| Marylin Duke | |
| Birth Name: | Manfrey Lecta Duke |
| Birth Date: | 3 October 1916 |
| Birth Place: | Jackson, Georgia |
| Origin: | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Death Place: | Clayton County, Georgia |
| Instrument: | Vocals |
| Genre: | Vocal jazz, jazz blues, torch songs, swing, blues, R&B |
| Occupation: | Singer |
| Years Active: | 1933–1966 |
| Label: | Bluebird RCA Victor |
| Associated Acts: | Vaughn Monroe |
| Website: | Vaughn Monroe Appreciation Society |
Marilyn (Marylin) Duke (née Manfrey Lecta Duke; October 3, 1916 Jackson, Georgia – August 7, 1995 Clayton County, Georgia), was an American singer from the swing era of the mid to late 1930s and early 1940s. She began as a soloist in 1933 on radio in Atlanta, then, beginning 1936, was carried on syndicated and network radio from New York City. In the first half of the 1940s, Duke traveled and recorded as a featured singer with big bands, notably with Vaughn Monroe. She distinguished herself as a rhythm singer – that is, a singer who swings. And, while with the Monroe Orchestra, she was acclaimed for having an engaging personality. Duke was a tall brunette, and, according to journalists, attractive. As for her hair color, Duke was a blonde when she re-joined Monroe's band in 1944. After her career with big bands – after 1945 – and into the late 1960s, she performed on-and-off as a nightclub pianist-singer in the metropolitan areas of Boston, New York City, and Newport, Rhode Island. Her recorded hits with Vaughn Monroe include "There'll Be Some Changes Made" and "The Trolley Song" – the latter being a late-1944, post-Petrillo-ban, rush-to-market, swing band vocal duet with Monroe.
Marilyn Duke learned to sing in a choir at her church, likely the Macedonia Baptist Church in Jackson, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Though, according to a 1995 interview (the year she died) in the Atlanta Constitution, at an early age, she preferred the gospel music of a nearby black church.
In 1933, under the product brand pseudonym of "Miss Seiberling," Duke performed on broadcast radio WGST, Wednesdays, 7:15 pm. The radio name was that of the Seiberling Rubber Company, a national tire manufacturer distributed by the Brooks-Shatterly Company, Inc., of Atlanta. In 1934, Duke, under her birth name, Manfrey Duke, sang regularly on WSB radio in Atlanta.
After winning a radio audition contest around 1934, Duke headed to New York City, where, from December 30, 1934, to 1936 (and later), she sang regularly on NBC radio and the Mutual Broadcasting Company. She was billed as a blues singer and contralto. Her radio broadcasts included performances with the orchestras of Leon Brusiloff (1898–1973) and his brother Nathan Brusiloff (1904–1951) and Paul Whiteman. In 1935, her broadcast performances were sometimes with the Charioteers, a male choral quartet. Beginning December 30, 1934, Duke sang on WOR two or three times a week – typically Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 5:15 pm. She sang 15-minute segments, usually. The WOR broadcasts were carried on the Mutual Network.
From Mid to late-1930s, Duke, as vocalist, was the star attraction for Manny Gates (né Emanuel Getzholtz; 1894–1957) Orchestra in Miami She joined Jolly Coburn's (né Frank Harry Coburn; 1900–1964) Orchestra, a society band, around July 1937 after playing a piano stint at a Boston nightclub. Duke also sang with the Shep Fields Orchestra in 1937 (in Philadelphia).
On New Year's Eve 1940, at age twenty-four – after the death of her father – Duke debuted with the Vaughn Monroe Orchestra at the Statler Hotel Boston, eight months after Monroe founded the orchestra. Her father died January 8, 1940, of injuries as a pedestrian struck by a truck. Monroe formed his orchestra April 1940 in Miami at the urging and sponsorship of band agent Willard Alexander (1908–1984) and New England–based band leader Jack Marshard (né Jacob Marshard; 1910–1948), who saw an opportunity when offered two simultaneous bookings. Marshard became his manager. Marylin Duke was Monroe's first female vocalist. She had been working as a pianist-singer at a Boston nightclub; but because an infected finger interrupted her playing, she auditioned for Vaughn Monroe and was promptly signed. Her notoriety rose rapidly during her tenure with Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra as a featured singer.
