In Remembrance: Vilma Ebsen

     Vilma Ebsen, the Broadway dancer who came to Hollywood with her brother and dance partner Buddy Ebsen to appear in Broadway Melody Of 1936, has passed away on March 12, 2007 in Thousand Oaks, CA. She was 96.

     Born February 1, 1911 in Belleville, IL, Ebsen and her family relocated to Orlando, FL, where her father opened a dance studio. Vilma and her brother Buddy spent much of their time at the studio, eventually developing a vaudeville act. In 1928, the moved to New York City to break into show business. Their first major break came when they were cast in Eddie Cantor’s Whoopee. The show ran for a year and a half before closing, at which time Buddy and Vilma headed to Atlantic City. While performing there, they were seen by columnist Walter Winchell, whose one paragraph rave review of their performance brought the pair more work. The two toured the country throughout the early 1930s and appeared on Broadway twice- in 1932’s Flying Colors and Ziegfeld Follies Of 1934.

     In 1935, the pair headed to Hollywood where they hired by MGM Studios to appear in Broadway Melody Of 1936 opposite such stars as Eleanor Powell and Jack Benny. The pair played a thinly disguised version of themselves- a brother and sister dance team looking to make it big on Broadway. Buddy and Vilma performed two solo numbers in the picture – “Sing Before Breakfast” and “On A Sunday Afternoon” – as well as participated in the film’s rousing “Broadway Rhythm” finale.

     Although given a two-year, $1,500 a week contract with MGM, by the studio at the start of production, MGM used a glitch in her contract to professionally separate Vilma from her brother. While he was offered more film roles, she was not.

     Ebsen returned to New York where she appeared in the musical comedy Between The Devil which ran on Broadway from December 1937 to March 1938. She then retired from show business to raise her child with husband Robert Emmett Dolan, a Broadway conductor. In 1941, Ebsen and her husband and son moved to the Pacific Palisades in California. In 1943 she opened the Ebsen School of Dance with her sister Helga.

     Broadway Melody Of 1936 was Ebsen’s only film appearance.