Block and Sully were an American husband and wife vaudeville

Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

 team who performed during the years 1926 to 1948.

Vaudeville

Jesse Block started performing in vaudeville as a child, getting his first break as a member of Gus Edwards'

Gus Edwards (songwriter)

Gus Edwards was an American songwriter and vaudevillian. He also organised his own theatre companies and was a music publisher.-Early life:...

 Song Revue of 1915. Later he developed a song and dance act and toured for four years as "Block and Dunlap." In 1926 he was introduced to Eve Sully by Bert Gordon. Sully was touring in a song and dance act with Blossom MacDonald

Blossom Rock

Edith Marie Blossom MacDonald , also known or credited as Blossom Rock, Blossom MacDonald or Marie Blake, was an American actress of stage and television...

, sister of Jeanette MacDonald

Jeanette MacDonald

Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...

, but she soon joined up with Block to form a crosstalk comedy act. The couple married in 1930.

Block and Sully toured together for three years before they played the Palace Theatre

Palace Theatre

-Canada:* Palace Theatre, Calgary, Alberta* Palace Theatre , Montreal, Quebec - see Robillard Block-United Kingdom:* Palace Theatre, London, England* Palace Theatre, Manchester, England* Palace Theatre, Mansfield, England...

for the first time in 1929. They soon became major headliners in vaudeville.

Later life

In the early thirties, Block and Sully ventured into radio and had their own program. One of the cast members was a young Arlene Francis

Arlene Francis

Arlene Francis was an American actress, radio talk show host, and game show panelist...

. The couple also appeared in a number of film shorts, and were featured in the 1934 feature Kid Millions

Kid Millions

Kid Millions is an American film directed by Roy Del Ruth, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and starring Eddie Cantor.-Plot:The story features Eddie, a kid from Brooklyn, New York,...

starring their good friend Eddie Cantor

Eddie Cantor

Eddie Cantor was an American "illustrated song" performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter...

. During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 they toured with the USO. In 1948, Block and Sully played their last vaudeville engagement at Loew's State.

After leaving show business in 1946, Block became a stockbroker with Bache & Company, retiring in 1973. The couple remained happily married until Block died at age 82 on March 27, 1983 at home in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

. Eve Sully Block died of cardiovascular collapse on August 20, 1990 at Tisch Hospital in Manhattan. She was 88 years old.