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FENDER HONORS THE MARY KAYE TRIO
The Mary Kaye Trio started lounge entertainment in Las Vegas. Along the way they
recorded over 21 singles and 15 albums and appeared in movies. As a female
guitarist Mary Kaye was unique and so was a guitar she played.
The MARY KAYE TRIO, Frankie Ross,
Norm and Mary
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In a tape recorded interview Broadway To Vegas spoke with Mary Kaye and her
brother, Norm, about their careers and the honor the Fender Company is about to
bestow upon her.
"In the early 50s Fender put out a Stratocaster which was white ash wood
with gold fittings," explained Mary. "It didn't have a name on it -
just Fender. We did some movies for Howard Koch at Paramount. I told Fender that
we were doing the movies and they sent over the Stratocaster and I played it in Cha
Cha Cha Boom."
"There was a lot of publicity," she continued. "There was a
particular picture with the three of us. I had the Stratocaster and Frankie had
a Fender amplifier in front of him," related Mary referring to their late
partner, Frankie Ross. "The picture went around the world."
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"Instead of customers asking for a white guitar with gold fittings they
said - I want that guitar that Mary Kaye was playing. All of a sudden the guitar
became known as the Mary Kaye Stratocaster."
Ironically, Fender actually took the guitar back after the filming never to be
seen again by Mary, although other artists requested it.
Sambora played a Mary Kaye Strat on
his tour
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In the long overdue honor, early next year Fender will honor The Mary Kaye Trio
and that Stratocaster.
Their Las Vegas beginnings date back to Dinah Shore in the 1940s.
Dinah Shore was a popular and powerful radio and television performer for over
40 years. In 1952 she was chosen most popular female vocalist by a Gallup poll.
In 1956, Dinah Shore began a one hour program on NBC, The Dinah Shore Chevy
Show. The top rated program always ended with Shore's signature Sign off -
blowing a kiss at the audience. The show's theme began See the USA in a
Chevrolet. America's the Greatest Land Of All.
Shore, who dated Burt Reynolds for an extensive period of time and turned down
his marriage proposal, died in 1994.
"We had a marvelous manager, Billy Burton, who managed Margaret Whiting,
Dick Haymes, the Dorsey Brothers," explained Mary who has recently returned
to Las Vegas. "Billy was managing a young lady who wanted to record some of
my brother's songs so he came out to hear us. We were working at the Cockateel
in Los Angeles. Billy Burton brought Dinah Shore there that night and they were
both impressed. He wanted to manage the trio. We were on Dinah's television show
and she introduced us as her protégée. She also took us to the Beverly
Wilshire parties."
DINAH SHORE
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"Daryl Zanuck was one of the biggest men in Hollywood of all times,"
injected Norm. "He owned Zanuck Films. He had invited three or four hundred
people to a party for his daughter's debut."
"A lot of entertainers were scheduled to perform," continued Mary.
"We were on with Dinah Shore doing the two songs we were scheduled to do.
But, Dinah kept us on and had us do four songs. There was some fellow in the
wings waiting to go on. It was so dark back there and we were out entertaining
and all of a sudden I hear this fellow yell - "Get off the stage. I want to
get on." I didn't know who it was. Dinah said just go out again and do Up
a Lazy River. So we went out and did that and when we came back this man was
really cussing. He was furious because he wanted to get on. It turned out
to out to be Al Jolson.
"Judy Garland and Sid Luft were out best friends," Mary fondly
recalled. "Wherever we appeared they would come opening night."
THE MARY KAYE TRIO at the Sahara
Hotel, Las Vegas
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"Frankie Ross was our partner," added Norm. "He was the funniest
guy in the world. He was credited with being the man who Don Rickles and Shecky
Green came to see to find out what would work in Nevada casinos."
Relatives working together don't necessarily get along, but Norm and Mary
thrived in their brother sister relationship. "We had no trouble getting
along," said Mary. "Musically we were always in tune. I think the only
problem we had is that my brother, who is a very talented singer and song
writer, would have become a rock and roll star if our manager hadn't stopped
him.
"Norm did a demo record that became popular." she explained. "As
Little Norman his rock and roll record on Decca, Blue Jean Betty, went to
number three on the Billboard Charts. Our manager said are you with the Mary
Kaye Trio or are you going to go out as Little Norman?"
Memories can play tricks and Norm's son, John, has a more researched version.
"Little Norman was a fluke record pressed by Decca, but never made it out
of the shoot. At least not what I could find. It never ranked in Billboard and
as a matter of record, we believe that Billy Burtons relationship with then head
man of Decca, Milt Gabler, squashed any hope of the song being released. To hear
my father tell it, he "heard" it was in Cashbox, Billboard and
Variety, but none of these magazine articles can be found and the Billboard top
100 hits from 1940 to 1984 have been reviewed and no such record exists in any
of those years charts. The current powers that be at Decca have no information
on the release ever happening."
