LONG BEACH PRESS-TELEGRAM
September 22, 1951
She Plays Piano, Too!
Beach Singer, Composer Making ‘Name’ Via Video
SEAL BEACH, Sept. 22. For the entertainment of herself and her family, blonde, charming Miss Cynthia Strother, 16, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Rex Strother, 232 Fifth St., composes her own songs–then employs her voice and keyboard skill to perform them.
Cynthia’s Huntington Beach Union High School classmates joined her family in persuading her to audition for a place on Peter Potter’s televised “Search for a Song” program. Much to her amazement, Cynthia is now booked for three featured appearances playing and singing her own songs before the video cameras and a studio audience of song publishers. As a result of the audition, one of her songs already has been recorded by Frankie Laine.
On Sept. 26 the young composer will present “The Waiting Song.” On Oct. 31 she will introduce “Nino Toreador.”
* * * * *
POST AND WAVE
January 18, 1952
Bell Sisters Prepare for TV Shows; “Bermuda” Top Tune in So. Calif.
Wardrobe planning is spotlighting the Strother household, 232 Fifth Street these days, as Cynthia and Kay prepare for their scheduled television and radio appearances.
Mr. and Mrs. Strother took the two girls into Hollywood Monday for fittings. Their wardrobes have created somewhat of a problem, due to the difference in the girls’ age and size, but they have reached a satisfactory solution by deciding on simple, interchangeable costumes, cut on similar lines, according to Mrs. Strother.
Their next scheduled appearance will be on the Frank Sinatra Television Show from 5 to 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, January 22.
Two scheduled appearances are slated for some time in February. The girls will appearance on the Alan Young TV show and again on the big show which stars Tallulah Bankhead. Definite dates for these two appearances have not as yet been announced.
Peter Potter, who was instrumental in giving the girls their “big break” on his “Search for a Song” program, announced this week that 78,000 records of their song “Bermuda” have been sold in Southern California, with sheet music selling so fast that music stores find it hard to keep a supply on hand. “Tops in Pops” gave the song seventh place on its choice of Songs of the Week.
Cynthia and Kay will be known professionally as the Bell Sisters, having taken their mother’s maiden name, which their parents and agent felt, would be much easier to pronounce and remember.
DOWN BEAT
January 25, 1952
The Hollywood Beat
TWO COAST KIDS, 16 AND 11, MAY CLICK ON 1ST RECORD
by Hal Holly
Hollywood — How many thousands of people are there around this town-or any town-who have been trying for years without success to hear themselves sing on a major record label, or any label? How many have been trying for years without a nibble to see one of their songs published and hear it sing on a major record label-or any label?
We don’t know either; we only know it’s news when a couple of kids, one 16 and one 11, have both of those things happen to them simultaneously, so step up and meet the Bell Sisters, whom you very likely will have heard by now on Victor’s Bermuda and June Night, backed by a studio ork under RCA-Victor’s Hollywood headman, conductor-arranger Henri Rene.
Real Name
It can be noted on the label of Bermuda that the songwriter credit goes to Cynthia Strother. Strother is the real name of the Bell Sisters; Cynthia is the 16-year-old member of the duo.
Anyone who has sat through one of these amateur songwriter shows on TV or radio and wondered whether anything ever happened to the aspiring amateurs will be interested to know that what happened to the Strother kids happened on Peter Potter’s KNXT show, Search for a Song.
Cynthia, who plays piano by ear, says she put together Bermuda, with some help from mother, “just for fun.” She and her sisters, Kay, 11, and Sharon, 14, entertain themselves by performing as a trio. Someone suggested they submit the song to Potter for presentation on his show.
Too Busy
But the night they were to appear, Sharon was too busy with other matters (“All she can think of is boyfriends,” volunteers 11-year-old Kay), so the Strother Sisters, soon to become the Bell Sisters, went on the show as a duo instead of a trio.
Then things happened fast. The representative of a publishing company, who was one of the judges that night, spotted Bermuda immediately as a potential hit. He also spotted the Strother Sisters as a couple of unusually personable youngsters with something very marketable in the way of vocal styling.
He took them to Victor, and Rene put them and their song on wax as fast he could turn out an arrangement and assemble a band.
Contribution
Rene, whose instrumental backing undoubtedly contributed greatly to the early success of the Bell Sisters first record says, “I tried not to influence their natural style in any way. I told them to sing just the way they sing for fun around the house. If they go over as big as we think they will, it will be due to the freshness and simplicity of their manner.”
And all we have to say is that if the Bell Sisters first record sells a million copies and these kids turn out to be the new music stars of 1952, it’s okay with us.
NEWSWEEK
February 18, 1952, Page 90
Bermuda Belles
Down in Bermuda, paradise for two,
I lost my lover there on the blue.
We went sailing on a coral sea,
Starlit waters, my darling and me.
The composer of this mournful ditty never saw Bermuda – nor was ever influenced by the equivalent of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce. She is 16-year-old Cynthia Strother, now of Seal Beach, Calif., but born in Kentucky. The nearest Cynthia ever came to the coral islands of Bermuda was a look at some travel folders her mother sent away for – after her song “Bermuda” was already written and published.
Cynthia explained her magnum opus – currently a top favorite with the disk jockeys all over the country and climbing on the popularity polls – in this way: “It happened after school a year and a half ago,” she said. “I was playing the piano. I like Spanish music best and was beating out Spanish tempo on the piano. I just got the idea and went through with it, until it was finished. Then we all got together to write the words. We got Indian ideas and a Spanish bullfighter idea. Then somebody said ‘Bermuda’ and we liked that.”
A pert, poised blonde, Cynthia is better known to the public as one half of the Bell Sisters, whose RCA Victor record of “Bermuda” is a best-seller. The other half of the team is her sister Kay, aged 11, who sang the song with Cynthia last fall on a Los Angeles (KNXT) television show called Peter Potter’s Search for a Song (CBS). Represented on the professional panel judging the efforts of the amateur song writers was the Goday Music Corp., which agreed to publish the tune. Out of their audition record came the RCA Victor recording. The name Bell Sisters came from the girls’ mother’s maiden name – Edith Bell.
There are seven Strother children; Cynthia is the eldest. “We all want to go to college,” says Cynthia, and the money from “Bermuda” will help finance that ambition. Her immediate aim, however, “is a Cadillac for myself, to finish high school with. I’d like to get one – colored metallic purple.”
THE COURIER-JOURNAL MAGAZINE
Sunday, March 2, 1952; Pages 6-7
RHYTHM vs. ‘RITHMETIC
The Bell Sisters from Kentucky, whose “Bermuda” song made them suddenly popular, have had to turn down several guest spots on television: schoolwork comes first
By Bobbe Manley
Down in Bermuda, paradise for two, I lost my lover — there on the blue . . . Unquote.
Those haunting and melancholy lyrics, accompanied by an equally haunting melody, were written by a 16-year-old California high-school girl who calls Kentucky home. Cynthia Strother and her 11-year-old sister Kay are rapidly rising to fame as the newest recording artists for R.C.A.-Victor, since the recent release of “Bermuda.”
They are known professionally as the Bell Sisters; they took their mother’s maiden name.
Cynthia was born in Harlan, Ky., and Kay in Cynthiana. Their parents are native Kentuckians.
Their mother, the former Edith Marie Bell, was born in Paducah, but later moved to Ashland. She attended school there and later went to the University of Kentucky. The maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Oran Bell, still reside in Ashland.
Gene Strother, father of the talented youngsters, is the son of Mrs. R.W. Strother of Carlisle, but he, too, moved to Ashland while still in school. He was on the first-string team of the famous Ashland Tomcats, basketballers who won the national championship at Chicago in 1928. His brother, C.E. Strother, lives in Ashland.
Though neither Cynthia nor Kay has ever had any formal musical education, they come by their talent naturally enough. During her days at the University of Kentucky, Mrs. Strother was a member of a singing trio and a violinist.
In addition to Cynthia and Kay, there are four other girls and one boy in the Strother family: Sharon, 14; Judy, 9; Paula, 8; Rex, 7, and Alice, 5.
Dad Strother (who admits to answering when addressed as Mr. Bell) comes from a large family who were all musically inclined. He attended Ohio State University, and later played pro baseball for seven years on the minor-league farm teams of the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates. He now is with North American Aviation at Downey, Cal.
The Strothers live in their own home at Seal Beach. Cynthia is in the junior class at Huntington High School and Kay goes to the Seal Beach Elementary School.
The overnight success of the girls is almost phenomenal.
Cynthia had been banging on a piano for as long as the family can remember, though it was all done on friends’ pianos. Three years ago, a neighbor gave her one of her own and she started picking out original tunes.
“Bermuda” got her on Peter Potter’s television show, “Search for A Song,” and won for her the first prize four consecutive times.
On the last occasion, Kay joined her sister in presenting their version of “Bermuda.” On the judges’ panel that night was music publisher Artie Valando of the Goday Music Corporation, who immediately bought the song and had a dub record made of the girls’ rendition. He got them an audience with Henri Rene, orchestra leader and R.C.A.-Victor’s West Coast director, who signed them for the record. Rene backs them orchestrally in both Cynthia’s tune and the flip side, “June Night.”
Much of the rapid success of “Bermuda” resulted from the efforts of Peter Potter. He used his influence with disc jockeys throughout the country to plug the record at every opportunity, although he receives no revenue from any of the songs he airs.
Rene allows the girls to work out their own arrangements with no professional assistance. He then sometimes suggests changes, and the style is copied on a “lead sheet” for orchestration. When both orchestra and the girls have mastered the arrangement decided on, they get down to the real business of making the record. This is a long, tedious operation: to record “Bermuda” took over three hours, “June Night” one hour.
In Variety magazine’s list of top recorded tunes for the week ending February 16, “Bermuda,” released in mid-December, was in sixth place nationally.
It was No. 1 in sales in Los Angeles for several weeks but now has dropped out of the first-10 list there. However, in Variety’s regional rankings, Washington, D.C., puts it in No. 1 spot and Cincinnati and Cleveland list it in second place.
Dave Capp, head of R.C.A.’s New York office, personally went to the West Coast to supervise the handling of the Bell Sisters’ newest disc, “Poor Whip-Poor-Will” and “Wheel of Fortune.” Again, Rene and his orchestra accompanied.
Cynthia, who has a library of 12 other unpublished compositions, is a swimming champion, was one of the princesses on the Seal Beach float in the Rose Bowl parade at Pasadena, and does clever pen-and-ink sketches in her spare time.
Mrs. Strother promptly dismisses any suggestion that the morbid theme of the music and lyrics fo “Bermuda” was the result of a sad romance in the life of her young daughter. To any such inquiries her reply is, “It was just a phase Cynthia was going through — and a vivid imagination.”
On January 22, the Bell Sisters made their formal debut on television as guest performers on the Frank Sinatra show. They were on Dina Shore’s program on February 5. Many of their TV invitations had to be declined because of school — which always comes first. If it is a question of rhythm or ‘rithmetic, the ‘rithmetic comes out on top!
Through all this fame and fortune, however, the little Strother girls remain unspoiled, though Kay claims that some of her schoolmates “think I am stuck-up.” She continues her activities with Girl Scout Troop No. 5 of Seal Beach, of which her mother is troop leader. Cynthia maintains her popularity with her fellow teen-agers at Huntington High, and keeps writing to servicemen in Korea.
While being costumed for a TV performance, Cynthia and Kay discovered a fellow Kentuckian in the person of Mrs. Maza Daugherty Beuchel, head of the Meyers Costume Company and a native of Mount Sterling.
When school is out in the spring, the Strothers, all nine of them, plan to make their annual trip to Kentucky. After visiting relatives from Paducah to Ashland, they will go on to New York for personal appearances and TV commitments.
LONG BEACH PRESS-TELEGRAM
Sunday, March 23, 1952, Pages X, 5
Two Seal Beach sisters started it all by warbling in the dishwater. Now radio and television fans everywhere are exclaiming: HOW THOSE BELLS DO SING!
