Anthony Marlow (Who’s Who at MGM, 1937) 🇺🇸

Former longshoreman on the Philadelphia waterfront, welterweight pugilist and newsboy, Anthony Marlow today is under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a singing actor.

He is a protégé of Dimitri Tiomkin, distinguished composer, husband of Albertina Rasch, the dancer. Marlow was singing under the shower in a Quaker City gymnasium when Tiomkin heard him. His voice, a mellow lyric tenor, reached D above high C in the aria from Africaine by Meyerbeer.

Sings for Mayer

Tiomkin promptly approached the youth with a proposition to go to Hollywood. The composer offered to pay all expenses. Marlow was penniless. He grinned cheerfully as he rubbed down and accepted the idea. A few days later, with Tiomkin himself as accompanist, the ex-fighter sang for Louis B. Mayer in his office at the studio.

Again he sang the aria from Africaine, which he calls his luck song; then the aria from Tosca and next the song, Brother Love, by Flederman. He concluded with an ancient Hebrew chant. Mayer, preparing for a business trip to Europe, called for a contract blank which Marlow signed.

The newcomer to Hollywood’s musical group was born Albert Mahler, in Philadelphia, on February 5, the son of Max Mahler, a former Viennese singer. His mother, Catherine, was a native of Prague.

The youth attended grade school, the South Philadelphia High School and later. Temple University, where he took the pre-medical course. He won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute, graduating with a degree in music.

Sold Newspapers

The education came after a youth of considerable trial. The Mahler fortunes vanished early and the son sold newspapers at the age of eight. He also was a golf caddy. Later he became a stevedore. His prowess with a left hook brought him to the attention of sports promoters and he became a “preliminary” fighter at $12.50 a battle.

In fifteen professional ring engagements he was never knocked out. He did shatter the bones of his right hand, however, and was forced to hang up his gloves.

After four years of study, Marlow joined the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company of Leopold Stokowski. He sang for Rojinski, Fritz Reiner and then for Tiomkin.

Marlow is a serious young man, but beneath the surface there is the laughing gypsy personality of his ancestry. He is dark and slender, five feet, nine inches in height and weighs 154 pounds. He swims well, is a fast badminton player and keeps in excellent condition by steady training.

He was married on November 3, 1933, to Lily Matison, a professional violinist.

By inclination and habit, Marlow maintains his training schedule. He is one of the crack boxers in the M-G-M gymnasium, where Donald Loomis is physical instructor. In addition, Marlow swims daily at Santa Monica, plays tennis, handball and rides.

Heavy Singers Through

It is his firm conviction that the days of over-weight singers are numbered, even in the world of opera and motion pictures.

Under constant observation by studio executives, Marlow is being carefully prepared for his screen debut. Meanwhile, he conducts an intensive study of the new technique. He admits to a timidity before the camera that he never felt in front of an audience, but believes it will wear off.

“After all,” he laughed, “a microphone never hits below the belt.”

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Collection: Who’s Who at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1937)