History of Betty Viazim, Milliner - Bill’s Niece

As I mention in the Frequently Asked Questions, the O’Brien Clan website is mainly focused on fanning out from Bill and Irene in two directions – their antecedents and their descendants. So in general the site doesn’t go too “wide”. That is, unless we find a particularly interesting character that fits into the wider O’Brien family. Such is the case here.

When I was a kid, I can remember my Mum (Gwen) talking about a famous relative - Betty Viazim. I didn’t really get the family connection at the time, but I knew she was a milliner, although I’m guessing it wasn’t until later that I discovered a milliner makes hats.

Now that I’ve had a bit more time to dig into our family history, I found out some more about Betty, what she did, and where she fits into the O’Brien Clan.

Bill O’Brien’s older sister was Laura Agnes O’Brien. Laura was ten years older than Bill, having been born at Cowabbie on the 24 of July 1878. As an aside, Laura died the same year as Bill (1974), at the ripe old age of 95 – which means my claim that Mum (Gwen) - who died aged 92 - had lived the longest of anyone in the O’Brien tree is now completely debunked. Thanks Laura.

But I digress. Laura married George Barnes Arnold in 1908 in Temora. They had 5 children, with Elizabeth Emily Barnes Arnold being the first born. Elizabeth was generally known as “Betty”. Elizabeth is one of those names that has a heap of variations, including Tibby, Bess, Elsie, Eliza, Liza, Lizzie, Libby, Betsy, Beth, and of course, Betty. So, Betty was Bill O’Brien’s niece and my Mum’s first cousin. And if you consult with this article about how cousins work, that means she’s my first cousin once removed.

Laura and George lived in Temora until the untimely death of her husband, George in 1922 – he was just 46 years old. Laura moved to Coogee after her husband’s death, taking her four children with her – sadly, one had died. Their ages would have ranged between 7 and 13. They lived in a house called “Eastbourne” in Neptune Street, Coogee. And it was here that Laura and Bill’s parents (Margaret and Tom) celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary in 1922, and where Thomas William O’Brien died just 3 years later – you can read more about these events here.

Betty married George Viazim in 1939, and they moved to a place in Dulwich Hill. Their only child, Maree was born in 1944, and Betty and George divorced after 11 years of marriage, in 1950.

I believe that’s when Betty and her six year old daughter Maree moved to the house that had been belonged to Margaret O’Brien, her grandmother, which was at 41 Robert Street, Marrickville. That said, I need to check this with my cousin Tony Strachan (Mary’s son), as he lives just around the corner and has more details.

By this time, Betty was 42, and was already making a name for herself as a milliner.

Betty had begun her apprenticeship as a milliner with Mark Foys, Sydney's premier fashion department store. She was the last apprentice to be trained in the old methods of hat making, before electric sewing machines revolutionized the millinery trade.

I’m guessing I may have visited her when I was young, but I can’t remember. My sister Kate definitely visited, and Bill’s daughter Mary stayed at the house with her husband Arthur, and their three children, Tony, Tim and Garth – Betty would have been 51 and Maree 16 at the time.

In 1981 Betty was awarded The Order of the British Empire Medal (Civil) for services to the Performing Arts.

Betty died on Christmas Day 1997, with her place of death shown as Marrickville…so it seems she died at home. Her daughter Maree was 53 years old at the time of Betty’s death and married to Terry Blanchard. I believe they moved into the Robert Street house and lived there until Maree’s death in 2015 (aged 71).

Betty donated her whole hat collection and hat blocks to the National Institute for Dramatic Art (NIDA).

The following article was published in the Sydney Morning Herald shortly after Betty’s death in 1997.

