Rusty Warren

{{Infobox person

| name = Rusty Warren

| image = Rusty_Warren.png

| caption =

| birth_name = Ilene Goldman

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|3|20|mf=yes}}Some sources have incorrectly cited March 17, 1930 or March 17, 1931 as Warren's date of birth[https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K4NC-GXM "Ilene F Goldman in household of Herbert Goldman, "United States Census, 1940", giving age as 10 in 1940 census]; accessed May 14, 2014.

| birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|5|25|1930|3|20|mf=yes}}

| death_place = Laguna Hills, California, U.S.

| occupation = Comedian, singer

| website = {{URL|http://www.RustyWarren.com}}

}}

Rusty Warren (born Ilene Goldman; March 20, 1930 – May 25, 2021) was an American comedian{{cite web|work=Las Vegas Review-Journal|date=November 15, 2009|title=Life of the Party|url=http://www.reviewjournal.com/life/life-party}}{{cite web|work=The Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-16-ol-3868-story.html|title='PRETTY RELATABLE STUFF': Carol Leifer Tells Jokes She Hopes People Can Identify With|date=July 16, 1992|first=Dennis|last=McLellan}}{{cite web|date=April 4, 2014|title=Bette Midler on Soph, Janis Joplin, and Her Early Years in New York City|first=Jennifer|last=Vineyard|url=http://www.vulture.com/2014/04/bette-midler-on-her-early-years-in-new-york-city.html}} and singer, specializing in sex-related themes and such songs as "Bounce Your Boobies" and "Knockers Up!".{{cite web|work=The Los Angeles Times|title=Dr. Demento to Make San Diego House Call|date=March 1, 1988|first=Thomas|last=K. Arnold|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-01-ca-115-story.html}}

Early life

Warren was born in New York City in 1930 and adopted six months later by Helen and Herbert Goldman, a couple from Milton, Massachusetts, who named her Ilene Goldman. She graduated from Milton High School around 1948, studied piano at the New England Conservatory of Music, graduating around 1954, and later taught there briefly after obtaining her degree. She spent her first free summer entertaining in small lounges. Her musical mentor at the time was Arthur Fiedler, the conductor of the Boston Pops.{{cn|date= October 2023}}

"Late at night, there’d be nobody in these places (cocktail lounges in the Boston area), to cut the boredom, I got some repartee going with the regulars."

Career

In 1955, Warren began at The Pomp Room, at 16th Street and Camelback Road, Phoenix, AZ. Songs for Sinners was recorded there, for Jubilee Records, and released in November 1958. Knockers Up! was recorded at The Golden Falcon, Pompano Beach, Florida,{{cite web |title=The Golden Falcon Hotel - View of the Pool and Ocean |url=https://www.cardcow.com/728973/pompano-beach-florida-golden-falcon-hotel-view-pool-ocean/ |website=CardCow.com |access-date=24 October 2023 |language=en}} and released in November 1960.

GNP Crescendo Records reissued some of her Jubilee albums. Known as the "Knockers Up Gal", she has been called the "mother of the sexual revolution".{{cite book |last=Mock |first=Roberta |date=2007 |title=Jewish Women on Stage, Film and Television |location=New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |page=90 |isbn=978-1-349-73850-2}} Her career began in the early 1950s in Phoenix, Arizona. Later she moved her act to Las Vegas, Nevada. Her comedy routines exposed the subject of sex from a female perspective. Her most famous contribution to the sexual revolution was the song "Knockers Up" from the 1960 album of the same name.[http://classicshowbiz.blogspot.com/2010/07/interview-with-rusty-warren-52410.html New interview with Rusty Warren], classicshowbiz.blogspot.com, July 2010; accessed November 20, 2014.