"What happened was that I was with the trio, but Decca called me into New
York to record a song called It All Comes Back To Me Now,"
elaborated Norm. "On the other side was a song called The New You,
which was the title song from a Broadway show that didn't go anywhere,"
explained Norm. "I sang the title song. Dave Cavanaugh was the guy who
backed me with a big band. I was with Capitol for a long time doing singles
while the trio was going on and they were trying to build me. They had four of
us that they thought would take the place of Frank Sinatra - Dean Martin, Clark
Dennis, Mel Torme and myself. We were four young kids and I was one of them that
were taken on by the Capitol label. That is how that all started."
Norm also penned the National March of Dimes song Have a Heart Lend a Hand
and is the Nevada poet laureate.
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"Mary was also doing some singles," added Norm. "There was The
20th Century Fox movie Boy on a Dolphin in which Mary Kaye sang the main
title theme song and the end title song, written by Paul Frances Webster and
released on Decca Records in 1957," said Norm about the film that was
Sophia Loren's first major US movie. Directed by Jean Negulesco it starred Alan
Ladd and Clifton Webb.
But again the manager stepped in and said they either were the Mary Kaye Trio or
they weren't - take your pick.
They are credited as the first act to open up the lounges in Las Vegas. That was
1947 and the hotel was The Frontier. Their manager, Billy Burton, convinced the
owner of the Last Frontier Hotel to construct a room separate from the main
showroom to accommodate the late night crowds in a relaxing "lounge
about" atmosphere.
"Then they built the New Frontier and we opened that one, too"
injected Mary.
"The IRS came in to visit us one day," continued Norm. "They said
you'd better move here because they're going to hire you for a long time. You've
got to move here because the IRS isn't going to let you take anything off for
expenses when you play here. That was a rude awakening, so that is when I moved
into the Robinson Apartments on Sahara Avenue, which was called San Francisco
Street. Then we played the Sahara Hotel for years and then the Tropicana,"
explained Norm about the group which officially broke up in 1966.
"We stepped in for Judy Garland and Mario Lanza," recalled Norm.
Mario Lanza who sometimes was in
the bathtub drunk, pictured with Vegas residents Betty Grable and Harry
James
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Mario Lanza, born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza January 31, 1921 in Philadelphia, was
Private Cocozza in the U.S. Army, based in Marfa Texas, when he auditioned for
Peter Lind Hayes and was accepted into the troupe that performed concerts on
army bases around the country. Hayes was half of the Vegas headline act Peter
Lind Hayes and Mary Healy who made Las Vegas their home. On tour promoting his
MGM musicals Cocozza, who was then Lanza, got booked into Vegas.
"They said he's sick, he can't go on," continued Norm, "so I came
out and sang Be My Love and they applauded and loved it."
Lanza had a reputation for missing shows because he was in the bathtub - drunk.
"No, he wasn't drunk in the bathtub that night. He was really sick,"
said Mary.
The Mary Kaye Trio had a long and successful career. One of the first and
foremost recordings were the favorite standard My Funny Valentine and the
unforgettable novelty tune from a TV series of that time, 77 Sunset Strip,
called Kookie Lend Me Your Comb, with then teen idol Ed Kookie Byrnes and
Connie Stevens.
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The Mary Kaye Trio's version of When The Idle Poor Become The Idle Rich featuring
Lou Monte, was included in the Frank Sinatra's Reprise Musical Repertory
Theatre four CD box set which also features; Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby,
Sammy Davis Jr., Clark Dennis, The Hi-Lo's, Dean Martin, The McGuire Sisters,
Johnny Prophet, Debbie Reynolds, Allan Sherman, Dinah Shore, Keely Smith, and Jo
Stafford.
Norm's son, John, is their business manager. He is attempting for them to gain
control over their masters. "It's only a matter of time before we negotiate
the rights for the trio to own their own material and be able to release
them."
In the meantime the memories of those who have seen the Trio live on and Mary is
thrilled that Fender will honor her and that white ash guitar with the gold
fittings, which for years was referred to by fans as the Mary Kaye Stratocaster.
Reprinted from Time Magazine
Natural-Seven Muzak
Las Vegas, where casino doors never close and show business acts are the loss
leaders for the gaming tables, once had a problem with its graveyard shift.
Predictably, there would be a lone high roller whose eyelids seemed to be held
open by pieces of red pimiento; but the little money was creeping off to bed,
and the problem was how to keep it awake.
Then the late Billy Burton, manager of the Mary Kaye Trio, talked the Last
Frontier Hotel into doing something unheard of—booking the little-known Mary
Kaye Trio into the casino lounge for nightly shows lasting until breakfast. Mary
Kaye, her brother Norman, and Frankie Ross caught on instantly, singing,
strumming, and turning out a kind of natural-seven Muzak that held the crowds in
the casino and skyrocketed the late late take. Hooked two ways, fans now stay
around as much to hear the trio as to shoot craps, and the group is no longer
just background music: it has become one of the top draws in Vegas. Currently at
the Sahara, Mary Kaye & Co. will earn about a quarter of a million dollars
in a 22-week stand this season. Also, they perform at San Francisco's Fairmont
and Los Angeles' Crescendo, and have cut 14 LP albums.
