Bozzzzzzzzzz
In our many cruises across the ether waves bozzies.com has discovered many stories and links of interest to those on the journey to the Land of Boz. Have a favorite site or article you care to share? Send it in our way for review!
Connee's Wheelchair Discovered
The light from the single, faraway bulb was dim, but Boswell researchers David McCain, Randall Riley and Cynthia Lucas knew as soon as they saw the wheelchair tucked away in the corner that this had belonged to Connee Boswell. Get bozzed.
Boswell Sisters Inducted in Louisiana Music Hall of Fame
We were there in Jackson Square on a beautiful April afternoon with thousands of French Quarter Fest celebrants. They applauded their approval as the Boswell Sisters became only the second posthumous group inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
Although members of the Boswell family were not able to be there, they asked that the honor be accepted on behalf of all the fans who continue to discover, enjoy and celebrate the Boswell Sisters music.
The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame has posted a copy of the plaque on their website and has featured a number of Boswell movie clips in their gallery.
Big Bozzie "attaboys" to LMHOF director Mike Shepherd for making the award possible and a chest of doubloons to the Pfister Sisters for hosting the awards during their performance.
Mo' Connee Downloads, Yowsah
There are hours and hours of the Connie Boswell Show just ready to download at the Internet Archive. Stream it or click it, either way you can listen to CBoz efforts during wartime to keep her country smiling through.
Domesticate Me CBoz!
For thirty wonderful minutes our favorite contralto on wheels sings it sweet and swings it hot with Paul Whiteman's Orchestra. Connie Boswell's School of Domestic Science for Men is just one of the skits from the April 5, 1944 transcription of "The Connie Boswell Show," now featured on Podango's The Best of Old Time Radio.
Bozzin’ With the Brian Sisters
One of the sister acts to rise in the wake of the Boswell Sisters’ success was the Brian Sisters. First seen in Hal Roach’s “Our Gang” comedies, Betty, Doris and Gwen amazed audiences with their tight, hot harmonies and were making movies before they were in their teens. Many know that they appeared in MGM’s “Sunday Night at the Trocadero” with Connie Boswell, but few know of how Connie befriended them and helped them reach a new level in their career. Doris Brian Rounds told the story of the struggle she and her sisters faced when they came to Los Angeles and Connie’s influence on their lives to bozzies.com.
Connee Boswell Second Line and Memorial Wake
See pictures and video captured as Bozzies.com celebrated the life of Connee Boswell and the Boswell Sisters on the 30th anniversary of Connee's death.
Liner Notes from the 1943 Brunswick Collection
How quickly they forget…at least Connee’s age! This pdf is taken from the liner notes that appear in a great Brunswick reissue of the Boswell Sisters best songs. There is some significant poetic license taken in the story this tells of the Boswell Sisters, but it still makes a great read.
Boz Banter
Bozzies.com is proud to feature Richard Lamparski's 1965 interview with Connee and Vet Boswell. The famed author of the “Whatever Became Of...” series and the great new “Hollywood Diary” and “Manhattan Diary” editions has graciously allowed us to share his WBAI interview with the Boswell Sisters. Hear them tell their story in their own words...and Get Bozzed.
Yassuh, We Got Video
They’re back! There are beaucoup de Boz in action in spots across the web. One of our favorites is “Heebie Jeebies” recorded at Astoria, Queens in the summer of 1932. This film is the closest thing we have to how the Boswells actually performed in their stage shows: Connie on the bench with Martha, and Vet standing behind them with her hands on their shoulders. This ensemble is repeated when they appear in 1932’s “The Big Broadcast” singing “Crazy People”.
Their very first appearance on film came in the short “Close Farmony”. Martha plays a piano of straw and a goose joins in on the chorus, but the girls keep a straight face throughout. And who invented “Rock and Roll?” While there may be debate there is no doubt that the Bozzies were the first to be filmed rockin’ and rollin’. Martha, Connie, Vet and Harry Leedy are captured singing “Lou’siana Waddle” in the short “Ramblin’ Round Radio Row.” They actually appear in a cartoon in the Fleischer sing-a-long classic “Sleepy Time Down South.”
Connie Boswell is featured in “Falling Star” from the 1942 film Syncopation, backed up by actors Bonita Granville and Jackie Cooper. Connie teams with the Brian Sisters to sing “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” and “There’s Always a Happy Ending” from the 1937 MGM short “Sunday Night at the Trocadeo.” Read about it at the “Bozzin’ with the Brian Sisters” article on Bozzies.com.
Boz Ballroom on the Air
Tune into two hours of music and memories on the Jimmie Jazz Show, straight from the swing hamlet of New England, www.wool.fm in Bellows Falls, Vermont. Just click, find the Boswell show and bode-a-lee ho!
Blog Your Baby to the Bozzy Beat
Canadian swing-thing Mike Daley shares his Bozzie thoughts and meanderings via the web at www.boswellsisters.blogspot.com.
Cboz in the Lions Den
MGM had the best of the best in their stable of stars in the 1930s, so it should be no surprise to the bozzed that she made regular appearances on their radio show, “Good News”. Shelly Brisbin has included one of these broadcasts in her “Hollywood on the Radio” series. Hear the divine Connee hold her own with this pantheon of stars, singing “The Gypsy in my Soul,” “I Can Dream, Can't I” and engaging in banter with "Mur-deth" Wilson and Robert Taylor.
Dis Man's Got IT!
If you love the Bozzies, you’ll love Dismuke.net. He has lots of real gems on his virtual radio machine that include Connee’s smash hit with Bob Crosby and his Bobcats, “Martha”. But his greatest discovery may have been of an old Philco promo record that features the Boswell Sisters under the name the “Philco-eds”. Well worth downloading real player just to listen!
Keepin’ the Home Fires Burning
The Pfabulous Pfister Sisters got around the piano in the New Orleans parlor where the Boswell Sisters used to practice and sang our friend Cynthia a birthday song. It's as close as you can get to the real thing today!
MySpace Bozzed
Yes, Helvetia, there is even a Bozzie page in MySpace. Boz on over and check out the tunes and videos on The Boswell Sisters site. Then cuddle up a little closer with CBoz. Great videos and tunes!
Best Boz Discography on the Web
Sure, there's a better one you can buy, but this is the best free Boz discography we've found on the web. Check out Patrick Gaffey's site (and tell him when there's something wrong).
Serious Boz
Although things are in transition at the Boswell Museum, no Bozzie site would be complete without an homage to Chica Minnerly's labor of love to her Mother (Vet Boswell), aunts Martha and Connie and the age of radio.
Bozzie Bakes
Sweet and hot are always ingredients in Connie's cupboard.
Connie Boswell's Pineapple Torte recipe
From the “Good Things to Eat from Out of the Air - 136 tested radio recipes” by Winifred S. Carter, c. 1932 from Proctor and Gamble.
Combine these ingredients. Take out 3/4 cup of the mixture. Use remainder to line the bottom of square cake pan.
Blend sugar with flour. Add pineapple and slightly beaten egg yolks. Fold in stiffly beaten whites. Pour this over rusk mixture. Sprinkle top with 3/4 C of crumbs. Bake 1 hour in a slow oven (325 F). Chill. Serve with plain or whipped cream.
(Note from Stinceria – try this in a 9x9 pan, greased and flowered.)
