Trivia: Patty Andrews was the sisters' on-stage leader; it was she who had the honour of telling an audience of troops they were
entertaining in Italy that World War II ended at last. After the girls' parents died within a year of each other in 1948 and 1949,
tensions began to mount among them, partially because their run as stars was beginning to fade, and largely because Patty
Andrews married their pianist, Walter Wechsler, who began demanding more money for her when she began something of a solo
recording career---which infuriated her sisters enough that the trio broke up for two years. They reunited in 1951 to make some
records but broke up formally in 1953. (Patty's previous marriage, to producer Marty Melcher, ended when he dumped her for
Doris Day.)
Maxene and Laverne Andrews tried touring together as a duo but that ended with Maxene's suicide attempt in 1954. The three
sisters reunited in 1956 and signed a deal with Capitol Records, who already had Patty aboard as a solo artist, but the reunion
didn't prove half as successful as their World War II heyday. In 1962, they signed to Dot Records, recording new versions of their
classic material in stereo as well as more contemporary material; Laverne's death of lung cancer in 1967 put paid to the Andrews
Sisters even though the aforementioned Joyce DeYoung stood in for Laverne while she battled the cancer. Maxene and Patty
performed intermittently for another year or two after Laverne's death, but they split after Maxene became Dean of Women at
Tahoe Paradise College while Patty tried to continue a solo career.
Bette Midler's out-of-left-field hit with "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" in 1973-74 gave the Andrews Sisters a new life; Maxene and
Patty featured in the stage musical
Over Here! and toured with it until Patty's husband and the show's composers fell into litigation;
the sisters never appeared together in public again. Maxene had a somewhat successful solo career; Patty's solo career faded
largely because her handlers insisted she focus most of the time on reviving Andrews Sisters material instead of leaning on
material showing the bluesy side she developed in later years. Maxene Andrews died in 1995 of heart failure; Patty Andrews
died at 94 in 2013. Laverne had often been the peacemaker between her sisters; Maxene said before her death that she regretted
not really patching things up with Patty; and, Patty before her death spoke of Maxene as the usual instigator of troubles between
them but was distraught upon her death.
My personal favourite Andrews Sisters record is a little number they did with a unique guitarist---a guy named Les Paul:
The Andrews Sisters with Les Paul, "It's a Pity to Say Goodnight"
! No longer available
