Welcome to the Routine Rewind series on the Diamond Dolls blog!

We will be taking a look back at some of our past routines and giving them a historical and cultural context covering things from song inspirations, artist highlights, discussing the origins of the dance styles, and more. Join us on the first of every month right here to follow this new series.

This month we are taking a look back at the inspiration behind a few of our routines that feature music and dancing inspired by The Andrews Sisters and the USO Shows.

Singing Sisters from the 1920-1940s

During the early 1930s, three groups were the talk of early radio female harmonizing: The Boswell Sisters, Three X Sisters, and Pickens Sisters. There were also several sister singing groups in sound films that paved the way for The Andrews Sisters: The Pope Sisters, Brox Sisters, and Dandrige Sisters.

The Boswell Sisters (Martha, Connee and Helvetia “Vet”) were a vocal trio from uptown New Orleans during the jazz and swing eras from the mid 1920s to the mid 1930s. They were among radio’s earliest stars! The University of Arizona has a good summary about their musical influences and style:

“In between their radio engagements they did big-time vaudeville and even played the Palace in 1931 and 1932 and starred at the London Palladium in 1933. They were not a particularly visual act due to the fact that Connee had suffered from polio and remained crippled. Thus they were particularly suited to radio or, when they performed, they were usually in position when the curtain opened and Connee would be sitting down often high up on a stool fitted out with side wheels so that she could be wheeled into her place and so that the others could have good microphone balance with her. She always wore a long gown so that her audiences would never see her weak legs or think of her as having a disability.

For a time they were members of the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra but being surrounded by Black jazz musicians influenced their musical style and gave it New Orleans soul so that they became admired by Black musicians as well as white pop aficionados. Apparently they did not think that they were making music history but were simply enjoying playing with music, arranging complex singing parts, creating stop and go parts to their songs whereby they might go fast, then slow, then fast again. They even experimented with Latin rhythms and laid the groundwork for swing music with syncopated beats. Initially, the public did not know what to do with their new sound and they remained largely unknown throughout most of the 1920s.

Because they sung with a Louisiana accent or drawl and slurred their words, some radio listeners thought that they were Black and others were offended by the jumping around of the time signatures of the songs saying that they were destroying conventional popular music. Connee had been the principal musical arranger for the group although each sister participated; she also performed all of the solos.”

According to Wikipedia, “Young Ella Fitzgerald loved the Boswell Sisters and in particular idolized Connee, after whose singing style she patterned her own. The Andrews Sisters started out as imitators of the Boswell Sisters.”

The Boswell Sisters singing Crazy People in 1932

Still of the Pope Sisters from the 1935 Educational Pictures short titled "The Life Of The Party"

Unfortunately, there is limited written information about The Pope Sisters, a Black vocalists group. The Pope Sisters were among the first Black girl/sister groups! Una, Odile, Eoline and Inez began their musical career at an early age singing in their father's orchestra, Pope's Dreamland Serenaders in Mobile, Alabama. In 1933, they went to New York City to find work during the Great Depression. Shortly after their arrival, the sisters first formal engagement was at the Lafayette Theater. They officially became The Pope Sisters and toured through upstate New York, New England and Canada. They also sang with NBC Radio in New York City in nationally broadcast programs, performed on Broadway and appeared on the same stages and were friends with musical celebrities including Duke Ellington. They were featured in several movie shorts by pioneer Black film-maker Oscar Micheaux: Temptation, Underworld, and a short Here's the Gang (1935).

The education website America Comes Alive says:

“Oscar Micheaux was the first Black film director to make a full-length movie. Over the course of his career, he told realistic stories of Black lives, beginning with his first film based on his own book about homesteading. Another substantial credit earned by Micheaux was introducing film newcomer Paul Robeson to the screen....He fearlessly entered the world of filmmaking when the industry was in its infancy.”

A film display of The Pope Sisters is on exhibit at the Museum of Mobile.

Video clips of two performances by The Pope Sisters

Newspaper clipping about The Pope Sisters from January 28, 1933

Photo of The Brox Sisters from https://www.cracklinjane.com/roundtheworld/sisters

Lorayne, Bobbe and Patricia Brock were an American trio of singing sisters, most popular in the 1920s and early 1930s. The family name "Brock" was changed to "Brox" for theater marquees! The Brox Sisters were among the earliest artists to appear on Warner Bros.' Vitaphone sound shorts in the late 1920s. They were featured in three productions: Glorifying the American Song, Down South" (both in 1928), and Headin' South (1929).

Brox Sisters perform in the film Spring is Here 1930

Movie still from the 1938 feature film "Going Places." featuring Dandridge Sisters L to R: Etta Jones, Vivian Dandridge and Dorothy Dandridge.

From 1934-1940, the Dandridge Sisters were a Black vocal trio containing actress Dorothy Dandridge, Vivian Dandridge and Etta Jones. Early on, the trio defeated twenty-five white contestants in an amateur competition on radio station KNX, Los Angeles! According to Last.fm:

“Two years later, the Dandridge Sisters were invited by promoter Joe Glazer to perform at New York's famed Cotton Club, a nightclub that featured Black talent and catered to white audiences. The act was so successful that they were given a spot in the regular program, performing on the same bill as artists Cab Calloway and W. C. Handy. Another act regularly in the line-up was the dynamic dance duo of Fayard Nicholas & his younger brother Harold Nicholas, the Nicholas Brothers. The Dandridge Sisters were in England under the control of Geneva Williams from June to September 1939 in a show at The London Palladium topped by comedian Jack Durant and the Jack Harris Orchestra. They also did other dates around the UK and in Ireland and while in London they recorded the Charlie Shavers tune "Undecided" in July 1939.

