They rented the abandoned meeting hall of the Pacific Borax Co. In the back of her mind lay the prediction an acquaintance had made not long before their journey west: This would be her last tour, but she would go on to find her greatest artistic fulfillment.ĭeath Valley Junction was a busy rail junction in 1915 and a center for borax mining, but was a ghost town by the time Tom and Marta arrived. Williams had grown tired of living in New York City, and Becket knew that bookings for her show were getting scarce. In 1967, she and her husband, Tom Williams, were touring the West performing her one-woman show-a blend of ballet, acting, singing, modern dance, and opera-when the couple found themselves stranded in the desert near Death Valley.īut, says Becket, “We turned our automotive calamity into an opportunity.” 2)? If you’re Marta Becket, you decide this is the place for you, you convert a derelict meeting hall into a theater, and for the next 34 years you perform one-woman ballets set to classical music.īecket, a former Broadway chorus girl who had appeared in Showboat, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, and Wonderful Town, was also trained in classical ballet since age 9. What do you do if you’re a Broadway performer driving through the California desert and your car breaks down near the abandoned town of Death Valley Junction (pop. Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window).Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window).Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window).Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window).Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window).
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