Marilyn Miller

Marilyn Miller (born Mary Ellen Reynolds) (September 1, 1898 – April 7, 1936) was one of the most popular Broadway musical stars of the 1920s and early 1930s. She was an accomplished tap dancer, singer and actress, but it was the combination of these talents that endeared her to audiences. On stage she usually played rags-to-riches Cinderella characters who lived happily ever after. By contrast her personal life was marked by tragedy and illness ending in an untimely death at the age of 37. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... September 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years). ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Broadway theatre[1] is the most prestigious form of professional theatre in the U.S., as well as the most well known to the general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows. ...

Life and Career

Born in Evansville, Indiana, the tiny, delicate‐featured blonde beauty was only four years old when, as "Mademoiselle Sugarlump," she debuted at Lakeside Park in Dayton, Ohio as a member of her family's vaudeville act, the Columbian Trio, which then included Marilyn's step-father and two older sisters. They were re-christened the Five Columbians after Marilyn and her mother joined the routine. From their home base in Findlay, Ohio, they toured the Midwest and Europe in variety for ten years, skirting the child labor authorities, before Lee Shubert discovered Marilyn at the Lotus Club in London in 1914. Miller appeared for the Shuberts in the 1914 and 1915 editions of The Passing Show, a Broadway revue at the Winter Garden Theatre, as well as in The Show of Wonders (1916) and Fancy Free (1918). But it was Florenz Ziegfeld who made her a star after she performed in his Ziegfeld Follies of 1918, at the famed New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street, with music by Irving Berlin. Sharing billing with Eddie Cantor, Will Rogers and W.C. Fields, she brought the house down with her impersonation of Ziegfeld's wife, Billie Burke, in a number entitled Mine Was a Marriage of Convenience. Miller followed as a headliner in the Follies of 1919, dancing to Berlin's Mandy, and reputedly became Ziegfeld's mistress, though this was never proven. Miller attained legendary status in the Ziegfeld production Sally (1920) with music by Jerome Kern, especially for her performance of Kern's Look for the Silver Lining. The musical, about a dishwasher who joins the Follies and marries a millionaire, ran 570 performances at the New Amsterdam. After a rift with Ziegfeld, she signed with rival producer Charles Dillingham and starred as Peter Pan in a 1924 Broadway revival, then as a circus queen in Sunny (1925), with music by Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein. A box-office smash, it featured the classic Who?, and made her the highest paid star on Broadway. In 1928, after reuniting with Ziegfeld, she starred in his production of the successful George Gershwin musical Rosalie then in Smiles (1930) with Fred Astaire, a rare Ziegfeld box office failure. Nickname: Location in the state of Indiana Country United States State Indiana County Vanderburgh Government  - Dictator Jonathan Fuckface (D) Area  - City 40. ... Nickname: Motto: Birthplace of Aviation Coordinates: , Country United States State Ohio County Montgomery Founded April 1, 1796 Incorporated 1805 Government  - Mayor Rhine L. McLin Area  - City  56. ... Findlays position within Hancock County (foreset) and Ohio (background) Findlay is a city in Hancock County, Ohio, United States. ... The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre. ... 1928 Time cover featuring Ziegfeld Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. ... The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. ... The New Amsterdam Theatre is a playhouse located at 214 West 42nd Street in New York Citys Broadway district. ... For the film of this name, see 42nd Street (film). ... Irving Berlin (May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was an American composer and lyricist, one of the most prodigious and famous American songwriters in history. ... One of 12 Eddie Cantor caricatures by Frederick J. Garner for a 1933 Brown & Bigelow advertising card set. ... William Penn Adair Will Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, and actor. ... W. C. Fields (January 29, 1880 - December 25, 1946) was an American comedian and actor. ... Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke (born August 7, 1884 in Washington D.C.; died May 14, 1970 in Los Angeles, California) was an actress primarily known to modern audiences for her role as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North in the musical The Wizard of Oz. ... Look up Mandy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Sally is a theater musical with music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Clifford Grey and book by Guy Bolton with additional lyrics by Buddy DeSylva and P. G. Wodehouse. ... Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of popular music. ... Statue of Peter Pan in Bowring Park, St. ... Sunny can refer to several things: Look up sunny on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... There were two notable Oscar Hammersteins: Oscar Hammerstein I, cigar manufacturer, opera impresario, and theatre builder Oscar Hammerstein II, Broadway lyricist, songwriting partner of Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska,[1] was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. ...

Miller's movie career was short-lived and less successful than her stage career. She made only three films: adaptations of Sally (1929); and Sunny (1930); and Her Majesty Love (1931), with W.C. Fields. Her last Broadway show, marking a major comeback, was the innovative 1933 Irving Berlin/Moss Hart musical, As Thousands Cheer, in which she appeared in the production number, Easter Parade. For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as... The Wild Rose number. ... Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sunny is musical comedy film released in 1930 by Warner Bros. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1931 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... W. C. Fields (January 29, 1880 - December 25, 1946) was an American comedian and actor. ... Irving Berlin (May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was an American composer and lyricist, one of the most prodigious and famous American songwriters in history. ... Moss Hart (October 24, 1904 – December 20, 1961) was an American playwright and director of plays and musical theater. ... Easter Parade is a 1948 musical film starring Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. ...

