Irene Beasley
{{short description|American singer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Irene Beasley
| image = Irene Beasley 1949.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Beasley in 1949
| birth_name = Elizabeth Irene Beasley
| birth_date = {{birth date|1904|01|28|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Whitehaven, Tennessee
| death_date = {{death date and age|1980|01|07|1904|01|28|mf=y}}
| death_place = Ardsley, New York
| nationality = American
| other_names =
| occupation = Singer
| alma_mater =
| spouse =
| children =
| parents =
| known_for =
}}
Elizabeth Irene Beasley (January 28, 1904 – January 7, 1980),DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-2834-2}}. P. 26 known as the "long, tall gal from Dixie,"{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi5wPDBiGfMC&dq=%22Irene+Beasley+The+Old+Dutch+Girl%22&pg=PA348 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |page=348 |edition=Revised |access-date=2024-11-20}} was a singer and master of ceremonies best known for her work on old-time radio.
Early years
Born Elizabeth Irene Beasley, before she was 2 years old, she was singing several children's songs. When she was 3 years old, she sang for a Sunday School Children's Day program. At 4, she played piano by ear.{{cite news|last1=Hagy|first1=Lewis Y.|title=Success Is a Habit With Irene Beasley|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-Radio-Guide-IDX-Site/IDX/1933/Radio-Guide-33-11-04-11-OCR-Page-0002.pdf|accessdate=16 March 2016|agency=Radio Guide|date=April 11, 1933|pages=2, 17}}
Beasley's family moved to Amarillo, Texas, when she was 6 years old, and she attended primary and secondary schools there. She went to Sweet Briar College, in Virginia.{{cite book|last1=Gurman|first1=Joseph|last2=Slager|first2=Myron|title=Radio Round-ups: Intimate Glimpses of the Radio Stars|date=1932|publisher=Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co.|page=82|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-Bookshelf-IDX/IDX/PQR/Radio-Round-Up-OCR-Page-0080.pdf|accessdate=16 March 2016}}
Beasley taught music and mathematics in a school in Lamont, Mississippi.{{cite news|last1=Siegel|first1=Norman|title=Irene Beasley Happy in Farm Gal Role On Radio; Never Did Like Being 'Citified'|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19380730&id=qfEuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1tsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4198,1573872&hl=en|accessdate=19 March 2016|agency=Ottawa Citizen|date=July 30, 1938}} During time off from teaching, "she sold records in a phonograph shop and sang the latest songs in a five-and-ten."
Radio
Beasley "pioneered the idea of singing commercials, and handled many for Procter & Gamble."
Sources differ on when Beasley began appearing on radio. One says that she began singing with Francis Craig's orchestra on WSM in Nashville in 1925.{{cite news|last1=Wynne|first1=Joseph|title=Home Town Boy Makes Good Music|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-Rural-Radio-IDX/IDX/Rural-Radio-1938-09-OCR-Page-0011.pdf|accessdate=17 March 2016|agency=Rural Radio|date=September 1938|page=11}} Another says that her debut in radio came in 1928 in Memphis, Tennessee, when she sang her own composition.{{cite news|title=(untitled brief)|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Site-Early-Radio/Archive-Broadcast-Weekly-IDX/IDX/30s/Broadcast-Weekly-1931-08-02-OCR-Page-0011.pdf|accessdate=16 March 2016|agency=Broadcast Weekly|date=August 2, 1931|page=11}} The New Orleans Times-Picyaune on Oct 7, 1928, p 29 quotes her as saying in 1924 she approached radio artist Art Gillham, "The Whispering Pianist" asking him to sing her newly published song "If I Could Just Stop Dreaming." He told her "If you can carry a tune at all, you can do your own advertising and it will be an asset to the song. Just make 'em like it." She said that gave her the courage to sing on radio.In 1924 she sang it on WMC in Memphis, then Chicago stations. She became billed as a blues singer "the long tall gal from Dixie." She made records for Victor. By 1931 she had become "staff artist" at KMOX in St. Louis, Missouri.{{cite web|title=Irene Beasley Got Her Radio Start On Station KMOX|url=http://www.stlmediahistory.com/index.php/Radio/RadioArticles/irene-beasley-got-her-radio-start-on-station-kmox|website=St. Louis Media History Foundation|accessdate=19 March 2016}}Originally published in Radio and Entertainment November 21, 1931.
