Movies

Maxene, Patty, and LaVerne appeared in 15 Hollywood films. Their first picture, Argentine Nights, paired them with another enthusiastic trio, the Ritz Brothers. Universal Pictures, always budget-conscious, refused to hire a choreographer, so the Ritzes taught the sisters some eccentric steps. Thus, in Argentine Nights and the sisters' next film, Buck Privates, the Andrews Sisters dance like the Ritz Brothers.

Buck Privates, with Abbott and Costello, featured the Andrews Sisters' best-known song, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. This Don Raye-Hughie Prince composition was nominated for Best Song at the 1941 Academy Awards ceremony. In 2001, the song was voted #6 on a list of 365 entries for Songs of the Century.

Universal hired the sisters for two more Abbott & Costello comedies, and then promoted them to full-fledged stardom in B musicals. What's Cookin', Private Buckaroo, and Give Out, Sisters (the latter portraying the sisters as old ladies) were among the team's popular full-length films.

The Andrews Sisters have a specialty number in the all-star revue Hollywood Canteen. They can be seen singing You Don't Have to Know the Language with Bing Crosby in Paramount's Road to Rio with Bob Hope, that year's highest-grossing movie. Their singing voices are heard in two full-length Walt Disney features (Make Mine Music which featured Johnny Fedora & Alice Blue Bonnet, and Melody Time, which introduced Little Toot, both of which are available on DVD today).


Stage and radio shows
The Andrews Sisters were the most sought-after entertainment property in theater shows worldwide during the 1940s and early 1950s, always topping previous house averages. Blonde Patty, brunette Maxene and redhead LaVerne headlined at the London Palladium in 1948 and 1951 to sold-out crowds. They hosted their own radio shows for ABC & CBS from 1944-1951, singing specially-written commercial jingles for such products as Wrigley's chewing gum, Dole pineapples, Nash motor cars, Kelvinator home appliances, Campbell's soups, and Franco-American food products.


Musical innovators
When the sisters burst upon the music scene in the late-1930s, they shook a very solid musical foundation: producing a slick harmonic blend by singing at the top of their lungs while trying - successfully - to emulate the blare of three harmonizing trumpets, with a full big band racing behind them. Some bandleaders of the day, such as Artie Shaw and his musicians, resented them for taking the focus away from the band and emphasizing the vocals instead. They were also in as high demand as the big bandleaders themselves, many of whom did not want to share the spotlight and play back-up to a girl trio.

Nevertheless, they found instant appeal with teenagers and young adults who were engrossed in the swing and jazz idioms, especially when they performed with nearly all of the major big bands, including those led by Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Buddy Rich, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Gene Krupa, Joe Venuti, Freddie Slack, Eddie Heywood, Bob Crosby (Bing's brother), Desi Arnaz, Guy Lombardo, Les Brown, Bunny Berigan, Xavier Cugat, Paul Whiteman, Ted Lewis, Nelson Riddle and mood-master Gordon Jenkins, whose orchestra and chorus accompanied them on such successful soft and melancholy renditions as I Can Dream, Can't I? (which shot to number one on Billboard and remained in the Top 10 for 25 weeks), I Wanna Be Loved, There Will Never Be Another You, and the inspirational The Three Bells (the first recorded English version of the French composition), as well as several solo recordings with Patty, including a cover version of Nat King Cole's Too Young, It Never Entered My Mind, If You Go, and That's How A Love Song Is Born.


Many styles
While the sisters specialized in swing, boogie-woogie, and novelty hits with their trademark lightning-quick vocal syncopations, they also produced major hits in jazz, ballads, folk, country-western, seasonal, and religious titles, being the first Decca artists to record an album of gospel standards in 1950. Their versatility allowed them to pair with many different artists in the recording studios, producing Top 10 hits with the likes of Bing Crosby (the only recording artist of the 1940s to sell more records than The Andrews Sisters), Danny Kaye, Dick Haymes, Carmen Miranda, Al Jolson, Ray McKinley, Burl Ives, Ernest Tubb, Red Foley, Dan Dailey, Alfred Apaka, and Les Paul. In personal appearances, on radio and on television, they sang with everyone from Rudy Vallee, Judy Garland and Nat King Cole to Jimmie Rodgers, Andy Williams, and Diana Ross & The Supremes.