Early career Rosetta (November 23, 1894 – December 4, 1959) and
Vivian Duncan (June 17, 1897 They began their stage careers in 1911 as part of the cast of
Gus Edwards' ''Kiddies' Revue''. During the next few years they perfected their act with Rosetta as a foghorn-voiced comedian and Vivian as the pretty-but-dumb blonde type. Within a few years they "matured into first-rate vaudeville troupers who wrote much of their music in dialogue." They subsequently played not only in
vaudeville, but also in night clubs and on stage in both
New York and
London.
''It's a Great Life'' In
1929 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released their early sound
musical The Broadway Melody, starring
Bessie Love and
Anita Page as the fictional Mahoney sisters. The film proved to be highly successful so MGM decided to follow it up with a similar film, this time starring the real-life Duncan Sisters in the leads. The result was ''
It's a Great Life'' (
MGM,
1929), directed by
Sam Wood and featuring three sequences filmed in
Technicolor. In the film the Duncan Sisters performed two of their most popular songs, "I'm Following You" and "Hoosier Hop."
Photoplay magazine stated in their review: Unfortunately, the film "faltered at the box office and helped to cut short the Duncans' movie career."
MGM did cast the Duncans in their all-star 1930 extravaganza
The March of Time, but that film was never completed. In 1935 the Duncans returned to the screen in the short musical
Surprise! which featured footage of them reprising their Topsy and Eva characters.
Later years In 1930 Vivian married actor
Nils Asther, who had co-starred with her and Rosetta in the film version of
Topsy and Eva. Vivian and Nils had a daughter Evelyn. Rosetta (who was lesbian) attempted a solo career for a few years, but was rejoined with Vivian in 1932 after Vivian's divorce from Asther. Vivian, who by that time had remarried to Frank Herman, subsequently continued performing as a single act on the club circuit. She died of
Alzheimer's disease in 1986. ==Unrealized movie project==