By Ben Zinser
Despite the fact the Bell Sisters’ musical talent suddenly has shoved them into the spotlight of the entertainment world, the youthful songbirds haven’t lost sight of earlier ambitions.
The girls, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. E.R. Strother, 232 Fifth, Seal Beach, have ideas of getting some plac ein a hurry — and music doesn’t necessarily figure in their plans.
Sixteen-year-old Cynthia Strother, the older of the pair, wants to be an airplane pilot. She understands that women are to be used as airline freight pilots in the future — and that’s for her.
“I’m definitely interested in flying,” says Cynthia, a junior at Huntington Beach High School and composer of “Bermuda,” a tune among the tops of the pops in the Variety polls. “But I’m interested in becoming a doctor, too,” says the pretty, sophisticated blonde. “Biology is my favorite study in school.”
Airplanes are for squares, thinks 11-year-old Kay, Cynthia’s partner on the singing team. Kay will take rocket ships anytime.
“I don’t know whether I would want to be aboard the first rocket ship,” says chubby, fidgety Kay, “but I’d like to be on the next one. I like science.”
Kay, however, will settle for less. “I want to be on the Space Patrol program on television. I like this acting business,” says the sixth-grader.
But aircraft and space ships will have to wait. The girls’ air travel currently is restricted to radio and television. Anyway, there’s the business of their first train trip. They’ll take it this month when they travel to San Francisco for a recording of a Bing Crosby show which will be broadcast April 2. They also had a guest spot on the Bob Hope show in San Diego this month.
The Bell Sisters (they use their mother’s maiden name on the air and on recordings) are really living.
Since they started singing professionally, they have made more than 30 excursions to Hollywood. The radio people put them up in the Ambassador Hotel one evening recently to spare them the long trek back to Seal Beach. It was the first time they ever had been in a hotel.
“Gee, we had more fun,” recalls Cynthia, who forgets how to be sophisticated when she gets excited. “We pulled out all the dresser drawers and looked in them.”
And since they became the Bell Sisters they visited their first beauty parlor.
“We’re going to get our first airplane ride, too,” puts in Kay. “It’ll be the first time we’ve ever been out of the country.”
“That’s right,” says Cynthia. “We’ve been invited to Bermuda, all expenses paid, during the Easter vacation. Guess we’ll go if we can find time.”
“Bermuda,” the tune that started the girls toward stardom, is the work of Cynthia, who can’t read a note of music. She and Kay sang it over KNXT, television, last fall on Peter Potter’s Search for a Song program. It became a hit.
There almost were three Bell Sisters, incidentally. Another of the seven Strother childrne, 14-year-old Sharon, formerly sang around the house with Cynthia and Kay, but as Cynthia explains it, “Sharon had a date that night, and besides she had the laryngitis.” Is Sharon jealous? Not a bit. She’s her sisters’ biggest fan.
Henri Rene, RCA Victor repertoire director, is responsible for giving the girls their start. “They sound like two Frankie Laines,” he told his superiors.
Variety Magazine says the Bell Sisters “sing in a much more matured fashion than expected of their age.” Billboard Magazine writes that “their clipped phrasing and drive could stir up lots of action.” Billboard adds that “Bermuda” is “an exciting and striking performance of an unusual Jezebel-ish piece of material.”
The Strother girls, says their mother, got their start singing by warbling to pass away the time while doing the dishes.
“We didn’t develop our singing style until ‘Bermuda,’” Cynthia explains. “It went over so well we’ve tried to keep it.”
Current recordings also include “Hambone,” done with Phil Harris; “Wheel of Fortune,” “Poor Whip Poor Will” and “June Night.”
Cynthia has composed several other songs besides “Bermuda,” and these now are in the hands of Rene for study. Surprisingly, Cynthia prefers classical music. When she composes, she pecks out her ideas on a piano (by ear) and then memorizes the tune. Recently she acquired a tape recorder to save wear and tear on the memory.
Meanwhile the fan mail continues to pour in. Both Dad and Mother help answer it since Cynthia is busy with school activities (she recently swam in a Huntington Beach water show) and Kay has her Girl Scout troop to keep her occupied.
The girls plan an eastern tour this summer, and more recordings are on the agenda. They want to continue singing but college also constitutes a big part of their plans.
“I’d like to go to Berkeley, but I hear Stanford is good, too,” says Cynthia.
“I think college would be awful hard,” says Kay, thinking out loud.
Success hasn’t changed the routine greatly in the Strother household other than that a baby-sitter is required more often because of the frequent Hollywood trips. In addition to Cynthia, Kay and Sharon there are Judy, 9; Paula, 8; Rex, 7, and Alice, 5.
Father Strother, an electrician for North American Aviation in Downey, is extremely proud of his daughters, of course, but still finds time to scan the baseball standings in the papers. He was a professional ballplayer for seven years.
Thrilled most by it all is the mother, who enjoys company and loves her neighbors, all of whom are immensely interested in the success of the Bell Sisters.
“Everyone comes over at the oddest hours to get caught up on the news,” disclosed Mrs. Strother with a twinkle in her eye. And then she threaded her way through a roomful of happy, chattering youngsters to answer the doorbell.
* * * * *
GRIT (Women’s Section)
April 6, 1952
Musical Duo:
Hit Record “Bermuda” Launches Girls’ Career
Singing and playing the piano, the “Bell Sisters,” as they are known professionally, have begun a musical career by composing and recording their own songs.
The sisters, Cynthia, 16, and Kay Strother, 11, of Seal Beach, Cal., have invaded Tin Pan Alley.
Cynthia, who usually contributes the melody, has been playing the piano for years. Three years ago she began picking out original tunes on the keyboard. Soon she had written a number of songs and, with Kay’s help, figured out the vocal arrangements.
One of the songs, “Bermuda,” was auditioned by a Los Angeles disk jockey. He liked it and consequently put Kay and Cynthia–and the song–on the air. A music publisher heard the girls sing “Bermuda,” and was impressed both with the song and the singing.
Arranges Audition
He arranged an audition for the girls with Henri Rene, who had the piece recorded. More than 200,000 records have been sold, and the sale still is going strong.
The Bell Sisters–they took their mother’s maiden name–are successful singers too. They are the youngest performers on the roster of one of the major record companies. When the girls put their towheads together and begn harmonizing, they produce what some consider the most unusual musical sounds on records.
In writing the songs, Cynthia sings the melody to the entire family. There are four sisters other than Cynthia and Kay, and one brother. The mother and father and the children suggest ideas for the tune and words for the lyrics.
This family co-operation in writing the songs has paid off. In addition to receiving a sizable sum of money for their first record, the girls have launched a song-writing career which is expected to take them to the very top.
EAST SAN DIEGO, CALIF. PRESS
May 30, 1952
Hilo Hattie, Bell Sisters, Spade Cooley to Appear in S.D. County Fair Shows
A star-studded array of free entertainment for the 10 days and nights of the San Diego County Fair, to be staged at Del Mar from June 27 through July 6, was announced this week by Manager Paul T. Mannen.
Continuing the Fair’s highly successful policy of free outdoor stage shows, Mannen has booked a diversified complement of big time names, headed by the Bell Sisters, the nation’s newest and youngest juke box raves.
Opening attraction for the afternoon and evening presentations on the big, portable stage in front of the grandstand will be Ina Ray Hutton and her famed all-girl TV cast. Hilo Hattie, the inimitable Hawaiian comedienne of song, and her troupe will take over the following day, June 28.
Spade Cooley, the “King of Western Swing,” who won the applause of Fair visitors last summer in two engagements, will return for appearances the first Sunday afternoon and evening with his complete TV cast and orchestra.
A change of pace is planned for the next three days–Monday, June 30, through Wednesday, July 2–when an all-star rodeo, featuring many of the big names in the art of riding bucking horses, Brahma bulls and roping steers, will be presented in a special rodeo arena.
“Fiestacade of 1952,” the Fair’s big musical revue, will occupy the main stage for the final four days–July 3 through 6. It will headline the Bell Sisters, Cynthia, 16, and Kay, 12, who have climbed to the top of the entertainment world in the past six months.
Since recording Cynthia’s composition “Bermuda,” which has sold mroe than 800,000 records, the girls, who are from Seal Beach, have scored repeat successes with “Rutza-Rutza” and “Wheel of Fortune.” Their showing here will climax their first personal appearance tour, although they are veterans of the Frank Sinatra and Dinah Shore TV programs and the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope radio shows.
appearing with the Bells will be Nick Lucas, “The Singing Troubador”; Bob WIlliams and “Einstein,” one of the great dog acts in show business; a talented chorus line and other big time acts.
LIFE
June 16, 1952, Pages 55, 56, 58
Singing Sisters of Seal Beach
The Bell girls, 16 and 12, make music at home, big money away
The four-room bungalow at Seal Beach, Calif., where an electrician named Strother lives with his wife and seven children, is bursting with music and girls. All of the Strothers’ six daughters play the piano, the marimba or the harmonica or sing. Two of the girls, Cynthia, 16, and Kay, 12, have carried their musical activities away from home and, as the Bell Sisters, have become the hottest new sister team in the record business.
Success began when Cynthia, who composes as well as sings, wrote a song called Bermuda (left) which was recorded last year after she and Kay did it on an amateur TV talent show. They have recorded six more songs, the latest of which is Rutza, Rutza. The girls have recently been guests on shows with Crosby, Sinatra and Hope (p. 56). Next month they will sing at the San Diego County Fair, and then come to New York and Chicago movie theaters where their weekly salary will be around $4,000. Meanwhile they still sing as they cook, wash and iron around the house with their sisters, untouched by fame except that Cynthia would someday like to own “a metallic purple Cadillac.”
The Two Harmonize with Hope
A few weeks ago Kay and Cynthia went on a junket to San Francisco with Bob Hope to appear on his TV show at Fort Scott (above) and at a high school auditorium (below). They breezed through their parts completely unawed. Accustomed to singing anywhere – at home, at school, at parties – they have not the slightest idea what stage fright is.
SEVENTEEN
July 1952; Pages 82-83, 93.
BERMUDA RINGS THE BELL!
The Bell Sisters, Cynthia and Kay, have turned the pop record world topsy-turvy with their gay music making
By Edwin Miller and Sara Salzer
A few months ago, the Bell sisters were, actually, sixteen-year-old Cynthia and twelve-year-old Kay of Huntington Beach, California, a couple of the Strother girls so far as the neighborhood knew. They were known to have four sisters, a brother and a cocker spaniel named Puddy, and their house was much like any other in the block. There was one big difference, though. That was the way the Strothers entertained themselves. Pop Strother is an electrician in a North American Aircraft plant, and feeding, sheltering, clothing seven youngsters doesn’t leave a lot of folding money for amusement-spending. As a result, the Strothers had to make their own entertainment, and that’s the way it all started.
Her parents always played the guitar and sang with each other, but Cynthia turned out to be the spark plug of the family. From the time she was three, she banged away on any piano she could find and eventually learned to play by ear. A few years ago a neighbor presented Cynthia with an old piano, and she rapidly began to compose original tunes.
Cynthia played and the family sat around the living room making up lyrics to her tunes. Sister Kay harmonized with Cynthia to demonstrate the finished product to the family circle. Sharon, the fourteen-year-old sister, in between Cynthia and Kay, sings too. And young Paula, age eight, is a great one for mimicry and dancing.
A couple of years ago, a friend of Cynthia’s went overseas with the Marines; she wrote Waiting as a result. Next came Bermuda. None of the Strothers have ever been to the coral island, but someone came up with the title after hearing her play what she calls her “Spanish-type” tune on the piano. The family worked out lyrics, deciding which phrases to use by a majority vote. The song itself was written about a year and a half ago. Nothing was done with it until her father suggested to Cynthia that she try to get a hearing for Bermuda on a Los Angeles CBS-TV show run by a well-known Los Angeles disk jockey, Peter Potter.
