It was The Trial of Mary Dugan, with Vivian as Mary. So, on August 16, they opened an ancient opera house and staged a boom days revival much in the fashion of the widely publicized Central City, Colorado production of Camille. How it happened was chronicled in the New York Daily News, which, in 1932, detailed, “Vivian had played in the Little Theatre for a couple of seasons - no salary - and the citizens decided she deserved fame and fortune in New York. They just felt she had so much talent and that there was nothing for her in Albuquerque and that she deserved to go where her talent could be recognized.”

Geoffrey explains, “The local theater people there saw her talent when she began to perform and, as a group, they sent Vivian Vance to New York, which is why, on episodes of I Love Lucy, they always referred to Ethel as coming from Albuquerque - Vivian wasn’t born there, but that’s where her heart was. We like this blond lady and hate to see her leave El Paso.” This week she puts over a ‘blues’ number that is splendid. Miss Vance has demonstrated her ability to sing ballads. In this show, she throws off some of the restraint that has handicapped her acting before and throws herself into the business of making herself beautiful and human. The El Paso Evening Post buzzed, “Vivian Vance proves a pleasant surprise. Her gestures, her inflection of voice, her mannerisms - all Vivian Vance and all the business of a finished actress.”Įven before that, in 1930, she was getting rave reviews while performing in Whose Baby Are You in El Paso, Texas. Of the latter, the Albuquerque Journal enthused, “It was Vivian Vance’s night. It was then that she changed her last name to Vance and began performing at the Albuquerque Little Theatre in 1930, where her credits would include This Thing Called Love, The Cradle Song and, in 1932, See Naples and Die. Nonetheless, as a teenager, Vivian moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she fared much better. The above was not exactly a ringing endorsement.

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