Many years ago
in a galaxy far far away....

My first memory of singing was after our eldest sister, Lee, stayed awake singing along to pop tunes on the am radio for two nights in a row. (Mom says she had us singing prior to that.) 

Our mother called us together and made us take turns singing. She determined who had the strongest, lowest, and highest voice and assigned either the melody or a harmony to each of us. Mom made us sing the song over and over until we got it right then taught us more songs. 

Mom sewed matching skirts for us, twirled our wet hair around strips of cloth to make corkscrew curls and made us practice singing everyday. 

Our first time singing in public was for Thomas Gangemi when he was running for mayor. The hat was passed and $37 was collected for us. In addition, we were served free hot dogs and soda. We quickly learned that by collecting candidates pins with their photos on them, we could visit the other political party headquarters, and be treated to free hot dogs and soda from them too.

Next we sang for free at the Old Folks Home in Journal Square. Then we sang for free at Muscular Dystrophy dinners for beautiful people in beautiful clothes who had paid $150 a plate for dinner. Soon mom got us gigs singing for twenty five dollars at the Elks Clubs, Moose Clubs and Knights of Columbus. The local newspapers ran feature stories on us.

Things happened very fast after we did our first television appearances on Wonderama and Ted Mack's Amateur Hour. I was in the kitchen when mom made her many calls from the beige princess wall phone to find the contact person for Sing Along With Mitch. She got us the audition and she and I jumped up and down and clapped in glee when she hung up the phone. 

We met or worked with many stars during our short time in the spotlight. Among the luminaries were George Burns, who made me understand what the word showmanship meant. He lit up the set and his first day, no one left for a break. He entertained the cast with his jokes and songs while we were not filming. I had to wait until the last day but finally, he was alone standing near the piano. I got to spend several minutes chatting alone with George Burns and he sang a little song to me and snapped his fingers and tapped his toe in time to the tempo. He never put his cigar down. I still treasure the memory of the star's company for those few minutes.  

We sang and danced with Milton Berle, who was wonderful to us. Shirley Temple, was a guest on one of the shows we were on. She did not look like the little girl in those wonderful old movies. But she was very gracious and I can understand why she became an ambassador.  

Another guest was Sebastian Cabot who portrayed Mr. French on Family Affair. He was a lot of fun and was always smiling. He was much thinner in person than the portly gent he portrayed on his TV show. And of course, there was Mitch Miller himself. The great singer Leslie Uggams who had a dressing room next to ours made the jump to movies. I must not forget all those wonderful men who sang for Mitch, including Bob McGrath who went on to Sesame Street. 

We were on the Jimmy Dean show at Christmas time with his wife and children and were scheduled to sing, "The Little Drummer Boy" accompanied by a male chorus doing the rum pums. The rehearsal was astoundingly beautiful but the show's producers changed it at the last minute because "Holly Jolly Christmas" was soaring on the charts in Florida so we sang it instead with Jimmy Dean stepping in for a solo. Jerry Vale and country singer, Porter Wagoner were his guests. 

We also met and sang for the Four Seasons who wrote a song for us. They gave us each an autographed 8 x 10 glossy and when I showed mine to a friend at school, she kissed it.

One day, we arrived at the recording studio to find Tony Bennett running an hour overtime recording "Who Can I Turn To." He had the most beautiful voice I have ever heard. They used the stairwells as echo chambers and there was a little red light over the door to warn everyone to use the elevator during the recording. I could not wait for the elevator and used the stairs while Tony Bennett was recording his song. I have always wondered if that is the reason he brushed past us and left without saying hello when he was finished. 

For our "Holly Jolly Christmas" album, we were privileged to be accompanied by guitar great Al Caiola. The orchestrations were arranged and conducted by exotica greats Frank Hunter and Marty Manning.

As for who sang what, Lee's stellar vocals graced "Mrs. Santa Claus" and "I Don't Want To Graduate." Elaine sang, "Baby Brother," and Cindy and Renee held "The Little Drummer Boy" together with their hardy "Rum, Pums" which if you listen carefully, you can hear the two little girls roll the words. Cindy who was six years old at the time the album was recorded was the lead singer on "A Skinny Little Christmas Tree."

The family is centered around the town of Catskill today.

[Home]  [Photo Gallery] [Audio] [Video] [Links]