His Search for a Song program presents the songs of amateur song-writers for criticism by a board of experts. Cynthia tried three times for an audition; the night she finally made it, Arthur Valando, a song publisher, was on the board of experts. Bermuda intrigued him and he had Cynthia and Kay make a demonstration record, singing their own song.
He took it to a friend, artists’ manager Charles Alpert, and together they called on recording companies, radio stations, anyone they could get to listen to it. When they played the text recording for Henri Rene’, West Coast Artist and Repertoire Director for RCA Victor, they found someone as enthusiastic as they were.
Rene’ decided that not only did he like the song — but he was enchanted with the youthful exuberance of the girls’ vocalizing. He signed them to a contract and had them sing it themselves. Before the record was releaed, it was felt that Strother was too difficult a “professional” name, so the girls adopted their mothers’ maiden name, Bell, instead. Copies went out to the disk jockeys and jukeboxes and it soon developed into a smash hit. (This is even more impressive when you realize that of more than a thousand songs auditioned on Peter Potter’s show, only thirty-eight have been published, and a mere twelve recorded. And Bermuda is the only hit!)
Of course, the girls are having a fine time. Kay’s eyes light with excitement when she tells about the big Girl Scout program where she and Cynthia sang their song. “Imagine, three thousand Girl Scouts were listening to us!”
It has its drawbacks too, amusing ones, mostly. Cynthia, a junior at high school, found for a while that boys were afriad to call for a date! “I think they felt that I was ‘different’ somehow.” And sixth-grade Kay thought that some of her friends decided she was “stuck-up” but now that the novelty has worn off, things are pretty much the same as before.
Successo, of course, has brought nice things, too. The Strothers hope that the royalties, from the sale of the records and sheet-music, will permit them to move into Los Angeles and buy a larger house.
The girls have been excited by appearing on radio and television shows with Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore and Frank Sinatra. They’ve made several new records, one of Wheel of Fortune backed by Poor Whip-Poor-Will, another Phil Harris called Hambone and, more recently, a novelty, Rutza-Rutza. But school continues as usual.
After Cynthia finishes at Huntington Beach High, she plans to go to the University of California and study aviation engineering; she wants to be a test pilot.
Kay goes to Seal Beach Elementary School. She still gets a little embarrassed when she’s asked to sing in public. Her favorite occupation is “making things grow.” she loves gardening, and her hope is that one day the Strothers will be able to move to a farm “with plenty of horses.” She enjoys singing with Cynthia, but she gets bewildered when people ask her if she wants to grow up to be a “girl singer.”
No one of the family hazards what the future will bring fo the girls. Their agent, Alpert, believes that the Bell Sisters will have a permanent career in the music world. Besides the several songs they’ve recorded, movie contracts are a possibility. The girls intend to take professional lessons — not for singing, but to acquire stage presence and a few of the tricks of public presentation that every professional has to know.
As time goes on, if the Bell Sisters continue to sing pop songs with the same spontaneous, enthusiastic spirit they’ve put across on their first records — and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t — they may find that singing and song-writing can be just as much fun as flying an airplane or planting tomatoes.
When you come to think of it, the Seven Dwarfs (of Snow White fame) whistled while they worked; Cynthia and Kay can always look forward to singing while they work, and perhaps, working while they sing!
THE END
VARIETY
July 16, 1952; Vol. 187, Pg. 118
BELL SISTERS (2)
Songs
20 Mins.
Last Frontier, Las Vegas
Taking advantage of skyrocketing record sales of the two Bell Sisters, arrangements were made to follow up with personal appearance tour, with mecca of Vegas as first stop. Youngsters were taught rudiments of stage deportment by Ray Gilbert, who also cleffed some specials for the act. Results of the intensive five weeks’ training show up very well, as Kay, aged 12, and Cynthia, 16, handle their stint capably.
Although the lassies tend at times to look and warble like automatons, ease is bound to come with more appearances. Kay skips on attired in pink pedal pushers, and big sis Cynthia looks the part of a perfect sweet 16 in her deb gown. Waste no time chirping a “Hello” ditty, which contains lyrics about who they are and why they are here. Double harmony on “Boo Hoo” and “Wheel of Fortune” displays kids’ trademark, mouthing and extra emphasis on rhythmic pronunciation. Kay works up some yocks in a special sketch as big sis acts out part of long suffering elder in the family. Youngest Bell has quite a flair for comedy.
Followup is “Poor Whippoorwill,” and “Rutz, Rutza,” before intro of song explaining “how we began.” This fires up more expert albeit somewhat precocious comedy by Kay, before reprise of their dislick, “Bermuda.” Another carbon of a platter, this their most recent for RCA Victor, “Hang Out the Stars,” has “Blue Danube Waltz” as melody base. Special “Goodbye” whirls pair off to resounding ovation.
Looks like the Bells will ring in any medium. Will.
JACK CORTEZ’ FABULOUS LAS VEGAS MAGAZINE
July 19, 1952
The Watchbird … by Lady Michael (Michael Neale) / Column
The BELL SISTERS will join NAT KING COLE at the Downtown Paramount at L.A. on August 1st. These refreshing youngsters are the cutest act we’ve seen in a long time, and for their short time in the business, they sure are hip! During the show one night CYNTHIA slapped KAY on the back and noticed she kept rubbing it during their entire act. “Did I hurt you when I hit you?” Cynthia asked when they got off the floor. “No,” replied Kay with her impish gleam, “I was just milking the audience!”
Last Frontier (first text is cut off, says “Continued from Page 18”)
… the opening song of greeting to the closing number of “thanks.” The girls sing with a naturalness that is refreshing and infectious to the point of immediate adoration. KAY, the youngest, plays the “little sister” to the hilt for laughs and appeal. Her innocence, to the point of scratching her nose during a love lyric, charms the audience to complete relaxation. CYNTHIA, a lovely young lady, is understanding enough to tolerate Kay’s teasing. After all, what can a child know about the problems of an adolescent old enough to notice boys but too young to wear high heels? Their selection of songs, combined with their harmony, humility of presentation, and innocence means but one thing … “Stardom!”
CURRENT EVENTS – This Week in Montreal
August 15, 1952, Page 11
Seville Theater
Two ‘teen-agers whose songs have impressed audiences three times their age, Kay and Cynthia Bell, come straight from Los Angeles’ Paramount to play the Seville this week. At 12 and 16, respectively, they’ve made an instant hit as a song duo in the U.S. Also presented for your approval are a novelty dance team, Christine and Moll, adagio experts The Three Glens, Comic Roy Beson, and Jean and Stanley Kayne, adept at mimicry. “Her Husband’s Affair” and news shots of the Olympic Games provide the screen fare, with Charles Tyrell as singing m.c.
RENO – This Week
September 5, 1952
Bell Sisters appear on front cover of magazine
Re-Vues & Pre-Vues
MERT WERTHEIMER’S Riverside Casino features the two young ladies who have scored their heaviest hit by their writing and singing of the top tune, “Bermuda.” They are the justly famous and popular Bell Sisters, four times guest stars on the Bing Crosby show, whose personal appearances with Bob Hope, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra and a host of others in both radio and television have won for them loud praise from performers and public alike. Cynthia, 16, and Kay, 13, are probably the youngest duo to score the success they have enjoyed. This is their initial appearance in Reno.
Buddy Hackett, one of the top comics of the night clubs, known as “the comedian’s comedian,” and Paul Sydell and his performing dogs round out a well balanced and entirely different show.
DOWN BEAT
September 10, 1952; Pg. 22
Bell Sisters, Paramount Theater, Los Angeles
California’s Cinderella kids, Cynthia and Kay (16 and 11 respectively) of Huntington Beach [sic], Calif., refreshing and appealing as they are, didn’t register as solidly on this, their first theater date, as many expected. The “sound” (and spontaneity) so notably presented on their Bermuda, the disc that brought them to public attention, was not so evident here.
One reason is that it’s not so easy to achieve such effects outside the recording studio and without the supervision of RCA-Victor’s able West Coast music head, Henri Rene. This is not intended as a reflection on backing supplied by the Dick Pierce band on this date, which was as good as could be expected on a hastily assembled stage presentation.
Aside from the above, and making due allowance for fact that this comment is based on their very first show of the run, the youngsters are just not ready for the big time, particularly on a bill, as they were here with the redoubtable Nat Cole. Nevertheless, they have real talent (and a flair for comedy). With the right coaching and proper handling they might go far.
VARIETY
September 17, 1952; Vol. 188, Pg. 64
Riverside, Reno
Reno, Sept. 9
Bell Sisters, Buddy Hackett, Paul Sydell, Riverside Starlets (8), Bill Clifford Orch: no cover or minimum
The Bells first tolled with a recording success, “Bermuda,” and have been doing well because of it ever since. With a packet of numbers which sound somewhat the same and end ditto, the Bell Sisters do well because they are talented youngsters. Anyone who wouldn’t applaud enthusiastically for them is either too analytical or hates kids. They are well received, regardless of the reasons, or whether or not anyone realizes exactly why.
George Moro has built a little production opener for the Sisters — the Starlets in cheerleader type costumes, sweaters and brief skirts, and sunglasses plus little hats. After a cute jitterbug, they intro Cynthia and Kay Bell.
Their first is “Hello,” a bright little song, and follow with “Drip Drop,” a nice arrangement with a bit of “Boo Hoo” tossed in and appreciatively recognized. “Wheel of Fortune,” “Poor Whippoorwill” and “Rutza Rutza” are mixed smartly with their clicks, “Bermuda” and “Hang Out the Stars.”
Costuming of the act is a bit perplexing. Cynthia, growing up fast, looks about 19 in ballerina skirt and high heels, with a mature hairdo. Kay has been stuck in pedal pushers, or something like Alice in Wonderland, and has not only been held to her 13 years but pushed back about five. It looks like a frameup against Kay and for an effect that has no value to the act.
“Rutza Rutza” picks up with a little dance by the two. All numbers end with a sustained cresendo buildup, the pair rearing back, arm in arm, heads together, embracing the crowd.
Immediately preceeding them is new comic to the west, Buddy Hackett, a roly-poly, innocent looking guy who gets his chatter over with his pan, which brings laughs without a word. The material, however, is not so innocent. He has had the good taste to tone down his first shows, which because of the Bells are full of kids. He still gets away with quite a bit. It is fast, hwoever, and probably skims the heads of the young set.
[Article continues to describe the acts of Buddy Hackett, Paul Sydell and Riverside Starlets.]
WESTERN LIVING AND HOME EXPOSITION
September 27 – October 5, 1952
Civic Auditorium, San Francisco
Official Souvenir Program
The Bell Sisters
The Bell Sisters of Seal Beach, California are the youngest members of the RCA Victor-artist family to be approaching one million disc sales class.
Cynthia is 16 years old and Kay is a normal 12 years old, who likes dolls and is an active member of the Girl Scouts.
Neither Cynthia or Kay have had any formal musical or vocal training. Their harmonies and stylings are completely original. No one coaches them. They simply work out a song style together.
Cynthia plays the piano and composes music, and writes song lyrics. Her big success was her composition and lyrics for “Bermuda.” Henri Rene of RCA Victor heard the song and the Bell Sisters’ rendition of it and signed the girls for diskery. Sales of the Bell Sisters’ “Bermuda” platter is now passing the 800,000 mark.
Cynthia and Kay have also recorded “Wheel of Fortune,” “Hambone” and their new release is “Rutza-Rutza,” sung on a recent Bing Crosby show.
* * * * *
SCHOLASTIC ROTO
January 1953, Page 1 (Cover)
They’re Breaking Records While Making Records!
To the record industry, they’re the youngest duo ever signed to a contract.
To millions of music fans, they’re the girls behind the hit recording of “Bermuda.”
To the people around Seal Beach, Cal., they’re two attractive girls, members of a large, happy family.
To their neighbors and classmates, Cynthia and Kay Strother … but to the nation at large, they’re the Bell Sisters. Cynthia, slim 17-year-old student at Huntington Beach High, is the sparkplug of the team. She has the respect of the music world because she is not only a featured voalist but also composed the words and music for “Bermuda.” Kid sister Kay is 12. The girls took their mother’s maiden name, Bell, for professional purposes.
