Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-06-17

:. !. ]. ]: !. D: !. ].
-. tune smashed
~ like peanut
I'M on a dime
~ store II DOR.
q M In the panic
of 1929 they
lost a quar-
ter Of a mil
Mn r"nh"iN" lion dollars in
a single day. They gave up
their beautiful home in White
Plains, n. Y. They handed
over an armful OF bearskin rugs
TO creditor because they had
nothing else TO pay hum.
Instead Of a fortune. they
owed something like 100000.
They got an overdose of the
medicine that was making
some people jump out Of high
windows.
THESE SAME Duncan Sis
ters are in Detroit. Going from
rags 10 riches TO rags doesn't
seem To have hurt their DISPOSE
tions a particle, and nnM they're
working up To new fortune
again.
CURI0USEY. PEOPLE are
inclined 10 say, The Duncan
Sisters? on. I thought they
retired long ago Are these
the real Duncans?"
It's sort of a theatrical optical
Illusion. What happened was
this. The Duncans, between
them, had only about three
semesters Of high school. At
the ages of l3 and IS they took
b whack al the stage and people
soved EN-. SO they started
young. achieved fame young.
became veterans while still
young.
THEY ARE mature women
now, of course. They were the
last OF the big Kid stars de-
veloped by Gus Edwards Tex
cept HIldegarde, who followed
them). and they started around
1917. Figure IL out for yourself.
Vivian (the Eva Of the Sisters)
j. an extremely lovely woman,
especially I'm her smile. and
Rosetta, the hurnt-cOrk TOpsy,
~ In voice and antics strictly a
hoyden. rs she always has been.
= I'm too much OF n scarcely
cat 10 ask a lady right out how
old she il, but II YOU just have
10 know, YOU can figure IL out
fairly closely from the above
paragraphs.
THEY CERTAINLY h ave
crammed a lot Of excitement
into their lives so far. They
started with their older sister
Evelyn chaperoning them. and
had no manager Vivian was
shy. but the Merry TopSy would
lust barge into producers Of
fees. and she got the bookings
she wanted,
\ Then they bought the "TOpNy
Iand Eva show for $50 600 II
clicked. and they not only were
twice as famous but were get
ting 100000 a year from n.
I'VE bought all kinds of safe
investments" Vivian told me.
"They weren't safe. Henry l..
Dougherty gave us some sound
advice once, and 1 wish we had
had sense enough 90 follow II.
But we bought gold mine ="
TopSy butted in:
1.-TWO gold mines"
That's right. and neither did
us any good, and a copper mine
and some real estate. Well, we
lust don't like TO think about IL
any more
ANYWAY, THEY arc still
sticking to a pact-they made as
kids-not 20 work for less than
81 900 a week. Brash Maybe,
but look where il has taken
them.
THEY'VE BEEN all over the
world, and were in a jubilee
show in Berlin after Munich.
Hitler came in. Thousands Of
voices shouted Hell, and the
DuncanS. perhaps with the in
stinct Of trouperS. Shuddered.
TopSy. sick of having people
say Hell Hitler instead Of
Hello. started saying Hell
Duncan" And got away with it.
I'VE CALLED them Vivian
and Rosetta: Eva and Topsy.
From the age of 8 they've called
each other "Hymic, or "Hym'
for Rosetta) and Jake (for
Vivian)-an old family joke
that lust stuck. They still do it.
Anyway, here they are, Hymn
and Jake, a blackface comic
and a lovely blonde. And what
\ dyou suppose they are figuring
lon now? a new Topsy and
Eva!
Because ViVian's daughter
EVelyne (whoSe father is Nils
Asther, the film starr and her
cousin, Barbara McClelland
(who lived in Detroit until