Miller was married three times. Her first husband, stage actor Frank Carter, was killed in a car crash after only a year of marriage. Second husband Jack Pickford, an actor and the brother of film star Mary Pickford, was a drug and alcohol abuser. They were married from 1922 to 1927 before divorcing. Her third husband, stage manager Chester "Chet" O'Brien, was several years her junior. Mary Pickford (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979) was an Oscar-winning Canadian motion picture star and co-founder of United Artists in 1919. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Miller had a long history of sinus infections and an increasing dependency on alcohol and died from complications following surgery on her nasal passages at the age of 37. She died in New York City on the morning of April 7, 1936 and was given a funeral at Saint Bartholomew's church on Park Avenue which drew 2,500 people, including former mayor Jimmy Walker, Beatrice Lillie and even Billie Burke. The procession led to Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, where she was buried next to her first husband, Frank Carter, in the mausoleum she had built for him after his death 16 years earlier. Sinusitis is an inflammation, either bacterial, viral or allergic, of the paranasal sinuses. ... Complication, in medicine, is a unfavorable evolution of a disease, a health condition or a medical treatment. ... A cardiothoracic surgeon performs a mitral valve replacement at the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. ... The nasal cavity (or nasal fossa) is a large air-filled space above and behind the nose in the middle of the face. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Michelangelos The Last Judgement shows Saint Bartholomew holding the knife of his martyrdom and his flayed skin. ... This article is about the 1926 Mayor of New York. ... Bea Lillie (May 29, 1894 – January 20, 1989) was a comic actress. ... Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke (born August 7, 1884 in Washington D.C.; died May 14, 1970 in Los Angeles, California) was an actress primarily known to modern audiences for her role as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North in the musical The Wizard of Oz. ... Located in The Bronx, Woodlawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City. ... The Bronx is one of the five boroughs of New York City in the United States. ...

Name

Miller's last name was taken from her step-father, Caro Miller, who married her mother, Ada Reynolds, when Mary Ellen was a small child. After her mother divorced her first husband, a telephone lineman, Mary Ellen's name was changed to "Marilynn," a combination of her maternal grandparents' first names, and later shortened to "Marilyn." Census records reveal perhaps a half a dozen "Marilyns" in the United States in 1900; by the 1930s, following Miller's stardom, it was the 16th most common first name among American females.

In the late 1940s, Norma Jean Baker changed her name to Marilyn Monroe, at the urging of Ben Lyon, a casting diretor at 20th Century Fox, who said she reminded him of Marilyn Miller. Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962), was a Golden Globe Award-winning American actress, singer, model and pop icon. ... Twentieth (20th) Century Fox Film Corporation (known from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation) is one of the six major American film studios. ...

Film Biography

In 1949, a sanitized bio-pic, appropriately entitled Look for the Silver Lining, starred June Haver as Marilyn Miller. Miller was also portrayed by Judy Garland in MGM's 1946 film biography of Jerome Kern, Till the Clouds Roll By. Rare film footage of the real Miller can be seen in the 2004 PBS documentary series "Broadway, the American Musical." June Haver, (June 10, 1926 – July 4, 2005), was an American film actress, who was born in Rock Island, Illinois as June Stovenour; her name became Haver when her mother divorced and remarried. ... Superscript text Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an Oscar-nominated American film actress, considered by many to be one of the greatest singing stars of Hollywoods Golden Era of musical film, best known for her role as Dorothy Gale from The... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of popular music. ... Till The Clouds Roll By is an American musical-biographical film released by MGM in 1946. ... Not to be confused with Public Broadcasting Services in Malta. ...

Statue and Legacy

A decaying sculpture of Miller, in the title role of Sunny, can still be seen atop the old I. Miller [no relation] Building on West 46th Street just off Broadway in Manhattan. A view of Broadway in 1909 Broadway, as the name implies, is a wide avenue in New York City. ... Manhattan is a borough of New York City, New York, USA, coterminous with New York County. ...

In the only published biography of Marilyn Miller, author Warren G. Harris called her "Ziegfeld's most dazzling star" and the premiere musical comedy star of the Jazz Age. "She had rivals who may have been better dancers, singers, actresses, or mimics, but no one individual could equal her when it came to combining all those talents."^[1]

External links

• Marilyn Miller at the Internet Movie Database
• Marilyn Miller at the Internet Broadway Database
• Britannica Online: Marilyn Miller
• Marilyn Miller's Gravesite
• Profile of Miller