In the early 1930s, she "costarred with Ted Husing every Thursday over CBS."{{cite news|title=Studio Gossip|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-Radio-Guide-IDX-Site/IDX/1932/Radio-Guide-32-02-28-05-OCR-Page-0006.pdf|accessdate=16 March 2016|agency=Radio Guide|date=February 28, 1932|page=6}} She also had her own 15-minute program three nights a week on CBS.{{cite news|title=News of the Studios|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-Radio-World-IDX/IDX/32/Radio-World-1932-06-25-OCR-Page-0019.pdf|accessdate=17 March 2016|agency=Radio World|date=June 25, 1932|page=19}} On July 15, 1934, she launched her own program on NBC.{{cite news|title=Inside Pickups|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-Radio-Guide-IDX-Site/IDX/1934/Radio-Guide-34-06-09-OCR-Page-0030.pdf|accessdate=17 March 2016|agency=Radio Guide|date=June 9, 1934|page=30}} In 1935, she sang on the Monday and Friday editions of a program headlined by organist Jesse Crawford.{{cite news|last1=Kaufman|first1=Samuel|title=Backstage in Broadcasting|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-Radio-News-IDX/IDX/30s/35/Radio-News-1935-03-R-OCR-Page-0044.pdf|accessdate=19 March 2016|agency=Radio News|date=March 1935}}
In 1938, she developed R.F.D. #1, a CBS program that Radio Guide described as "a 'one man' show of music and homely commentary dedicated largely to America's farm women."
{{cite news|title=(photo caption)|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-Radio-Guide-IDX-Site/IDX/1938/Radio-Guide-38-08-13-OCR-Page-0019.pdf|accessdate=16 March 2016|agency=Radio Guide|date=August 13, 1938|page=17}} Beasley was the writer, director, and sole actor for the program, which debuted July 4, 1938.{{cite news|title=Farmer Girl|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-Radio-Guide-IDX-Site/IDX/1938/Radio-Guide-38-07-09-OCR-Page-0004.pdf|accessdate=16 March 2016|agency=Radio Guide|date=July 9, 1938|page=2}}
In the early 1940s, Beasley starred in Neighbors, a daytime program on the "Dixie Loop of CBS."{{cite news|last1=Johnson|first1=Ted|title=Neighbors|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-Billboard-IDX/IDX/40s/1943/Billboard%201943-10-16-OCR-Page-0011.pdf|accessdate=17 March 2016|date=October 16, 1943|page=11}} She was also the writer, producer, and host of Grand Slam, a musical quiz program that was broadcast 1943-1953.{{cite web|title=Irene Beasley|url=http://www.lib.umd.edu/LAB/exhibits/leadingrole/beasley.html|website=Taking a Leading Role|accessdate=19 March 2016}}
Stage and nightclubs
Beasley "performed for a year in Chicago theaters, studios, and clubs."{{cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Irene Beasley Papers|url=https://archives.lib.umd.edu/repositories/2/resources/519|archive-url=|archive-date=|accessdate=19 March 2016|website=University of Maryland Libraries}} Later, she "performed in nightclubs and vaudeville houses throughout the country and starred in the musical comedy Thumbs Up."
Composing
When she was a teacher, Beasley wrote her first song and convinced her father to have it published. During a vacation, she was a pianist for a radio station in Memphis when station officials persuaded her to sing on the air. That resulted in her performing her composition and being paid for it. As time went on, she wrote other songs and eventually signed with Victor Records, singing her own compositions.
Later years
Death
Beasely died of pneumonia January 7, 1980, in Ardsley, New York. She was 75.{{cite news|title=Deaths|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-Billboard-IDX/IDX/80s/1980/BB-1980-03-08-OCR-Page-0070.pdf|accessdate=17 March 2016|agency=Billboard|date=March 8, 1980|page=64}}
References
{{Portal|Biography|United States|Music|Radio}}
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://digital.lib.umd.edu/archivesum/actions.DisplayEADDoc.do;jsessionid=88F8B5F53310CF743CE9041C153BAC5F?source=MdU.ead.lab.0017.xml&style=ead Irene Beasley Papers at the University of Maryland]
- [http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/60405/Beasley_Irene_composer List of songs composed by Irene Beasley, from the Discography of American Historical Recordings website]
- [http://www.lib.umd.edu/LAB/exhibits/leadingrole/beasley-dig.html Taking a Leading Role: Irene Beasley Digital Gallery]
- [https://ardsleyhistoricalsociety.org/assets/pdf/ArdsleyHistoricalSocietyVol33No1.pdf#page=8 Irene Beasley – Ardsley’s First Lady of Song]
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Category:American radio personalities
Category:Sweet Briar College alumni