Marilyn Duke

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.

Growing up
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.

Atlanta radio career
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.

New York radio career
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.

Early dance orchestra career
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).

Joined Vaughn Monroe's Orchestra in 1940
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.

Departure from Vaughn Monroe's Orchestra in 1943
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.

Rejoined Vaughn Monroe's Orchestra in 1944
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.

On and off solo career
In December 1945, she was performing at the Music Box in Boston.

Polls

 * 1942: Billboard's "Collegiate Choice of Female Vocalists," Duke received votes for first and second choice.
 * April 12, 1942: A swing magazine presented Marilyn Duke with an award during Vaughn Monroe's final performance, after a long engagement, at the Commodore Hotel in New York
 * The February 1942 issue of Big Song Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 2, Vaughn Monroe, Marilyn Duke, and Sammy Kaye were on the cover.
 * In January 1945, Duke's rendition of "The Trolley Song," became a top-ten hit. That song, and the one on the flip side, "The Very Thought of You," were recorded Sunday, November 12, 1944, at Victor's studio in New York, 18 hours after the 27-month Petrillo Ban had been lifted.  The session represented Victor's first since the ban.  Both songs were pressed and on sale only 24 hours later. Victor Victor distributed 160,000 copies throughout the country before the week was out.

Jolly Coburn and His Orchestra
1. "Foolin' Myself" (fox trot)

Recorded June 24, 1937, New York City

Jack Lawrence (w&m)

Peter Tinturin (1910–2007) (w&m)

Jolly Coburn and His Orchestra

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side A (matrix 11114): Bluebird B-7041-A

Wally Bishop (pseudonym of Jolly Coburn) and His Band
1. "Foolin' Myself" (fox trot)

Recorded June 24, 1937, New York City

Jack Lawrence (w&m)

Peter Tinturin (1910–2007) (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side ? (matrix 11114): Regal Zonophone MR 2598

Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra on Bluebird
1. "There'll Be Some Changes Made"

Recorded January 13, 1941

William Benton Overstreet (1888–1935) (music)

Billy Higgins (né William Weldon Higgins; 1888–1937) (words)

Marylin Duke (vocalist)

Bobby Nichols (né Robert J. Nichols; 1924–1975) (trumpet solo)

Side A (matrix 060317=1): Bluebird B-11025-A

2. "My One Romance"

Recorded January 13, 1941

Olga Paul (words)

Tschaikowsky (music)

Helmy Kresa (arranger)

Marylin Duke (vocalist)

Side A (matrix 060318=1): Bluebird B-11045-A

3. "Requestfully Yours"

Recorded February 17, 1941

Kay Werner (Kay Werner Kent) (w&m)

Sue Werner (Sue Werner McCarthy) (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Frank Levine (alto sax solo)

Nichols (trumpet solo)

Side B (matrix 60650=1): Bluebird B-11070-B

4. "Just Plain Folks" (fox trot)

Recorded February 17, 1941, New York City

Tiny Hill (w&m)

Mary Ray (w&m)

Harold Dillon (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocals)

Side A (matrix 060652=1): Bluebird B-11085-A

5. "Thumbs Up" (fox trot)

Recorded February 17, 1941, New York City

Johnny Watson (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocals)

Side A (matrix 060654=1): Bluebird B-11103-A

6. "G'Bye Now" (fox trot)

Recorded March 31, 1941

From the musical:
 * Hellz-a-Poppin

John S. Olsen (w&m)

Clifford Johnson (w&m)

Jay Levison (pseudonym of Jay Livingston) (w&m)

Ray Evans (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side A (matrix 062793=1): Bluebird B-11114-A

7. "Music Makers"

Recorded March 31, 1941

Don Raye, Harry James Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side B (matrix 062791=1): Bluebird B-11114-B

8. "Yours" ("Quieréme Mucho")

Recorded April 21, 1941, New York City

Jack Sher (English words)

Agustin Rodriguez (Spanish words)

Gonzalo Roig (music)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side B: (matrix 063796=1): Bluebird B-11146-B

9. "Aurora"

Recorded April 21, 1941, New York City

Roberto Roberti

Mário Lago (pt)

English lyrics by Harold Adamson

Spanish lyrics by Pedro Berriós

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

The Bostonians (vocalists)

Side A: (matrix 063795=1): Bluebird B-11160-A

10. "The Monkey on a String"

Recorded April 21, 1941, New York City

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side B: (matrix 063794=2): Bluebird B-11160-B

11. "Love Me As I Am"

Recorded May 19, 1941

From the Paramount film:
 * Caught in the Draft

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side B (matrix 065630=2): Bluebird B-11173-B

12. "Daddy" (fox trot)

