Such Devoted Sisters. 2.

No mention of The McGuire Sisters would be complete without pointing out that the lead singer, Phyllis, was,
for quite a while, the main squeeze of noted Mob boss, Sam "Momo" Giancana.
Giancana was perhaps best known for A- being very powerful, and B- for sharing another
girlfriend, Judith Campbell Exner, with John F. Kennedy.
She was apparently more disposable to both of them than Phyllis was to Giancana.
As I previously indicated, Arthur Godfrey did not like it when his Little Godfreys became big.
When that happened, heads would roll.
But the McGuire Sisters heads did not roll when they got too big for their britches.
Or in their case, cocktail dresses and evening gowns.
I place this firmly at the doorstep of Giancana.
Godfrey knew he was big, but he knew he wasn't as big or powerful as Giancana.
So he most-likely didn't want to mess with him.
So the McGuires were allowed to skate.

Phyllis went on to become a single act.
And Christine and Dorothy went into retirement to raise their children.
Again, I have no idea whether this was a forced retirement at the behest of Giancana.
Phyllis went on to open for Frank Sinatra and Johnny Carson in Las Vegas.
One Christmas week, I know, because I was there (I mean, who else but Jews go to Vegas Christmas Week?),
Phyllis McGuire was the HEADLINER at Caesar's Palace.
I put it in caps, because that's how astounded I was.
I guess the thinking was "It's Christmas week, we can't fill the joint anyway, so why don't we toss Sam a bone?"
Can you imagine being Phyllis McGuire's opening act?
I can, because I saw his name under hers, in smaller letters, on the marquee.
It was some Hawaiian singer named something like Duke Kahanamana.
And he probably thought it was his big break.
Even though they probably paid him with seashells.
Pity.
For a few more shells, they could've gotten Poncie Ponce, from "Hawaiian Eye"
At least then, you'd have had some name value.

Then, when Giancana died, lo and behold, the girls reunited and became a trio again.
And worked again together for quite a few years.
Think it was cause and effect?
The last time I saw them was the last time they worked together.
On some PBS nostalgia special.
They still sounded great.
And from the wide-angle lens, shot through gauze, they even still looked great.

I'm going to briefly touch upon one other singing group today, because brief is all I've got.
The Chordettes were also out of the Godfrey stable.
They were Little Godfreys who never really got any bigger.
And they weren't sisters.
At least they weren't each other's sisters.
Let me amend that.
There were four of them,, and one of them was another's sister-in-law.
But that certainly wasn't part of their billing, so let's leave it at that.
They made a lot of records, but only three that I could recognize.
They had two big hits:
"Mr. Sandman" and "Lollipop".
They also made a recording of the TV theme song of "Zorro".
How's that for brief?

Anyway, from here on in, we will be dealing exclusively with singing sisters.

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My books ,"Show Runner" and it's sequel,"Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperback, "Mark Rothman's Essays" is still available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings remaining, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.
If you'd like one, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne & Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.

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