She left the Monroe Orchestra around June 1943 to join the WAAC, but instead, continued performing, which included a two-month stint with Tommy Dorsey. That same year (1943), Duke also sang with Will Osborne and His Orchestra. Filling the void, Monroe hired Phyllis Lynne July 31, 1943, in Los Angeles, to replace Duke. Monroe gave Lynne her East Coast debut on September 14, 1943, in New York City at the Paramount.
Around June 1944, Duke began a 10-week solo engagement at the Frolic Club (aka, the Frolic Theatre Restaurant), in Revere, Massachusetts, at 155 Revere Beach Boulevard. But, apparently before finishing, she was back with Vaughn Monroe by mid-July 1944, replacing Del Parker. In September 1944, she married Peter O'Brien, a Boston amusement park owner.
She then permanently left the orchestra around January 1945. Yet, on April 14, 1945, Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra featured Duke, with Bobby Ricky, in Dayton, Ohio, at the Lakeside Park Ballroom.
A large part of Vaughn Monroe's repertoire featured the singing of Monroe, himself, as well as Marilyn Duke, Ziggy Talent, The Murphy Sisters, and The Moonmaids.
In December 1945, she was performing at the Music Box in Boston.
| Billboard | ||||||
| Week Ending | Reviewed | Record Sales | Juke Box | Radio Plugs | BB Issue | Page(s) |
| "There'll Be Some Changes Made" | ||||||
| 1941 | Daniel Richman | February 15, 1941 | 13 | |||
| "The Trolley Song" | ||||||
| December 9, 1944 | Maurie Orodenker | December 9, 1944 | 21 | |||
| December 7, 1944 | 15 | December 16, 1944 | 19 | |||
| December 14, 1944 | 10 | December 23, 1944 | 19 | |||
| December 21, 1944 | 8 | 9 | December 30, 1944 | 12 | ||
| December 28, 1944 | 4 | 14 | January 6, 1945 | 20–21 | ||
| January 4, 1945 | 4 | 12 | January 13, 1945 | 18–19 | ||
| January 11, 1945 | 12 | January 20, 1945 | 18–19 | |||
| January 18, 1945 | 7 | January 27, 1945 | 16 | |||
| Cashbox — "Disk-Hits Box Score" (weekly) | ||||||
| Week Ending | Weekly Singles Ratings | Artist(s) | Disc(s) | |||
| December 11, 1944 | 1 | Pied Pipers Vaughn Monroe | Capitol 168 Victor 20-1605 | |||
| December 18, 1944 | 1 | Pied Pipers Judy Garland Vaughn Monroe | Capitol 168 Decca 23361 Victor 20-1605 | |||
| December 25, 1944 | 2 | Pied Pipers Judy Garland Vaughn Monroe | Capitol 168 Decca 23361 Victor 20-1605 | |||
| January 1, 1945 | 2 | Pied Pipers Vaughn Monroe Judy Garland | Capitol 168 Victor 20-1605 Decca 23361 | |||
| January 8, 1945 | 2 | Pied Pipers Vaughn Monroe Judy Garland | Capitol 168 Victor 20-1605 Decca 23361 | |||
| January 15, 1945 | 4 | Vaughn Monroe Pied Pipers Judy Garland | Victor 20-1605 Capitol 168 Decca 23361 | |||
| January 22, 1945 | 5 | Vaughn Monroe Pied Pipers Judy Garland | Victor 20-1605 Capitol 168 Decca 23361 | |||
| January 29, 1945 | 7 | Vaughn Monroe Pied Pipers Judy Garland | Victor 20-1605 Capitol 168 Decca 23361 | |||
| February 5, 1945 | 8 | Vaughn Monroe Pied Pipers Judy Garland | Victor 20-1605 Capitol 168 Decca 23361 | |||
| February 16, 1945 | 16 | Vaughn Monroe Pied Pipers Judy Garland | Victor 20-1605 Capitol 168 Decca 23361 | |||
| "The Very Thought of You" | ||||||
| Cashbox — "Disc-Hits Box Score" (weekly) | ||||||
| Week Ending | Weekly Singles Ratings | Artist(s) | Disc(s) | |||
| December 25, 1944 | 14 | Ray Noble Vaughn Monroe | Columbia 36546 Victor 20-1605 | |||
| January 1, 1945 | 10 | Ray Noble Vaughn Monroe | Columbia 36546 Victor 20-1605 | |||
| January 8, 1945 | 16 | Ray Noble Vaughn Monroe | Columbia 36546 Victor 20-1605 |
Bluebird Records is a sub-label of RCA Victor. During the WWII years (and the recording ban), Victor reissued hundreds of jazz records from its Bluebird library. After World War II, the Bluebird label was retired and its artists were re-issued on the RCA Victor label.
