Vivian Dandridge born 22 April 1921

Vivian Alferetta Dandridge (April 22, 1921 – October 26, 1991) was an American singer, actress and dancer. Acclaimed as the black Marilyn Monroe, Vivian Dandridge's younger sister, Dorothy, was the more famous of the two.

Dorothy Dandridge (right) sister Vivian, 

mother Ruby (upper left), and Geneva Williams

Dandridge was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Cyril Dandridge and the former Ruby Jean Butler, an aspiring entertainer. Dandridge's parents separated shortly before the birth of her sister Dorothy. Initially, Ruby Dandridge put her two girls to work performing acrobatics, songs, and skits. She billed them as the "Wonder Children". Realizing the potential success of her girls, Ruby and her girlfriend Geneva Williams decided to have her daughters embark on a tour of the United States. Under Neva's tutelage, the Wonder Children earned $400–$500 per appearance during the late 1920s, touring through Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and many other states. Neva accompanied the girls on piano as well as acted as their manager and was a particularly aggressive disciplinarian. Both Dorothy and Vivian suffered from her angry outbursts, which were frequent and severe.

Because their income was more important to the family than their education, Dorothy and Vivian did not attend regular classes at school until the 8th grade, instead relying on tutors.  After the stock market crash in 1929, the Wonder Children were added to the long list of the unemployed. Ruby Dandridge, still clinging to the hopes of a film career for herself and her daughters, bought four bus tickets and moved the family to Los Angeles. After immersing herself into the professional community of black Hollywood, Ruby found limited opportunities for herself or her girls. A friend of the family told Ruby that her daughters were unlikely to meet with success in California, she enrolled them in a dancing school run by Laurette Butler.

In California, the Dandridge daughters befriended another girl, Etta Jones*, and began to sing together. After Jones' father heard them sing, Ruby Dandridge decided that the three should form a singing group. Thus, the Dandridge Sisters were born. While Neva and Ruby gained bit parts in films, the Dandridge Sisters began appearing in musical sequences of films and toured over the United States, sharing bills with the likes of Nat King Cole, Mantan Moreland, and dancer Marie Bryant. The female trio was a sort of black Andrews Sisters, singing songs in three part harmony. They eventually became headliners at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York. They even appeared in a short-run Broadway musical revue, Swingin' The Dream, in 1939, at the Centre Theatre. The Dandridge Sisters also toured in London and Hawaii.

                            

The only known recorded songs that the Dandridge Sisters made on vinyl were “FDR Jones”, “The Lady’s In Love With You”, "Undecided" (1939), and "If I Were Sure Of You" recorded for the Parlophone label while they were in London, and "Minnie the Moocher is Dead", "You Ain’t Nowhere", "Ain’t Goin to Study War No More", and "That’s Your Red Wagon", which they recorded in 1940 with Jimmie Lunceford and his big band orchestra while they were on tour with him.

Etta, Dorothy & Vivian 

After touring for a year and a half, however, the Dandridge Sisters group abruptly disbanded, after Dorothy was determined to become an actress, unsatisfied with just appearances in occasional soundies or bit parts in Hollywood films. This left Vivian in a desperate financial situation. She attempted to find work in clubs, but many were not interested. She did, however, find employment as an occasional actress in films but did not achieve the same level of success as her sister Dorothy. Vivian did however, attended the Academy Awards in 1955 with Dorothy Dandridge when Dorothy was nominated for Best Actress for her role in Carmen Jones.

By 1956, friends and family members were concerned for the welfare of Dandridge, as she moved away and went into seclusion. Her sister Dorothy later found out that her sister was residing in New York City. At this point, Dorothy and Vivian did not remain in contact, though Dorothy sometimes provided financial assistance to Vivian and her son Michael Wallace. Other than the occasional telegram, Dorothy and Vivian remained estranged. Upon Dorothy's death in 1965, Vivian could not bear to attend the funeral. Instead, she disappeared from the public eye.

Yet in 1968, Vivian signed a recording contract with Jubilee Records and released a jazz LP, The Look of Love, that same year. The album was produced by Bob Stephens and conducted by Charles Coleman, and included such tracks as "Love is Blue", "Try to Remember", "Sunny", "Strange Fruit", and "Lover Man". On the cover, Vivian is lying on a sofa, looking pensive while holding a snifter of brandy.

Dandridge, under the alias "Marina Rozell," later settled in Seattle, Washington, where she lived in anonymity for the rest of her life. She lived the last eight years in Marina Rozell, in a small apartment in the Ross Manor complex overlooking Elliott Bay in the Pike 
Place Market. She seldom performed any longer except at open-mike nights.She began to write a book about herself and her sister when she suffered a massive stroke from which she died on October 26, 1991 at age 70.

Dandridge was married at least five times: Jack Montgomery (1942–1943), Warren Bra

cken (1945–1945), Ralph Bledsoe (1946–48), Forace Stead (1951–1953) and Gustav Friedrich (1958–1968).

(Edited  mainly from Wikipedia.*Please note Etta Jones, the girl who’d performed with the Dandridge Sisters is not the same as the better remembered jazz singer by that name (1928-2001).