Product Description

Most of us remember Rose Marie as the wisecracking Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show, or recognize her from her perch in the top middle square on Hollywood Squares, but her career in show business has spanned almost seventy years. At the tender age of three Rose Marie Mazzetta was entered in an amateur contest at New York City's Mecca Theatre. Her rendition of "What Can I Say Dear, After I Say I'm Sorry?" won, and her career was launched. She stayed "Baby Rose Marie" until she was well into her teens, singing in nightclubs, on vaudeville stages, on the radio, and in the movies. It was a glamorous but difficult life - she worked side by side with legends such as Al Jolson, Milton Berle, and W.C. Fields, and was watched over by "Uncle" Al Capone and his associates - but her father managed her career and personal life with an iron fist, gambling her earnings away and abusing her and any boy foolish enough to show an interest in the family meal ticket. Rose Marie married trumpeter Bobby Guy in 1946 and continued as a singer and nightclub entertainer. She soon established a second career on the small screen, most prominently as Sally on the legendary Dick Van Dyke Show, a groundbreaking role for which she earned three Emmy nominations and which continues to gather new fans from reruns on TV Land. Her fourteen years on Hollywood Squares and recent guest spots on such hit shows as Murphy Brown and Caroline in the City have kept her in the spotlight. With candor and humor, Rose Marie tells of her many years in the entertainment world. Her behind-the-scenes look at show business is replete with intimate stories of household names from Hollywood, Las Vegas, and Broadway.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #985377 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 296 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The wisecracking sidekick of The Dick Van Dyke Show and regular player on Hollywood Squares recounts a fortunate life cleanly lived in this conversational memoir. Born illegitimately in 1923 in a New York railroad tenement as Rose Marie Mazzetta, she won a talent contest at age three and quickly became a radio star as Baby Rose Marie, the "kid who sings like Sophie Tucker." Signing with NBC and the top vaudeville circuits, she (and her parents) dodged child labor laws, and Baby Rose Marie appeared for the next few years with headliners Rudy Vallee and Dick Powell. Through her father (who was well acquainted with "the boys"), she met "Uncle Al" Capone, who kissed her cheek and told her, " `If you ever need me for anything, tell your father to call me.' " After growing up and becoming Miss Rose Marie, there were club dates, a Broadway stint and a happy marriage to trumpeter Bobby Guy. She went on to ham it up as Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show, and here praises all the principals but doesn't discuss specific show highlights, instead focusing on the friendships (although she wasn't close with Mary Tyler Moore) and remembering everyone's kindness when her husband died. She then recollects her years on Hollywood Squares, her work with Doris Day and Ethel Merman, an affair and the resolution of her multiyear spat with Tim Conway. Though thin on personal commentary and insight, the book's fast pace and happy memories will please Rose Marie's fans. 30 b&w illus.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Rose Marie lives in California.