Hold the Roses (40 page)

Steve Rodrigues and Noop met at NBC, and as I said, they went out
for about a year. He was a nice young man and I liked him very much. He
was a lot like Bobby in build, and he had a great dry sense of humor.
Before I left for New Orleans, Steve came over and said they wanted to get
married if it was okay with me. He was asking for her hand in marriage, which I thought was very sweet. I said, "Fine. We'll have a nice engagement party here at the house, in the backyard, in June."

4 Girls 4: Rose Marie, Helen O'Connell, Rosemary Clooney, and Margaret Whiting

I left for New Orleans and the Fairmont Hotel. It was a great date.
We all had played it alone and now we went in as 4 Girls 4. The publicity
was great and the reviews were even better. I decided to have the invitations made there in New Orleans. I went to Marilyn Barnett, who booked the Fairmont, and asked her where we should go for the invitations for
Noop's wedding party. Margaret and I went to Eaton's Stationery Store. I
picked out the card and told the saleslady what I wanted engraved on it.
She said, "You can have this in about eight weeks."

I said, "No, I need them now, the party is in two weeks!"

Margaret and I went back to the hotel and told Marilyn about it. She
said her sister-in-law did calligraphy and that she could do them.

I didn't want to look like a cheapskate, but having all the invitations
and envelopes done by hand has got to cost a fortune-especially for 150
people and about 50 out-of-towners! Marilyn made an appointment for
me with her sister-in-law, Audrey Barnett.

Audrey came over to the hotel the next day and we went to Bailey's,
the hotel's little bistro. She was very pretty and charming and carried a
little briefcase with samples of her work.

After the usual greetings, Audrey said, "Are you happy about the
engagement?"

I looked at her and started to laugh and said, "Of course we're happy."

Then she said, "So now we know what the wording should be."

I liked her immediately. We talked and got everything straightened
out; much to my surprise, it wasn't going to cost that much. I told her I
wanted her to do the wedding invitations and all the things that had to be
printed. She then said, "Give me a list of names and addresses." So every
day I'd call Noop, get names and addresses, and call Audrey and give her
the information. The next morning, a bunch of envelopes were at the desk
in the lobby. That's how the invitations were done. By the time we finished
the date at the Fairmont, the invitations for the engagement party were
finished!

Dear Audrey and I became close friends. She was married to Marilyn's
brother, Bill, who was a very fine and well-known lawyer. Every time I
played New Orleans, Audrey would be with me every day. She would take
me shopping. One day she took me to see some of the old southern mansions, and we ate fried chicken in the car. We had a great time together.

She did the wedding invitations and we did it all over the phone. I
think I called her every day. She did such a beautiful job. After she sent the
last batch of envelopes, she wrote on a card, "Get pretty stamps.... don't
get Planned Parenthood stamps!"

After New Orleans, we went back to California and the engagement
party was beautiful. The backyard looked lovely: baskets of flowers hung from the trees, tables and umbrellas all matching pink, champagne and tea
sandwiches, sugar cookies with their names on them. I tried to think of
everything, and I must say, it was lovely.

Bill called a meeting and we all met in his office. He told us about the
dates-all the best places, which he and Marty Kummer, a well-known
booking agent, had set up. It was summer, so we would be playing all the
East Coast places-Valley Forge; Cape Cod; Beverly, Massachusetts;
Westbury, Long Island; and so on. The money sounded odd, but good. I
am the one who keeps contracts and I keep them with me when I am
working, in case I have to refer to anything. The other girls couldn't be
bothered with that stuff. I had a business head when it came to working!
To me, it's a business, and I treat it as a business, and I love it!

We played a lot of theaters in the round and, as I said, they were all
the best places. We got along all right. Clooney and I became good friends,
and Margaret has been my friend from the moment I met her. I had
heard so many people say we looked alike. We don't, very much-well, if
you see us together, there might be a slight resemblance. I like Margaret
a lot. You can always count on her. To me, she's showbiz and her knowledge of songs and songwriters is unbelievable. When she wrote her book,
I told her, "I know now, if it weren't for songwriters, we would have lost
the war."

