Marion Talley

Biography

Her parents moved to Kansas City when she was a young girl. It was there that her vocal talents were first discovered and cultivated. A 1922 concert helped to raise the money she needed to receive professional training - including a year of study in Italy. She debuted at the New York Metropolitan Opera 17 February 1926, her performance broadcast over Kansas City radio. At the time of her debut, she was 19 and the youngest prima donna in Met history. She retired after only four seasons, giving the explanation that she wanted to go live on her Kansas farm. This explanation was not entirely believed by some, and rumors of other reasons circulated - including the theory that she lacked the ambition and drive needed for long term success. Another rumor was that the Met was going to let her go at the end of her contract. Whatever the true reason for her early retirement, she did not move to the Kansas farm (which she did own, but never lived on), but to Hollywood, California. There, she made her only movie, Follow Your Heart. She was contracted to make a film for MGM, but it never came to fruition. After her divorce from Eckstein in 1935 and a very bitter and public custody battle over their daughter Susan, she withdrew from almost all performing, and spent the rest of her life concentrating on her family. Her death occurred somewhat suddenly, during surgery to treat a problem with blood clots in her legs.