| 27-month Petrillo Recording Ban Began July 31, 1941 Ended November 11, 1944 |
Original source: Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas, Jay Florian Mitchell (1900–1984) Photo Collection
Collection: The African American Experience in Las Vegas, UNLV Libraries
| UNLV Libraries, Digital Collections: Images | |||
| LoC | OHR N° | Image N° | |
| VR-410 | |||
| VR-400-A | 405 | 299-01 | |
| VR-400-B | 406 | 299-02 | |
| VR-419 | |||
| VR-400-F | 414 | 300-01 | |
| VR-400-G | 415 | 300-02 |
| Jean | (née Jean Ahn; born 1918) left in 1944 to get married | |
| Miriam | née Miriam Florence Ahn; January 27, 1920 Girard, Ohio – February 15, 1994 Chatsworth, California, married Francis Wendell Gross (1917–2001) in the Actors Chapel, Manhattan, New York City, June 16, 1946, and subsequently moved to the British-American Compound in Iran, where Gross was a warrant officer affiliated with the United States Foreign Service. | |
| Virginia | (née Virginia Annabell Ahn; September 13, 1921 Delaware County, Ohio – January 23, 1986 Ventura County, California) eloped with John Weigel New Year's Eve 1944; They divorced in the mid-1960s; she then married Holcombe; after singing with the Four Lee Sisters, she sang with the Moonmaids, then spent a year with the Andrews Sisters, filling-in for Maxene Andrews; John Weigel was the founder of Weigel Broadcasting; The late Tim Weigel, a son, was a notable sportscaster; Rafer Weigel, a grandson (Tim's son), is a news anchor in St. Louis for KTVI Fox 2, Jenniffer Weigel, a granddaughter (Tim's daughter), is a Chicago-based TV personality Virginia is buried at Rio Verde Memorial Gardens in Rio Verde, Arizona, where Maree's husband John Egers is buried | |
| Maree | (aka Mary or Marie, née Maree L. Ahn; April 11, 1924 Delaware County, Ohio – 2016) currently years old, from Bellevue, Ohio, had been a singer with the Lee Sisters performing with Horace Heidt (beginning in 1940), Ted Lewis, Monroe, then as soloist with Dick Rogers (1912–1970), then with the Norton Sisters, then, after the Moonmaids (who replaced the Norton Sisters) had been working with Monroe, she joined the Moonmaids, turning it into a quintet. In addition to her ensemble roles, she had been Monroe's lead singer. Soon after two Moonmaid singers left to get married, the quintet became a quartet again, with Maree Lee filling the third spot, replacing Katie Myatt, and June Hiett filling the fourth. Lee left Monroe's band on December 20, 1952, to get married; and on December 21, 1952, she married Warren Edward Grafe (1921–1973); she also had been married to George William Eger, Jr. (1918–2002) Maree is the co-author with Robert H. Mason of Verde Valley Lore (1997), a history of Verde Valley, Arizona |