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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. |
