Music Monday: Rosemary Clooney

Growing up my mom always made a point of telling us the famous people who started out or have ties to Cincinnati, Ohio. To me it seemed like every big star came from my hometown. My parents are from the WWII generation and big band was the sound. We heard the Andrew Sisters, Benny Goodman, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney and the like long before we got to listen to anything we wanted. My mom made sure we knew about Rosemary Clooney, I think Rosemary was my mom's favorite. Rosemary is from Mayville, Ky, on the Ohio River. And yes her brother, Nick Clooney is George Clooney's father, making George Rosie's nephew. According to Rosemary Clooney own bio: The singer noted for her decades-long mastery of American popular song started life amid the poverty of small-town Maysville. Her childhood was a difficult one; Clooney and younger siblings Betty and Nick were shuttled among their alcoholic father, Andy, their mother, Frances—who traveled constantly for her work with a chain of dress shops—and relatives, who would take turns raising the children. When Clooney was 13 her mother moved to California to marry a sailor, taking Nick with her but leaving the girls behind. Her father tried to care for Rosemary and Betty, working steadily at a defense plant, but he left one night to celebrate the end of World War II—taking the household money with him—and never returned. As Clooney described in her autobiography, This for Remembrance, she and Betty were left to fend for themselves. They collected soda bottles and bought meals at school with the refund money. The phone had been disconnected, the utilities were about to be turned off, and the rent was overdue when Rosemary and Betty won an open singing audition at a Cincinnati radio station. The girls were so impressive, in fact, that they were hired for a regular late-night spot at $20 a week each. "The Clooney Sisters," as they became known, began their singing career in 1945 on WLW in Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati connection WLW radio…1945, was a beginning of a long and illustrious career. Her first #1 recording "Come On-A My House" (psst.. this link will take you to a 1981 live recording of this song) was a silly song she really didn't want to do but Mitch Miller insisted so it is said. My sister and I grew up watching "White Christmas" every holiday season. We were not a "Wonderful Life" family. .Nope, musicals was first at our house. Her part in "White Christmas" was the first of many performances with Bing Crosby. But my favorite song from that movie is "Sisters", which my sister thinks we should learn and sing it someplace, probably in a car.

Side Bar: WLW TV and Radio WLWT was a pioneer in LIVE TV. Before there was Oprah, there was Ruth Lyons and her 50/50 Club, and The Paul Dixon Show. These shows we only got to watch when we were home sick from school. Ruth Lyon was certainly a very visible pioneer at WLW-TV and Radio.

Rosemary's music, Ruth Lyons's and her white gloves, Paul Dixon and his rubber chicken jokes in Cincinnati: priceless.