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On being a Moonmaid . . .
I
was one of Vaughn Monroe's original Moon Maids from March 1946 to late
December 1949. What a great experience! Being on the weekly Camel Caravan
radio show kept us constantly reading music and learning! We met many
celebrities who were guests on the radio show. There were long stints at
The Meadows night club, The Commodore Hotel, Atlantic City and Asbury
Park, as well as theaters across the country. And there were those one-nighters,
all across America! We were on more than 50 Victor recordings with Vaughn
and the band.
On those one-nighters . . .
Yes, those days with Vaughn Monroe were fun, (and TIRING) but exciting! We
Moonmaids lugged around heavy luggage, as we lived out of a suitcase and a
trunk! We had make-up kits to drag along too. We also kept our gowns in
hanging bags. Much of what we used was carried in the equipment truck that
went to our jobs separately from the bus we rode in. It sometimes had to
be carried by us though.
We traveled by bus most of the time, but occasionally by train. I can
remember only a time or two that we flew to a job. We would arrive in the
town we were to appear in, in the wee small hours of the morning---after
playing a job somewhere else, then riding all night to the next venue. We
checked into a hotel, bedraggled and groggy, and tried to get a little
more sleep.
Some of the time we gals had a dressing room, but usually we dressed in a
restroom, or even in the back of the instrument truck. NOT what one would
call glamorous! It was a way of life we accepted as part of the job. We
had little time for glamour! We did our own hair and make up, and took
care of laundry and cleaning. I think the entertainers of today have a
much different life style. Our bus was just that---A BUS! No TV, or
restroom, or beds! I could tell you many tales about that bus!
One nighters were our most common types of jobs. We traveled all over the
U.S., and did the Camel Caravan radio shows every Saturday night from a
different University. Vaughn Monroe was not always with us on the bus. He
owned his own private plane, ----and, he also was a pilot.
On her
subsequent career . . .
After leaving the band, I married Harrold
Grogan--also a group singer who had sung as one the the "SonnySiders" with
Sonny Dunham's big band. Together we sang in various vocal groups and
recorded jingles and commercials. We were a part of the creation of
singing radio jingles in the 1950's! Later, we recreated the Moonmaids,
adding Harrold to the girls' voices, and naming him our "Plus One."
Vaughn's wife, Marian, gave us the OK to use the Moonmaids name for our
group. Thus, the Moonmaids Plus One, who sang for more than 10 years,
standard songs of the big band era! We recorded two cassettes and one CD
during that time.
February 2004 |