Recorded May 19, 1941

Robert W. Troup, Jr. (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side A (matrix 065626=1): Bluebird B-11189-A

13. "The Worm Who Loved The Little 'Tater-Bug'" (fox Trot)

Recorded June 16, 1941

Len Charles Conn (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side B (matrix 066109=1): Bluebird B-11207-B

14. "Love Me A Little" (fox trot)

Recorded June 30, 1941

Herbie Holmes (w&m)

Howard Smith (w&m)

Ellen Orr (pseudonym of Harry DeCosta) (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocal refrain)

Side A (066433=1): Bluebird B-11221-A

15. "One, Two, Three O'Lairy"

Recorded August 15, 1941

Don Reid (w&m)

Max Chamiton (w&m)

(Oh! My! Whoa! Mary!) (fox trot)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Vaughn Monroe (vocalist)

Arnold Ross (1921–2000) (piano solo)

Side A (067581=1): Bluebird B-11283-A

16. "The Window Washer Man"

Recorded September 2, 1941

Hugo Malanga (words)

Marion Barry (music)

Ziggy Talent Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side B (matrix 067734=1): Bluebird B-11303-B

17. "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good"

Recorded September 2, 1941

From the 1941 musical revue:
 * Jump For Joy

Paul Webster (words)

Duke Ellington (music)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side A (matrix 067732=1): Bluebird B-11310-A

18. "I Don't Want To Walk Without You"

Recorded November 24, 1941

From the 1942 film:
 * Sweater Girl

Frank Loesser (words)

Jule Styne (music)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side A (matrix 068349=1): Bluebird B-11399-A

and

19. "Tica Ti-Tica Ta" (fox trot)

Recorded November 24, 1941

Louis Prima (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Ziggy Talent (vocalist)

Chorus (vocals)

Side B (matrix 068348=1): Bluebird B-11433-B

20. "Pretty Little Busybody"

Recorded December 18, 1941

Al Lewis (w&m)

Larry Stock (w&m)

Vincent Rose (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Jack Fay (bassist and vocalist) Side B (matrix 068679=1): Bluebird B-11422-B

21. "Honey Dear" (fox trot)

Recorded January 15, 1942, New York City

Floyd Hunt, Lester Melrose (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Bobby Nichols (né Robert J. Nichols; 1924–1975) (trumpet solo)

Side B (matrix 068886=1): Bluebird B-11454-B

22. "Somebody Nobody Loves" (fox trot)

Recorded January 15, 1942, New York City

Gus Kahn (w&m)

George Hamilton (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side A (matrix 068885=1): Bluebird B-11445-A

23. "My Little Cousin" (fox trot)

Recorded February 24, 1942

Yiddish version:
 * Abe Schwartz (music)
 * Hyman Prizant (1892–1947) (words)

American swing version:
 * Herbert ("Happy") Lewis
 * Sam Braverman (1898–1960)
 * Cy Coben

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side A (matrix 071959=1): Bluebird B-11488-A

Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra on Victor
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.

1. "Requestfully Yours"

Recorded February 17, 1941

Kay Werner (Kay Werner Kent) (w&m)

Sue Werner (Sue Werner McCarthy) (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side B: Victor 20-2825-B

2. "G'Bye Now" (fox trot)

Recorded March 31, 1941

From the musical:
 * Hellz-a-Poppin

John S. Olsen (w&m)

Clifford Johnson (w&m)

Jay Levison (pseudonym of Jay Livingston) (w&m)

Ray Evans (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Re-issue

Side B (matrix 062793=1): Victor 20-2644-B

3. "Yours" ("Quieréme Mucho") (fox trot)

Recorded April 21, 1941, New York City

Jack Sher (English words)

Agustin Rodriguez (Spanish words)

Gonzalo Roig (music)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side A: Victor 20-2984-A

4. "Doodle La Do Da" (fox trot)

Recorded September 30, 1941

John D. Watson (w&m)

Marilyn Duke and chorus (vocals)

Side B (matrix 071430=2): Victor 27892-B

5. "All I Need Is You" (fox trot)

Recorded April 7, 1942

Peter De Rose (w&m)

Benny Davis (w&m)

Mitchell Parish (w&m)

Vaughn Monroe (trumpet); George "Spots" Esposito, Irving Goodman, Jack Hansen (trumpets); Ray Conniff, Art Dedrick, Ray Heath (trombones); Andrew Bagni (né Andrew Joseph Bagni; 1907–1984), Roy Anderson (alto saxes), Frank Levine, Johnny Turnbull, Ziggy Talent (tenor saxes); Arnold Ross (piano, arranger); Carmen Mastren (guitar), Jack Fay (bass); Harry Yaeger (drums), Marilyn Duke, Four Vees (vocals); Jimmy Mundy (arranger)

