Rose Marie

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Birthday:

15 August 1923, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name:

Rose Marie Mazetta

Rose Marie is a legend of show business with a career stretching over 80 years since her debut as her self in a Vitaphone musical short that appeared on the bill with The Jazz Singer (1927) at its premiere in 1927. According to Rose Marie, when she approached Al Jolson at The Wintergarden Theater in New York on the night of the premiere that made movie history and told him, "You were wonderful, Mr. Jolson!", his reply was, "Get away, you little brat!""He didn't like kids," Rose Marie explained. Her first credited appearance is in another musical short, Baby Rose Marie the Child Wonder (1929) in 1929.The legendary performer was born Rose Marie Mazetta on August 15, 1923 in New York City, the daughter of an Italian-American father and Polish-American mother. Blessed with a remarkable singing voice for a child that allowed her to belt out jazz songs in the "coon shouter" style of the 1920s (as exemplified by Sophie Tucker), she began performing when she was three years old as "Baby Rose Marie." By the time she was five, she had her own radio show on NBC, appearing after 'Amos and Andy' (1949)_, the most popular show in the country. Many people could not believe the voice they were hearing actually belonged to a child.Baby Rose Marie made many appearances in films in the 1930s, most famously in International House (1933), a movie about television, the medium in which Rose Marie would win her everlasting fame. In addition to her film performances, Baby Rose Marie also appeared on records and performed in vaudeville as a headliner. One of the acts she appeared with was Edgar Bergen before his Charlie McCarthy ventriloquism act, when he was still a small-timer. A half century letter, when she appeared on Murphy Brown (1988), she told star Candice Bergen, "I worked with your father in vaudeville when he was doing a doctor sketch."When Bergen replied that she couldn't have played the nurse in the act as she was too young, Rose Marie told her that she was the headliner and he was her opening act."She didn't care for that too much," Rose Marie remembered.She also appeared in vaudeville with Dick Powell, Rudy Vallee and Jimmy Durante, who mentored her. She also entertained at the White House three separate times at the request of three presidents. They were Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt.She transitioned to becoming a nightclub chanteuse as a teenager, playing all the big night clubs and hotels in New York, Chicago, Atlantic City, Las Vegas and Miami, Florida, usually in Mob-controlled venues. (Prominent mobsters, who called her "The Kid", liked her and protected her.) A young Milton Berle, whom she had known since she was a child, wrote some of her material, as did Morey Amsterdam, her future "Dick Van Dyke" co-star whom she knew since she was nine years old.After the war she married trumpeter Bobby Guy of the Kay Kyser Orchestra, in 1946. She made her Broadway debut in 1951, co-starring with Phil Silvers in the hit show Top Banana (1954) (she also appeared in the 1954 film adaptation). Rose Marie also appeared on radio on "The Phil Harris - Alice Faye Show", playing the sister of Sheldon Leonard, who would later hire her for The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) in his capacity as executive producer.Rose Marie had a career resurgence as an actress in the 1960s, starring in three sit-coms during the decade: First, My Sister Eileen (1960) in the 1960-1961 season. Second: as comedy writer "Sally Rogers" on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) from 1961 to 1966, and on The Doris Day Show (1968) from 1969 to 1971. She also appeared frequently on The Hollywood Squares (1965). She was the center square atleast once, and had a recurring role on Murphy Brown (1988) and Wings (1990).She also kept her singing career going, touring as part of the musical revue "4 Girls 4" from 1977 to 1981 with Rosemary Clooney, Helen O'Connell and Margaret Whiting. Now approaching ninety, Rose Marie continues to make occasional appearances. Show less «

[at age 80, when asked if she planned to retire] I've been in show business my whole life. Why start something new now?

