The book was a lot of fun to read.I love old movies especially musicals.One of my favorites is " White Christmas," starring Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye, and Vera- Ellen, so when I came across this book about Rosemary Clooney I was very interested in what kind of life one of my favorite old ( I hope she wouldn't mind me referring to her like that), singer-movie actresses has had. Rosemary Clooney came from a very small town called Maysville, Kentucky along the Ohio River. Her mom was very strange. She married a man her mother didn't like, handsome and suave, but an alcoholic. Her mother loved him but she felt very held down by the small town they lived in. So she left her husband and three small children- Rosemary, her sister Betty,and their brother Nicky. The children were shifted around between the relatives- grandparents, uncles, and aunts- who ever could afford to keep them. Rosemary learned very early how to be the perfect child so that which ever relative had them they would like them so all the children could stay together. I thought that was so sad. Mom was in and out but sent home money, Dad wasn't around much but when he was he loved to listen to music and Rosemary would sit on his lap and listen with him. Rosemary was lucky she had a very close knit family although she was closest with both sets of grandparents. Since her Dad wasn't around much she actually called her Dad's father Papa, and she never had much of a relationship with her mother which is something that always bothered her. It was also something that Rosemary was never able to fix or find out why her Mother had left them in the first place. Yet, Ms. Clooney still describes her childhood as a very sweet time in a small town with lots of close relatives and friends,with an extremely close bond between her brother and sister that lasts always. But, she was especially close to her sister Betty who was closest to her in age.
Rosemary started singing at age three. She loved singing with her sister Betty because they could do such great harmonies together. Towards the end of High School, for Rosemary anyway, the Clooney girls started singing open auditions on the local radio station and from there they were picked up by the Tony Pastor's Orchestra. Since both sisters were under aged, they convinced their Uncle George to be their guardian and manager and they were off touring the U.S. as professional Big Band singers. Soon Rosemary realized that as much as she loved her sister and Uncle George it was time for her to go out on her own. It hurt her very much to tell them but it was the best career move for her. Betty lied and said she was tired of being on the road any way, but Uncle George who had given up everything to take the girls on the road was so hurt and they didn't speak for years. Years later Rosemary and George were able to have a good relationship but they were never able to discuss what happened.
Rosemary's career took off and her pay check was getting bigger, but I thought it was interesting that as a solo artist she had to pay the musicians out of her own check. More and more success. The people she met who became friends was an incredible list of who's who in the entertainment world, like Frank Sinatra- who she didn't like very much. Can you imagine being called by Bing Crosby to come over to his house for a beer and football game! Along the way Rosemary meets a dancer she really loves named Dante DiPaolo. He calls her " Roselinda." Rosemary's whole family loves him, but then she meets Jose Ferrer(actor) who sweeps her off her feet. She was blown away by his worldliness, charm and finesse- and your like-"Noooooooo!"-don't marry him. Marry Dante. Don't do it! Well- she does it. When Rosemary calls her family to tell them she got married they all said," Wheres Dante?" Everyone was shocked. I thought it was very interesting -Rosemary married a suave, charming guy that her family didn't like just like her Mom had. Interesting isn't that?
Anyway, Jose, or Joe as she calls him,have an up/down marriage. He cheats on her all the time. On their honeymoon Rosemary overhears Joe and a male friend talking about an affair he had with some woman on the set of the movie he was currently doing. When she tearfully confronted him,he just sat on the end of their bed and listened but said nothing. Poor Rosemary had no recourse, she realized she had to accept this about him. She should have dumped him right there but she didn't. You should of married Dante! Anyway, Jose and Rosemary have 5 children and each time Rosemary hopes that each child will bring him closer to her. Rosemary says Jose was a good father but, eventually she couldn't take all the cheating so she threw him out and divorced him. Then everyone was unhappy (and there was less money)-she took him back only to divorce him again. Then poor Rosemary got into drugs, pills to help her sleep, her career tanked and her kids where afraid of her.Sometime before Rosemary's mom had come to live with the family, she had no place to go, and never left again;yet, that was a good thing for it was Rosemary's mom who took care of the kids while she was drugged and closed in her room. Something Rosemary didn't miss though, and resented, was that her mom took better care of Rosemary's kids than she had of her own. Rosemary Clooney had said at the beginning of her career that she knew she would always be to make money singing because she has such a great voice (never formal training by the way). Yet, when souped up on drugs she cursed out an entire audience and stomped off the stage. Not a good career move.
For a brief time she fell in love with Nelson Riddle, a fantastic music arranger and, they had a red hot affair. He was married but said he was going to leave his wife. Nelson's secretary would arrange rendezvouses for them at fancy hotels but one night Nelson's wife called and Rosemary realized she was now the woman being quiet in the room-like when she would call Joe. Well the short of it is, Nelson did leave his wife but he married his secretary. Rosemary was devastated.
somehow Rosemary was able to keep her expensive house on Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills singing commercials, doing tours and arrangements all over. MOinney was sure a lot tighter.Driving down the road one afternoon, who pulls up next to her-Dante. He comes over for dinner, her kids now much older love him and eventually, Dante moves in. Finally, they marry. Rosemary Clooney's life, so far was very interesting to read about. She was poor, a big band singer, soloist, movie and TV star, rich, married, divorced, not so rich, remarried same guy, divorced, depressed, drug addict, hospitalized, career dumps, career rises, Dante back in her life, happy, rich,WOW! Now she lives back on the river near her brother and family, with her brother close by. Unfortunately she lost her sister Betty. Great story and its not over yet.
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