Marianne Moylan born 16 August 1932

 

The Moylan Sisters were a talented American child singing duo from the late 30's and 1940s. Marianne and Peggy Joan Moylan, also known as the Cinderellas of Radio, were very popular singers despite their young age.  

 

Peggy Joan born 2Oct 1932 & Marianne: 16 July 1930 - 25 July 1992 (other sources give Peggy's birth year as 1934 whilst other sources state her exact date is not known). The girls lived on Madison Street in Sag Harbor and attended the Academy of the Sacred Heart, New York. 

 

Peggy and Marianne never had any vocal instruction, but were taught harmony by their musically talented father Joseph Moylan, who was an engraver for Bulova watches. 

 

 

      Here's "Freckles" taken from the 1941 School Days collection of 78's

 

The sisters were first featured on the radio program: The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour in 1939, and were soon give their own 15-minute network show at ages 5 and 7. The girls continued to perform through the WWII years, and stopped performing sometime after 1951. 

 

At the height of their success, they had the #2 most popular show on radio, the first being "The Shadow". 

 

The sisters appeared in four short films, "The Backyard Broadcast" (1936), "Starlets" (1937) (release #B33-34),

"Toyland Casino" (1938), and "Worlds Fair Junior" (1939) (Release #253-254), all for the Vitaphone Corporation. 

 

The Moylan's had an amazing blend and uncanny pitch, with nary a trace of adult-like vibrato. They were allowed to SOUND like children, unlike singing show-biz kids to come decades later, in musicals like "Annie".

 

People who remember the Moylans from their radio show, always seem to remember their Thrivo (dog food) commercial best:

 

" We feed our doggie thrivo - he's very much alive-o

Full of Pep and Vim

If you want a Peppy pup, you had better hurry up

                                               Buy Thrivo for him."

 

 

 

                                Peggy Joan & Marianne

                with radio presenter Ed McMahon in 1951

 

As there is virtually no information on the internet about the Moylan Sisters, hopefully this little bio will suffice. As far as I know Peggy Joan is still alive and living in New York State.

(Info mainly from danacountryman.com)

Here's a rare film of The Moylan Sisters, Peggy Joan and Marianne from 1938. It was taken from a Vitaphone short called "Toyland Casino."