Aging gracefully - Richmond Parents Monthly

Happy Birthday, Rose Marie– By Nick Thomas –Best known for her role as SallyRogers in the 1960’s CBSsitcom “The Dick Van DykeShow,” Rose Marie turned 90 in August.“I don’t feel it,” she admittedwhen I spoke with her recently. “Ifeel 60, and still keep busy.”In the past year, that includedvoiceover work for “The GarfieldShow” on the Cartoon Network. “Ilove it. You don’t have to dress up orput on makeup. All you have to dois show up! Although I can do manydifferent voices, the producer wantedmy voice so people would know‘that’s Rose Marie.’”Audiences have known RoseMarie for nine decades, since she beganperforming at an age when mostchildren would still be potty training.Her phenomenal singing voice as achild (see www.missrosemarie.com)rocketed her to fame overnight.“I have no idea where that voicecame from, I think God just gave mea wonderful gift,” she said. “When Iwas three, I won an amateur contest,and my family took me to AtlanticCity. We saw a showgirl namedEvelyn Nesbit perform and I startedsinging along. She invited me up onstage to sing with her, then peoplebegan throwing money.”Backstage, Nesbit suggestedchanging her name to Baby RoseMarie and her career soon took off.“I had my own radio show coast tocoast on NBC when I was five.”But there were also doubters.“Unlike other child singers, I sangadult songs with adult phrasing andmannerisms. People would write tothe station in disbelief saying that nochild could sing like that and I musthave been a midget. So NBC sent meout to play theaters to prove I was achild.”As her fame grew, the famouswanted to meet her. President FranklinRoosevelt invited her to the WhiteHouse when she was just six. “After Isang for him, we played tiddlywinkswith some poker chips I found in hisoffice.”She caught the attention of theinfamous, too. While working withMilton Berle in Chicago, a visitorcame backstage. “It was Al Caponeand he wanted to invite me to dinner!He picked me up the next day and wewent out to eat with all the mob.”Years later as a young adult, shewas invited to perform at the openingof the Flamingo Hotel, in Las Vegas,in 1946, along with Jimmy Durante,bandleader Xavier Cugat andother stars of the day. The invitationcame from notorious mobster andhotel owner, Bugsy Siegel. “We becamefriends and he was very goodto me. I just didn’t think of thoseguys as gangsters.”At age 10, Rose Marie met MoreyAmsterdam, who would becomean important influence in her careerand later her co-star on “The DickVan Dyke Show.” “He was a popularwriter for comedians like FannyBrice and Fred Allen and become acomic himself,” she recalled. “Wemet when I guest starred on a radioprogram. He also wrote most of mynightclub material and become a lifelongfriend. I actually got him theDick Van Dyke Show job.”As for Dick Van Dyke, she saysit was a joy to work with someone sotalented, and has only fond memoriesof Dick and the cast. “We werea close group and genuinely likedworking together. Everyone came towork happy, and oh did we laugh!”Speaking from his Malibu home,Dick Van Dyke recalled meetingRose Marie for the first time. “I knewshe had been in show business sinceshe was three, but never met her untilthe first reading of the script,” hesaid. “She just knocked me over. Sheprobably had the most razor sharpsense of timing of anybody I everworked with. She was a delight andstill is.” fpThomas’ features and columns haveappeared in more than 300 magazinesand newspapers, and he is the author of“Raised by the Stars,” published by Mc-Farland. He can be reached at his blog:http://getnickt.blogspot.com.Clockwise from top left: Rose Marie with cast of the Dick Van Dyke Show; posingwith a hair bow and shoes from her Baby Rose Marie days donated to the Smithsonian’sMuseum of American History; with Johnny Depp; and Baby Rose Marie.8 u FIFTYpLUS u september 2013www.fiftyplusrichmond.com