Born to a Los Angeles clothing store proprietor. Fanny studied piano and dance; her brother Mike (Marco) played the Violin/fiddle. Together they entertained at lodge parties and picnics, later graduated to a dinner show in Tait's famed San Francisco restaurant and later the Western, Interstate, and Keith-Orpheum circuits. The hook to their show was the grand finale exit with Fanchon sitting on Marco’s shoulders while he fiddled away on the violin. They were a successful Brother and Sister ballroom dance team of the 1920s and 1930s who started out as Cabaret dancers, then Dance studio owners and then turned Promoters and Producers.

    They had other brothers by the name of Rube and Roy Wolf(f) (musician) as well who was the orchestra leader and MC at the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles through the mid 1930’s. As children, all three performed as a trio in schools and amateur shows. Their youngest brother Roy Wolff Managed a part of the F&M business as well as the South Side theater chain.

    Thru performing, the young Wolff's had had a brilliant idea. Small cinema houses wanted to stage shows but could not afford them. These shows were usually called "Prologues, Prologs, Units, Presentations or Ideas," which were basically a live stage show(s) that preceded the film feature at movie houses. Fanchon & Marco's idea was to offer units at a reasonable price, equipped them and rehearsed them in Hollywood, sent them out complete with costumes, scenery and songs. The increased income from the movie prologues greatly helped movie theaters survive the Great Depression and so became very popular. Fanchon had a particular fondness for adagio / Acrobatic dance teams and small precision teams that were used often. By 1929, according to Variety Magazine "Fanchon & Marco had established the standard by which stage shows are judged."

    Fanchon & Marco, Inc. started in 1919 and snowballed until theatres which had bought franchises from them became bankrupt and or due to the depression, Unions, and in order to keep units out they had to become theatre operators. Fanchon and Marco would manage many theatres on the West Coast circuit as well as produce many acts such as the "Sunkist Beauties," "The Fanchon and Marco Girls" and the 48 woman group called the "Fanchonettes (formerly California Sunshine Girls") to perform in these theatres.

    They helped start many careers such as Cyd Charisse (age 12) Joan Crawford, Martha Raye, Johnny Downs, Janet Gaynor, Dorothy LaMour, Judy Garland (Gumm Sisters) Doris Day and Bing Crosby and many others.

    Fanchon and Marco managed the "Mickey Mouse Circus" which was comprised of "Midgets and Elephants" at the California Pacific Exposition held in San Diego from 1935 to 1936. In "Danse Follies," chorus girls sang and danced and in 'Hollywood Secrets,' talkies were made and the secrets of synchronizing sound tracks with movements were revealed to the public.

    There were five separate groups of Fanchon and Marco girls which would rotate between cities which they performed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. The girls would also appear for the unveiling of many Airplanes such as the Fokker and F-32. Later, Marco basically married and retired from the theatre productions when the cost of producing the shows became to exorbitantly expensive but did do some work such as producing a few Academy Award Shows. He eventually became the owner of one of the largest independent motion picture theatre chains in the country. Fanny Wolfe (Fanchon) continued in show business and became a movie choreographer, producer.

    Fanchon married William Simon Sr. originally a luncheon chain operator turned restaurant chain owner, Lyman's Restaurant was one of them, they adopted two children, William Jr. and Faye. She was hired to stage and direct Shipstad and Johnson’s Ice Follies which lasted for four seasons. Fox studios also hired her to produce and arrange the dance sequences for many Musicals of the time. Later she would also produce USO shows overseas.

Click her for Fanchon and Marco's son 'Simon's page" on his parents: Fanchon and Marco Link

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