- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"1.8 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"2 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- unitid
-
{"value"=>"JPB 06-76", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"20395", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1871-1927", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1871/1927"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1871
- date_inclusive_end
-
1927
- keydate
-
1871
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Audrey Marsh papers"}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</span> <span class=\"subarea\">Music Division.</span> <div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">New York, New York</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The American singer Audrey Marsh had a successful career singing in performance and on commercial radio. Her papers contain correspondence, clippings, concert programs, journals, photographs and personal papers."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Audrey Marsh Papers, JPB 06-76. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Marsh, Audrey", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Audrey Marsh was born in New York City on March 18, 1911 (her birth name is Audrey Lois Zellman). Her father, Joseph B. Zellman had come to America from Russia in the 1880s. A bass-baritone, Joseph sang at the Czar’s last court and left Russia because of political (Anarchist) and religious (Jewish) affiliations. He also played violin and was able to travel to the United States with 2nd class accommodations after being awarded a scholarship from a music conservatory. After school, he settled in New York City and had a busy career as a singer and recitalist at churches, temples and concert halls such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Carnegie Hall. He later opened his own music school, Zellman Conservatory of Music, on Lenox Avenue and 126th Street.</p> <p>Audrey’s mother, Rose Kornicker, was a concert pianist who became Joseph Zellman’s accompanist. Born in Philadelphia in a German Jewish family, Rose concertized and taught piano at an early age. She continued to teach throughout Audrey’s childhood. Joseph Zellman and Rose Kornicker recorded an extensive repertoire of voice and piano duets on the early Thomas Edison cylinders.</p> <p>Surrounded by music throughout her childhood, Audrey wanted to be an actress and attended the John Murray Anderson School of Drama for 6 months. Soon after graduating she was hired for the cast of <span class=\"title\">Abie’s Irish Rose</span>. In 1927, at the age of 16, she went on an American tour of the play for 9 months. Shortly after that, she was taken to CBS radio to audition as a singer. Someone had heard her sing at a cast party and was deeply impressed with her talent. She was brought to CBS by a song plugger who had heard her sing one song after she had accompanied a friend to a coaching session. The story goes that he was very impatient with the friend but after hearing her sing, he convinced her to let him bring her to audition at CBS. She was immediately given a contract and premiered on February 2, 1928 at the Brooklyn Paramount in an orchestral variety program. The cast included the Dorsey Brothers, Mark Warno and Freddie Rich, conductor.</p> <p>After that performance, she became part of the regular cast of the <span class=\"title\">Wickwire Spencer Steele Show</span>, singing ballads and popular songs of the period (the cast of the show included Veronica Wiggins-contralto, Freddie Viertel-tenor, and Bernie Ocko-violinist). During the late 1920’s and 1930’s she became very well known as a radio singer and personality appearing on shows such as the <span class=\"title\">US Steel Show</span>, the <span class=\"title\">Prudential Hour</span>, <span class=\"title\">Maxwell House Coffee Hour</span>, <span class=\"title\">Jack and Jill</span> and the <span class=\"title\">Harvester Cigar Show</span> in which she played Esther to Jack Arthur’s Harvester. She worked for CBS, NBC, WOR and various advertising agencies, and performed with Rudy Vallee, Fred Allen, Arthur Godfrey, Shirley Booth and many more stars of that time.</p> <p>In the 1940s and 1950s she also became a popular jingle singer. She sang commercials for DUZ Soap (she performed this commercial live every day on the soap opera <span class=\"title\">The Road of Life</span>. Bud Collier was the announcer); Muriel Cigars, Blue Bonnet Margarine, Royal Pudding, Schaeffer Beer, Robert Hall Clothes and Chevrolet. She appeared as a soloist on <span class=\"title\">The Ford Show</span> with the tenor James Melton. In the 1950s she began singing in groups such as The Mitch Miller Singers, The Ray Charles Singers and in Ray Bloch’s group. She also sang on the popular Sunday night show hosted by Tallulah Bankhead, <span class=\"title\">The Big Show</span>, appearing with stars such as Jimmy Durante, Ezio Pinza, Gary Cooper, Mary Martin, Meredith Willson, Gordon Mac Rae, Frank Sinatra, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Laurence Melchior and others.</p> <p>During that period she was lead soloist on the RCA Victor show tune albums: <span class=\"title\">Annie Get Your Gun</span>, <span class=\"title\">Finian’s Rainbow</span>, <span class=\"title\">Guys and Dolls</span>, <span class=\"title\">HMS Pinafore</span>, and <span class=\"title\">The Mikado</span>. She was also in the cast of the television version of <span class=\"title\">Peter Pan</span> starring Mary Martin and Cyril Richard, and worked with Billy Taylor, Cy Oliver and Regis Philbin on the <span class=\"title\">Model Tobacco Show</span>.</p> <p>A versatile singer and performer, Audrey Marsh also performed classical music recitals at Carl Fisher Hall and Steinway Hall in New York. She studied with Florence Ostrander and William Horne.</p> <p>In her later years she was very active in the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) becoming an officer (Recording Secretary) and attending 30 conventions as a delegate. She also worked for the Bedside Network in VA hospitals in New York City and in Loma Linda, California.</p> <p>In 1935, Audrey married Theodore Glenn Monk, a businessman who co-owned Square Lumber & Supply Company (Lumberville) at Westchester Square, Bronx, NY with two of his brothers. They had two children: Meredith (born 1942) and Tracy (born 1948). In 1949, the family moved from Forest Hills, New York to Stamford, Connecticut. In 1986, they moved to Rancho Mirage, California where Tedd died in 1998.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Audrey Marsh Paper consist of personal correspondence, a small collection of newspaper clippings and concert programs, a personal journal from 1991, personal papers for Marsh and her husband, Theodore Monk, and photographs of Marsh, Monk and their daughter Meredith Monk. Correspondence forms the bulk of the collection and consists mostly of fan letters to Marsh in response to her performances on radio. There are also two folders of letters to Marsh from Theodore Monk. The clippings include an article about a Marsh performance in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1934 and an undated article about Marsh’s volunteer activities at a veteran’s hospital in Loma Linda, California, ca. 1980s. Among the concert programs are items from the 1920s featuring Marsh in performance at Temple Israel of Washington Heights, and a 1955 dance program featuring Meredith Monk. The personal papers include contracts and professional membership certificates, as well as a published score autographed for Meredith Monk. The photographs include portraits of Marsh and Meredith Monk, as well as undated photos of Marsh in a recording studio and snapshots of Theodore Monk’s lumber supply business.</p>"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>By format.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Audrey Marsh Papers were donated to the Music Division in 2006 by Meredith Monk.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Chief, Music Division.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>See also the Meredith Monk Archive, LPA Mss 2006-001.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Matthew Snyder; Machine-readable finding aid created by Matthew Snyder.</p>"}
- extent_statement
-
1.8 linear feet (2 boxes)
- date_start
-
1871
- date_end
-
1927