“They sound like two Frankie Laines”
Cynthia has been banging on the piano and composing her own tunes as long as the family can remember. When she and Kay improvise vocals, “they sound like two Frankie Laines.”
The calm of the Strother household was ruffled when all this “Bermuda” business began. Cynthia won a prize on Peter Potter’s Los Angeles TV show for writing the best song. She made three more appearances on the show. A music publisher heard her and Kay, was impressed and got them a hearing with Henri Rene, West Coast RCA Victor man. Rene signed them to a contract and helped them polish “Bermuda” for recording. The public’s wide acceptance of the song wrote a happy ending to the story. Since then, they’ve recorded more than a half dozen songs, and there’ll probably be more originals by Cynthia in the offing.
Math before music, history before harmony
In spite of their fame and fortune, Mother and Dad Strother (he’s an electrician in an aviation plant) see to it that math comes before music, history before harmony. Their parents would like to see them follow in their footsteps and go on to college. When the parents were high school steadies back in Ashland, Ky., their classmates voted them “most likely to marry.” They did — after they had finished college.
“We still have to help with the dishes every night,” sighs Cynthia … who is buzzing with new song ideas.
PEOPLE AND PLACES
January 1953; Vol. 10, No. 2; Cover Story
THE SINGING BELLS: Young Singing Duo is Tops in Recording Field
Riding the crest of a popularity wave that has made theirs one of the entertainment world’s most fabulous success stories in recent years, the singing Bell sisters of Seal Beach, California are a pair of pink-cheeked, school-age harmonizers who almost overnight established themselves as stars in the highly competitive juke-box recording field.
The two girls — Cynthia, 16, and Kay, 12 — used as their springboard to stardom a catchy tune composed by Cynthia called Bermuda. Singing the song in a crisp, breezy style on an amateur TV talent show, the girls were discovered by Henri Rene, a Pacific Coast scout for RCA Victor who signed them to a recording contract. Bermuda became a smash hit on the nation’s coin record machines and paved the way for more recordings and numerous guest star bookings on leading network television shows.
Despite their phenomenal success, the attractive sisters have remained completely unspoiled and still lead the normal life of two daughters growing up in a large California family of modest means. The family owns their home and lives moderately but comfortablyy in a typically American small town. The family name is Strother (the girls adopted their mother’s maiden name to use professionally) and in addition to Kay and Cynthia, there are four other sisters and one brother. Mr. Strother is an electrician employed by North American Aviation Company.
Cynthia has been picking away at the piano keys for years and has built up quite a library of original songs. The music for Bermuda was her composition alone, but the whole family had a hand in writing the lyrics. Popular with other teen-agers at Huntington High School where she is a junior, Cynthia also is an avid sports fan and a swimmer of better-than-average ability. Kay is a sixth grader at Seal Beach Elementary School and when not singing spends most of her spare time working on Girl Scout activities.
Although the singing success of Kay and Cynthia has complicated the family’s home life, Mother and Dad Strother stand for no nonsense. Everyone pitches in to help with the housework. If there is a conflict between harmony and history, the school work comes first. When Mom and Dad are away, Cynthia assumes the prerogatives of oldest daughter and takes charge of the housekeeping duties, doling out work assignments to the other girls.
SILVER SCREEN
May 1953, Page 8
Hollywood Earfuls (column)
Being sisters ourselves, we couldn’t bypass an opportunity to visit with the singing Bell Sisters while they were moviemaking in Columbia’s “Cruising Down The River.” In between scenes, 17-year-old Cynthia had convinced 12-year-old Kay she ought to learn to knit. Not only that but their four other sisters are also learning the purl one routine. The sisters are looking forward to a Summer of playing fairs, doing TV stints, and other personal appearances.
Their father, incidentally, has given up his job at North American Aviation Aircraft to act as their road manager for p.a.’s. He is also going into the music publishing business with two other men. Of course, the Bell Sisters’ other tunes besides “Bermuda” will be published by the group.
NEWSWEEK
November 2, 1953, Page 90
Those Redheads from Seattle (movie review)
Those Redheads from Seattle (Paramount) is a 3-D Technicolor musical which is laid in the Klondike and is also fairly far north for silliness. The redheads in question (Rhonda Fleming, Teresa Brewer, and Cynthia Bell) voyage out to join their father, a crusading newspaper publisher in Dawson, Alaska, only to discover that he has been killed by an ex-convict. then, in a dramatic scheme of things which wambles strangely among pathos, farce, and ragtime, the girls and their mother set to work to earn their living by assorted chores of dressmaking, typing, nursing, and cabaret singing.
Miss Brewer, who attends to the latter, is thereby estranged from her family, despite the fact that Miss Fleming has fallen in love with the cabaret owner (Gene Barry). He aids the family in many ways, but Miss Fleming is soon informed, inaccurately, that he was really responsible for her father’s murder. It seems certain that she will reopen the newspaper and try to drive him out of town – which is just what she tries.
Director Lewis R. Foster and his fellow script writers, Geoffrey Homes and George Worthington Yates, have interlarded these developments with many other complications, and there are five songs by various writers. But the sum total is tasteless and well-night tuneless.
PACIFIC STARS AND STRIPES
December 22, 1953
By Cpl. Frank Jacobs
Operation Starlift Arrives; Grant Vows ‘Good Clean Show’
TOKYO, Dec. 22 (Pac. S&S)–The 1958 Far Eastern edition of Operation Starlift landed in Tokyo yesterday with troupe manager Johnny Grant promising a “good clean show” for the troops in Korea.
Headlined by starlets Terry Moore and Roberta Haynes, the Hollywood entertainers–most of them female–showed exuberance on the even of the tour. They leave Tokyo tomorrow and will spend 10 days in Korea.
Miss Haynes, seen most recently with Gary Cooper in “Return to Paradise,” stepped from the plane with her feet attired only in bedroom slippers. “I left my shoes and sox in the wrong suitcase,” she said. “I think I’ve brought all the wrong clothes for this trip.”
Terry Comes Prepared
But Miss Moore seemed well-prepared for the Korean cold weather. “My stockings,” she revealed, “are wired for heat just like an electric blanket. I’ll keep a battery in my pocket.”
In leading this year’s troupe, manager Grant will round out his fifth tour of Korea–a record for service entertainers. Grant, a disc jockey in Los Angeles, said tha the would “continue to come here as long as there’s a man in Korea.”
Troupe members, he added, are loaded down with gifts for the troops. “Everybody,” he xplained, “gave us presents to distribute to boys they know in Korea. And just before I left, I saw General Dean who asked me to tell the boys of the 24th Division that he was thinking of them and that he wished them a Merry Christmas.”
Operation Starlift is organized by the Hollywood Coordinating Committee of the Motion Picture Producers’ Assn. Two other troupes are staging Christmas shows for servicemen in the European Command.
Divided Into 8 Groups
The Korea entertainers are divided into three groups:
Group No. 1, headed by Grant, will tour X Corps and will include Miss Haynes, Miss Moore, Penny Singleton, Richard Sanders, Mary Anders, Sheila Connolly, Susan Zanuck and Joe South.
Group No. 2, headed by comedian Roscoe Ates, will tour I Corps and will include Virginia Hall, Mary Murphy, Cynthia and Kay Bell, Ann mcCormack, Christine Towner, Bill Loyd and Eddie Ross.
Group No. 3, headed by Larry Roberts, will tour the southern part of the peninsula, and will include Kay Marx, Phyllis McCann, Lenny Sherman, Stan Buseth and a soldier combo.
Photo Caption: HOLLYWOOD INVASION–Starlet Roberta Haynes steps down from a MATS Constellaton at Tokyo International Airport, where the Far Eastern troupe of Hollywood entertainers arried yesterday to launch a holiday season of shows for U.N. personnel in Korea. Also in the group are Terry Moore (shown in the background), Penny Singleton, Mary Murphy and the Bell Sisters. Johnny Grant is in charge of the show, which will play for units during the Christmas season. (Pac. S&S Photo by S/Sgt. Frank Praytor)
PACIFIC STARS AND STRIPES
December 30, 1953
By PFC Dick Brooks
Hollywood 9 Delights 27th Regt.; One-Hour Show Features Music, Comedy
WITH U.S. 25TH DIV. Korea, Dec. 30 (Pac. S&S)–An energetic Hollywood troupe of nine, headed by comedian Roscoe Ates, yesterday had some 5,000 troops of the 27th Inf. Regt. howling in bone-chilling weather as they went through their one-hour show in a valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains.
With the temperature hovering around 16 degrees above zero thousands of soldiers, most of them peeking from behind expensive cameras, burst into a loud crescendo when captivating Virginia Hall, a 22-year-old starlet of Paramount, stepped on the stage and sang four songs.
Miss Hall, who had bit parts in “Small Town Girl” and “Come Back Little Sheba,” toured with the same Ates show last year during Christmas.
Pert Mary Murphy, a star in her first picture, “Main Street to Broadway,” held her audience as she went through a series of skits and comedy routines along with Ates.
Liz Mimics Marilyn, Betty
Night club and stage show comedienne Elizabeth Talbot-Martin imitated Marilyn Monroe and Betty Davis.
Despite a touch of laryngitis, Christine Towner sang two songs.
The Bell Sisters, Cynthia, 18, and Kay, 13, had the troops sitting in silence when they went through their singing routine. The duo has made 21 recordings thus far in their short career.
Backing up all the performers are guitarist Bill Lloyd and accordianist Eddy Ross.
Roscoe Ates, master of ceremonies and ad-libbing comedienne, kept the troops laughing between acts. Ates is currently making his third trip to Korea.
Photo Caption: SHOWTIME HARMONY–Mary Murphy, Roscoe Ates and the Bell Sisters blend their voices in one of the many songs the Hollywood troupers are singing this week for U.N. troops in Korea. The large contingent of Movietown entertainers, headed by Johnny Grant, are divided into three groups covering all Corps areas and forward units during the holidays. (Pac. S&S Photo by S/Sgt. Frank Praytor)
* * * * *
I WORK FOR MY DAUGHTERS, “The Bell Sisters” (Unpublished)
by Eugene Rex Strother, Sr. (written 1954)
About a year ago, I received from an old friend a letter which read something like this:
Dear Gene:
I saw LIFE Magazine this week, and it looks like you’ve finally promoted something. But it isn’t exactly what you’d expected, is it?”
He was referring, of course, to “THE BELL SISTERS,” and he was perfectly right. I hadn’t even dreamed of them!
Having been a professional baseball player, when I married, I’d counted on raising a group of outfielders and shortstops, and had envisioned myself, in my later years, as coaching and developing them into Big League ballplayers. But look what happened – I have six girls and only one boy, and have ended up coaching and managing a couple of girl singers! But I’m not complaining. Looking after “THE BELL SISTERS” and trying to guide their career is lots of fun.
Like many fathers, I’d gone to high school, played football and basketball, and then gone to Ohio State University for an advanced course in athletics. At the end of two yeas, in 1931, I quit college to meet a depression head on. I tried professional baseball for a while, and failed superbly, finding I was just one of the thousands of “good field – not hit” shortstops.
Then I married my high school sweetheart and started battling the world as a salesman, coal miner, steel-mill worker, electrician, etc. It’s the same old story: the story of millions of Americans, in our free enterprise system, trying to earn a living. I even invented things and tried to promote them, always looking for the break to get ahead. To be honest, the only real success I achieved was in the happiness I found in having healthy children and a wonderful wife.
After losing my shirt on a rubber golf and baseball grip invention, I finally found myself in California in 1951, working as an electrician for an aircraft company.
Suddenly, two of my daughters – Cynthia, 15, and Kay, 11 – jerked me out of my job and placed me backstage in the entertainment world! And what an interesting transformation it has been, even though painful at times. Painful because I’ve had to learn so much in so little time. It’s been a hard job to keep up with the fast moving developments in a business having more than its share of “sharpies.” My life is not my own any more. It belongs to “The BELL SISTERS.” But I have never been happier. I like it even better than baseball, and I plan to steer all my children into the entertainment field, if they have talent and like it. Also, Rex, my boy, may never play left field for the Yankees, as I’d planned.
