Mary Martin

Lore & Background

Martin was born in Weatherford, Texas. Her autobiography described her childhood as secure and happy. She had close relationships with both of her parents as well as her siblings. Her father, Preston Martin, was a lawyer, and her mother, Juanita Presley, was a violin teacher. Although the doctors told Juanita that she would risk her life if she attempted to have another baby, she was determined to have a boy. Instead, she had Mary, who became a tomboy. Martin's family had a barn and orchard that kept her entertained. She played with her elder sister Geraldine (whom she called 'Sister'), climbing trees and riding ponies. Martin adored her father. She began singing every Saturday night at a bandstand that was near the courtroom where her father worked. She sang in a trio with her sister and Marion Swofford, all three in bellhop costumes. She remembered having a photographic memory as a child. School tests were not a problem, and learning songs was easy. She had her first experience of singing solo at a fire hall, where she felt the crowd's appreciation. Martin's craft was developed by seeing movies and becoming a mimic. She would win prizes for looking, acting and dancing like Ruby Keeler and singing exactly like Bing Crosby.

During high school, Martin dated Benjamin Hagman before she left to attend finishing school at Ward–Belmont in Nashville, Tennessee. She was legally married on November 3, 1930, at Grace Episcopal Church (Hopkinsville, Kentucky). 10 months later, pregnant with her first child (Larry Hagman) she was forced to leave Ward–Belmont. She opened a dance studio. Wanting to learn more moves, Martin went to California to attend the dance school at the Franchon and Marco School of the Theatre and then opened her own dance studio in Mineral Wells, Texas. One day at work, she accidentally walked into the wrong room, where auditions were being held. She sang and got the job. Returning to California, Martin was hired to sing 'How Red the Rose' at the Fox Theater in San Francisco followed by a gig at the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles. Soon after, Martin learned that her studio in Texas had been burned down by a man who thought dancing was a sin. Her father gave her advice, saying she was too young to be married. Martin left everything behind including her young son, Larry, and stayed in Los Angeles while her father handled her divorce from Benjamin Hagman for her. In Los Angeles, Martin plunged herself into auditions—so many that she became known as 'Audition Mary'. Among Martin's first auditions, she sang 'Indian Love Call'. After she finished the song, 'a tall, craggly man who looked like a mountain' told Martin that he thought she had something special. It was Oscar Hammerstein II. This marked the start of her career.

Martin began her radio career in 1939 as the vocalist on a short-lived revival of The Tuesday Night Party on CBS. In 1940, she was a singer on NBC's Good News of 1940, which was renamed Maxwell House Coffee Time during that year. In 1942, she joined the cast of Kraft Music Hall on NBC, replacing Connee Boswell. She was also one of the stars of Stage Door Canteen on CBS, 1942–1945. Martin was cast in Cole Porter's Leave It to Me!, making her Broadway debut in November 1938 in that production. She became popular on Broadway and received attention in the national media singing the spoof striptease song 'My Heart Belongs to Daddy'. With that one song in the second act, she became a star 'overnight'. Martin reprised the song in Night and Day, a Hollywood film about Cole Porter, in which she played herself auditioning for Porter (Cary Grant). 'My Heart Belongs to Daddy' catapulted her career and became very special to Martin—she even sang it to her ailing father in his hospital bed while he was in a coma. Martin did not learn immediately that her father had died. Headlines read 'Daddy Girl Sings About Daddy as Daddy Dies'. Because of the show's demanding schedule, Martin was unable to attend her father's funeral. In 1943 she starred in the new Kurt Weill musical One Touch of Venus and then Lute Song in 1946. As nurse Nellie Forbush, Martin opened on Broadway in South Pacific on April 7, 1949. Her performance was called 'memorable ... funny and poignant in turns', and she earned a Tony Award. She opened in the West End production on November 1, 1951. Her next major success was in the role of Peter in the Broadway production of Peter Pan in October 1954 with Martin winning the Tony Award. Martin opened on Broadway in The Sound of Music as Maria on November 16, 1959, and stayed in the show until October 1961. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. In 1966, she appeared on Broadway in the two-person musical I Do! I Do! with Robert Preston and was nominated for the Tony Award (Leading Actress in a Musical). A national tour with Preston began in March 1968 but was canceled early due to Martin's illness. Although she appeared in nine films between 1938 and 1943, she was generally passed over for the filmed version of the musical plays. She herself once explained that she did not enjoy making films because she did not have the connection with an audience that she had in live performances. The closest that she ever came to preserving her stage performances was her television appearances as Peter Pan. The Broadway production from 1954 was subsequently performed on NBC television in RCA's compatible color in 1955, 1956, and 1960.

Reader's Guide

Mary Martin's significance lies in her role as a defining performer of mid-20th-century American musical theater, particularly as a muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein. She originated three of the most iconic roles in Broadway history: Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, Peter in Peter Pan, and Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Her career, spanning radio, stage, and television, earned her four Tony Awards and an Emmy Award, and she was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989. Martin's legacy is marked by her ability to create beloved characters that have endured in popular culture, and her performances helped establish the standard for the modern musical. Her television broadcasts of Peter Pan preserved her stage work for a wider audience. She also influenced the industry through her personal story of perseverance, from a tomboy childhood in Texas to Broadway stardom, and her son, actor Larry Hagman, continued her show business legacy.

Did You Know?

• Martin was born in Weatherford, Texas, and her mother was a violin teacher.
• She was legally married on November 3, 1930, at Grace Episcopal Church in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
• Her first professional audition and job was on a national radio network.
• She won four Tony Awards and an Emmy Award over her career.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Stop the habit of wishful thinking and start the habit of thoughtful wishes." — Mary Martin "Even as a baby I quickly learned to crawl out of my crib. … They'd put up barriers but I learned how to go over them." — Mary Martin "Peter Pan is perhaps the most important thing, to me, that I have ever done in theater." — Mary Martin "I can't tell you the joy I felt in flying in that show … I loved it so. The freedom of spirit that was Peter Pan was suddenly there for me. I discovered I was happier in the air than on the ground." — Mary Martin