This paper looks at people—performers and personalities in the entertainment industry—who have beaten a path between Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and Hollywood during the decades between 1920 and the late 1970s. You may already know some of these performers, while others may be new to you. What do they all have in common? They are all connected to BYU, from the Cowboy Tenor, who graduated in 1916, to Donny and Marie, who attended BYU in the early 1970s. All these people have left something tangible behind to show where they have been and what they have done during their time in the spotlight. Some of the performers to be featured were students at BYU first and then followed that pipeline to a Hollywood career; others went the other direction, first working in Hollywood’s entertainment industry, and later sending their children (or even themselves) to BYU to get a university education.
Come along on that pipeline, decade by decade, and meet the King Sisters in the thirties, Marie Windsor and Colleen Townsend in the forties, the Engemann brothers in the fifties, the Osmond, Clinger and King Families in the sixties, before focusing on Donny & Marie in the seventies.