Helen was something else. She could get you mad at her in a second
and then in the next second, she would try to make up. There were many
times when none of us were talking to her. At times she just didn't think.
She would fail to show up for a press interview and say, "Nobody told me,"
when we had all talked about it the night before. She had a very dry sense
of humor and could write lyrics for us like a poet. But she was difficult to
get along with-we never knew if she was in a good mood or not. Clooney
and Helen were born on the same day, May 23, but different years. They
were both Geminis and that means "two people in one." How true, how
true.

Many times I told the girls that we had a good thing going. "Hey, we
got another crack at it, let's not forget that!" I said. The show was a big hit
no matter where we played, and we played a lot of places two and three
times. Each time I would try and change a song or two. I'd go to Morey
and ask him to write me some new jokes. Also, by now I had found a great
wholesale house in New York for beaded gowns. Ruthie Shapiro and Bobbi
Baker had a shop in Brookline, Massachusetts. Ruthie knew many of the wholesalers in New York and told me some places to go where she was sure
I would get a break-maybe up to half off. For beaded gowns, that means
a lot! I took Margaret up there too. We changed the finale again, because
we couldn't do the same thing when we played the same theater two or
three times. Clooney said, "Fine," and changed a few songs and even got a
few gowns, as did Helen. By now, it was truly time for a new finale, since
we were returning to some of the places we had already played. Margaret
called Tom Hatten. We all knew him from TV and Broadway shows. She
told him we needed a grand finale. He wrote our signature song, "4 Girls
4," and it turned out to be just what the doctor ordered.

Everything fell into place beautifully, but four women on the road
together can bring about its own problems. Helen's favorite little "trouble
starter" was that she'd arrive at the theater and grab the dressing room she
wanted. We had two limos (this was in our contract) that would pick us up
at the hotel and drive us to the theater and then home. Margaret and
Helen went early, because Margaret opened and Helen was second. (We
decided that this order was the best after we played the Fairmont in San
Francisco.) The limo would come for them at 7:00 P.M., and then the limo
would pick Clooney and me up at 7:30. Helen would call the limo at 4:30
and have the driver take her to a restaurant. She had to eat dinner at 5:00
P.M. (She would order the same thing every night: two Tanqueray martinis
straight up; a salad, which she picked at; steak, which she ate maybe a third
of, and a bottle of beer!) She'd have the driver wait for her, then he'd drive
her to the theater, while poor Margaret was waiting at the hotel to be
picked up. Then Margaret would finally take a cab. This happened many
times. I was always the one who tried to straighten things out-it wasn't
easy! We played about four years like that, about twenty weeks a year. We
met some great people: friends of Helen's, friends of Margaret and Clooney,
and friends of mine.

Frankie Ortega was just the best. All of our music was in tip-top
shape and he'd rehearse the band. All we had to do was show up. Frankie
had mentioned it would be great to have either a regular bass player or
drummer on the road with us. Clooney had worked with a drummer named
Jerry White from Tennessee. She found him when she went there for a date
and liked him. She mentioned him to us and Frankie. Jerry met Frankie
and Jerry quickly became part of "the family." Jerry was and is a damn
good musician. As Kay Starr always said, "He keeps good time." When we
played the Regency in Phoenix, I thought it was about time we had a road manager. I called a friend of mine in New York and asked him if he knew
of a good road/stage manager.

He said, "Yes, his name is Allen Sviridoff." He gave me his number
and I called him. The girls thought I was crazy, but I said, "We're a big act,
getting a lot of money-we've got to go in as four stars." We paid for his
fare to Phoenix.

He saw the show and after the show I talked to him and said, "Nobody gets treated in any special way. We're all the same, but it will be up to
you to work with Frankie and Jerry."