Hat's Fantastic Betty
Karen Davey – Sydney Morning Herald – 4th January 1998
IT was while filming the outback classic We Of The Never Never that a hungry horse took a chomp out of a straw hat worn by actor Angela Punch McGregor.
In a panic, the director telephoned Betty Viazim from the remote town where they were filming to get a replacement hat.
Viazim, Australia's top milliner, didn't have enough straw to make another hat, so the damaged hat was urgently couriered to Sydney for a patch-up job.
"My mother repaired the hat and sent her last six inches of straw back to the hungry horse," Viazim's daughter, Maree Blanchard, recalled yesterday.
Viazim, who died on Christmas Day at the age of 88, was best known for the hats and headpieces she created for film, opera, ballet and theatre in a career spanning almost 75 years.
Actors Judy Davis, Wendy Hughes, Robin Niven and Liv Ullmann all wore Viazim's creations, and last week her coffin was draped in the huge black and white hat she made for Audrey Hepburn when she starred as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.

Viazim began her career as a 12-year-old under-age apprentice for Mark Foys department store, where she was trained as a milliner in "the correct way".
It was before electric sewing machines, and apprentices were instructed to sit on a stool, keep their shoulders back, their elbows in, their back straight and balance their hands with their little fingers.
"I trained for 48 hours a week for five years," Viazim told The Sun-Herald in 1993. "Now it's six easy lessons."
As an apprentice, Viazim never went anywhere without a bag containing a circle of fabric, a needle and a spool of thread so she could practise "fly-running" stitch.
"At the cinema, as soon as the lights went out, I'd start to practise," she said. "I'd just sew around the fabric and pull the thread out and start again. I wasn't allowed to look at what I was doing."
At the height of her brilliant career, Viazim designed for Moray, which created many exclusive fashion winners for the Melbourne Cup, as well as the Queen's Coronation visit to Australia in 1954. The front cover of the first issue of Australian Vogue featured a model wearing one of her hats.

It was in the 1960s, when exclusive millinery waned as women stopped wearing hats to church and the beehive hairstyle became popular, that Viazim began making hats and bonnets for theatre and screen.
She made the headdress for the Opera House's opening ballet, Sleeping Beauty, as well as for films such as Careful, He Might Hear You, and musicals such as A Chorus Line and Jesus Christ Superstar.

Betty on the cover of the Film Australia magazine

"My mother wasn't a mother," Mrs Blanchard said. "She was incredibly creative all the time. She could pick up something people thought was rubbish and turn it into something valuable."
During World War Il, Viazim turned to making soft dolls from material left over from the manufacture of women's underwear.
Every week she produced 144 dolls - called Betsy Maree - which she sold through Farmers department store (which is now Grace Bros).
"Mum bought a bale of offcuts and made these soft dolls for babies to clutch and cuddle," Mrs Blanchard said.
"I guess we live in a pin-free zone now."
In 1982, Viazim was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to the performing arts, and her work is on permanent display at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Kensington and the Powerhouse Museum at Darling Harbour.
- KAREN DAVEY

My cousin Tony believes Maree Viazim/Blanchard (his and my first cousin twice removed) was a dancer at the Tivoli in Sydney. She was also an artist, as you can see in the article below.

This is what’s written here about Maree on her death on 27 February 2015.

BLANCHARD, Maree Gregovna (nee Viazim)
Passed away peacefully February 27, 2015. Late of Marrickville. Beloved wife of Terry. Loving mother and mother-in-law of Anton and Melissa, Jeremy and Claire. Sadly missed by all who knew her. Aged 71 years. Outstanding woman, performer, artist, quilter and friend. MAREE'S family and friends are warmly invited to attend her Funeral Service to be held in its entirety at St Brigid's Catholic Church, 392 Marrickville Road (cnr Livingstone Road), Marrickville on Thursday March 5, 2015 at 1:30pm. In lieu of flowers please make a donation to the Breast Cancer Foundation at the Chris O'Brien Lifehouse.

Written by Karen Davey and Rob Landsberry, last updated 27 May 2023

References:

Sydney Morning Herald of 4 January 1998

Daily Telegraph of 3 March 2015

https://www.mytributes.com.au/notice/death-notices/blanchard-maree-gregovna-nee-viazim/4721896/

History of Betty Viazim, Milliner - Bill’s Niece

Hat's Fantastic Betty

History of Vincent (Roy) Casey - Irene’s Brother