Connee Boswell Is Dead at 68; Long a Popular Singer and Actress (original) (raw)
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- Oct. 12, 1976
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Connee Boswell, one of the brightest stars in popular American music, died yesterday of cancer at Mount Sinai Hospital. She was 68 years old and lived at 101 Central Park West.
Miss Boswell, whose recordings sold 75 million copies, was discovered in the late 1920's in her native New Orleans by Harry Leedy, an artists' manager who heard her and two sisters, Martha and Vet (short for Helvetia) perform as the Boswell Sisters on a local radio station.
Under Mr. Leedy's guidance the trio soon became known nationally and by 1935 had become an international hit, with a tour of Europe and a command performance at Buckingham Palace.
In 1936, after her sisters had decided to get married the year before, she struck out on her own after she had been married to Mr. Leedy, who died in 1975.
In the 1930's and 40's Miss Boswell was one of the most popular singing stars on radio. She had a program of her own and headlined such network shows as the “Camel Caravan” on CBS.
She also won fans on such radio shows as NBC's “Good News,” the “Ken Murray Show,” and with frequent appearances on the “Bing Crosby Show.” She first met Mr. Crosby when he was singing with Paul Whiteman's “Rhythm Boys” and later made a number of recordings with him, beginning with “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries.”
Came From Musical Family
Miss Boswell, a contralto, came from a musical family. She studied music privately and at 5 played the cello. Other instruments she subsequently learned were the piano, the violin and the saxophone.
Among the more successful recordings she made between 1936 and 1960, when she stopped making commercial appearances, were “I Cover the Waterfront,” “Stormy Weather,” which she introduced on the old radio program “Kraft Music Hall,” “They Can't Take That Away From Me” and “Martha,” a swing version or an aria from Friedrich von Flotow's opera by that name, first performed at Vienna in 1847.
Her career was not confined to singing but included the movies and the stage as well. In 1937 she appeared in the Paramount motion picture “Artists and Models,” with Jack Benny, and sang “Whispers in the Dark.”
That song, composed by Frederick Hollander, with lyrics by Leo Robin, was nominated for an Academy award but lost out that year to “Sweet Leilani,” from “Waikiki Wedding,” with music and lycics by Harry Owens.
Other motion pictures she appeared in were “Moulin Rouge,” “Transatlantic, Merry‐Go‐Round,” “Senior Prom,” “Syncopation,” “Swing Parade” and “Big Broadcast.” Her Broadway shows were “Star Time,” which ran for 120 performances, “Curtain Time,” “Show Time” and “Nuts to You.”
Aided Causes for Handicapped
Another facet of her life as a performer was an abiding dedication to the cause of the handicapped.
She had become partly paralyzed through polio at the age of 4 and throughout her career had to perform in a wheelchair, covered by a long gown, thus creating the illusion that she was singing standing up.
She did considerable entertaining at Army and Navy posts throughout the country during World War II, but was unable to perform overseas because military authorities would not permit her to travel abroad, because of her handicap.
She and Eddie Cantor were among the original founders of the March of Dimes, and from 1960 on her appearances were limited to benefits for hospitals and other institutions active on behalf of the handicapped.
Miss Boswell was highly regarded by her fellow performers in the popular music field. Three of them. Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Harry Belafonte, at one time called her “the most widely imitated singer of all time.”
Her last public appearance was in October 1975, when she performed at Carnegie Hall to the accompaniment of Benny Goodman's orchestra.
She underwent cancer surgery at Mount Sinai in February and had to return there in May for additional chemotherapy.
Mr. Crosby said from California yesterday:
“She was a great artist and she had a marvelous feel for popular American music. She was a woman of great courage and a marvelous person and she will be greatly missed.”
On Saturday, Miss Boswell called her doctors to her side and asked them to “let me die in peace and with dignity.” The physicians canceled further chemotherapy and discontinued intravenous treatment. “She was more afraid of continuing life as she was than she was fearful of dying,” one of her doctors said yesterday. Miss Boswell died at 12:45 A.M. yesterday morning. Her sister, Vet, was with her.
She leaves her sister Vet, who is Mrs. John Paul Jones.
A funeral mass will be said at 10 A.M. Thursday in Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church, 152 West 71st Street.
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