music -Events:*February 18 – First recordings by Bix Beiderbecke*February 24 – An Experiment In Modern Music concert at Aeolian Hall, New York – première of Rhapsody in Blue.*June – Alexander von Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony is premiered in Prague.... |
In Sweet Onion Time | 1929 1929 in music -Events:*January 1 – Pianist and composer Abram Chasins makes his professional debut playing his own piano concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra.*January 11 – Karol Szymanowski's Stabat Mater is premiered.... |
Just Give the Southland to Me | ||
| Baby Sister Blues | Mean Cicero Blues | Hula-Hula Lullaby | |||||
| The Argentines, The Portuguese, and the Greeks |
Cross Word Puzzle Blues | 1930 1930 in music -Events:*February 16 - al which opens to rave reviews. Of the film's song, "When The Little Red Roses Get The Blues For You", becomes a hit. Al Jolson records this song from the picture for Brunswick Records.... |
I Got a "Code" in My "Doze" | ||||
| Stick in the Mud | 1926 1926 in music -Events:*January - Blind Lemon Jefferson makes his first recordings.*April 9 - Leopold Stokowski conducts the world premiere of Edgar Varèse's Amériques, with the Philadelphia Orchestra.... |
The Kinky Kids' Parade | It's an Old Spanish Custom | ||||
| Remembr'ing | Happy-Go-Lucky Days | Hoosier Hop | |||||
| I Never Had a Mammy | Lickens | I'm Following You | |||||
| 1924 1924 in music -Events:*February 18 – First recordings by Bix Beiderbecke*February 24 – An Experiment In Modern Music concert at Aeolian Hall, New York – première of Rhapsody in Blue.*June – Alexander von Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony is premiered in Prague.... |
Um-um-da-da | 1927 1927 in music -Events:* January 8 - Alban Berg's Lyric Suite is premiered in Vienna.* April 21 - Electric re-recording of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue by Paul Whiteman's Orchestra directed by Nathaniel Shilkret, with Gershwin at the piano.... |
Black and Blue Blues | 1947 1947 in music -Events:*August 7 – Carlo Bergonzi makes his professional debut as Schaunard in La Bohème at the Arena Argentina in Catania.*October – Enrico De Angelis leaves Quartetto Cetra to join the army... |
I Never Had a Mammy | ||
| Aunt Susie's Picnic Day | Dawning | Rememb'ring | |||||
| Bull Frog Patrol | Baby Feet Go Pitter-Patter | White Christmas White Christmas A white Christmas refers to the presence of snow on Christmas Day. This phenomenon is most common in the northern countries of the Northern Hemisphere... |
|||||
| Tom Boy Blues | 1928 1928 in music -Events:*April 27 - Igor Stravinsky's ballet Apollon musagète is premiered in Washington.*September 11 - Leoš Janáček's String Quartet No. 2, Intimate Letters, is premiered in Brno.... |
The Music Lesson | Jingle Bells Jingle Bells "Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857... |
||||
| Vocalizing | The Argentines, The Portuguese, and the Greeks |