The Andrews Sisters- Page 2

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/10/06 at 11:03am

Wow, Samuel E. Wright and Ann Reinking were also in it. That's a hell of an ensemble!
Over Here! cast...

[junglered]

Posted: 5/10/06 at 11:15am

In April, I saw a regional production of "Sisters of Swing", which was based upon the lives of the Andrews Sisters. The plot was fairly biographical, but it was great hearing their musical catalog - "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree", "Rum and Coca Cola", and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" amongst others.

[erikaamato]

Posted: 5/10/06 at 12:35pm

best12bars: "Buck Privates" is actually how I fell in love with the Andrews Sisters. In 4th grade. The school drama teacher used to show us old movies (on a screen, with a big old reel-to-reel projector) in the assembly room a couple of times a year as a treat, and in 4th grade, he showed "Buck Privates." He showed many other Abbott and Costello films over the years that co-starred the Andrews Sisters... We always ate 'em up. (I went to a small all-girls' school.)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/10/06 at 1:18pm

I loved Over Here as well. There were so many "nostalgia muscicals" back then, this one got a little lost.

I can still remember John Travolta doing "Dream Drummin'"

Mmmm... ;-}

[BrianWilsonFan]

Posted: 5/10/06 at 4:44pm

I love The Andrews Sisters. If you're a fan of close harmony you should check out The Chordettes, they have some stellar songs in their catalogue...

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/10/06 at 4:47pm

How about The Hi-Los? Always loved them.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/10/06 at 7:16pm

I remember Over Here. I saw it & it seems like only yesterday. Cast album is a great listen. Reemember than unknowns Marilu henner & John Travolta . Whatever happened to Janie sell ?

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/10/06 at 7:29pm

The Hi-Los are awesome! That high tenor has a freakish range, and their harmonies and arrangements are wild. I loved it when they tackled the score to "Gypsy." Pure ultra-lounge gold! Check out the CD some time.

And erikaamato---That is SO COOL. I wonder if "kids" today get exposed to stuff like that. I think they have to dig it up on their own, probably not in any school programs, but at least they have DVDs now to find the buried treasures themselves. (I, of course grew up in the silent film era.) Just LOVED it when "talkies" came along.

I've been a fan and addict of great vocal jazz/big band harmonies for a long time. I had my own quartette in college, and we sang all the Manhattan Transfer stuff. We even opened for Bob Hope when he came to town. 5,000 people got to hear us tear up on "Four Brothers." That was a total kick.

Back to the Andrews Sisters --- I always loved Patty in those Abbott & Costello movies. I thought she should have had a bigger movie career. But, you know, 19 gold records probably kept her just a bit busy, don'tcha think?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/10/06 at 8:59pm

Have a signed Playbill from both plus an isert glossy signed by both

A heck of an enjoyable show. Great overture & awesome band

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/10/06 at 9:05pm

Mr. Roxy, weren't you with LaVerne the night she died?

[erikaamato]

Posted: 5/10/06 at 10:52pm

best12: Yeah, it was a very cool school. I'm still in touch with the drama teacher (we even had lunch together the last time I came to NY), and he says that sadly, even my cute little girls' school is no longer the place it once was. He's more limited in his influence (no more cool assemblies), they're way more into math and science (particularly computers) than the arts now, and the school is almost 3 times as large as it was when I was there (15 years ago), so that changes the dynamics, too.

And like you, I was very much into vocal jazz. I was in a quintet in high school, then both Madrigals (not jazz, obviously, but very challenging a cappella work) and the Matthew's Minstrels (co-ed a cappella jazz group) in college. I still get to sing great arrangements every Christmas - I do a cappella caroling in quartets in Dickensian costumes. We do both traditionals and jazz arrangements. A cappella work rules!

[alterego]

Posted: 5/10/06 at 10:56pm

Remember Patti as a judge on The Gong Show? I love the Hi Lo's and The Modernaires.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 5/10/06 at 11:23pm

Geez, I'm late to this thread! Love me some Andrews Sisters.

Most of the films they made are rare Universal "B"s with titles like SWINGTIME JOHNNY, MOONLIGHT AND CACTUS, HER LUCKY NIGHT and HOW'S ABOUT IT? Other films they made were the nifty HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN for Warners and ROAD TO RIO with Bing Crosby at Paramount.

Anyone else here see Maxene Andrews in Charles Busch's "SWINGTIME CANTEEN"? She seemed like a game old broad, who was sadly still on the outs with sister Patti, who is still alive.
Patti Andrews

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 6/27/06 at 3:16pm

Sorry for the bump, but I have an autographed Andrews Sisters playbill, and I was wondering if anybody could inform me a little about who they were. All I know is the I was told, not to lose that playbill.

I am trying to scan it, and if I can I will post a picture

[Incognito]

Posted: 6/27/06 at 3:48pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andrews_Sisters

That's as good a place as any to start. They had a fabulous Christmas album. One of the songs, Angie the Christmas Tree Angel, is a staple at our house every Christmas.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 6/27/06 at 3:59pm

Thank You!

After a long silence, the two surviving sisters had something of a comeback when Bette Midler recorded a cover of their song "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Maxene and Patti appeared both together and separately throughout the 1970s, with Maxene releasing a solo album in 1986. Their most notable comeback; however, was in the Sherman Brothers' nostalgic World War II musical: Over Here! which premiered on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in 1974. The musical featured the two then living sisters (Maxene and Patti) and was written with them in mind for the leads. It launched the careers of many, now notable theater and film icons (John Travolta, Marilu Henner, Ann Reinking, et al). Ironically it was the last major hurrah of the sisters and was cut short due to a frivolous lawsuit initiated by Patti's husband to the show's producers.


That is the playbill I have autographed.

[Calvin]

Posted: 6/27/06 at 4:00pm

Um, yeah, I'd hold on to that.

[justme2]

Posted: 6/27/06 at 5:13pm

"Buck Privates" was just on TCM the other day, and seeing the movie reminded me of this thread. I have a couple of the Andrew Sisters records from ther heydey (Gramps loved em!) and they sound great still!

[Elphaba]

Posted: 6/27/06 at 7:00pm

never, EVER start with Wikipedia.......nothing on it can be verified......it's a useless piece of crap as any librarian will tell you.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 11:02am

My favorite Andrews Sisters CDs. I own these and they are not to be missed:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002P8A/qid=1151506786/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/103-9839616-6377404?s=music&v=glance&n=5174

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002P37/qid=1151506857/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9839616-6377404?s=music&v=glance&n=5174

Yikes! I didn't realize that second one was out of print. If you can find it cheap somewhere it's really good!

[justme2]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 12:16pm

I have the first Cd, another compilation CD simply called "Andrew Sisters" and these are Gramps LPs:

Christmas Greetings with Bing Crosby (they sing backup in almost every song)

Captial Collections-Andrews Sisters (50's, I think)

And one record without a jacket or cardboard cover that is a 78.

All this talk about them led me to getting them out and spinning them again...

[Joshua488]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 5:58pm

I adore th Andrews Sisters.

Their Christmas album is my favorite Christmas album to listen to. Everything on it is so catchy and their harmonies are great!

[nztheatreluva]

Posted: 7/1/06 at 2:18am

I love The Andrews Sisters!

He was a famous trumpet man from out Chicago way,
He had a boogie style that no one else could play,
He was the top man at his craft
But then his number came up and he was gone with the draft,
He's in the army now and blowing reveille
He's a boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B......


Always makes me want to dance

[Bret]

Posted: 7/1/06 at 2:26am

I LOVE Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy. Whenevr I listen to the song, I chain listen to it, picking out a different harmony each time.