01 March 2022

Rosemary Clooney Chain Smoking Singer – Phantom Dancer 1 March 2022

Greg Poppleton's Phantom Dancer swing jazz radio show

Rosemary Clooney was an American singer, actor and radio host. She’s this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist where you’ll hear her in radio broadcasts from the 1950s-60s. She’s also actor, George Clooney’s, aunt.

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton. Hear past Phantom Dancer online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

This show will be online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 1 March at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

ROSEMARY CLOONEY

It’s incredible that she had the beautiful voice that she had despite the heavy smoking that eventually made the end of her life painful before killing her.

From ‘More Than a Girl Singer’, American Association for Cancer Research,

“A long-time smoker, Clooney was hospitalized in 1996 with acute respiratory failure. At that time, her doctors advised her to quit smoking, but Clooney struggled with her addiction. “Mama called me from the hospital and asked me to bring her cigarettes,” Ferrer (one of her sons)  remembers. “It was so hard for her to stop, though she finally did.”

Toward the end of 2001, Clooney was on the road performing when she began to find it hard to breathe. By the time she arrived home in Beverly Hills a few days before Christmas, she was exhausted. “She could hardly get up the stairs,” says Ferrer. “After two steps, she would have to stop and rest.” Less than a month later, Clooney was diagnosed with stage IIIA non–small cell lung cancer. She died six months later, on June 29, 2002, at her home in Beverly Hills with her family beside her. She was 74.”

TALENT SPOTTED

In 1945, Rosemary Clooney’s father went out one night with friends to celebrate the end of World War II. He never came back.

Clooney, 17, and her sister, 14, found themselves in a dire situation. They collected soft drink bottles and used what little money they had to buy lunch at school. The rent was overdue, the phone disconnected and the utilities about to be turned off when their luck changed. The teenagers, who had grown up performing at political rallies for their grandfather, the mayor of Maysville, won a singing competition at WLW Cincinnati, a local radio station. The station hired them for a regular late-night spot, with each sister earning $20 a week (almost US$290 in 2021 money).

They sing with Tony Pastor’s Orchestra, broadcasting and recording with the band until 1949 (as you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer mix).

In 1950–51, she was a regular on the radio and television versions of Songs For Sale on CBS. In 1951, her record of “Come On-a My House”, produced by Mitch Miller, became a hit. It was her first of many singles to hit the charts—despite the fact that Clooney hated the song passionately. She recorded several duets with Marlene Dietrich and appeared in the early 1950s on Faye Emerson’s Wonderful Town series on CBS. Clooney also did several guest appearances on the Arthur Godfrey radio show.

HOLLYWOOD

In 1954, she starred with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen in the movie White Christmas…

Two years later she had her own half-hour syndicated television musical-variety show, The Rosemary Clooney Show. NBC re-launched the show in a prime time slot on 1957 as The Lux Show Starring Rosemary Clooney. It lasted one season. In the late 50s and early 1960s, Clooney often appeared with Bing Crosby on television and radio. You’ll hear an excerpt from a 20-minute CBS radio program they did Monday to Friday for years that aired before the midday news.

Clooney left Columbia Records in 1958, doing a number of recordings for MGM Records and then some for Coral Records. Finally, toward the end of 1958, she signed with RCA Victor Records, where she stayed until 1963. In 1964, she went to Reprise Records, and in 1965 to Dot Records.

1970s – 2000s

After a hiatus of 11 years due to pills, alcohol and depression, Clooney signed to United Artists Records in 1976 for two albums. From 1977, she recorded an album every year for the Concord Jazz record label until her death. She was also singing on other people’s albums in 70s and 80s

In 1995, Clooney guest-starred in the NBC television medical drama ER (starring her nephew, George Clooney); for her performance, she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.

She received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

Here’s Rosemary Clooney on ‘What’s My Line’,

1 MARCH PLAY LIST