Vivian Roberta Jones was born in Cherryvale, Kansas on July 26, 1909 to a family which included five daughters and one son. Her family soon moved to Independence, Kansas, where she studied drama under the guidance of Anna Ingleman and William Inge. Her father again relocated the family to Albuquerque, New Mexico where Viv’s talents continued to emerge at the Albuquerque Little Theatre. The directors were so impressed with her talent that they organized a production of The Trial of Mary Dugan, starring Viv, the proceeds of which sent her to New York City to study dramatics under Eva LeGalliene.

Because enrollment was already greater than it was supposed to be when she arrived in 1932, Vivian started attending auditions. She once remembered, "New York was a lot tougher to crack than Albuquerque. ... I found out I wasn’t as good as my friends thought I was, but, of course, I couldn’t go back." Although she had letters of recommendation from folks back in Albuquerque, the twenty-year-old wasn’t getting work. However, she learned of an audition for Music in the Air by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. She was hired and worked for two years on the show. Next, she landed

a small role in Anything Goes in 1934 while understudying Ethel Merman, which was followed by Red, Hot, and Blue! in 1936. In 1937, she got her break. Kay Thompson left the cast of Hooray for What! with Ed Wynn before opening night — Vivian stepped in at the last minute and got her name on the marquee. She did her first dramatic role the following summer in Kiss the Boys Goodbye.

Viv met Phil Ober in 1941 who she would marry that year. She then went back to Broadway for Let’s Face It starring opposite Danny Kaye, Eve Arden, and Nanette Fabray. She and her troupe were the first legitimate entertainment to be sent to a combat Theater of War during WWII. Back from Europe, she took over a leading role in Voice of the Turtle. During a road company production of it in Chicago in 1945, Vance suffered a nervous breakdown.

"One day I was up and around, and the next I was lying in bed in my motel room, my hands shaking helplessly, in a state of violent nausea, weeping hysterically of causes I didn’t know. ... A few nights before, on stage, a piece of business called for me to pick up an ashtray. I began to do it and found I couldn’t move. The brain ordered, but the arm declined. It was one of the most sickening moments I have ever gone through."

After two more seizures, Phil Ober came to her side and accompanied her back to San Fransisco so she could play six more weeks of Voice of the Turtle before fleeing to New York. For two years she was incapable of doing anything until she met a psychiatrist who changed her life. After four months in analysis, she returned to a ranch just outside Albuquerque in 1949. An old friend, Mel Ferrer, invited the Obers to appear in a new film her was to direct, The Secret Fury. Another friendship, this one with Norman Krasna, put her in another film, The Blue Veil. Once back in New Mexico, Ferrer offered her her role back in Voice of the Turtle at the La Jolla Playhouse. That’s when Jess Oppenheimer, Marc Daniels, and Desi Arnaz went out to see her perform there one evening. After the first act, Desi announced to his comrades that "I think we found our Ethel Mertz." They agreed and Marc, who had known Viv and was responsible for getting Jess and Desi out to see her, went backstage during intermission. "I ... told Viv they liked her and wanted her to try out for the show. Then she said to me, ‘What do I

t was one of the most sickening moments I have ever gone through."

After two more seizures, Phil Ober came to her side and accompanied her back to San Fransisco so she could play six more weeks of Voice of the Turtle before fleeing to New York. For two years she was incapable of doing anything until she met a psychiatrist who changed her life. After four months in analysis, she returned to a ranch just outside Albuquerque in 1949. An old friend, Mel Ferrer, invited the Obers to appear in a new film her was to direct, The Secret Fury. Another friendship, this one with Norman Krasna, put her in another film, The Blue Veil. Once back in New Mexico, Ferrer offered her her role back in Voice of the Turtle at the La Jolla Playhouse. That’s when Jess Oppenheimer, Marc Daniels, and Desi Arnaz went out to see her perform there one evening. After the first act, Desi announced to his comrades that "I think we found our Ethel Mertz." They agreed and Marc, who had known Viv and was responsible for getting Jess and Desi out to see her, went backstage during intermission. "I ... told Viv they liked her and wanted her to try out for the show. Then she said to me, ‘What do I want to get mixed up in that for? It’s only a television show. I’m up for a picture at Universal.’ I was furious with her, and said, ‘You idiot, take the job if they offer it to you! It’s going to be a great show. I’ve already seen six or seven scripts and the pilot. It’s going to be terrific!’." Well, Viv read for them and they loved it. She became Ethel, but recalled, "Fate sure is a funny thing. When Mel Ferrer called me in New Mexico to play in Turtle, at first I said no. I had a good reason." (She had associated her breakdowns with the show.)

Well, not everything was peachy. Vivian didn’t appreciate the public accepting her so well as Ethel Mertz. After all, "Ethel is a frump. She’s frowsy, blowsy, and talks like a man." Most of all, though, Viv despised the idea of portraying Bill Frawley’s wife. The problem: she was thirty-nine (or so) and he was sixty-four. "He should be playing my father." Moreover, a clause in Viv and Bill’s contracts stated that if something should happen to either of them, the other could be written out. This all laid the groundwork for the infamous Viv-Bill feud that raged for the entire run of the show. As soon as Bill discovered that Viv thought of him like that, no one could reconcile the difference. Comments were always being blasted at each other. I sit and watch some of the Fred and Ethel lovey-dovey stuff in awe due to the effervescent feuding. Bill made the following remark after "Lucy" went off prime-time: Vivian’s "one of the finest gals to come out of Kansas but I often wish she’d go back there. I don’t know where she is now and she doesn’t know where I am and that’s exactly the way I like it."

Throughout the run of the show, psychiatrists dealt with Vivian by delicately separating Ethel and Vivian — the character and the actress — in Viv’s mind. Lucy helped by building up Viv’s character with laughs, whole scenes, episodes and more. Finally, she no longer resented being called "Ethel" on the street. She came to accept it as fans being friendly. She understood Ethel as just a part — though quite possibly the best part written for a supporting player in television history.

After "Lucy," Viv tried out her own series, Guestward, Ho! two times before she lost the part to Joanne Dru in 1960. (The show lasted only one season anyway on ABC.)