From here, it looks as if Sharon, sixteen, and the beauty of the family, is headed for dramatics, as one major movie producer has promised her a spot in his next picture. Paula, our eight-year-old, seems to be a natural dancer. The only other talent, so far noted, is Judy, our eleven-year-old freckled-faced tomboy, who shows signs of developing into a lady wrestler, having roughed up all the boys on our block.
In the entertainment business, you don’t have to be the biggest act in the world to make money – and spend it! Just a good top act draws from $1,000 to $3,000 for guest spots on national network TV or radio shows and $3,000 to $7,000 a week for personal appearances in night clubs, hotels, or theatres. The really big acts, like Martin & Lewis, Tallulah or Milton Berle, gross on up to $40,000 per week or more – as witness what the hotels in Las Vegas have been paying recently. Other income sources are movies, movie shorts for TV, fairs, rodeos and recordings (if the act sings). It’s practically an unlimited field, but a very very highly competitive one.
In working for the BELLS, I discovered very quickly a sad aspect to their career that I hadn’t counted on, namely the writing of checks. This is a very painful operation to me, since I’ve never written many before. Try as I may, I cannot ever seem to become completely objective or callous regarding the chore. My natural inclination has always been to try and keep money, not give it away! Gad! I pity Crosby and Hope if it hurts them to write checks like it does me! But I suppose they’re so rich, they hire it done. Seems like all I do is wait for the morning mail, sort the bills and start writing checks. For instance, money must be expended for the following: wardrobe, transportation (car, train, air), cosmetics, donations, tips, lawyers’ fees, booking agent (10%), publicity men, personal manager (10%), trips to court, demonstration recording fees, stationery, publicity pictures, more tips, record date costs, sample records, stamps, dry cleaning, etc., etc. It’s an endless list, I could go on and on. Sometimes you should just peek at an income tax accountant’s list of deductable [sic] items, as allowed by the government (Thank Heavens!) for entertainers, and you’ll see what I mean. It’s safe to say that an act such as THE BELL SISTERS must gross a minimum of $100,000 a year to clear any real money. As a top comedian once told me at breakfast one morning in Las Vegas, “Sure, you make good money, but the trick is to keep some of it. All I’ve gotten out of it,” he said, “has been a good living. It’s hard to put aside anything. And for God’s sake, he added, “Pay your taxes as you go. If you ever get behind, you’re sunk!”
Now, after a year and a half of handling the girls’ finances, I’m beginning to think I understand what he meant.
But despite the unpleasantness attached to writing checks, I wouldn’t trade my new sixteen-hour day for the old eight-hour one I formerly put in building airplanes, for anything. My life is too interesting now, too much fun. I even enjoy reading fan mail.
Can you possibly imagine all the different and wonderful letters entertainers receive? Children write for pictures and so do grandmothers, teenagers, bachelors and the men in the armed forces. We’ve made a lot of wonderful friends and met a lot of fine people through their letters. Especially do the girls receive a lot of mail from servicemen, but I imagine that’s mostly on account of Cynthia, who is seventeen now and a beautiful redhead. Some of the letters, though, bring a tear to the eye, and these my wife, Cynthia, Kay, Sharon or I try to answer. Sometimes it’s impossible, but we always send an autographed picture. Letters from Korea get special attention. The boys hear the girls over there on the armed service shows, such as Naval Reserve Radio Service and the Jubilee Show, made here in Hollywood, which has a ninety-million listening audience in the Far East. Some of the fan letters we receive, however, read like this,
“Dear BELL SISTERS:
Would you like to buy an oil well in Texas?”
or
“Dear BELL SISTERS:
My daughters sing just like you. How can I get them started, so we can make a lot of money?”
or this one,
“Dear BELLS:
I’m a sailor with three days leave starting the 14th. If you will have your chauffeur meet me in San Diego, I’ll be glad to spend my leave with your family and take you out! (meaning Cynthia)”
Then there are the people who phone or call. Insurance agents by the dozen and investment counselors by the groups, who will be very happy to help us invest the fortune they think the girls are piling up. Cynthia mentioned once in an Associated Press interview that she hoped someday to own a purple metallic Cadillac. So the Cad people sent out a representative.
“Mr. Bell (being addressed as ‘Mr. Bell’ is something I’ve gotten used to), all the big entertainers drive Cadillacs, and we’ll be glad to get you one direct from the factory for Cynthia. General Motors,” he added, “just love for show people to drive those smooth, smooth Cads.”
Cynthia got her Cad, as we needed one for transportation, but as one of our neighbors told Ralph, our breadman, who told me, “it wasn’t the very latest model.”
But what a wonderful thought for an electrician with seven kids, a Cad to drive (even though my daughters own it), nice, fat, paid-up insurance policies (all for the BELLS, of course), investments in oil, and a home with a pool! It’s a wonderful dream. But can it come true? I believe it can and will, because of a little six-letter word called “talent.” Talent can make dreams come true for any family of Americans. It’s all a part of our American way of life, and when I stand backstage and see Bob Hope or Bing Crosby introduce our kids and watch them step up to the mike and hear their beautiful harmony fill the theatre and see the happy smiles of enjoyment on the faces of the people down front, and then hear the wonderful applause of the audience, I know they’re on their way. No longer, while mopping the cold sweat off my brow, do I turn, like I used to do, to our Manager, and ask, “Charles, do you think the kids will make it?”
And no longer does he have to turn to me, with that incredulous expression on his face, and say, “Gene! Are you kidding?”
Hollywood has thousands of talented people. You name it, they’ve got it! Wonderful singers, dancers, comedians; every kind of entertainer you could think of – and good! They’re all working and waiting, hoping for a break. Getting the break is the hard thing. One of the easiest ways to climb out of the heap is to make a hit on records. One hit song can do it! Look at Johnnie Ray and his “Cry.” Unknown until then. The same with “THE BELL SISTERS” and their “BERMUDA.”
In fact, the fee which actors and singers can demand for personal appearances depends on the success of their most recent picture or their hit songs. How “hot” are they now, is the question, and their agency uses that as a sliding scale for what they can get them for personal appearances. In Hollywood, you never stand still. You’re either going up or going down. There’s an old, but true saying in the movie industry that hits the nail right on the head: You’re only as good as your last picture. With recording artists, it’s much the same. You’re only as good as your latest hit record, although you can coast, probably two years, between “hits.”
To you parents who hope someday to get your kids in show business, I’d like to tell you how “THE BELL SISTERS” got their start. Although our girls’ success has been unique and unusual, it has followed, to a great extent, the usual Hollywood success pattern.
As almost everyone knows, the girls’ break came by selling a song, written by Cynthia, called “Bermuda”, but we were lucky in that there was also a place, nearby, to present that song for sale. Just writing a song isn’t enough. In fact, that’s the easy part. Selling it is the job!
In 1951, Peter Potter, Los Angeles’ most well known Disk Jockey, had an Amateur Song TV Show on KNXT, here in Hollywood (since discontinued) where amateurs could take their songs for audition and, if accepted, be assigned a spot on his program, at a later date, to present the song. To aid the song-writer, Potter invited a few song publishers, each week, to come and judge his show. Thus, if the song was good, the amateur had a chance to sell it to a publisher, or at least have a publisher hear it. As a rule, publishers won’t even list to an amateur’s song. Mr. Potter, I understand, auditioned approximately 1500 amateur songs in two and a half years. Thirty-six of these were sold to publishers, of which twelve were recorded and only one, “Bermuda”, was a hit. This should give amateur songwriters, if they don’t already know, an idea of just what they’re up against.
To make a long story sort, Cynthia and Kay presented “Bermuda” on Mr. Potter’s show on Hallowe’en night in 1951, and it caused a sensation. We woke up the next day to find that Cynthia’s song was not only gong to be recorded but that two of the top recording companies were bidding for the girls’ voices, also. I was apprised of this happy turn of events over the telephone by the publisher.
“Hey, keed!” he said (he always calls me “kid”, even though I’m 45), “We got something hot going! I been showing “Bermuda” around, and both these companies want your kids to record. Now you’re in a good spot, keed,” he added, “but you gotta get yourself an agent.”
“Where’ll I find one?” I asked.
“Know just the boy, keed,” he told me.
The next day I met Mr. Charles Alpert, one of Hollywood’s most capable and successful agents, successful in at least two ways, as he is married to a former Powers model. Mr. Alpert was and looked like just what a real Hollywood agent should be and look like. A lot on the ball, nice appearance, and a hustler. It takes a guy with lots of guts, brains, contacts and plenty of business know-how to be a good agent. Charles has these in abundance. In the hundreds of decisions he has made relative to the Bells and their career, and the thousands of words of advice he has given me, I’ve only found him wrong a few times, and then it was on little things. Having the right agent is often the difference between failure and success. Incidentally, agents don’t like the word “agent”. They speak of themselves as “personal managers”. Much more dignified, they say. But still, everyone in the business calls them agents.
Charles, as well call Mr. Alpert, asked for a sixty-day option on the girls, in order to see what he could do. If an acceptable recording contract could be arranged, I agreed to let him manage the girls for five years. We signed a good contract with R.C.A., and three days later recorded “Bermuda.” I must say here, for all the amateur song writers who will read this, that it was a terrific thrill to go to the recording session and hear the arrangement which Mr. Henri René and Jack Pleis, two of R.C.A.’s top men, had made of “Bermuda”. And those musicians, Hollywood’s finest, how they can play! These men and women, regular recording musicians, work out of the Hollywood Musicians’ Union and record for all the various recording companies. They’re busy and they’re wonderful!
Mr. René, the Artist and Repertoire Director for R.C.A. on the West Coast at that time, took the kids to his heart. He seemed to love them, and they worshipped him. He is such a fine man and gentleman. The bell-shaped gold pins, engraved “Love, Henri René”, which he gave them are their most cherished possessions. I, too, wanted to make friends with him, but I think he was afraid I might offer him a chew of tobacco.
After the recording session, Mr. René asked Mr. Alpert what we were going to call the girls. He had to have a name to put on the record label. We all knew “The Strother Sisters” just wasn’t going to do. After a hurried conference of everyone concerned, somebody suggested my wife’s maiden name of Bell, and that was it! It’s a perfect professional name, easy to spell and remember. It also made the kids’ grandparents, the O. E. Bells, back in Ashland, Kentucky, very happy.
As other companies were recording “Bermuda” too, it was a race to see who could get the record out first. R.C.A. won by almost two weeks. In the recording business, it seems that the first record out on a song usually has a big lead over the others on sales. Altogether, five [pencil correction to 16] companies recorded “Bermuda.”
There were rumors that Les Paul and Mary Ford had made “Bermuda” but weren’t releasing it. I hope so, and that it’s somewhere on Capitol Records’ shelves, waiting for a release date.
But Frankie Laine was the singer for whom “Bermuda” was written and we’d rather have heard him sing it than anyone. We all hope someday he will record it. We feel sure it would be one of his biggest hits, if he ever should.
Following the release of “Bermuda”, everything seemed to be going our way in Hollywood, except that we weren’t making any money and we were broke. I’d been making dozens of trips to Hollywood taking the girls in for pictures, music conferences, publicity interviews, etc., and it was costing me plenty, as we live forty miles out. My bosses, also, were casting jaundiced eyes of disapproval on me for missing so much work. I’d borrowed the limit from banks and friends, and Charles had advanced a few thousand to help meet expenses. I’d even mortgaged the home to help. We all knew our only hope of getting even was through the royalties which “Bermuda” was piling up at R.C.A. in sales.
Christmas was rolling around, and I was in debt so far I really didn’t see how I’d ever get out. Looking back now, I realize this should have worried me, but it didn’t. Guess I was too busy to think of it. I never even considered that the girls might fail. Not having money for Christmas is something my wife has never stood still for, but up until Christmas Eve, it looked like this year we just weren’t going to have any.
