This is part of a series showing what the silent stars featured in the 1917 Kromo Gravure Trading Card set were up to at the precise moment in time covered in a 1932 Motion Picture Magazine article, Stars Who Have Vanished by Jack Grant.
I’ve been using the IMDb, Wikipedia, my physical bookshelf, and especially the NewspaperArchive.com database to search out the rest of the story for each of these old time stars in attempts to see what became of them from 1932 until their deaths.
Vivian Martin
Stars Who Have Vanished, 1932: Returned to the stage with great success.
What I Dug Up: Info was skimpy on Martin. I couldn’t find the New York Times obituary referenced on her Wikipedia page, nor could I find any other death notices.
The latest reference I could find to her was a 1945 article which stated whereabouts unknown.
A 1936 Memory Lane article by I.C. Brenner stated that she “is a movie fan. She sees five or six pictures a week. She also likes reading, especially biographies. Her last reported husband, Arthur H. Samuels, was at one time editor at The New Yorker, Harper’s Bazaar and House Beautiful magazines before holding the position of executive producer at WOR radio at the time of his death in 1938 at age 49.
Interesting to find one more reference to Vivian dated 3 months after Samuels’ death, when she was announced to be appearing in the leading role of Why Marry, her radio debut.
Died in 1987, age 93.
Continue Reading the Where Are They Now, 1932 Series:
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Vivian Martin was my aunt by marriage, the wife of my uncle, Arthur Samuels, my mother;s brother. My memory from childhood is of her as the quintessential movie star of an age gone by. I still picture her in a mink stole, carring her beloved Pekinese, whose name I’ve forgotten but will probably come to me later tonight, much like Nabokov, at the end in his sort story “First Love,” waiting for the name of his mother’s dog to make its way through the years. And it does. Vivian was nice enough to my sister and me, but I don’t think entertaining children was one of her top priorities. I have many photos of her, among them covers of several movie magazines…
Harry, thanks so much for sharing your memories! Mink stole and a Pekinese, yup, sounds like the “quintessential movie star” of days gone by to me too!
Thanks for your note, Cliff. Supposedly, she was being groomed to replace Mary Pickford as “America’s sweetheart.” Not sure what happened, something about a contract dispute. She and my uncle Arthur must have been a fashionable couple (I myself have been called a lot of things in my life, but never “fashionable.”) He was the first managing editor of The New Yorker and a member of the Algonquin Roundtable. He went on to beome editor of Harper’s Bazaar and House Beautiful. Also wrote the music for W.C. Fields B’way show, and started a magazine for disabled WWI soldiers called “Carry On.” As a result, he became friends with Teddy Roosevel. I have some letters to him from T.R.. I think he and Vivan were marred in Irving Berin’s apartment, but I’m not absolutely sure. I never got to know him well; he died when I was just a kid. Vivian. became a kind of recluse after that, a least from Arthur’s family, including yours truly.
Thanks for the additional info, Harry. Yes, I remember when I did my little bit of digging for this thinking that her husband’s career sounded even more interesting than her own! Those were the glory days for being not only a Hollywood star, but a literary star as well. Must have been fascinating!
Yes, it was a different age, Cliff, one that won’t repeat itself. None one, except maybe the tea party zealots, wants to return to days of inequity and dscrimination, but one can’t help feel a little nostalgic for a time when books and writers were at least a frame of reference in the national dialogue. Probably the swan song on TV, except for the occasional PBS program, was the Dick Cavett show. Now, the frame of reference for talk-show hosts is other TV shows or showbiz personalities, most of whom I’ve never heard of. You could watch thousands of hours of TV and never get even a hint that anyone on it has ever read a book.
Apropos of nothing — although we had previusly corresponded about The New Yorker, I think — while Dorothy Parker is often thought of as a sharp-tongued,neurotic denizen of the Algonquin, and purveyor of light verse, she was also committed to social causes, and left her estate to the NAACP (to the dismay of Lillian Hellman, who thought of herself as the unofficial executor of the estate), which a few years ago dedcated a plaque in her honor.
Best regards,
Harry
Information about Vivian Martin, her parents, and her extensive ancestry (through the lineage of her mother, Grace Gibbs) are available at: https://www.geni.com/family-tree/index/6000000091517114891#6000000092669549821
Very cool, thanks, Paul!
For others, If the page opens like it did for me, you’ll want to scroll left to find Vivian Martin.
Hi! I’m going thru some family pictures as I’m doing my ancestry- & came across this picture from my grandmother‘s pictures. My grandmother used to be the housekeeper for Vivian Martin Samuels. I’m not sure if it was in New York or New Jersey. I’m not sure where my grandmother lived at the time. I knew it was Jersey City for the longest time before she moved to Springfield. But I would love to somehow upload these pictures. My grandmother‘s name was Maria Hartmann. I do remember, she spoke highly of the family. And I know they really loved my grandmother. And there was a picture of Miss Samuel’s sitting in what looks like a wicker chair on a deck and I can’t make it out but it’s holding the dog and she’s got fluffy slippers on. Possibly a bar or a pool area. Anyway, the year is 2024 August, so I’m not even sure if anybody’s going to see this . Just thought I’d like to let the family know that I found a picture. Maybe they even have it not sure but I do also have a picture of my grandmother in her little maid outfit. The title on the back says Hartman Park Ave., New York City to late 1920s housekeeper for Vivian Martin Samuels. And on the back of the picture for Miss Samuels, it says the woman Maria Hartmann worked for actress married to editor of Harper bizarre magazine. Thank you for your time.
I remember also being told that my mother met Charlie Chaplin. Years ago when I was told this, I had no clue who he was. Now that I’m 65 I certainly know who he is. My grandmother really liked him and respected him. I’m trying to upload pictures, but I have no clue how to do it. This is not an easy site to figure out. And I do everything on my cell phone.
Harry,
Don’t despair–it may seem as though we’re awash in mediocrity, but even if the cream doesn’t rise so quickly to the top these days we’re all able to have our little fragmented universes of entertainment. I actually prefer modern life to the “good old days”–which weren’t always good as you point out–because of all of the options available, including watching a movie from the 1920s or ’30s if I so choose.
I bet today’s occasional PBS program exceeds the quality hours they broadcast in say the ’70s or the ’80s. It’s just that it’s surrounded by so much other junk we’ve got to weed through to get there! I probably only regularly watch 5 or 6 channels of the hundreds my cable broadcaster provides, but you know what: That’s the same number of channels I watched growing up off the antenna!
Thanks for the conversation, my friend–we’ve really spiced up your Aunt’s page in this comments section! Now, one of these day, I’ll have to sit down and expand the article at the top of the page!
Cliff
Cliff,
After checking out your web site, I should tell you that baseball was my first love, too. I was even invoted to a tryout camp by the Philadelphia Phllies when I was 17. It was probably the shortest tryout in history I was a pitcher, and as sent into pitch one inning. I got the girst gut out on dribbler to the mound, and spent the res of the inning ducking, as balls rocketed past me. Next day, I was on the bus back home.
I gor a phone call from a cousin this afternoon,. He’d been reading Michael Feinstein’s book, “The Gershwins and Me,” and came across a picture of the original manuscript of “Rhapsody in Blue.” (Actually, it was one of two “originals”; Gerswin must have made — or had someone make — a transcription of the score before sending it to the sheet-music printer. At any rate, the manuscript carried the inscription, “To Art Samuels. I hope you like it.” I instantly fantasized about somehow getting hold of the manuscript as Arthur’s nephew. I expect the thought will remain in the province of fantasy.
Best regards,
Harry