He said, "Fine," but I had to convince the girls to go for it. We paid
his salary, as we did for Jerry and Frankie-each of us one-fourth.

Allen was even better than we had expected. We found out that he
had worked with Ginger Rogers and Mitzi Gaynor, so he knew what he
was doing, and it made everything a helluva lot easier for all of us. This is
how it went. Say we had a date in Boston. The three of us who lived in
California would go to the airport and Allen would be waiting for our
bags. He'd tag them and we would go to the lounge. Margaret usually
came in from New York. When we arrived, two limos were waiting; Clooney
and I in one limo, and Helen and Margaret in the other. We'd go to the
hotel and check in. In about a half hour, Allen would knock on my door
and give me my bags-I always had two, one for the theater and one for
the hotel. He would take the theater bag with him and leave my hotel bag.
I also had a big carton we called "Baby" to hold the gowns and the furs; he
would take that to the theater also. He did that with each of us. Frankie
had the music and Jerry had his drums. If there was a rehearsal the next
day, Allen, Jerry and Frankie would go do that. Jerry would set up his
drums, Allen would take care of the lights for all of us and we would show
up for the show-all of the luggage in the right rooms, and so on. Sometimes we'd go over just to see the theater. We could rehearse if we wanted,
but we really didn't have to because Frankie and Jerry took care of that. It
was a perfect way of traveling and working!

Frankie and I did some great bits together and he never knew what I
was going to do, but he was always there. We even worked in bits with
Jerry. It was a solid show. Frankie would play an overture of "Tenderly" for
Clooney, "Tangerine" for Helen, "Rose Marie" for me, and "Moonlight in
Vermont" for Margaret. He'd finish with "There Is Nothing Like a Dame,"
and offstage they would announce, "4 Girls 4.... Ladies and Gentlemen,
Miss Margaret Whiting." Then she would do her act and introduce Helen. During intermission Frankie would play "Satin Doll," the screen would
come down and my "Baby Rose Marie" film would start. After a minute
the lights would go up and the band would pick up the music from the
film. I'd walk out, do my act and introduce Clooney and she would do her
act. Then Margaret would come out again and start the "4 Girls 4" finale.
It was really great.

We had many funny things happen to all of us. We were in Flint,
Michigan, at the Kenley Theater. Margaret had some friends who came in
between shows and they cooked us a gourmet dinner backstage. Margaret
was our goodwill ambassador. When we were in Milwaukee, she would
mention a rib joint every show. They finally called us and said, "Come on
over for ribs-our treat!" Also in Flint, one night Margaret did her show,
followed by Helen, and then me. I noticed some commotion in the back
of the theater. (I see everything when I'm on stage.)

After I was through, Clooney went on, and Allen came backstage
and said, "Well, Roe, you can say you really killed 'em."

I said, "Why?"

He said, "A guy had a heart attack while you were on and they carried him out."

I said, "I knew something was going on."

Margaret said, "At least he saw me!"

Margaret was the shopper of the group. She would find all the good
places to shop. When we were in Cohasset, New York, she found this store.
Everything was wholesale, plus ten percent off. Wonderful merchandise!
Allen, Frankie, and Jerry bought Armani tuxedos. I think they paid one
hundred and ten dollars! And they had a shoe sale too. In addition to being
wholesale, they were on sale. Shoes that were $190 or $175 went for $12.
The most expensive ones were $15! You just can't pass up a thing like that.
We each bought about twenty pairs of shoes. We had a ball!

As I told you, Clooney and Helen had the same birthday, so Margaret and I would throw them a party. Margaret's birthday is July 22, and
mine is August 15, so Clooney and Helen would throw us a party. We had
some great parties-in the weirdest towns! For instance, Allen found a
restaurant outside of Flint, Michigan, that was an old railroad station and
the food was the greatest-talk about gourmet. This was ten-star
gourmet...in Flint?