June Winters

Born in Hazleton, Pennsylvania,{{cite news|url=https://playbill.com/article/june-winters-singer-and-actress-dies-at-96-com-361260|title=June Winters, Singer and Actress, Dies at 96|author=Robert Simonson|work=Playbill|date=September 8, 2015}} Winters began her career in repertory theatre at the age of 16 performing with the Clyde Davis Players, a traveling theatre troupe, in 1936.{{cite magazine|title=Repertoire-Stock: Reb Ripples|magazine=Billboard|volume=48|issue=34|date=August 22, 1936|page= 26}} She moved to New York City in 1938 where she studied singing with celebrated voice teacher Estelle Liebling.{{cite thesis|title=Estelle Liebling: An exploration of her pedagogical principles as an extension and elaboration of the Marchesi method, including a survey of her music and editing for coloratura soprano and other voices|first=Alandra|last=Dean Fowler|year=1994|type=PhD|publisher=University of Arizona}}

At the age of 18, Winters' abilities as a coloratura soprano drew the attention of conductor Ernö Rapée who cast her in a novelty act with another young coloratura soprano, Cyrel Roodney, for performances in a variety show at the Radio City Music Hall in 1938. In the program both girls performed music extending as high as an F#6 above a High C.{{cite news|title=A Woman's New York|author=Alice Hughes|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=19 August 1938|page= 11}} Receiving positive responses from audiences, Winters and Roodney were both cast in the Broadway musical Hellzapoppin at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1938.{{cite magazine|title=Legitimate: New Plays on Broadway – Winter Garden|magazine=Billboard|volume=51|issue=52|date=December 30, 1939|pages= 84–85}} This show was Winters major break, and she remained with the show for the next three years.

After leaving Broadway in 1941, Winters spent the remaining years of World War II performing with the Boston Comic Opera Company (BCOC) with whom she toured as a leading soprano in productions of several operettas by Gilbert and Sullivan. With the BCOC she starred in a productions of The Mikado (as Yum-Yum),{{cite news|title='Mikado' Delights S.R.O. House To Signalize Savoyards' Return|author=Ernest L. Schier|newspaper=The Washington Post|date= 12 January 1943|page=B6}} H.M.S. Pinafore (as Josephine{{cite news|title=Double Bill Delights at National|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=25 November 1942|page=B8}}), Ruddigore (as Rose Maybud),{{cite news|title=Savoyards' Return, Hit Films Feature New Bills|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=6 January 1943|page=B6}}{{cite news|title=Gilbert Opera, Ruddigore, a Hilarious Show: Presentation Is Chicago's First in Many Years|author=Smith, Cecil|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=14 February 1943|page= 21}} Iolanthe (as Phyllis),{{cite news|title=Boston Troupe Ends Repertory with Iolanthe: Offers Another Week of Gilbert and Sullivan|author=Smith, Cecil|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=23 May 1943|page= 22}} The Gondoliers (as Gianetta),{{cite news|title='The Gondoliers' Sparkling Light Opera at Biltmore|author=Schallert, Edwin|work=Los Angeles Times|date=11 March 1943|page=22}} Patience (as the title heroine{{cite news|title=Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Patience' Delights Another Packed House|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=28 November 1942|page=B10}}), and The Pirates of Penzance (as Mabel){{cite news|title=Boston Comic Opera Company Scores Handsomely in Pirates|author=Nelson B. Bell|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=24 November 1942|page= B10}} at Boston's Majestic Theatre in 1942.{{cite news|title=The Boston Comic Opera Company|newspaper=The New York Times|date=26 September 1942|page= 10}} She performed in these same operas on tour with the BCOC in 1942–1943, with one stop including a lengthy stay at the National Theatre in Washington D.C.{{cite news|title=The Savoyard Operettas Next At National|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=15 November 1942|page= L3}} Some of the other stops on the tour included the Studebaker Theater in Chicago (1943),{{cite news|title=Florenz Ames Is Bright Light of Comic Opera|author=Smith, Cecil|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|date=3 February 1943|page=15}} and the Biltmore Theater, Los Angeles (1943).{{cite news|title=Operetta List Revealed|work=Los Angeles Times|date=23 February 1943|page= A8}}

