My dear friend and colleague, Alice Schweitzer, who passed away last year, was a member of the Woodside Sisters. She was also friend and colleague of my recording/writing partner Tony LaVorgna.
We’d heard stories that the trio was competition for The Chordettes, but neither Tony nor I had ever seen the sisters in a live performance because they’d disbanded decades before we worked with Alice.
Until today, when I discovered this routine in a YouTube video. You’ll see them introduced by the great and wonderful Fred Allen, filmed in 1953. The routine starts at about 19:01. Alice starts the routine, center stage. They really were the tops. And to think, just 65 years ago, the land was teeming with acts at this level of variety performance.