Side A (matrix 073816=1): Victor 27910-A

6. "You Were Never Lovelier"

Recorded July 17, 1942

From the 1942 film:
 * You Were Never Lovelier

Johnny Mercer (words)

Jerome Kern (music)

Marilyn Duke, Four Lee Sisters (vocals)

(matrix: 075433=1): Victor 27958

1. "Happy-Go-Lucky" (1943)

Used in the 1943 film:
 * Happy Go Lucky

Frank Loesser (words)

Jimmy McHugh (words)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side B: Victor 20-1524-B

2. "How Blue The Night"

Recorded around 1944

Harold Adamson (words)

Jimmy McHugh (music)

(female vocalist uncredited)

(likely Marilyn Duke)

3. "The Very Thought of You"

Recorded November 12, 1944

Victor Studios, New York City

Released November 13, 1944

From the 1944 film:
 * The Very Thought of You

Ray Noble (w&m)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Side A: Victor 20-1605-A

4. "The Trolley Song" (fox trot) (1944)

Recorded November 12, 1944

Victor Studios, New York City

From the 1944 M-G-M film:
 * Meet Me in St. Louis

Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane (w&m)

Vaughn Monroe and Marilyn Duke (vocal duet)

Side B: Victor 20-1605-B

Selected radio transcriptions
1. WOR's Dedication of the Fifty Kilowatt Transmitter, in Newark March 4, 1935, 8:00 pm

A variety program from Carnegie Hall, as WOR, increases its power output to fifty-thousand watts

Bert Lahr, Borrah Minevitch and the Harmonica Rascals, Deems Taylor (host), Eddie Dowling, Edward Bowes, Ethel Merman, Fannie Hurst, Gabriel Heatter, Harry Hershfield, Jack Pearl, Jan Peerce, Jean Goldkette, Lanny Ross, Pat Padgett (1898–1990), Pick Malone (né Andrew Pickens Maloney; 1893–1962), Ray Bolger, Sugar Kane (11-year-old "Sweetheart of the air"), the Charioteers, the Pickens Sisters, Victor Moore, Wee Willie Robine (William Robyn; 1894–1996), Tiny Ruffner (1899–1983), Harry Salter (1898–1984) (conductor), Harlan Eugene Reid, Gene Buck (President of ASCAP), Jack R. Poppele (1898–1986) (Chief Engineer of WOR), The WOR Orchestra, Fie Dudley, William Gaxton, Frances Williams, Mischa Violin (1899–1984), Monsignor LaVelle (né Michael Joseph Lavelle; 1856–1939), Jack Arthur (né Arthur E. Campbell; 1900–1980), The Hometown Boys, Alfred McCosker (1886–1959) (president of WOR), Eddie Brown (1895–1974) (violinist), Elsie Janis, Goeta Jungberg, George Schackley (WOR, musical director), Ben Bernie, The WOR Piano Quintet, John Gambling (does a satire of his gym-class program), Sandra Svenska, Joseph Weber (president of the American Federation of Musicians), The Moonbeams, Marilyn Duke, The Song Weavers, Jan Peerce

2. Broadcast

Coca Cola Spotlight Bands

Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra

Longacre Theatre, New York City

January 13, 1942, 10:15 to 10:30

WOR: Mutual Broadcasting System

Track 3: "Tica Ti-Tica Ta"
 * Louis Prima (w&m)
 * Marilyn Duke (vocalist)
 * Gil Newsome (né Gilbert L. Newsome; 1916–1965) (announcer)

3. Broadcast: Commodore Hotel, New York

Opening Night: Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra

September 28, 1944

Star Line SLC61105 (released 1987)

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Track 3: "Ten Days With Baby"
 * From the 1944 film, Sweet and Low-Down
 * Mack Gordon (words)
 * James V. Monaco (music)

Track 5: "I'm Makin Believe"
 * From the 1944 film, Sweet and Low-Down
 * Mack Gordon (words)
 * James V. Monaco (music)

4. "Every Day of My Life" (1943–1944)
 * Harry James (w&m)
 * Billy Hays (né William Silas Hays; 1898–1972) (w&m)
 * Morty Berk (né Marx Berkowitz; 1896–1955) (w&m)

"Ten Days With Baby"
 * From the 1944 film, Sweet and Low-Down
 * Mack Gordon (words)
 * James V. Monaco (music)

Recorded at Liederkranz Hall, New York, July 10, 1944

Marilyn Duke (vocalist)

Lang-Worth transcription

Circle CCD116

Selected live performances

 * April 14, 1943: Coca-Cola Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands (over 168 stations on the Blue Network), broadcast from MacArthur Stadium, Syracuse; Duke and Dick Shanahan (drummer) were featured guests with Will Osborne and His Hollywood Band.

