Marion Hutton
| Marion Hutton | |
|---|---|
Marion Hutton in a 1944 advertisement
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| Born |
Marion Thornburg March 10, 1919 Fort Smith, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Died | January 10, 1987 (aged 67) Kirkland, Washington, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Cancer |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Spouse(s) | Jack Philbin (1940-1949; divorced) Jack Douglas (1949-1954; divorced) Vic Schoen (1954-1987; her death) |
| Children | 3 |
Marion Hutton (March 10, 1919 – January 10, 1987) was an American singer and actress. She is best remembered for her singing with the Glenn Miller Orchestra from 1938-1942. She was the sister of actress/singer Betty Hutton.
Born as Marion Thornburg in Fort Smith, Arkansas, she was the elder sister of actress Betty Hutton. Raised in Battle Creek, Michigan, the sisters' father abandoned the family when they were both young; he later committed suicide. Their mother worked a variety of jobs to support the family until she became a successful bootlegger. Both sisters sang with the Vincent Lopez Orchestra.
Hutton was discovered by Glenn Miller and was invited to join the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1938. "I was only seventeen then [...] and so Glenn and Helen [Miller] became my legal guardians. He was like a father because I never had a father I remembered."
Hutton was not allowed to sing in the nightclubs due to the fact she was underage. Miller and his wife Helen signed papers to officially declare themselves foster parents to serve as Hutton's chaperone in the nightclubs which allowed her access in these venues. Marion Hutton considered herself more an entertainer than a singer. Hutton remained an important part of the Miller band. She remained with Miller on and off until the orchestra disbanded in 1942.
Jeanine Basinger, a film historian and professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, refers to Hutton in her chapter on Marion's younger sister, actress and singer Betty Hutton in the 2007 book The Star Machine. Basinger feels that in the early forties, Marion was more popular than her sister Betty. Marion Hutton had a small role in the film Orchestra Wives (1942; Twentieth Century Fox), in which the Glenn Miller Orchestra starred. After Miller joined the Army in 1942, she went with fellow Miller performers Tex Beneke and the Modernaires on a theater tour.
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