Vivienne Baber

Vivienne Baber (born 1911, sometimes credited as Vivian or Vivianne) was an actress in the United States. She had a starring role in the 1932 film The Black King.

Vivienne Baber
Born1911 (1911)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1929–1933, 1946
Spouse
Peter Douglas Johnson
​
​
(m. 1937, divorced)​
Relatives

Early life
1925 NY census, Baber family
1930 U.S. census, Vivian Baber

Baber was born in 1911 in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Henry and Ethel. For the 1925 New York state census, her family's race is listed as Creole. Her father was a bank clerk and she had a younger sister named Muriel.[lower-alpha 1] By 1930 she had changed the spelling of her name to "Vivian".[lower-alpha 2] She began acting on stage productions in 1929, at age 18; her first role was the main character in the play, Harlem.[1] Before that, she had sung in a cabaret chorus.[2] In a 1932 interview, Baber said she had "Indian and English blood in [her] veins", and described herself as "three-quarters white and one-quarter colored". She also said she had danced at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and still lived in the borough.[3]

Career

Baber played the starring role in a 1929 production of Make Me Know It at Wallack's Theatre in New York City, following a three-day preview in New Rochelle.[4][5] She played a part in You Know Me that same year at Wallack's Theatre.[6] A reviewer praised Baber's performance as "surpass[ing] the rest of the cast" in 1930's Sweet Chariot,[7] and another said she was good at her part and the play entertaining, though it was short of being "important".[8] She was among the supporting cast of Confidence with Frank H. Wilson later that year.[9] Baber was a principal actor in a 1932–33 production of the musical comedy Shuffle Along by Flournoy Miller.[10]

After disliking the roles she was typecast in, she quit acting for seven years. During this time, she worked for the Afro-American Newspapers and organized a children's theater organization in Washington, D.C. She returned to acting around 1946 to play the character Wini Bennett in the play, On Whitman Avenue in New York City.[1]

She was the only woman cast in one show.[11]

Theater
  • Harlem (1929)[12] as Cordelia Williams[2]
  • Make Me Know It (1929) as Mona Bannon[13]
  • Ginger Snaps (1929)[14]
  • Sweet Chariot (1930) as Delia[15][16]
  • Confidence (1930)[9]
  • Savage Rhythm (1932)[12][17] as Star[18]
  • Shuffle Along of 1933 as Alice Walker;[19][20] a revival of Shuffle Along
  • On Whitman Avenue (1946) as Wini Bennett[21]

Filmography

Personal life

Baber married Peter Douglas Johnson (1906–1958) in Brooklyn on February 28, 1937.[22] They divorced before May 1946.[1]

References
  1. Smith, Milt (May 27, 1946). "Vivienne Baber of Brooklyn Glad She's Not Playing Hussy". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 13. Archived from the original on November 14, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  2. "'Harlem' Cast Is Varied". Detroit Free Press. April 14, 1929. p. 68. Archived from the original on December 4, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. Musset, Nina (January 10, 1932). "'I Haven't Got a Cigarette, So I Can't Talk,' Says Vivian". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. New York. p. 61. Archived from the original on December 4, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "New Colored Play "Coincidental"". Daily News. November 3, 1929. p. 77. Archived from the original on November 15, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "New Play Will Be Given at New Rochelle Theatre". The Daily Times. Mamaroneck, New York. October 5, 1929. p. 6. Archived from the original on December 4, 2021. Retrieved February 27, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Monday Night On Broadway". The Standard Union. November 2, 1929. p. 5. Archived from the original on November 15, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  7. Feinstein, Isidor (October 7, 1930). "Colored Swindler Turns Messiah in 'Sweet Chariot'". Courier-Post. Camden, New Jersey. p. 18. Archived from the original on December 4, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Clark, William E. (November 1, 1930). "'Sweet Chariot' Misses Being an Important Play". The New York Age. p. 6. Archived from the original on December 4, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "At the Alhambra Theatre". The New York Age. December 6, 1930. p. 6. Archived from the original on December 4, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. Chapman, John (December 27, 1932). "Hot Feet, Hot Horns In New 'Shuffle Along'". Daily News. p. 35. Archived from the original on November 15, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Jefferson, Miles M. (1947). "The Negro on Broadway, 1946–1947". Phylon. 8 (2): 146–159. doi:10.2307/271722. JSTOR 271722. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14 – via JSTOR.
  12. "Mantan is Comedian". The Ithaca Journal. New York. December 10, 1932. p. 6. Archived from the original on November 14, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Vivienne Baber". Playbill. Archived from the original on November 14, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  14. Mulhern, Donald (January 2, 1930). "'Ginger Snaps,' All-Colored Revue, at Belmont". The Standard Union. p. 29. Archived from the original on December 4, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Sweet Chariot". Internet Broadway Database. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  16. "Vivian Baber". Playbill. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  17. "The Stars: Where They Are". The Northwest Enterprise. Seattle. January 7, 1932. p. 3. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2021 – via Chronicling America.
  18. "Savage Rhythm: Opening Night Cast". Internet Broadway Database. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  19. Peterson, Bernard L. (November 14, 1993). A Century of Musicals in Black and White: An Encyclopedia of Musical Stage Works By, About, Or Involving African Americans. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313266577 – via Google Books.
  20. Dietz, Dan (March 29, 2018). The Complete Book of 1930s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781538102770. Archived from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022 – via Google Books.
  21. McGrath, Patrick J. (August 23, 2006). John Garfield: The Illustrated Career in Films and on Stage. McFarland. ISBN 9780786428489. Archived from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022 – via Google Books.
  22. "Deaths". Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. April 1960. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2021.

Notes
  1. 1925 New York state census, Vivienne Baber family
  2. 1930 United States census, Vivienne Baber
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