Susan Fleming

Susan Fleming
Born	Susan Fleming February 19, 1908 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	December 22, 2002 (aged 94) Rancho Mirage, California, U.S.
Other names	Susan F. Marx Susan Fleming Marx
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1931–1954
Spouse(s)	Harpo Marx (m. 1936; his death 1964)

Susan Fleming (February 19, 1908 – December 22, 2002) was an American actress known as the "Girl with the Million Dollar Legs" for a role she played in the W. C. Fields film Million Dollar Legs (1932). Her big stage break, which led to her Hollywood career, was as a "Ziegfeld Girl, performing in The Ziegfeld Follies.

Career

Fleming was from New York City and went to school in Forest Hills, Queens.^[1] After starring in the Ziegfeld Follies productions on Broadway, she started appearing in movies. One of her earliest film roles was a starring role in Range Feud as Judy Walton, the love interest of John Wayne. Fleming combined her dancing and cinematic interests in the 1932 movie Million Dollar Legs, in which she played the daughter of W. C. Fields' character. As part of a publicity stunt for the film, her legs were insured for the eponymous million dollars.^[2]

Fleming was unhappy with Hollywood, stating in a 1995 interview that she found "nothing more boring than working on a movie... I hated it!".^[2] At a dinner party held in the home of Samuel Goldwyn, she was seated next to Harpo Marx and found him fascinating.^[2] Despite his silent persona in films, she found Marx to be "a warm, fun, darling man to talk to".^[2] She pursued him relentlessly, dating for four years and proposing marriage to him on three separate occasions before he accepted.^[2] She ended her Hollywood career when she married Marx on September 28, 1936.^[2] Fleming's wedding to Marx was revealed to the public when President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt sent the couple a telegram of congratulations in November. Marx had sent a thank you letter to Roosevelt in appreciation for a signed photograph of the President, in which Marx had stated that he was "in line for congratulations, too, having been married since September" in an unspecified "little town up North".^[1]

Personal life

Fleming was happy to leave show business, serving as Marx's "valet" and raising their four adopted children. In addition to his widespread interest in playing musical instruments, including his trademark harp, Fleming helped foster her husband's interest in painting; she would make elaborate frames for his paintings, as well as creating her own works of art. The two collected many artworks, which Fleming donated widely after her husband's death. They moved to Palm Springs, California, a few years after the completion of the 1949 film Love Happy, the last movie the Marx Brothers made together under that name. In Palm Springs, Fleming became active in local community affairs, and was elected to the Palm Springs Unified School District Board of Education.^[2]

Harpo died at age 75 on September 28, 1964, their 28th wedding anniversary. Following his death, Fleming became more involved in local activities, including the local League of Women Voters. She became an advisory planning commissioner for Rancho Mirage, California, and headed an organization dedicated to preserving development on the fragile desert hillsides. She served a total of 18 years on the district board of education and ran and lost in a campaign for the California State Assembly.^[2] Honoring her contributions, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her in 2002.^[3]

In a 1981 decision later overruled by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a case brought by Fleming, federal judge William C. Conner ruled that the producers of A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine had improperly used the Marx Brothers characters in their Broadway theatre production and that the publicity rights of the comedians, even after their deaths, overrode the First Amendment issues raised by the show's creators.^[4] In April 1980, Conner refused to issue a preliminary injunction and allowed producer Alexander H. Cohen to open as planned.^[5]

Fleming's autobiography, Do Tell, about her life with Harpo Marx, was never published.^[2]

Death

Fleming outlived Marx by almost forty years during which she was an artist and activist in the Palm Springs area. She died at age 94 on December 22, 2002, of a heart attack at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage. She was survived by a daughter, three sons, five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.^[2]

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1931	Lover Come Back	Susan
	Arizona	Dot	Uncredited Alternative title: Men Are Like That
	A Dangerous Affair	Florence
	Range Feud	Judy Walton
1932	Ladies of the Jury	Suzanne	Uncredited
	Careless Lady	Guest of Captain Girard	Uncredited
	Million Dollar Legs	Angela Barret
	Heritage of the Desert	Dance Hall Girl	Uncredited Alternative title: When the West Was Young
1933	Olsen's Big Moment	Virginia West	Alternative title: Olsen's Night Out
	He Learned About Women	Joan Allen
	I Love That Man	Miss Jones, Stenographer
	My Weakness	Jacqueline Wood
	Broadway Through a Keyhole	Chorine	Uncredited
1934	Now I'll Tell	Bit role	Uncredited Alternative titles: When New York Sleeps When New York Sleeps
	She Learned About Sailors		Uncredited
	Charlie Chan's Courage	Chorus Girl
	Call It Luck	Alice Blue
	Elinor Norton	Publisher's Staff	Uncredited
1935	George White's 1935 Scandals	Chorine	Uncredited
	Break of Hearts	Elise
	Navy Wife	Jenny	Alternative title: Beauty's Daughter
1936	The Great Ziegfeld	Ziegfeld Girl	Uncredited
	Star for a Night	Mildred La Rue
	Gold Diggers of 1937	Lucille Bailey (Hobart's secretary)
1937	God's Country and the Woman	Grace Moran, Steve's Secretary
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1954	Inner Sanctum	Liz	1 episode

References

1. via Associated Press. "HARPO MARX WEDS; Marriage to Susan Fleming Is Revealed In Wire to Roosevelt", The New York Times, November 5, 1936. Accessed July 20, 2009.
2. Oliver, Myrna. "Obituaries; Susan F. Marx, 94; Widow of Comedian Harpo Marx", Los Angeles Times, December 27, 2002. Accessed July 29, 2009.
3. Palm Springs Walk of Stars by date dedicated
4. Martin, Douglas. "William Conner, Judge Expert in Patent Law, Dies at 89", The New York Times, July 19, 2009. Accessed July 20, 2009.
5. Cummings, Judith; Krebs, Albin. "Notes on People: The Marx Musical", The New York Times, April 30, 1980. Accessed July 20, 2009.

External links

• Susan Fleming at the Internet Movie Database
• Susan Fleming at Find a Grave