However, our wonderful friend and next-door neighbor, Betty, was aware of the situation and proceed to play Santa Clause, personally, for all our kids. No one could stop her, and we didn’t try very hard, because we knew she was enjoying it so much. At the last minute, however, late on Christmas Eve, the publisher came through with a $200 advance; then, shortly afterward, $300, and then $500, and so we began to breathe easier.
January, February and March of 1952 were the months when “Bermuda” was rolling at its peak. We’d buy “Variety” and “Billboard” each week to watch the song climb in popularity. These trade papers are the Bibles of the entertainment world and keep running accounts of songs and their place in the national popularity polls. “Bermuda” popped into the first fifty songs on the National Hit Poll at about the 35th position, and climbed steadily over the weeks to No. 2 spot, stayed there for two weeks, then started back down. Johnnie Ray’s “Cry” was always ahead of her. “Bermuda” wasn’t a great, great smash hit, but was a good, solid one.
The real reason “Bermuda” wasn’t bigger was that it was so difficult to play and sing for the average orchestra and singer. It was also hard to remember. You never heard anyone on the streets humming or singing “Bermuda” as people did other hit songs. We even found many crack bands having trouble with it, and rehearsals were always a strain. We finally got so we hated to hear the girls sing it on shows, for this reason. Les Brown’s band, however, really breezed through it, and also John Scott Trotter on Bing Crosby’s show did a great job. But then, these people are tops. They and their bands can play anything. “Bermuda” went on to sell 750,000 copies. 200,000 is considered a “hit”.
Things were now moving even faster, and we hired a publicity man to work with the girls, a Mr. “Red” Doff of Hollywood, who is one of the best.
Next was a call from Charles, saying Frank Sinatra wanted the girls on his TV show. Sinatra, contrary to what we’d been lead to believe, was a swell fellow. He graciously had pictures taken with the kids and was as courteous and kind as anyone could be. He called me “Pop.” It was the kids’ first big guest spot and it looked like they were starting at the top. My wife and I sat with the writers and Ava Gardner in the client’s booth and watched the show.
Next was the Dinah Shore show, and we met another very wonderful person. If you’ve never heard Dinah sing in person, you haven’t heard singing. After the TV show, she sang for a half hour just for the live audience and she “wowed” us. Her personality is wonderful. You just can’t get her on records a she is.
It was also along about this time that the two real greats of show business, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby started to take an interest in the girls. The “Bells” and all of us can never thank Bing and Bob for what they’ve done. As everyone knows, in the entertainment business, a few Crosby or Hope shows can “make” you, for they have such a tremendous listening audience. It looked like Mr. Crosby and Mr. Hope, as the girls call them, tried to outdo each other in helping the “Bells.” Counting charity shows, of which Bob and Bing do far more than their share, the kids appeared as their guests fourteen times in the last year and a half. Enough said!
Also, along with the big shows, the girls started making many local appearances on radio and TV. Almost every day there was something new. An offer even came from the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce of a two-week, all-expense tour of the Islands, which we were unable to accept. (We heard that the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, as a publicity stunt, was giving all tourists, as they arrived by boat or plane, a record of “Bermuda.”)
Interview after interview followed, by feature writers for magazines, Associated Press, United Press and International News Service, as the girls seemed to be “hot” copy. All these reporters and photographers were nice to us. They liked the “Bells” and liked our family. Nothing detrimental was every written about us or the kids. Later, in the thousands of clippings we received through the clipping service bureau, we did find two bad notices, from small newspapers, and we’ve framed both.
Most of the trips we were making to Hollywood were being done in the evenings and on Saturdays and Sundays, as the kids were in school, and I had a job to keep. We had, of course, long before, contacted the State Child Welfare Labor Board for work permits and we were being very careful to abide by all the rules and regulations. Let me say now that these people do a wonderful job in protecting children from overzealous parents, unreasonable exploitation or anything detrimental to a child’s health or welfare. They rule with an iron hand, but, as soon as they know a child has the right kind of parents, they go overboard to be cooperative. Mr. Tranquada, the Director of the Los Angeles office, was very nice to us, and my wife and I felt complimented by the degree of cooperation we received. Lois, his secretary, handled most of our business, after the first few trips, and we felt the kids had really arrived when she asked for an autographed picture to frame and hang on the walls in her office, along with all the great entertainment children of the present and past.
Along about this time, LIFE Magazine became interested in the “Bells” and said they wanted to do a spread on the girls and family. We were really worried, for we’d seen some of the pictures LIFE had made and thought the big aim of all their photographs was to catch people at their worst. We worked frantically trying to get our little house in halfway decent shape to be photographed, and I warned Cynthia and Kay, for Goodness’ sake not to pick their noses, or LIFE would be sure to catch them in the act and print a picture of it. But we were in for a pleasant surprise. They were wonderful people. They spent a couple of days at our house, taking pictures. They took them by the hundreds, of the “Bells”, the rest of the family, and the neighbors, in every possible situation. In fact, they photographed everything in the house, even the hole in the rug on the bedroom floor. The only thing they missed was my wife’s new muslin curtains, bought specially for the occasion.
As we were going to San Francisco, about this time, to do a Hope All-Star TV show, LIFE had another photographer and reporter meet our plane there and take pictures of us for two more days. The way they work is: the photographer follows you around, sixteen hours at a time, just taking shot after shot. They even took a picture of me photographing the chorus girls, in an unguarded moment. Incidentally, we’ve found all the reporters and photographers we’ve met, so far, fair and sincere people. Sure, they want their pictures and their story, and they want something different and unusual, but they’re not out deliberately to hurt anyone. However, with their advantage of the power of the press, I’d hate to have them turn against me. It could be rough, as I understand some so-called uncooperative entertainers have found out from time to time in the past.
Naturally we looked forward to the LIFE story and its release. It came out in the June 16th issue of 1952. “Ike” was on the cover and we were in the middle, somewhere. (“Between ‘Ike’ and the insects,” Kay says.) There were nine pictures of the “Bells” and the rest of us. We’d only hoped for two or three, at the most. Included was a darling shot of Cynthia “baby-sitting” for our neighbor’s two children. Just think – LIFE’s photographers took approximately 600 pictures and used only nine. It’s no wonder their photography is terrific. The pictures of the “Bells,” singing with Hope, are the best I’ve ever seen. I thought I was very handsome in my picture also, but my wife said I looked somewhat like a bear – a grizzly.
As the summer began to roll around, it became evident that the girls were in demand for personal appearances, so we signed with the William Morris Booking Agency. The courts, as required by law, stepped in then to protect the kids, and all the contracts radio, TV, movies and personal appearances were approved, by a judge. It happens that three or four of the big booking agencies, like William Morris, M.C.A. and General Artists Corporation handle most of the world’s entertainers and entertainment business. They have offices and representatives all over the globe and furnish talent for the theatres, clubs, fairs, hotels, rodeos, TV, radio and movies. Without them, as an entertainer you can go nowhere. They even make up package deals and furnish talent for all the big network shows. They, of course, work on a 10%-of-gross deal. Our first booking with them was the Last Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, for two weeks. Before that, the girls were to work the Long Beach Miss Universe Pageant, and the San Diego County Fair, for four days.
The “Bells” were to headline the shows. This was stepping up in class.
About the time we signed with William Morris, Charles called me to Hollywood, for a conference.
“What about?” I asked.
“To get the kids an “act,” for the summer tour,” he answered. This was news to me, and it shows how little I knew about show business. In order to give a good show, in a club, theatre or hotel, I learned, you just don’t go out and sing a few songs. You must have an “act.” It’s how you sing, what you sing, and when. You must have timing, a little comedy, and an opening and closing bit, with bow-on and bow-off music, introduction, pacing and arranging of material. Also, the whole act is written to music and is continuous, from beginning to end. It seems that no matter how big or famous you are, or how good you sing or perform, if you don’t have a good, well written act, you can “flop.” (The nightmare of all entertainers.) Today, there are wonderful recording artists and movie stars who are flops in personal appearances, because they have no act.
Building an act is a creative thing, sometimes by one man, a specialist, or by a group of writers, or by the smart artist, alone. A real, fine creative act-builder is a scarce article. In Hollywood, there are only two or three, and they come high.
We contacted one of the few, a Mr. Ray Gilbert, who is a famous song and act writer. When I heard his fee, I fell out of the phone booth. I won’t mention the amount, but a good electrician would have to work a year to earn what we paid. However, it was worth it. I know now Mr. Gilbert receives two or three times this amount for his acts and was really giving us newcomers a break. Said it was the first time he’d ever worked with children and considered the job a challenge.
After studying the girls for four or five days, winning their confidence, and in general getting acquainted with them, he started to work, there at his studio in his home, first with Cynthia, and then with Kay, then with both girls together as the act developed. Bert Pellish, his assistant, handled the music. It took six weeks of hard work and the kids enjoyed it thoroughly. Finally it was over and the William Morris representatives were called in to see what the girls had. They were very happy and “flipped,” as they say in the business. Mr. Gilbert kissed the girls, when the audition was over, and had beautiful presents for them. The “Bells” were sorry to leave him; he was so wonderful to them. I’m sure if my wife and I died, they’d want Mr. Gilbert to adopt them. Mr. Gilbert probably didn’t clear too much money on the “Bells”, for he believed in children doing as they please (self-expression, he called it). If they wanted to clown or waterfight, it was all right with him; he’d stop rehearsals and enter into the fun. I can see him and the “Bells” now, with water pistols, chasing each other around his property. I’m sure he had to redecorate completely after we left. Mr. Gilbert is also a great entertainer and he convulsed us, no end, with anecdotes of show business. I’ll never forget the story he told of the “Zoot Suit Song”, which he wrote in the ’40’s, and how they promoted it publicity-wise by hiring a seven-foot colored boy to parade around Hollywood dressed in a specially tailored, ridiculous “zoot-suit.” To everyone’s surprise, people began to copy his clothes and wear “zoot-suits”, if you remember. The craze became so bad in L.A. that riots and street fights developed between “zoot-suiters” and Army and Navy personnel. Other well-known songs he has written are “Bahia”, “You Belong to My Heart,” and his Oscar-winning picture song, “Zippity Do Da.”
Finally the day arrived to go to the Fair at San Diego. This is really a big fair, and Les Paul and Mary Ford had played it the year before. Mr. Gilbert and Bert, the pianist, went along, also our publicity man plus our manager, my wife and I. Everyone wanted to help and see the kids off to a good start. Our worries, however, were for naught, as the girls broke the Fair’s attendance record, singing to as many as 10,000 each day. On the program also was Nick Lucas, a chorus line, slack-wire artists, a dog act and a trampoline act. (I took our first 16mm movies of the “Bells” in action.) Next was Las Vegas – the big time!
At Las Vegas, as we drove into town, late in the afternoon, the big signs on the “Golden Strip” advertised the big hotels: “Andrew Sisters” at the Flamingo, “Frank Sinatra” at the Desert Inn, “Beatrice Kay” at El Rancho Vegas, and “THE BELL SISTERS” at the Last Frontier. This was a real thrill, I assure you. But it made me a little nervous. Were those two little girls of ours, only 16 and 12 years old, supposed to buck this kind of opposition?
Everyone connected with the girls also came along to Vegas for the first four days, to make sure the girls were okay and to give them confidence. But again our worries were for nothing, as the “Bells” were “socko”, playing to standing room only. They more than held their own in that fast company. Eddie Fox, the show manager at the Last Frontier, was very happy, as he said he’d never seen so many families in the Ramona Room, people bringing their kids to watch our kids.
“A healthy atmosphere,” he beamed.
Margaret Whiting and the Weir Brothers followed the “Bells” into the Last Frontier.
After we left Las Vegas, the girls came back to L.A., for an interesting week at the Paramount Theatre where they shared equal billing with Nat “King” Cole. During the week, the rest of our family, the younger children, came up for a day from Seal Beach, to see the show and to have some publicity pictures made. They weren’t the least impressed by the name “BELL SISTERS” in bright lights, on the marquee in front of the show. The weather was warm and they wanted to get back home, take off their new shoes and go to the beach.
