View From Lodi, CA: Remembering The Jazz Singer On Mother`s Day
Mom was sleeping soundly when I
left her house in Los Angeles. My good-bye kiss didn`t
wake her.
As I walked away, I wondered if
Mom—now 85—was dreaming about the days when she was the
toast of Hollywood and about her nights filled with
cheering and applause.
Using the stage name
Betty Van, Mom was once the lead singer for the
Benny Goodman Orchestra. Along with Goodman, Mom
crooned with the best musicians of the era—Gene Krupa,
drums, Teddy Wilson,
piano and Lionel Hampton,
vibraphone.
Mom`s first break came when she was
17 on the KHJ radio program, “The Road to Fame.”
The reviews were great. The Los Angeles Evening
Herald wrote “the evening`s outstanding
performance was Betty Van`s soulful blues singing
accompanied by the tapping of her versatile feet.”
After graduating from high school,
Mom joined the
Kenny Baker Orchestra. While she was touring
California, Goodman, who had heard the “Road to Fame”
show, caught her July 3 1937 act. Goodman called Mom on
July 6 to invite her to meet him at the RCA recording
studio. When she arrived, Mom cut a demo titled
“Afraid to Dream.” Goodman signed her on the spot.
Ella Fitzgerald was the premier female vocalist of
the day. Although Goodman
pioneered integration in music by hiring Hampton and
Wilson, no bandleader had the courage to tour with a
black lead singer. Goodman thought that my mother`s
voice was as close to Fitzgerald`s as he could get.
The late 1930s and early 1940s were
the beginning of the swing era and Goodman was king.
Goodman`s band was full of the big names of jazz—Harry
James and
Ziggy Elman on trumpet, Vito Musso on tenor sax and
of course Hampton and Wilson.
There`s a picture of Mom singing to
a packed house. What a knockout. Only 20, Mom was
dressed in a black satin evening gown. Goodman was
standing behind her decked out like a Wall Street lawyer
in a blue blazer, a starched white shirt and a striped
tie with a matching handkerchief.
Goodman`s rimless glasses gave him
a menacing look.
Mom told me that behind his back,
the band called Goodman “fish face.”
Despite Mom`s success with Goodman,
he didn`t alter his pattern of changing lead singers
frequently. Goodman believed that new vocalists added a
different look to the band without significantly
changing the music.
Martha Tilton took over for Mom and, shortly later,
Peggy Lee replaced Tilton.
Mom signed on with
Jack Teagarden, another leading swing band, and they
went on a one-year tour of the U.S., playing to packed
houses. Swing had taken the country by storm.
When Mom returned to Los Angeles,
Dad courted her. Soon after, Mom gave up her career.
After Mom married, I doubt there was much discussion
about
continuing to sing. My father never would have
permitted it.
Who knows what would have happened
had Mom kept on singing. Fitzgerald and Lee became the
greatest female vocalists of all time.
What is known is that Mom became a
selfless
wife and mother to an often-demanding husband and
four constantly demanding children.
If there were carpools to be
driven, school activities to attend, errands to run, Mom
was the first in line.
When my father`s career uprooted
him from Los Angeles to
San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mom packed up the family and
got us safely to our new home.
Several years later, when we moved
from Puerto Rico to
Guatemala, Mom without complaint boxed us up again.
Only now do I realize how
disruptive those moves were for her. For my sisters and
me, we changed schools and made new friends. But for my
mother, moving 4,000 miles away took her from the
California life she had grown up with and threw her into
different countries with new languages and customs.
Mom made that sacrifice twice. When
she finally returned to California, her kids had
graduated and started their own lives.
Another tough move lies ahead for
Mom—one that we spoke about at Christmas. Mom`s house is
too big for her—she doesn`t need the space and can`t
keep up with the maintenance.
Mom`s talking about moving into a
condo.
But her heart isn`t in it.
For Mom to give up her pool, her
garden and her dog will be the most difficult of her
life style changes.
When that day comes, though, I
expect Mom to handle her new challenge the way she has
every other—with grace and dignity.
Joe Guzzardi [email
him], an instructor in English
at the Lodi Adult School, has been writing a weekly
column since 1988. It currently appears in the
Lodi News-Sentinel.


