[Dixielandjazz] Patty Andrews (London Guardian)

[Robert Ringwald]

Patty Andrews
Last surviving member of the wartime swing trio the Andrews Sisters, whose hits included
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
by Michael Freedland
London Guardian, January 31, 2013
Patty Andrews, who has died aged 94, was the lead singer and soloist with the Andrews
Sisters. The swinging American trio, comprising Patty and her older siblings, LaVerne
and Maxene, achieved their greatest success in the 1940s, contributing to the war
effort with catchy songs including Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Don't Sit Under the Apple
Tree (With Anyone Else But Me) and, with Bing Crosby, Don't Fence Me In.
The Andrews Sisters performed at military bases and raised money for war bonds; their
hits were sung by the troops and by women working at factory benches. Patty, LaVerne
and Maxene accompanied the most popular singers and big bands of the day; enjoyed
success not just on radio but also in musical comedy films; and spawned a host of
other sister acts -- not all of whom were genuine siblings.
Patricia Marie Andrews was born in Mound, Minnesota, the third daughter of a Greek
immigrant, Peter (who had anglicised his surname), and his Norwegian wife, Olga.
The parents ran a restaurant. Inspired by the success of the Boswell Sisters, the
pretty, blonde Patty and her siblings began in vaudeville in the early 1930s. "There
were just three girls in the family," she recalled. "LaVerne had a very low voice.
Maxene's was kind of high, and I was between. It was like God had given us voices
to fit our parts." The sisters toured America with the Larry Rich band and before
long were starring at the Hotel Edison in New York with Leon Belasco.
The Andrews family relocated to New York in 1937 and the sisters were offered a recording
contract by Decca. Things took a momentous turn when they recorded Bei Mir Bist Du
Schon, Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin's revamped version of an old Yiddish standard.
It reached No 1 in the US in 1938, establishing Cahn and Chaplin as ace songwriters
and making the Andrews Sisters the hottest name in the record business. The song
has now come to be emblematic of the age -- often used when a film or TV drama deals
with the era of jitterbugs and evacuation, to say nothing of Land Girls, who sang
it as they stacked the hay.
Further hits followed for the trio -- including Beer Barrel Polka and Hold Tight,
Hold Tight (both 1939) -- and in 1940 they were signed by Universal Pictures and
appeared in the film Argentine Nights with the Ritz Brothers. They then made two
wartime comedies starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Buck Privates and In the Navy
(both 1941), and also appeared in Private Buckaroo (1942), which followed new recruits
doing their basic training and included the sisters' patriotic We've Got a Job to
Do.
The sisters appeared as themselves in the all-star film Hollywood Canteen (1944),
about the ever-open cafe for American servicemen, founded by Bette Davis and John
Garfield, and where Hollywood celebrities volunteered during the war. The sisters'
voices were also featured in the Disney cartoon Make Mine Music in 1946.
After hitting it big with the uptempo Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar and the sentimental
ballad (I'll Be With You) In Apple Blossom Time, the sisters accompanied Crosby on
a No 1 hit, Don't Fence Me In, in 1944. It was one of several successful collaborations
with the crooner, including Pistol Packin' Mama, Jingle Bells, Is You Is Or Is You
Ain't (Ma Baby) and Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive. The sisters also appeared with
him in the Bob Hope vehicle Road to Rio (1947). Danny Kaye partnered them on, among
others, The Woody Woodpecker; and with Carmen Miranda, the trio sang Cuanto Le Gusta.
By themselves, the sisters had No 1s with I Can Dream, Can't I? and I Wanna Be Loved.
In many ways Patty was the most successful member of the group. Certainly, her solos
made her the most prominent sister. In the mid-1950s she broke away from the group,
but people still wanted more of the Andrews Sisters and they were soon all back together.
It was the death of LaVerne in 1967 that eventually broke up the group. In the early
70s Bette Midler had success with her recording of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and people
once more went looking for the original, which had a renewed success.
In 1974 Maxene and Patty were back in business, starring in a Broadway musical, Over
Here!, about the group's wartime success. The show featured a third "borrowed" sister
and ran for almost a year, closing after the sisters had an argument. Patty, who
had solo success in Las Vegas and performed on cruise ships, continued to work after
Maxene's death in 1995.
In 1947 Patty married Martin Melcher. They divorced in 1950. Melcher then married
Doris Day and, in 1951, Patty married Walter Weschler, the Andrews Sisters' pianist,
who also became their manager. Weschler died in 2010.
She is survived by her foster daughter, Pam.
__________
Patricia Marie Andrews, singer, born 16 February 1920; died 30 January 2013.


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