The girls finished at the Paramount Thursday night. We hurried home to pack and were off, Saturday morning, to New York City, by plane. When we checked in at the airport I found the girls had seventeen pieces of luggage and far more in weight than the allowed amount. It cost me a surprised $46.00 extra for weight overage and the kids say I grumbled about it all the way to New York. This was our first big air trip and we all had a wonderful time. Only incident marring the trip was when I snagged a big hole in the trousers of my only suit, en route, much to the enjoyment of Cynthia and Kay (six months later TWA sent me a check for another pair). Photographers met the plane, on arrival in New York, and they took pictures of the “Bells”, after Rock Hudson, who was also on the plane, had his taken with the Stewardess. (We saw ours next day in the New York papers, captioned “Bells Ring Into Town”.) Then, tired but very happy, we took a taxi to the Hotel Astor in Times Square. The “Bells” eyes were wide with wonder as they gazed at that tremendous city.
The girls did two Chesterfield TV shows in New York with Eddy Arnold. He is a very fine, kind, level-headed, down to earth fellow and we enjoyed meeting him very much. I showed him “Hopin’ Till I Die,” one of our songs, which we think would be a big hit for him. We hope some day he records it. During rehearsal, on the Chesterfield set, I saw the girls talking and laughing, and eating grapes from a bag held by a nice looking, unobtrusive young man who turned out to be Mel Tormé.
Between shows, we saw some of the big city, and made several radio appearances with Disk Jockeys around town, including Robert Q. Lewis’ “Waxworks,” where my wife and I made our radio debut. We were quite surprised when he pulled a switch and interviewed us instead of the “Bells”. We visited R.C.A., and the girls were interviewed by several reporters and then were off by plane to Montreal, Canada, to do a week at the Seville Theatre. Four or five shows a day there left very little time for sightseeing, as we had to set up a schedule for rest periods and meals at the proper times, plus a few appearances on local Canadian radio stations. Charles, armed with French dictionary and ably assisted by some French-Canadian teenagers, on the plane, had taught the girls several phrases in French. Being interviewed for a French newspaper was quite an experience both for interviewer and interviewees. The week finally came to an end and on the closing night, Cynthia, as she always does on the last show, “bawled”, hating to leave their wonderful, new-found friends, the other acts playing at the Seville. Eddie Bracken followed the “Bells” into the Seville.
We landed back in New York in the rain, and of course were still plagued with the seventeen pieces of luggage. The customs inspector gave us quite a shock! It seems you need passports to get back into the United States, and we’d failed to tend to this small, but important, matter. After a few thousand words of explanation of who we were, where we had been and why, he finally smiled and let us through, saying he recognized us from LIFE Magazine pictures and knew we were Americans. What a relief! I made a note to check passports, in the future.
Back in New York, the “Bells” did a summer All-Star Revue TV show, and after one more busy day of sightseeing, into which we crammed a bus tour, the Empire State Building, the Museum of Natural History and Radio City, all in the rain, they flew home, accompanied by my wife, since they had to be in Hollywood, immediately for a recording date.
Our neighbor, Betty, no doubt was glad to see them, as she had taken off from work to baby-sit the younger Strothers while we were in the East. I bought a car in New York, took most of the luggage and drove across country with it, picking up my mother in Kentucky, and bringing her out to the Coast to make her home with us.
When I arrived home a week later, the girls were ready for their next date, which was at the Riverside Hotel, in Reno, Nevada, for two weeks, after which they were scheduled for a nine months’ engagement at their respective schools; Kay at Seal Beach Elementary, and Cynthia at Huntington Beach Union High. While in Reno they met the fabulous Beatrice Kay and spent an unforgettable afternoon visiting with her on her wonderful guest ranch.
The things I remember most about the summer were the $4.50 steaks, Cynthia falling down while coming up on stage one night in Las Vegas, Kay’s being late for a show, and Cynthia having to sing the opening number by herself, the “Bells” introducing their middle sister, Sharon, on the stage in Las Vegas, and having her sing their final number with them, much to everyone’s, including the band’s surprise (they were originally a trio), the seventeen pieces of luggage, Kay (nature lover) going off mike by turning away to watch a small bird sail overhead at San Francisco, during an outdoor Hope TV show, the first two weeks’ hotel bill at Las Vegas, $954.43, and a $1,756.00 check I wrote for airline tickets for the New York-Montreal trip.
With the fall, Cynthia became 17 and entered her senior year in high school. I can always remember her birthday because she was born during World Series time. We were living in Harlan, Kentucky, at the time, and I was playing baseball for a coal company. This year, at the Western Living and Home Show, in San Francisco, where the girls played October 3rd and 4th, she had her biggest and best birthday party. An audience of 5,000 or more sang “Happy Birthday” to her, while Mr. Jones, of the Meyberg Co. – R.C.A.’s West Coast distributors – presented her with a surprising four-tired cake, complete with seventeen candles.
Kay had become 12 the previous March and was starting into the seventh grade. I can always remember her birthday too, because she was born at Cynthiana, Kentucky, during the Kentucky State High School Basketball Tournament. I had wagered on the games and won $68.00, the afternoon before she was born and remember paying doctor and hospital bills with it. This was during the years that a good O.B. Doc. charged $25 instead of $125.00. Funny thing, I later sold this doc, a very good friend, an interest in one of my inventions, and got the money back. So, you can figure, Kay didn’t really cost much except five years off the lives of my wife and me when she had pneumonia, at the age of two.
Child entertainers are really handicapped in their career for a number of reasons. Night clubs, the biggest money field, are automatically closed to them, because of liquor sales. No child can work in the United States on premises selling liquor except in the State of Nevada. Because of this, child entertainers must make it in TV, radio, fairs or rodeos, (where if you don’t sing Western, you’re out), and of course movies. There’s the problem of school, also; tutors to be arranged for if traveling, and many restrictions regarding their working hours on studio lots, all to protect the child, of course, and a very fine thing, in my opinion. For the above reasons, agents and booking agents are dubious about taking children on as clients.
In California, also, there is the so-called “Coogan” law, wherein the courts of the county in which the child resides take a very active interest in the child entertainer. Even though the mother and father are the parents of the child, a strict accounting has to be made each year, regarding the child’s welfare and finances. The courts set aside a percentage to be saved for the child and, in general supervise their career. In our case, the first year I was appointed legal guardian of my girls, a procedure that only naturally goes against the grain of any American parent, as it seems an invasion of family privacy. It seemed ridiculous, at first, to have to be appointed guardian of my own children, but, upon closer examination, it is found to be a good thing, and I no longer question the necessity or wisdom of it. You see, in the past some parents have abused their children’s rights, and their earnings have been drunk up or gambled away. Sometimes bad investments of inexperienced parents have caused the child to reach the age of 21 only to find that the money he or she earned is gone. So the courts act as a watchdog. A list of operating expenditures and a complete financial set-up must be presented to the courts, for their approval. Any new or unforeseen expenses, arising from time to time and not included in the original set-up, necessitates a new trip to the courts for approval, and consequently entails extra expense, lawyers’ fees, court recording stenographer fees, etc. It all adds up to another drain on the resources and earnings of the child, but is necessary. After my first year as legal guardian, I relinquished the guardianship of the “Bells” in favor of the Bank of America. It was in the best interests of the children, I felt. The Bank handles all bookkeeping now, which allows me more time to promote the girls’ career. The Bank also meets all requirements as stipulated in the courts and the law. We have been very fortunate in that the judge handling the “Bells’” case is cooperative and understanding. He has the interests of the girls at heart and understands the problems involved. It would certainly be difficult to operate if the courts did not cooperate. In fact, if they refused to, they could absolutely put us out of business, in a hurry.
In arriving at salaries for my wife and me, the judge took testimony regarding salaries as paid in the industry for similar types of work, and allowed us a reasonable and comparable amount. I’m listed as Road Manager and my wife as Wardrobe Manager.
“THE BELL SISTERS” continued guest appearances all fall on radio and TV and Christmas found us having the best one we can remember. Adding not a little to the festivities was the news that two movie studios were interested in the girls. In January the girls went to Columbia Pictures to have parts in a technicolor musical called “Cruisin’ Down the River.” Jonie Tapps, the producer, had caught the girls’ act in Las Vegas, during the summer, and became interested in them, so we were called in for an interview. “Cruisin’ Down the River” is a nice show: lots of music and color, with a gay, happy story. It stars Dick Haymes, Audrey Totter, Cecil Kelloway, Connie Russell and Billy Daniels. The girls’ billing was to read, “Introducing “THE BELL SISTERS,” since it was their first picture.
The “Bells” had auditioned for Milt Lewis (Paramount’s Chief Talent Scout) and various Paramount Studio executives during the summer, and we learned they had finally found a spot for the girls in a script called “Those Redheads from Seattle,” a Pine-Thomas production. It was to be the industry’s first three-dimensional technicolor musical, to be released this September. Shooting was to start March 15th. It has a great story and cast: Agnes Moorehead plays the motor of Rhonda Fleming, Teresa Brewer and the Bells, Cynthia and Kay. Gene plays the romantic lead opposite Rhonda, and Guy Mitchell is Cynthia’s heart-throb. Kay plays the kid sister or the “Brat.” Roscoe Ates and Jean Arthur also have good parts.
Making these two movies has been an enjoyable experience for all of us and we met some wonderful people. To get into the movies, it seems that, first, a producer must become interested in you. In the girls’ case, it was probably because the “Bells” were known nationally, if not internationally, due to the publicity given them through the media of radio, TV, movie shorts and records.
Publicity is the reason you usually get into the movies. If the public knows you, the producers feel that, when they put your name up on a marquee as being in their picture, the public will pay to go in to hear and see you. Having a spot that fits you in the picture is important too, but if you are well enough advertised, they will make a spot for you.
Graduation time finally came for Cynthia. She got all A’s and B’s in her studies, played “Lizette” in the school operetta, “Naughty Marietta”, and was runner-up in the May Queen Contest. Kay got excellent grades also and for the third consecutive year won honors in the American Legion Essay Contest on “Americanism”. She also became a First Class Girl Scout.
I can’t say that the “Bells’” career has hurt them in any way, and I know they have loved every minute of it.
We have received so many songs, in the mail, from amateur songwriters, asking for help, that a few words of advice to them would probably be in order at this time. Up until recently, we haven’t been able to help these amateur writers much, due to legal reasons. But now that we have organized our own song publishing firm, we hope to give some other amateur songwriters a break by publishing their song, a break similar to the one we got through Peter Potter and his show. One tip to amateurs in mailing songs is: never register a song to a publisher, as they are afraid of lawsuits and will return it unopened. Also, if possible, send demonstration records of your music, so the publishers can actually hear your own interpretation of it. All publishers and all artists are constantly looking for good material. I know we are! If it’s good, never fear, you’ll hear from them. And don’t worry about someone stealing your song. Publishers are only too glad to pay you your share. If you gave them a hit, they might want another one of your songs. Of course, be sure your song is copyrighted before mailing it to anybody.
As I’ve dictated this article to my wife, in our backyard patio, the pages, as they are finished, have been handed over …
[Last pages are missing.]
BELVOIR CASTLE
The Engineer Center, U.S. Army, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
Friday, March 4, 1955; Vol. 14, No. 9
Two Shows on Tap Today
HOLLYWOOD REVUE STARS BELL SISTERS
A six-act Hollywood revue, featuring the Bell Sisters, will present two performances here today.
The “live” stage show will perform at the U.S. Army Hospital this afternoon and at Wallace Theater tonight at 2000 hours.
There is no admission charge for either performance.
Star Performers
Star recording artists, the Bell Sisters, Kay and Cynthia, will be accompanied here by their mother and a host of top-flight supporting acts.
Included in the show, which has toured Korea and military installations in the United States, are Larry Roberts, comic emcee; Nancy Lowe, comedienne; Brad Jackson, magician; the Gene Nash Dancers, featuring Mickey Crooks and Millicent Rogers, and Bill Shirley, vocalist.
