Soon the opera house opened, and Marta debuted her acting and dancing talents at Death Valley Junction. It was a one-woman show, with the star of the show dancing ballet, on pointe, while performing a soliloquy. A narrative. It was the thoughts and inspirations and interesting observations of one woman. A show business woman from New York City, who had transplanted herself to a most unlikely location.
Her audience size that night was zero. Except the audience she had painted on the walls. And they loved it. It was a command performance, deserving of rave reviews. Her ovation was thunderous, followed by curtain call after curtain call.
Marta continued performing weekly this way, to her audience of zero, into the 1969 opera season. And then into the 1970 season.
One day in 1970, journalists from National Geographic magazine happened to be in the area. They discovered Becket performing her impeccable on pointe ballet, and all without an audience. It struck them as the oddest thing. It was very unique. A unicorn.
They wrote a profile about her, and it was published in two magazines that were widely popular at the time: National Geographic and Life. And this led to an international interest in the unusual Amargosa Opera House of Death Valley Junction.
Soon curious tourists from all over the world flocked to this remote locale, and Marta found herself performing to audiences that truly were sold out. Many notables began to attend, including Ray Bradbury and Red Skelton. In fact, Red Skelton became a personal friend of hers.
Around this time, she opened the adjoining hotel, giving tourists a place to lay their heads before exploring nearby Death Valley. But many hotel guests came only to watch her perform ballet.
The local churchgoing ladies snubbed her, because they disagreed with her lifestyle. But she found a way to get their husbands to attend her performances. She befriended the sex workers at the brothel just across the Nevada border, and they began bringing their johns to watch her show, many of whom she recognized.
She continued performing to live audiences at her opera house for the next four decades. Age and back problems caught up with her after she turned 80, and she could no longer dance on pointe. But the show must go on, so Marta began what she called, The Sitting Down Show. In this show, she sat at the edge of the stage and regaled her audience with stories, including the story about the “not practical” lady.
My wife and I watched her season opening performance in November of 2007, when we stayed at the Amargosa Hotel on a vacation to Death Valley. This was billed as her last season, and we were lucky to have reserved tickets ahead of time. It was standing-room only at the back of the theater. But we had seats.
Marta was engaging, funny, saucy, and thought-provoking, during her soliloquy. We loved it. It was one of the most unusual and memorable performances we had ever witnessed.
She changed her mind about retiring from show business, and performed again for the 2008-2009 season. Then she retired, but came back out of retirement a year later, for the 2010-2011 season. Her final performance was on February 12, 2012.
She passed away at her home in Death Valley Junction on January 30, 2017, at age 92.
Today, the Amargosa Opera House is closed, due to Covid. The hotel closed also, but has apparently re-opened. You can visit it, and even stay there, though it’s reputed that at least one of the rooms is haunted. But this historic landmark will never be the same without the impractical Marta Becket. She will always remain one of the most colorful, unique characters to have graced the Amargosa Valley.
This is the latest installation of my series, The Amazing Amargosa. Come on back in a few days for the next installation, entitled, Chapter 10: Devils Hole. Click here to read the previous installation. Click here, to start at the beginning.
Categories: History, Series (Travel): The Amazing Amargosa
Chasing Unicorns 
An inspiring lady and great story. I am glad that she was able to perform for sold out crowds, her perseverance paid off! How cool that you and your wife got to see her perform! Did you stay in the Haunted room? 🙂
Red Skelton was another great performer! My parents loved him. Didn’t know he was an artist too. I guess he liked clowns. 🙂
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She was quite a unique character.
We stayed a few doors down from the haunted room. For several days, we were the only guests in the hotel, other than another lady down the hall. At around 7:00 pm, the hotel clerk would close the lobby and go home, leaving my wife and I and the other lady alone in the hotel for the night. We were free to wander around and gawk and take pictures, including going into Red Skelton’s room to take pictures. But it was spooky. It kind of reminded me of the movie, “The Shining.”
I like Red Skelton, too. He was a comedian who laughed at his own jokes, which is funny in and of itself. He was a friend of my brother-in-law, also, though not a close friend. But he loved to paint clowns, and he gave a clown painting to my b-i-l, which he kept hanging on his wall until the day he died.
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I forgot to mention how I think it was funny that she was able to get the husband’s of the church ladies to come to her performances. I am sure that made them all the more mad at her!
oh that would give a spooky feeling being alone in a hotel at night. None of you ventured into the haunted room to take pictures? Or the pictures you took of ghosts just didn’t turn out, right? 🙂
Wow on your Bil having been riends with him and having a painting of his! That is special.
My parents liked Victor Borge too. Another fun comedian to watch!
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As I recall, the door to the haunted room was closed and locked.
Victor Borge was funny as hell, with his piano routines. I’d say he was one of the greatest comedians ever.
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Yes, he was a legend!
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Open minded, talented and funny. I like her. She lived a full life on her own terms.
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And did you take notice she painted on her own. No husband needed to open her can! 🙂
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Judging by HAL’s posts, there was no husband. She was quite self-sufficient.
I was following along on all that. SMDH. I wanted to chime in a little more but, from now on, I will be more careful in my comments.
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She was!
And yes be sure your head is screwed on tight or you may just lose it on here!
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Uh, not quite. See my response to Vic’s comment.
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Well, I never actually said there was no husband. I just never mentioned him. The best I can gather is that he was probably wealthy, and probably funded her Opera House endeavor.
They divorced around 1983, and at around the same time, she got involved in another guy. He was a maintenance expert who helped maintain the opera house and hotel. They were very happy together, but never married. He went by the name of “Wilget”, and he died in 2005. His death was quite devastating for Marta, as she loved him quite a bit.
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Oh, so she did have someone to open the paint can for her. Sad about “Wilget’s” death. Did she talk about him in her soliloquy?
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Yeah, she talked about him a lot. He became part of her show for the last 22 years of his life, playing the part of a clown. Apparently, he was very funny at slapstick.
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That is cool! Thanks for sharing bonus info. 🙂
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Ah. Ok. A “significant other” wasn’t mentioned so, I assumed she was all by herself. My mistake…
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I debated about including it in the post, but I don’t know enough of the details to feel confident in the information. But I can see how the omission can also be misleading.
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She certainly did. And maybe living life on one’s own terms is the best anyone can hope for.
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I love reading about such unique people, thanks for all the details. And how lucky you are to have witnessed her performance. Hopefully the Opera House and Hotel survive Covid…
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You’re welcome.
Yes, hopefully they’ll survive, and hopefully so will a lot of other businesses that are teetering on the brink of oblivion.
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fingers crossed…
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