That would be Patty Andrews, darlings, the one pictured in the middle, and the one I saw, with Maxine (to her left) on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre, back in 1974, in "Over Here!" What a show that was--lavishly staged, a Sherman Brothers score harking back to the Big Band era, and plenty of young up and comers--Ann Reinking, John Travolta, John Driver, and a young lady who was expected to go through the roof, named Janie Sell!!!!!!!! She scored big in this show, winning a TONY Award for her efforts, and then what???????? Several years ago, I read a story on how lesser known actors keep themselves going financially between gigs, and, in the course of this, found out that Janie heads an agency that helps actors find these type of jobs.
But about the Andrews Sisters. During the late Sixties, early Seventies, the country went nostalgia crazy for the 1940s. One of the first ads I remember featured Helen O"Connell, (singing her signature song, "Green Eyes") and mentioning the Andrews Sisters, who were heard to sing "Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree," which captured many members of my generation. I still remember a high school assembly--it must have been Spring of 1972, where Debbie Fisher, Ellen Holdowksy, and Jane Levine, got up in 40s outfits, and did this song in harmony!!!!!! They were fabulous, and the student body went wild!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
La Verne, the oldest, died in 1967. Maxine, the middle, died in 1995., while Patty made it to 94, dying yesterday at her home, in Los Angeles, of natural causes!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With her gone, another indicator of the end of an era!!!!!!!! So, girls, get out your skirts and bobby sox this evening, and twirl to the Andrews Sisters sound!!!!!!!!! It will never be forgotten!!!!!!!
Or else do the "Huckle Buck" with the still surviving Teresa Brewer!!!!!!!!!!!!
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