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Vivian Marshall

posted 8 years ago by surfink
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Ms. Marshall had only a small handful of movie and TV credits, but I thought she added a great presence to Women's Prison. I loved her impressions of Bette Davis, Tallulah Bankhead, and Ida Lupino, and had to find out more about her.

Googling her name and "singer" brings up a Billboard review from July 11, 1942, of a vaudeville revue called Blackouts of 1942 featuring a novelty singer named Vivian Marshall who does one number in the style of Helen Morgan and Sophie Tucker, and reappears later in the show as "a tipsy soprano botching up an operatic aria."

https://books.google.com/books?id=DwwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT4&lpg=PT4&dq=vivian+marshall+burlesque&source=bl&ots=nmTDm-C7Ai&sig=RualQWBKmKpS0A-Ax5HqeGNPpBI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3usHo2NXKAhXM7yYKHZuvCU4Q6AEIMzAE#v=onepage&q=vivian%20marshall%20burlesque&f=false

Another Billboard night club reviewer from January 11, 1947, for a show at the Biltmore Bowl in Los Angeles is unimpressed with "comedienne" Vivian Marshall's impression of an inebriated opera singer, but is less critical of her musical impressions of Eva Tanguay, Nora Bayes, Fanny Brice, and Sophie Tucker.

https://books.google.com/books?id=fxoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT39&lpg=PT39&dq=%22vivian+marshall%22+singer&source=bl&ots=Od8vSqoNna&sig=1w86js86h42rhL6XHaaSSXZvV0E&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjbzMmh29XKAhVG9x4KHZx7D_YQ6AEIPjAG#v=onepage&q=%22vivian%20marshall%22%20singer&f=false

[–] HarlowMGM 8 years ago

I've never heard of her before or seen her anywhere else (note her other movies are all unbilled bits, possibly no more than appearances as an extra) but she obviously was a show biz "pro" given her performance; no doubt her nightclub act got her the role in WP due to her impersonations of Bette and Tallulah (though I'm fairly sure that's Ida's actual voice when Vivian is supposed to be "imitating" her.)

[–] surfink 8 years ago

I think you're probably right about the Ida Lupino "impression." I actually had the same thought when I heard it the other day. It seemed a little too dead on, not "caricatured" enough, and had a vaguely "dubbed" sound as well.

I also thought it might have been awkward to have Ms. Marshall imitate Ms. Lupino right in front of her on set.