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Singing Sisters Found Fame After Attending College of Saint Mary

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Editor’s note: This is the sixth in a series of stories on College of Saint Mary's history during its first century. 赌球平台推荐台 is marking its 100th anniversary in a yearlong celebration through August 2024.

When three singing sisters took the stage to perform during an amateur talent contest in Wahoo in 1939, they began a journey that would take them from small-town Nebraska to radio fame in the big city of Chicago.

Marie and twins Inez and Irene Laudenschlager started singing as children growing up in Wahoo. They sang for various church and social functions. Marie often played the accompaniment.

All three sisters attended College of Saint Mary after high school graduation.

After winning the amateur talent competition at the Wahoo Theater, the trio signed to sing with Ronnie Fike and his orchestra. They performed around Nebraska, billed as the Laudenschlager Trio. The Kearney Hub called the sisters “a clever vocal trio” in an article published on Nov. 21, 1940, after singing at the annual Kearney Volunteer Fire Department ball.

In 1941, while Irene and Inez were still students at 赌球平台推荐台, the trio auditioned for local radio station WOW, where they sang together as “Marie and the Twins” for a year, according to the Wahoo Independent.

They also performed with the “Red, 白色, and Blue Patriotic Review,” which traveled to various towns in Nebraska, selling United States War Bonds.

The sisters continued to appear together for local engagements until Marie went to work as a civilian at Fort Warren in Wyoming in the spring of 1944. Inez became a stenographer at an Omaha bank, and Irene took a job at a war plant.

But that summer, they decided to try to advance their singing careers. Over a long-distance phone call, the twins convinced Marie to travel with them to Chicago to continue performing. They auditioned for WBBM, which was owned by CBS, and earned a contract. From then on, they were known as the Bennett Sisters. They were featured on “Victory Matinee,” which aired on Saturdays from 2 to 2:30 p.m. and “The Jimmy Hilliard Orchestra” on Tuesdays from 11:05 to 11:30 p.m.

In addition to singing on local and national CBS radio shows, the sisters made singing commercials for products such as Bisquick, 哈德逊汽车公司, 万能染料, Durkee’s Oleomargarine, Holsum面包, and Manor House coffee. They also appeared on several theater programs in Indiana and Chicago.

They also appeared on Don McNeil’s Breakfast Club with bandleader Eddie Ballantine.

“They were plenty good when they left Wahoo, but now they are outstanding in the radio world,” an article in the Jan. 1, 1948, Wahoo 十大靠谱赌球平台paper said.

In April 1948, the Bennett Sisters recorded “Popcorn Polka” with Ballantine for Tower Records. The song was promoted via jukeboxes, popcorn vending machines, and other media. It also received promotion by the National Popcorn Manufacturers Association.

When Irene married her high school sweetheart, 埃米尔·"山姆"·多西卡尔, 那个秋天, Marie and Inez found a replacement named “Billie” and continued singing. They both married in 1950.

玛丽9月去世. 24, 1997, in Phoenix, Ariz. She and her husband, James Welch, had two children. 伊内兹于9月去世. 23, 2006, after a battle with cancer. She and her husband, John Bosshart, had five children. 艾琳于一月去世. 26, 2008, in Tullahoma, Tenn., after an extended battle with Parkinson’s disease. She and Sam had two children.

 

作者:Leeanna Ellis

 

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