Selected compositions
1. "Darling I'm Dreaming of You"

Marilyn Duke (w&m)

E unpublished 175318

Miami Beach, Florida: Jack Reynolds

1st copy August 29, 1938

Family
Manfrey Lecta Duke was born to William Franklin Duke, Jr. (1874–1940), and Gussie Mae Vaughn (maiden; 1895–1961) — William Duke's second of two wives. Gussie, after the death of William Franklin Vaughn, married John Richardson. Manfrey Duke had 2 brothers and 1 sister. She also had 2 half-sisters and 1 half-brother from her father's first marriage to Margaret L ("Maggie") Scarbrough (maiden; 1874–1910).
 * Parents


 * Husbands
 * Peter O'Brien
 * Sometime around the fall of 1944, Marylin Duke married Peter O'Brien, who – according to a syndicated press announcement of their marriage – was a Boston amusement park magnate. They adopted two sons, Michael and Patrick. Their marriage ended in divorce.


 * Benjamin Cushing Bowker
 * Marylin Duke was known as Manfred L. Bowker when she died August 7, 1995, in Clayton County, Georgia. She had been residing in Fayetteville, Fayette County, Georgia. She was the widow of Benjamin Cushing Bowker (1912–1968), a native of Quincy, Massachusetts, who died in an auto accident in Jackson County, Georgia.  At the time of his death, they were residents of Dorchester, Massachusetts. Bowker was a 1933 alumnus of Harvard and 1934 alumnus of Boston Teachers College; early in his career, Bowker had been a journalist from Boston.  He later worked in corporate public relations.  Darren Bowker (born 1974), a grandson of Benjamin Bowker and Joan C. Valentas (1913–1979), Benjamin's first wife, is a winemaker with Serenity Vineyards in Penn Yan, in the Finger Lakes region of New York.

Duke suffered a stroke in 1990 and was treated at Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta. Her maternal 1st cousin, Marilyn Jean Howell (née Vaughn), cared for her until her death August 7, 1995. Duke is buried in Crest Lawn Memorial Park, Atlanta, in the family plot of her maternal Aunt Clara Belle Tarrant (née Vaughn; 1899–1982)
 * Death

Images

 * Marilyn Duke and Matty Principal at the Moulin Rouge Hotel, Las Vegas, June 5, 1955 (12 days after the hotel's official grand opening)
 * Original source: Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas, Jay Florian Mitchell (1900–1984) Photo Collection
 * Collection: The African American Experience in Las Vegas, UNLV Libraries

Monroe personnel who worked with Duke

 * Four V's (aka Four Vees), male quartet culled from the band
 * 1942-194?: Four Lee Sisters (formerly known as Le Ahn Sisters), Jean, Miriam, Virginia, and Maree:
 * 1942–194?: Ziggy Talent (1912–1997)

Miscellaneous

 * Vaughn Monroe became the host for a radio show sponsored by Camel Cigarettes. Beginning July 1942, Monroe and his Orchestra aired 30 minutes, Monday's, at 8:30, Eastern time, on CBS Radio from the Rhodes Ballroom, Providence, Rhode Island.  According to Marilyn Jean Howell (née Vaughn) — Marilyn Duke's maternal 1st cousin who cared for her during the last five years of her life – Duke was a chain smoker of Camel Cigarettes.

General notes and resources

 * Yahoo discussion group
 * Daniel C. Gabel (born 1988) is a trombonist and founder/leader of The Abletones (a big band specializing in 1930s and 1940s music). He is a jazz history scholar, particularly the big band era. He holds two bachelor's degrees from UMass (Political Science and, from the UMass Commonwealth Honors College, Jazz History). In 2014, he earned a master's degree from the New England Conservatory of Music; his thesis was on Vaughn Monroe; he is the president and CEO of The American Big Band Preservation Society, Inc. (http://www.americanbigband.org), a Massachusetts 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity; as of 2016, in Worcester, Gabel is director of music at his alma mater (class of 2007), Holy Name Central Catholic Jr./Sr. High School and director of jazz programs, Worcester Youth Orchestras
 * The Online Discographical Project, Camron Shane Settlemier (domain registrant), Albany, Oregon (78discography.com)
 * 1) "Bluebird numerical listings 11000–11500"
 * 2) "Victor 20000–20500" (Victor Matrix Nos.)
 * The Vaughn Monroe Collection, Special Collections, New England Conservatory Library;

Inline citations from Billboard

 * (1940–2010 archived online by Google Books)