| Caption on back: "Strains of that famous song-hit, "Remembering."
Baby-doll dresses. Blond curls. Twinkling patent leather slippers.
Laughter—low-pictched as a negress'; high-pitched as a child's. The
inimitable Rosetta and Vivian Duncan—"Jake" and "Hyme." The Duncan sisters
were born in Los Angeles, the two youngest of the five children of Mr. and Mrs.
Samuel H. Duncan. Their mother died at the birth of Vivian, and they were
mothered by their little eight-year-old sister, Evelyn. Rosetta was always
a tom-boy. She would fight at the drop of a hat for her younger sister,
Vivian. At baseball and other sports she was the peer of the boys of her age.
She could lick any boy or girl in the neighborhood who was any where near her size.
As the girls were growing up, vaudeville became 'quite the thing.' Both were
talented. They burst like a storm upon amateur 'musical and literary'
entertainments, for Vivian could play the piano and Rosetta was a natural comic.
They were asked why they didn't go on the stage, and Rosetta, remembering she
could yodle better than anybody from the land of swiss cheese and mountain
goats, decided to yodle her way to fame. Vivian agreed to accompany her.
Their first engagement was at Tait's famous old Dutch restaurant, in the San
Francisco of 1916. After several months of this they "hit" the smaller of
the small-time circuits in Nevada and vicinity, with Reno as the first stop.
From tank-town audiences they moved on to Chicago, then to New York, with
Coney Island as the natural follow-up. Four months in New York. Four months
on the road in Charles Dillingham's show, "She's a Good Fellow." London.
Where they met the Prince of Wales and won the hearts of London's social "old
guard." America once more. Their own act at the Palace Theatre in New York.
Summer. And Los Angeles. "Topsy and Eva," originated by the sisters and
opening in San Francisco under Tom Wilkes' management. It was a whale of
a success. The girls became internationally known. After two years with the musical
comedy, Joseph M. Schenck, of United Artists, persuaded them to put the show on
the screen. It was instantly popular, and the sisters are now on tour of
the country with the picture. Rosetta and Vivian Duncan have known "rags."
They have experienced riches. They have worked with all types of managers.
They have owned their own companies. They have become capable business
women as well as fine actresses. The sisters are 5 feet 4 1/2 inches in height,
weigh 115 pounds, and have blonde hair and blue eyes. Thank you for writing.
You may reach them at any time, care of United Artists Studios, Hollywood, Calif.
(n.p., n.d. [prepared by Universal Studios, probably 1927]) Topsy, Eva. Courtesy John
Sullivan. |