In 1944 Winters was one of several entertainers who volunteered at the Stage Door Canteen to entertain American troops.{{cite journal|title=In These Columns Are the Most Generous People in the World|journal=Variety|volume= 153|issue= 7|date=January 26, 1944|pages= 30–31}} In 1946 she began working as a nightclub singer in Manhattan.{{cite magazine|title=Night Clubs-Vaudeville: Night Club Reviews – Victorian Bar, Hotel Gladstone, New York|magazine=Billboard|volume=28|issue= 41|date=October 12, 1946|page= 45}}{{cite magazine|title=Night Clubs-Vaudeville: Night Club Reviews – One Fifth Avenue, New York|magazine=Billboard|volume= 58|issue=47|date=November 23, 1946|page=38}} From 1948 through 1951 she starred in multiple vaudeville productions at Radio City Music Hall; performing as a soloist with an orchestra led by conductor Alexander Smallens,{{cite journal|title=House Review: Music Hall, N. Y|author=Bron|journal=Variety|volume=172|issue=10|date=November 10, 1948|page= 56}} and with entertainers like The Rockettes,{{cite news|title=House Review: Music Hall, N. Y.|author=Herb.|work=Variety|volume= 173|issue= 12|date=March 2, 1949|page= 56}}{{cite magazine|title=Night Clubs-Vaudeville: Vaudeville Reviews – Radio City Music Hall, New York|author=Smith, Bill|magazine=Billboard|volume= 62|issue= 30|date=July 29, 1950|page= 40}} and Cilly Feindt.{{cite magazine|title=Night Clubs-Vaudeville: Vaudeville Reviews – Radio City, Music Hall, New York|author=Plotnik, Gene|magazine=Billboard|volume= 63|issue= 5|date=February 24, 1951|page= 39}}

In 1943 Winters met trumpeter and songwriter Hugo Peretti, and the couple married that same year. Their marriage lasted until Peretti's death forty three years later in 1986. Together the couple had two daughters, and they co-founded Mayfair Records in 1946. In 1947 the couple released Lady in Blue, the first of many children's albums featuring Winters as that eponymous character on the Mayfair label.{{cite magazine|title=Music: Album Reviews; Lady in Blue|magazine=Billboard|volume=59|issue=4|date=January 25, 1947|pages=105, 112}} By 1949, Winters's character "The Lady in Blue" was appearing periodically on children's programs on NBC Radio and NBC television, and had its own comic strip, in addition to having a series of children's albums.{{cite magazine|title=Music: Mayfair Gears For '49 Market|magazine=Billboard|volume=61|issue=7|date=February 12, 1949|page= 20}} On screen she performed in the 1950 film International Burlesque{{cite web |title=Lobby cards for the film "International Burlesque" |url=https://library.osu.edu/dc/concern/generic_works/q237hv78s |website=library.osu.edu |access-date=5 January 2025}}{{cite web |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/564022/international-burlesque#credits |title = International Burlesque (1950) |website= Turner Classic Movies}}{{cite news|title=Pictures: International Burlesque|author=Wear|work=Variety|volume=180|issue=12|date=November 29, 1950|page= 22}} By 1951 she had her own radio program, Lady in Blue, on NBC Radio on Saturday mornings.{{cite journal|title=Radio-Television: Decline & Fall Of 'AM Moppet' Cues Cott Clarion Call|journal=Variety|volume=183|issue=3|date=June 27, 1951|page= 25}}

In 1957 Mayfair Records was acquired by the newly formed Roulette Records with Peretti hired to lead the children's division of the record label. Thereafter, Winter's recordings as 'Lady in Blue' were released on the Roulette label.{{cite magazine|title=Music-Radio: Kelly Heads Moppet Line For Roulette|magazine=Billboard|volume=69|issue=38|date=September 16, 1957|pages= 22, 56}} By the time she retired from performance in the 1960s, Winters had recorded dozens of children's albums as the 'Lady in Blue'.

In addition to her children's albums, Winters also recorded popular music. In 1942 she was signed with Continental Records, and recorded the songs "All Alone", "Last Night on the Back Porch", "Night Time", and "I Will Find My Way" for her first recording.{{cite magazine|title=Music: Gabor Records Adds Pop Tunes|magazine=Billboard|volume=54|issue=13|date=March 28, 1942|page= 19}} In 1950 she recorded Jerry Bresler's "Christmas in My Heart" for Mercury Records.{{cite magazine|title=Music: Music Popularity Charts – The Retailers Pick|magazine=Billboard|volume=62|issue= 47|date=December 2, 1950|page= 30}} In 1954 she released singles "Reading Old Letters" and "I Don't Want to Be Worshipped"; again with Mercury Records.{{cite magazine|title=Music: Popular Records – Reviews of New Pop Records|magazine=Billboard|volume=66|issue= 18|date=May 1, 1954|page=26}}

Winters died in Bergenfield, New Jersey on March 29, 2015, at the age of 96.

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Category:1918 births

Category:2015 deaths

Category:20th-century American women singers

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:American children's musicians

Category:American film actresses

Category:American musical theatre actresses

Category:American operatic sopranos

Category:American radio personalities

Category:American women pop singers

Category:People from Hazleton, Pennsylvania