Supporting Roles
Ladies - M thru Z

Born in Georgetown, Ga., Miss Martin attended high school in Gloversville, N.Y., later attending Howard University and studying voice with Todd Duncan. Her professional debut was at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn where she remained for three years. From there she went to Los Angeles, singing at the Trocadero.

Her first Brodway show was "Finian's Rainbow," as "the necessity girl," and she understudied and replaced Pearl Bailey in "Arms and the Girl." At City Center she sang in "Kiss Me, Kate," and sang the "Drum Song" in Carmen Jones. Her summer experience includes Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City, Valley Forge, Oakdale, Warwick, Danbury, Syracuse and Rochester, in such musicals as "Showboat," "By the Beautiful Sea," "Kiss Me, Kate," and "South Pacific." Niteries such as the Village Vanguard, Cafe Society, London's Jack of Clubs, and the Town & Country have featured her talents, and she has appeared on Tallulah Bankhead's variety hour on television. She is a licensed practical nurse studying to be a R.N.

Ms Reading was born in Chester, Pennsylvania. Her performing career started at the age of 3, when she was talent-spotted by Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.

She appeared in the all-black revue The Jazz Train, in Paris in the spring of 1955 and at the Piccadilly Theatre in London. In this show she had notable success playing the great blues singer Bessie Smith. Adept at a whole range of musical styles, from gospel to blues to musical comedy, in addition to her talent, Reading also had a striking appearance and a renowned sense of humour.

Her straight-acting performance as a nurse in William Faulkner's play Requiem for a Nun in 1957 earned her a nomination for a Tony Award when it transferred to Broadway. She also appeared in the 1958 musical Valmouth, adapted from a Ronald Firbank novel of the same name. The next years saw Reading spending time abroad in cabaret, as well as having two marriages.

In 1979 she appeared at the Roundhouse in London in Only In America, a tribute show to the musical composers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. In the 1980s she presented many one-woman shows, usually debuting at the Kings Head Theatre Club in Islington, London.

Reading appeared but did not sing in a 1981 music video by UK soul/funk band Linx for their album's title track "Intuition".

In 1982, Reading she appeared in the Sandy Wilson musical Valmouth at the Chichester Festival Theatre playing Mrs Yajñavalkya. It was in 1982 that Reading married Thomas R.V. Blake with a ceremony held in Chichester.

In the 1985 solo show Every Inch a Lady, Reading donned a pink satin tutu and danced to a version of The Sugar Plum Fairy, which had been choreographed by the dancer Wayne Sleep.

Reading appeared in the 1986 film version of Little Shop of Horrors, as the "Downtown" older woman, who sings the beginning words to the song "Skid Row (Downtown)". In the summer of 1986 she recorded a disco album with producer Ian Levine, which she appeared on TV-AM's Good Morning Britain to promote.

Reading died at the age of 57 in London, following a stroke, although her age was initially misreported as 54.

Source: wikipedia.org/

Eileen Schauler comes from Millburn, NJ and received her musical education at the Julliard School of Music. She made her professional debut with the Chautaugua Opera Association during the summer of 1947. The following year she was at the Papermill Playhouse for six months. She also was in the Music Circus Company in 1949. She has given solo concerts at Carnegie Hall and Times Hall in New York.

Ms. Schauler made her New York City Opera debut in the title role of the American premiere of Shostakovich's "Katerina Ismailova" and sang 24 leading roles with the New York City Opera for 15 years. She made her Broadway debut in the title role of "My Darlin' Aida." Other credits include "Der Rosenkavalier" with the Metropolitan Opera. More than 1700 performances of operetta and musical theatre, recitals, radio, and television (PBS's Live From Lincoln Center, Anna Maurrant in Kurt Weill's "Street Scene"). Member: AEA, AFTRA, AGMA (Vice President for 10 years). Ms. Schauler teaches and coaches voice at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy.

Beti Seay's Broadway credits include: "Sophie" (1963), "Carnival!" (1961), "Camelot" (1960), "Beg, Borrow or Steal" (1960).

Miss Stinnette hails from Wichita, Kansas, attended Northwestern University, and made her professional debut as Queen Gertrude in "Hamlet," in Chicago. New Yorkers first saw her as Miss Shotgrave, the secretary in "Solid Gold Cadiliac" at the Belasco theatre, and other Broadway credits include the "Ziegfleld Follies," "New Girl in Town," "Out of This World," and "Leave It To Jane." She has done many roles in musical stock in Chicago, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and has played both in classics and straight dramatic shows.

She toured with Walter Slezak in "The Little Hut," and also travelled in "Oklahoma!." She has made two motion pictures, "Murder, Inc.," and "The Young Doctors," in which she played a nurse. Televiewers have seen her on Phil Slivers Show, Highway Patrol, Robert Montgomery, Love of Life, and Martin Kane, and she has appeared frequently in commercials and on daytime serials.

Miss Travolta attended the Drama School at Carnegie Tech, and made her professional debut in a children's show called "Absolutely Time" at the Provincetown Playhouse. New Yorkers have also seen her in a revue, "Chicken in the Bathtub" at the Encore, and she was in "The Littlest Revue" in both Dallas and Chicago. She played Miss Cratchett in the national tour of "Gypsy" with Ethel Merman, and later was in a stock package of that show with Vivian Blaine. Other credits are "Bye Bye Birdie" with Andy Williams, "The Pajama Game" with Robert Horton, and she has played in "Irma La Douce" in stock. As a solo night club performer, she graced Number One Fifth Avenue in New York and the Caucus Club in Detroit.

One of her younger brothers is the TV and film actor, John Travolta.

Kirsten Valbor was soloist with the Ballet Theatre and the Markova-Dolin Ballet Company. On Broadway she was the featured dancer in "Oklahoma!," "One Touch of Venus" 1943-45, "Brigadoon" 1947-48, "Miss Liberty" 1949-50, "Call Me Madam" 1950-52, "One Night In Venice", "Guys and Dolls", and "Finian's Rainbow" 1955.

Ruth Patricia White (April 24, 1914 - December 3, 1969) was an American actress who worked in theatre, film, and television. She was an Emmy Award and Obie Award winner and also a Tony Award nominee.

A lifelong resident of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, she persued her acting career in nearby New York City, she taught acting and drama at Seton Hall University. During this period, she also studied acting with Maria Ouspenskaya. White began her acting career in 1940 as an apprentice at the Cape May Playhouse. Late in World War II, she spent six months in Alaska and the Aleutians touring with a USO troupe. For five years, beginning in 1948, she was the leading resident actress at Bucks County Playhouse.

White's Broadway debut came in "The Ivy Green" (1949). White's career was delayed in the late 1950s while she nursed her ailing mother. During her mother's illness White gained weight and looked older than her age. However, she managed to recover and appeared in off-Broadway plays of Samuel Beckett ("Happy Days") and Edward Albee ("Malcolm" and "Box"). White also earned a Tony Award nomination in 1968 for her role in Harold Pinter's "The Birthday Party."

By the end of the 1960s, she had become one of New York's most highly praised and in demand character actresses, and appeared in Midnight Cowboy, Hang 'Em High and No Way To Treat A Lady. White's final film role was in The Pursuit of Happiness, released 14 months after her death. In 1962, White won an Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress for her work in the play "Happy Days." In 1964, she won an Emmy Award for her role in the Hallmark Hall of Fame TV Movie "Little Moon of Alban."

White, who never married, died of cancer on December 3, 1969.

Source: wikipedia.org/