At the height of their stardom in 1940, the Dandridge Sisters toured with Big Bandleader Jimmie Lunceford and his orchestra. In June 1940 the Dandridge Sisters recorded four songs with Jimmie Lunceford's band.”

Per IMDB, The Dandridge Sisters' first appearance in a movie wasThe Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935), followed by Easy To Take (1936). The Dandridge Sisters also appeared in feature films singing "Lazy Rhythm" in It Can't Last Forever (1937) and "Alice Blue Gown" in Irene (1940). They may also have performed in the 1940 movie International Revelries.

Dandridge Sisters recorded song “Undecided”

Dandridge Sisters performing the song “Harlem Yodel” from film Snow Gets In Your Eyes - 1938:

Photo 1942: Patty, Maxine, and LaVerne appeared at the Gopher Theater in Give Out, Sisters. Photo appeared in the Times on December 3rd, 1942.// Photo courtesy of Hennepin County Library.

Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne Andrews formed a singing trio when they were teenagers and began performing in vaudeville reviews throughout the Midwest. “Their singing was initially influenced by the New Orleans Jazz style of the Boswell Sisters of New Orleans, but they soon expanded their repertoire to include a wide range of current song types.”

The Boswell Sisters were known for huddling around a microphone but The Andrews Sisters added a new dimension. During breaks in their singing, The Andrews Sisters moved about the stage in rhythm to the music. During the mid-1930s, The Andrews Sisters struggled to establish their reputation as they sang with various bands and for several radio broadcasts. The Andrews Sisters often failed several auditions because of their bold, brassy vocal style. aimed at reproducing the sound of three harmonizing trumpets. Luckily this style eventually paid off.

In 1937, Decca Records hired The Andrews sisters after one of their executives heard their first and only broadcast of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön" (translation: "To Me, You Are Beautiful"), on the program Saturday Night Swing Club. According to Britannica,

“During their first weeks with the label, the sisters made the rather idiosyncratic choice to record a jazz-influenced rendition of the Yiddish song “Bei Mir Bist Du Schön”. The recording was released after Christmas 1937; by New Year’s Eve it had become the most popular song on New York radio stations, and it went on to become the first million-selling record by a female singing group.”

The Andrews Sisters’ rise in popularity coincided with the advent of swing music, and their style fit perfectly into the new trend. An article on Military.com explains:

“Unlike other singing acts, the sisters recorded with popular bands of the 1940s, fitting neatly into the styles of Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Jimmy Dorsey, Bob Crosby, Woody Herman, Guy Lombardo, Desi Arnaz and Russ Morgan. They sang dozens of songs on records with Bing Crosby, including the million-seller "Don't Fence Me In." They also recorded with Dick Haymes, Carmen Miranda, Danny Kaye, Al Jolson, Jimmy Durante and Red Foley.”

The Andrews' popularity led to a contract with Universal Pictures, where they made a dozen low-budget musical comedies between 1940 and 1944. The Andrews Sisters’ fame peaked during World War II (WWII).

WWII: The Birth of USO Shows

The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) supports U.S. military members by “providing them programs and entertainment during their service” from USO centers around the country or on military bases around the world. “The USO works hard to bring a slice of home to those serving abroad and in distant lands.”

Since 1941, some of the country’s best performers have taken the USO stage to entertain troops with music, dancing, and comedy routines.

United Service Organizations, Inc. (USO), formerly United Service Organizations for National Defense, Inc. from 1941–51, is a “private, nonprofit social-service agency first chartered on February 4, 1941, to provide social, welfare, and recreational services for members of the U.S. armed forces and their families.”

Gen. George C. Marshall first proposed the USO in 1940 “to enhance the quality of life and morale of servicemen”. Britannica explains how the USO was established

“by representatives of the Salvation Army, the YMCA, the National Board of the YWCA, the National Jewish Welfare Board, the National Catholic Community Service, and (from March 1941) the Travelers Aid Association of America. USO service clubs and recreational centres began appearing in the summer of 1941, and USO Camp Shows, Inc., was incorporated in November 1941 to provide celebrity entertainment for military commands overseas and at home (especially, later, at veterans’ hospitals). In June 1943 the USO had its peak number of volunteers (739,000) and in March 1944 its peak number of recreational clubs (3,035); in July 1944 it handled 661,000 cases of travelers’ aid.”

America's Soundtrack to WWII: The Andrews Sisters

The Andrews Sisters became favorites of American troops overseas by performing in US shows, landing them the nickname “America’s Wartime Sweethearts”.

During WWII, The Andrews Sisters did a variety of things to entertain the troops and keep morale high including:

Entertained the Allied forces in Africa, Italy, and the U.S.,
Visited multiple types of military bases: Army, Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard bases
Visited war zones, hospitals, and munitions factories
Encouraged U.S. citizens to purchase war bonds with their rendition of Irving Berlin's song "Any Bonds Today?"
Helped actors Bette Davis and John Garfield found California's famous Hollywood Canteen, a welcome retreat for servicemen
Performed and volunteered their personal time to sing and dance for the soldiers, sailors, and Marines at the Hollywood Canteen
Entertained at New York City's Stage Door Canteen
Appeared in wartime themed films

The Andrews Sisters starred in a number of wartime films:

Buck Privates (1941)
In the Navy (1941)
Hold That Ghost (1941)

The Andrews Sisters even had their own series of musical comedies including:

Private Buckaroo (1942)
What’s Cookin’? (1942)
Swingtime Johnny (1943)

Though they had some career interruptions and personal issues until their break up as a group in 1967, they remain one of the most influential and emulated musical groups today.

The Andrews Sisters sing “Three Little Sisters” (1942)

The Andrew Sisters’ dance from the movie Buck Privates that inspired our USO Show Dolls routine.