Mary Martin
Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (1949), the title character in Peter Pan (1954), and Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1959). She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989. She was the mother of actor Larry Hagman.
This article is about the stage actress. For the silent film actress, see Mary Martin (silent film actress). For other people named Mary Martin, see Mary Martin (disambiguation).
Mary Martin
November 3, 1990 (aged 76)
Greenwood Cemetery, Weatherford, Texas
- Actress
- singer
1938–1985
2; including Larry Hagman
Early life[edit]
Martin was born in Weatherford, Texas. Her autobiography described her childhood as secure and happy.[1] She had close relationships with both of her parents as well as her siblings. As a young actress Martin had an instinctive ear for recreating musical sounds.
Martin's father, Preston Martin, was a lawyer, and her mother, Juanita Presley, was a violin teacher.[2] Although the doctors told Juanita that she would risk her life if she attempted to have another baby, she was determined to have a boy. Instead, she had Mary, who became a tomboy.
Martin's family had a barn and orchard that kept her entertained. She played with her elder sister Geraldine (whom she called "Sister"), climbing trees and riding ponies. Martin adored her father. "He was tall, good-looking, silver-haired, with the kindest brown eyes. Mother was the disciplinarian, but it was Daddy who could turn me into an angel with just one look."[2]: 19 Martin, who said "I'd never understand the law"[2]: 19 began singing at a bandstand, outside the courtroom where her father worked every Saturday night. She sang in a trio with her sister and Marion Swofford, all three in bellhop costumes. "Even in those days, without microphones, my high piping voice carried all over the square. I have always thought that I inherited my carrying voice from my father."[2]: 19
She remembered having a photographic memory as a child. School tests were not a problem, and learning songs was easy. She had her first experience of singing solo at a fire hall, where she felt the crowd's appreciation. "Sometimes I think that I cheated my own family and my closest friends by giving to audiences so much of the love I might have kept for them. But that's the way I was made; I truly don't think I could help it."[2]: 20 Martin's craft was developed by seeing movies and becoming a mimic. She would win prizes for looking, acting and dancing like Ruby Keeler and singing exactly like Bing Crosby. "Never, never, never can I say I had a frustrating childhood. It was all joy. Mother used to say she never had seen such a happy child — that I awakened each morning with a smile. I don't remember that, but I do remember that I never wanted to go to bed, to go to sleep, for fear I'd miss something."[2]: 20
Marriage[edit]
During high school, Martin dated Benjamin Hagman before she left to attend finishing school at Ward–Belmont in Nashville, Tennessee. In Nashville she enjoyed imitating Fanny Brice at singing gigs, but she found school dull and felt confined by its strict rules. She was homesick for Weatherford, her family and Hagman. During a visit, Mary and Benjamin persuaded Mary's mother to allow them to marry.[3]: 16 She was legally married on November 3, 1930, at Grace Episcopal Church (Hopkinsville, Kentucky).[4] 10 months later, pregnant with her first child (Larry Hagman) she was forced to leave Ward–Belmont. She was, however, happy to begin her new life, but she soon learned that this life as she would later say was nothing but "role playing".[2]: 39
Their honeymoon was at her parents' house, and Martin's dream of life with a family and a white-picket fence faded. "I was 17, a married woman without real responsibilities, miserable about my mixed-up emotions, afraid there was something awfully wrong with me because I didn't enjoy being a wife. Worst of all, I didn't have enough to do." (p. 39) It was "Sister" who came to her rescue, suggesting that she should teach dance. "Sister" taught Martin her first real dance—the waltz clog. Martin perfectly imitated her first dance move, and she opened a dance studio. Here, she created her own moves, imitated the famous dancers she watched in the movies and taught "Sister's" waltz clog. As she later recalled, "I was doing something I wanted to do—creating."[2]: 44
Apprenticeship[edit]
Wanting to learn more moves, Martin went to California to attend the dance school at the Franchon and Marco School of the Theatre and then opened her own dance studio in Mineral Wells, Texas. She was given a ballroom studio with the premise that she would sing in the lobby every Saturday. There, she learned how to sing into a microphone and how to phrase blues songs. One day at work, she accidentally walked into the wrong room, where auditions were being held. They asked her in what key she would like to sing "How Red the Rose, How Blue the Sky". Having absolutely no idea what her key was, she sang regardless and got the job.
Returning to California, Martin was hired to sing "How Red the Rose" at the Fox Theater in San Francisco followed by a gig at the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles. There was one catch: she had to sing in the wings. She scored her first professional gig unaware that she would soon be center stage.
Soon after, Martin learned that her studio in Texas had been burned down by a man who thought dancing was a sin.[3]: 24 She began to express her unhappiness. Her father gave her advice, saying she was too young to be married. Martin left everything behind including her young son, Larry, and stayed in Los Angeles while her father handled her divorce from Benjamin Hagman for her. In Los Angeles, Martin plunged herself into auditions—so many that she became known as "Audition Mary". Her first professional audition and job was on a national radio network.[3]: 26–29, 31 Among Martin's first auditions, she sang "Indian Love Call". After she finished the song, "a tall, craggly man who looked like a mountain" told Martin that he thought she had something special. It was Oscar Hammerstein II[2]: 58–59 This marked the start of her career.
Radio[edit]
Martin began her radio career in 1939 as the vocalist on a short-lived revival of The Tuesday Night Party on CBS. In 1940, she was a singer on NBC's Good News of 1940, which was renamed Maxwell House Coffee Time during that year.[5] In 1942, she joined the cast of Kraft Music Hall on NBC, replacing Connie Boswell.[6] She was also one of the stars of Stage Door Canteen on CBS, 1942–1945.[5]