Born in Cherryvale, Kansas, Vivian
Vance began appearing in community
theater productions when her family
relocated to Albuquerque, NM. Her
friends and neighbors financed
Vance's move to New York, where
she planned to study with Eva
LeGalliene. When these plans fell
through, she made the auditions
rounds, landing a job in the
long-running Broadway production
Music in the Air.
She supplemented her income with
nightclub performances, then received
her big break when, with only a few
hours' notice, she stepped into the
female lead of the 1937 Ed Wynn
musical Hooray for What? Subsequent
Broadway credits included Anything
Goes, Red, Hot and Blue, and Let's
Face It, each one a hit.
In 1951, Jose Ferrer cast Vance in the
La Jolla Playhouse production of
Voice of the Turtle. It was on the
strength of her performance of this
play that Vance was offered the role
of Ethel Mertz on the Lucille Ball/Desi
Arnaz TV sitcom I Love Lucy. She
played Ethel from 1951 through 1960,
winning an Emmy in the process --
which hopefully compensated for the
fact that, throughout the I Love Lucy
run, she was contractually obligated to
outweigh star Lucille Ball by 20
pounds.
In 1962, Vance signed on for another
lengthy co-starring stint with Ball on
TV's The Lucy Show. Throughout her
five decades in show business, Vance
appeared in only three films: The
Secret Fury (1950), The Blue Veil
(1951), and The Great Race (1965).
Married twice, Vivian Vance's first
husband was actor Philip Ober.
Her room features a queen bed,
Simmons mattress, armoire, 27" TV,
VCR and DVD player, refrigerator,
microwave, coffee, green tea, hot
chocolate, microwave, bottled water,
Andes chocolates, popcorn, private
bathroom with shower, and all the
other standard features of our Suites.
This room rents for $59 per night with
a 10% discount for AAA and AARP
members. If you stay for 6 nights, the
7th night is free. Extended stays are
welcome.
Chanute Kansas Hotel Tioga Suites Vivian Vance Room