[asked about The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) ending its run after only five years] It was a big mistake. We could have gone on another two yea...Show more »

[asked about The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) ending its run after only five years] It was a big mistake. We could have gone on another two years--in color! Show less «

[about meeting Al Jolson in 1927, when she was four years old] They played a couple of shorts at that time that were silent and mine was the...Show more »

[about meeting Al Jolson in 1927, when she was four years old] They played a couple of shorts at that time that were silent and mine was the only one with sound. It played with The Jazz Singer (1927) at The Wintergarden in New York. It was a phenomenal thing. I went up to Jolson and said, "You were wonderful, Mr. Jolson!" He said, "Get away, you little brat!" He didn't like kids. Show less «

[on Al Jolson] He was mean. He was a lousy man. Very mean and very . . . oh, he was terrible. In fact, nobody ever liked him.

[on meeting Candice Bergen] When I did Candice Bergen's show, Murphy Brown (1988), I told her, "I worked with your father [Edgar Bergen] in ...Show more »

[on meeting Candice Bergen] When I did Candice Bergen's show, Murphy Brown (1988), I told her, "I worked with your father [Edgar Bergen] in vaudeville when he was doing a doctor sketch." She said, "Well, you couldn't have played the nurse--you were too young!" I said, "No, I was headlining. He was the opening act." She didn't care for that too much. Show less «

[on working with Edgar Bergen in vaudeville] He was very nice. We became very good friends. I never had any trouble with anyone when I was d...Show more »

[on working with Edgar Bergen in vaudeville] He was very nice. We became very good friends. I never had any trouble with anyone when I was doing vaudeville. All of them, I guess because I was a kid, they all taught me what they did. I learned how to juggle. I learned how to walk on a big ball. I learned how to do trapeze. I was the kid. They used to say, "Come on, let's keep her busy." And they taught me everything. It was a very educational thing for me. Show less «

[on Jimmy Durante] Oh! That man was the love of my life! Love of my life! I'm not an impersonator, I never was, but in my act I used to do a...Show more »

[on Jimmy Durante] Oh! That man was the love of my life! Love of my life! I'm not an impersonator, I never was, but in my act I used to do a little bit of a Durante in a song. It got [more and more popular]. His wife said I did the best Durante of all. In fact, I ended up having to do a whole song as Durante in my act. I used to go to Jimmy and say, "How do I do this?" He taught me how to do him with the proper inflections and how to move my hands. He had a certain way of talking. I graveled my voice a little more and it got to the point where I had to do full numbers about Jimmy Durante--"I'm in Love with Jimmy Durante" and "I Wish I Could Sing Like Jimmy Durante". It was a whole series of numbers that I did in my act. I had to go to Jimmy all the time. He even taught me how to play the piano like him. Show less «

[on Milton Berle] Milton was a genius and Milton could not explain what he wanted or how he wanted it. He'd get all mixed-up. For instance, ...Show more »

[on Milton Berle] Milton was a genius and Milton could not explain what he wanted or how he wanted it. He'd get all mixed-up. For instance, he was doing his television show and he said to the conductor Victor Young, "I want a G chord here." My husband told me this. My husband was a musician in the band. Victor Young said, "Okay, gentlemen. Give me a G chord." They went, "Tah-dah!" Milton flew over to Victor and practically killed him. "I said a G chord you dumb son of a bitch!" Called him all kinds of names. My husband, who also knew Milton very well, said to Victor Young, "He wants a C chord." So Victor Young said, "All right, gentlemen. Give me a C chord." They went, "Tah-dah!" Milton says, "That's a goddamn G chord! Don't you know what you're doing? That's what I wanted." Show less «

There are no people in show business that I don't know. It's amazing. What I do now is commentary on people that are all dead. Nobody rememb...Show more »

There are no people in show business that I don't know. It's amazing. What I do now is commentary on people that are all dead. Nobody remembers! Nobody remembers Sophie Tucker! Nobody remembers . . . Jerry Lester and things like that. People call me, they say, "We're doing a book. Can you do some commentary?" I'm in every book that's coming out! The Three Stooges. There's a whole chapter of me in this new Three Stooges book. Show less «