Imitation Surf. With close harmony and wordless rhythm, Norman Kaye and
Frankie Ross cushion Mary Kaye's wailing obbligato, producing a pleasant blend
of sound that may sometimes suggest the Andrews sisters doing a Pepsodent
commercial; but it is just the sort of think proof entertainment that gamblers
crave. The trio specializes in old standards (Heartaches, And the Angels Sing),
and as an extra fail-safe against boredom, Frankie Ross often makes joking
commentaries on the lyrics. His gags may not be immortal but usually get a laugh
from someone who has just put his 459th consecutive nickel into a slot and is
ready for anything. Ross also does a take-off on Baby, It's Cold Outside,
turning himself into a jivey simulacrum of a Chicago mobster. In a rococo
version of Ebbtide, the whole group does everything from bird calls to an
imitation of the surf.
Neon Islands. Mary and Norman Kaye came by their style naturally enough, as
the children of a durable vaudevillian named Johnny Ukulele, a Hawaiian, whose
real name is Johnny Kaaihue. Their mother died when they were young; they were
raised in orphanages and foster homes and on the carnival circuit, doing
ten-a-day acts with their father. When they formed their own singing group, it
was called the Kaiihue Trio, became the Mary Kaye Trio when they decided to give
up their original concentration on Hawaiian songs.
In the late '40s and early '50s, the group drifted in obscurity among the
neon islands of the Middle West, before finding their natural home in Las Vegas
eight years ago. All three are now residents there, are married and have seven
children among them. By now they are more than singers; they are entrepreneurs.
Norman, most notably, is an insurance agent and securities salesman, also owns a
carpet and drapery shop, and with five offices and a sales force of 40 on his
payroll, is far and away the biggest real estate operator in the state of
Nevada.
Royal Blood, Jazz, and Rock & Roll
Mary Kaye 1924-2007
Last weekend, a descendant of Hawaiian royalty passed away. Her American
name was Mary Kaye, but she was born Mary Ka'aihue, the daughter of Johnny
"Ukulele" Ka'aihue ( a pure Hawaiian) and granddaughter of Prince
Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana'ole, brother (by adoption) of Hawaii's last
monarch, Queen Liliu'okalani. The Queen was a musician and composer, and
wrote the world famous song "Aloha O'e". Her monarchy was
overthrown in 1893 by US businessmen.
After Hawaii was annexed by the USA, Prince Kuhio (a very well educated man
who had attended university in California and England) was the delegate in
the US House from the Territory of Hawai‘i from 1903 to 1922. His life
story is worth at least a post of its own.
Johnny Ukulele was one of the original group that Olympic Gold Medalist Duke
Kahanamoku brought to the mainland USA in 1916 as part of the band that
played at his surfing demonstrations. Johnny stayed on the mainland and
pursued a career in music.
Johnny Ukulele played with the Harry Owens Hawaiian Band. Shown here
(top right) with the 1916 Duke
Kahanamoku 'Swimmers'
Mary was born in Detroit on January 9, 1924. She starting performing at age
3 (at which tender age she lost her mother) dancing hula to the ukulele strumming
of her brother, Norman. By age 12, Mary and Norman were
performing with their father's band, Johnny Ka'aihue's Royal Hawaiians.
Later she formed a trio with her brother and husband and started playing
jazz - that's right, jazz - in Las Vegas before it was a show town. The trio
is credited with starting the Las Vegas lounge scene.
After WWII, Norman returned from the service and suggested they change group
name from the Mary Ka'aihue Trio to Mary Kaye Trio so that people would not
expect to hear Hawaiian music every time they played. They did of course,
also play Hawaiian tunes. Early patrons of the Mary Kaye Trio included Frank
Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. Later, Elvis Presley would listen to them from
backstage. Over the years the trio cut 13 albums and 21 singles and earned
about a million dollars a year - that's in 1950's dollars. A Los Angeles
Times review of a 1949 performance at the Orpheum Theatre declared the trio
"atomic when they get into full swing" and concluded: "They
have style, energy, ingenuity."
Mary Kaye Trio album "Our Hawaii"
You can see some of their other discography here.
Mary Kaye Trio at the Sahara in 1956.
Mary Kaye could also be said to be the "first lady" of rock and
roll and even had a guitar named for her. In 1956 she posed for and ad with
a white ash Fender Stratocaster, which became a favorite instrument of many
stars and was known in the music business as the "Mary Kaye Strat".
Fender introduced a Mary Kaye Tribute guitar a few years ago. Ironically,
she usually played D'Angelico guitars. In 1959, they had their first rock
& roll hit with a rendition of "You Can't Be True, Dear".
Hawaiian Royalty, jazz star, rock star, and Las Vegas legend, Mary Kaye,
passed away on February 17, 2007. Aloha O'e.
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