Combo Background
In addition, a six-piece combo, led by Pianist Ed Scott, will serve as background for the acts.
The Bell Sisters appeared to a packed house here last year.
The Wallace Theater show is open to all military personnel, dependents and guests. The USAH show will be held at the Red Cross Recreational Hall.
* * * * *
LONG BEACH STATE FORTY-NINER
Long Beach State College, Long Beach, California
April 7, 1961, Page 5
Former Recording Artist Is English Major Here
By Marv Skolnick
From top recording star to English major at Long Beach State epitomizes the brief career of statuesque Edith Strother–and by another name you would know her.
Teaming with her sister, Cynthia, they formed a duet that became a national sensation From 1952-1954, they recorded 14 records, one of which “Bermuda,” topped all hit parades that year. Their names–The Bell Sisters.
The overnight success of “Bermuda” brought radio, movie, stage and night club offers.
During those early 50’s, two of the biggest names in show business, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, signed the Bell Sisters to perform on their radio shows.
Movies became the next principal attraction. The first production, a short called “Les Brown Goes to Town,” was followed by “Those Redheads from Seattle,” filmed at Paramount and “Showboat Coming In,” at Columbia Studios.
In 1954, disc jockey Johnny Grant welcomed the duet to his annual Christmas tour to entertain the GI’s in Korea.
Edith attributes the Bell Sister’s sudden lapse into oblivion, to “poor management and Cynthia’s dislike for the Hollywood eccentrics.”
Edith was graduated from Huntington Beach High School in 1958 and is now enrolled as a junior in the English department.
Cynthia is married and living in Seal Beach.
What are Edith’s plans for the future? “I would like to go back into singing as a single after graduation,” she says.”
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LONG BEACH STATE FORTY-NINER
Long Beach State College, Long Beach, California
September 26, 1961, Page 3
State Senior Serves Country in Radio Broadcast to Servicemen
By Mona Seymour
A senior at LBSC, formerly a member of a nationally known singing team, has turned her talents towards helping her country.
Kay Strother, with her sister Cynthia, made their break into show business as the famous Bell Sisters in 1951. They are best remembered for their composition and recording of “Bermuda.”
She, along with radio-television new commentator Elmer Peterson, is presently cutting records of informative talks which will be released to the armed services overseas.
President Directs
“I understand that President Kennedy contacted the armed forces broadcasting committee and asked that these records be made,” Miss Strother said.
“What we are doing is really attempting to cement the relations between the United States and other countries.”
At President Kennedy’s request, Miss Strother and Peterson first made the series on the countries in NATO and SEATO.
In the five-minute recordings, which are broadcast to our servicemen overseas, Kay plays the part of a college girl. She asks Peterson, who is a well-seasoned traveler, questions about the particular country to which the series is being broadcast.
Informal Program
“We keep it real informal, and infer that our main purpose is to inform servicemen of interesting facts about the country they’re in,” she said. “Actually we’re doing this, but our biggest hope is that the people of the country will also be listening to the broadcasts.”
As the discussion is primarily on the country involved, the United States is kept strictly in the background.
“Miss Ballot”
Kay got her start with the armed forces broadcasting during the 1960 presidential election. She was chosen as the Absentee Ballot Girl and appeared on television and radio to urge members of armed services overseas to file an absentee ballot.
Her performance was so widely accepted that she was asked to do the present series.
After doing the first recordings in this series, the armed forces decided to make records which could be released to include countries behind the Iron Curtain.
“Below Belt?”
“America’s whole attitude towards communism is changing and we’re hitting them (the communists) below the belt–just a little bit below the belt–” Kay hastily added.
One incident she recalls is the time when an official of an overseas radio station found out that the Russians were using their radio frequency to broadcast propaganda.
“They found out that the Russians were broadcasting on their frequency at night after they went off the air. Now the station plays music all night long to prevent this,” she noted.
The informative series are due to be released in early 1962. Kay hopes that she’ll be able to hear some of the broadcasts when she tours Europe in October of that year.
Working to help the troops overseas is certainly not new to either Kay or 25-year-old Cynthia.
The Bell Sisters were included in the top list of entertainers between 1951-1954.
Entertainment Media
In addition to making many records, they appeared in two movies and several short subjects. Radio and television are two other fields of media in which they were known.
Kay said her biggest thrill came at the time when she was only 13 years old. During the Christmas season of 1953 and 1954, she and Cynthia traveled to the Far East to entertain the troops. Kay still holds the record as the youngest performer to accomplish this task.
Because the girls were minors, their mother went with them, and she has the distinction of being the only non-performer to travel with such a group, she said.
Under Vets Wings
Another memorable experience for the girls was working with veteran performs such as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra. “We did a TV spectacular with Bob and Bing. They both took us under their wings,” she recalled.
Cynthia is now married, has two children, and lives in Seal Beach.
Kay sings professionally with the Elliot Brothers at Disneyland in addition to being a full-time student at LBSC. As an English major she hopes to eventually teach junior or senior high school, and says that she is “really enthusiastic about it.”
After graduation she wants to give show business another whirl, she added.
NEWS FROM DISNEYLAND
Public Relations Division, Anaheim, California
June 22, 1962 – Immediate Release
THE SPACEMEN (Biography)
For a new jazz combo that has hardly been on the boards for a year, the Spacemen in Disneyland have launched themselves into a kind of musical orbit.
For more than five years Sonny Anderson and Johnny Schmidt have been members of the Disneyland Band. Last summer they wrote some unique arrangements, gathered four more artists for a small band and took over the Disneyland Space Bar as the Spacemen.
At summer’s end, they found bookings during the winter in supper clubs, found time to write “Surfer’s Stomp” a twister’s delight, and record it for an album.
Now they’re back in Disneyland for the summer as part of the big cast that appears every night in Disneyland After Dark, biggest nighttime show in the Southland. Cast includes five dance bands, Tahitian shows, singing groups, guest vocalists, fireworks show, and special guest bands like Harry James set to appear July 26, 27 and 28.
With all their nighttime work, Johnny and Sonny maintain their day work with the Disneyland Band. “Sure it’s long hours,” says Johnny, “but who cares as long as we’re making music.”
Sonny plays the vibes for the Spacemen, while Johnny lips anything with a reed from sax to clarinet. Eddie Erickson handles bass; Gary Howland, drums; Waltz Malzahn, trombone; and Jimmy Seitzinger, trumpet.
This year Kay Bell, formerly one of the Bell Sisters, joined the Spacemen. When this red headed bombshell rips out “Kansas City, Here I Come,” the rocket in Tomorrowland starts steaming and thumping on its launching pad.
Setting some kind of a show business record for a first year, the Spacemen round it out June 30, 7:30 P.M. they appear with the Four Freshmen, and Dick and DeeDee on “Meet Me At Disneyland,” the hour long TV show direct from Disneyland over KTTV – Channel 11.
DAILY PILOT / NEWS-PRESS
Orange County, California
Tuesday, November 20, 1962
Remember?
Swinging Sisters Rocketed to Fame
By Art Vinsel
It was just about a decade ago that the city of Seal Beach resounded with the swinging songs of the singing Bell Sisters, a pair of pre-teen youngsters who made Bermuda more famous than Orange County.
But while their song has ended, the melody lingers on for Seal Beach residents who fondly recall the girls who rose to fame and fortune when they were scarcely old enough to wear lipstick.
In case you’re wondering, Cynthia and Kay Bell, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. E.R. Strother, of 232 Fifth St., are still Seal Beach sisters, of course, but their “sister-act” has taken on a new perspective.
Kay Still Sings
Kay, at 22, is still active in show business. She sings at Disneyland with the Spacemen, and reportedly is being considered for bigger things by the Disney entertainment trust.
But, there is another side to the red-tressed veteran of show business. A graduate of Long Beach State College, she is a student teacher at a Long Beach junior high.
Her warm and friendly manner puts her at ease on either stage or classroom floor, but she’s uneasy when she’s living alone. After living away from home, for some time, she moved back recently.
“I hate to be lonely,” she explained, “and with six sisters and a brother, there’s always somebody around to talk to.”
Wife, Mother
Cynthia Bell, who wrote many of the songs the girls made famous, has contented herself with “retirement” to the roles of wife and mother.
She and her husband, Ellison Seth, live at 636 Shore Dr. with their three children.
The sisters’ first hit–“Bermuda”–sold more than a million copies, although it was recorded at about the same time as Johnny Ray’s “Cry,” and consequently only reached No. 2 on the hit parade.
But after the Cinderella debut of “Bermuda,” the music industry seemed to lose interest in the girls’ own music, which their father, Gene Strother, helped to write.
“The recording company offered us their music,” said Strother, an electrician, “but they just didn’t want the girls to do what we had written.”
Crosby, Hope
Fourteen appearances with both Bing Crosby and Bob Hope followed.
The little girls did two movies, “Redheads from Seattle” and “Cruising Down the River.”
They also toured Japan and Korea to entertain troops during the Korean war, and they were featured in most national magazines.
Today, they are still regarded by some in the music world as being perhaps the most talented singers in America, but now they only sing together at family gatherings.
Both the girls graduated from Huntington Beach High School where Kay was cheerleader. A brother Rex, 17, is in his senior year now and little sister, Alice, 16, is in her junior year.
Although there are no plans for the two sisters to enter show business together again, their family believes that they are better now than ever.
Photo Caption: SWINGING BELLS ARE SILENT NOW. Cynthia (left) and Kay recall famed sister act.
REGISTER
Orange County, California
Sunday, September 6, 1964, p. B12
Fame Recalled
KAY BELL TRIES FOR BRAND NEW CAREER
Junior high school students in Long Beach may not know it but a certain pert young school marm is a well-known singer incognito during school hours. Her name is Kay Bell, the younger of the famous Bell Sisters of a few years back.
About 1952, the girls rose to sudden fame and fortune when Kay and her older sister Cynthia composed and recorded a soulful ditty called “Bermuda.” They proceeded to put it and a follow-up, “The Wheel of Fortune” on the nation’s hit parade. At that time both girls lived with their family in Seal Beach, where they shared the home with five other brothers and sisters.
Today Kay Bell is the only one in the family to continue with a professional musical career. The family still lives in Seal Beach, but Cynthia is married and has four children. Countians may see Kay and her dance band, the Spacemen, every night in the week but Monday, as they appear in the Disneyland Space Bar–a swingin’ rock n’roll hangout for the teen set.
Miss Bell has been doing the Disneyland bandstand bit with partner Sonny Anderson for three years, and put herself through college while doing so. An accredited junior high school teacher (who works at it) she was unable to attend her graduation party at Long Beach State because she had to go to work at the big park.
Kay, a pretty young redhead, hopes she is about to launch a new recording career with Capitol Records. She wants to specialize in singing the blues, a style she does well.
At the park, Miss Bell and her Spacemen have a loyal following. Among the gifts she has received is a huge stuffed toy dog, shown with her in the photograph adjoining. About two thousand kids meet at the Space Bar on weekend nights, and during the week, Kay holds court with from three to four hundred of them. The evening begins with a jam session, featuring the Bell-Anderson blend of rock n’roll with a Latin beat, and a party for the younger Disneyland visitors who get a chance to twist with Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Mickey Mouse, Flower and other Disney characters. The “Animals” play musical instruments and the evening is on six nights a week, the routine is followed, making a gruelling career for Miss Bell.
Off-hours, the songstress-bandleader rests, swims and recuperates for the week ahead. Single, she seems more interested in building a new career than in matrimony. At 24, Kay Bell recalls vividly the heyday of the Bell Sisters, when Bing Crosby and Bob Hope featured the then chubby little girl as she crooned ballads about a lost love both here and abroad. Overseas shows for servicemen are a thing of the past, born of Korea. But there is nothing to say Kay Bell as a soloist and personality in her own right won’t once more climb to the top. She did it once before, at an age when most girls are just putting away their dolls.
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