In 2014, some of Rusty Warren's music (Knockers Up) was provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises and could be subscribed at the Rusty Warren - Topic{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUilNFxtoBvLPWyvfEmnCCQ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917214916/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUilNFxtoBvLPWyvfEmnCCQ | archive-date=2017-09-17 | title=Rusty Warren - Topic - YouTube | website=YouTube }} channel; it is now set to private. In 2023, some of Rusty Warren's music was provided to YouTube by CDBaby{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA-oLK-88VM | title=Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries | website=YouTube | date=17 April 2022 }} and Symphonic Distribution{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6XxXcNdoY4 | title=In Orbit (Part 2) | website=YouTube | date=3 May 2022 }} and can be subscribed at the @rustywarrenknockersupgal{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCck89jq0cjSTv9ofkSjJnaA | title=Rusty Warren - YouTube | website=YouTube }} channel.

Personal life

Her life partner was Elizabeth Rizzo from 1984 to 2019 and they resided in Hawaii after moving from Paradise Valley, Arizona.{{cn|date= October 2023}}

Rusty Warren died in her sleep on May 25, 2021, at the age of 91.{{Cite web|url=https://thelaughbutton.com/rusty-warren-an-often-overlooked-comedy-trailblazer-dead-at-91|title = Rusty Warren, an often overlooked comedy trailblazer, dead at 91}}{{cite news |last1=Ruelas |first1=Richard |title=Rusty Warren, pioneering and bawdy comic who made her name in Phoenix, dead at 91 |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2021/05/27/rusty-warren-knockers-up-comic-out-phoenix-dead-91/7473428002/ |access-date=24 October 2023 |work=The Arizona Republic |date=May 27, 2021}}{{cite news |title=Rusty Warren obituary |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/rusty-warren-obituary-36d05wj9x |access-date=24 October 2023 |work=The Times |date=24 October 2023 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Schudel |first1=Matt |title=Rusty Warren, whose racy jokes about sex made her a '60s comedy star, dies at 91 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/rusty-warren-dead/2021/05/27/f3f60b72-bf1d-11eb-9c90-731aff7d9a0d_story.html |access-date=24 October 2023 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=28 May 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Genzlinger |first1=Neil |title=Rusty Warren, Brash Comic in a Strait-Laced Time, Dies at 91 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/arts/rusty-warren-dead.html |access-date=24 October 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=May 28, 2021}}

Legacy

The Rusty Warren collection,{{Cite journal | url=https://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/Performance_WinterSpring_2022_FinalDraft_0.pdf#page=3 | page=3 | title=Message from the Co-Chairs | journal=PERFORMANCE! Newsletter of the SAA Performing Arts Section | issue=Winter/Spring 2022 }} with news articles, photographs, slides, video footage from her Las Vegas shows, magazines, promotional materials, letters, performance contracts, handwritten notes, pertaining to her career as a comedian, spanning from 1955 through the late 1980s, is in the archives of the Library of Congress and on display at the National Comedy Museum.{{cn|date= October 2023}}

Second City Television comedian Catherine O'Hara performed a character called Dusty Towne who was based on Warren.

Warren’s song “Bounce Your Boobies” was regularly used by left-wing radio show hostess Randi Rhodes to open her Friday shows on Air America radio in the early 2000’s.

Elizabeth Rizzo self-published Rusty Warren - The Knockers Up Gal, containing excerpts from news articles and magazine articles in chronological order.

Discography

=Albums=

Songs for Sinners – Jubilee JGM 2024 (1959)
Knockers Up! – Jubilee JGM 2029 (1960)
Sin-sational – Jubilee JGM 2034 (1961)
Rusty Warren Bounces Back – Jubilee JGM 2039 (1961)
Rusty Warren in Orbit – Jubilee JGM 2044 (1962)
Banned in Boston? – Jubilee JGM 2049 (1963)
Sex-x-ponent – Jubilee JGM 2054 (1964)
Rusty Sings a Portrait of Life – Jubilee JGS 5025 (1964)
More Knockers Up! – Jubilee JGM 2059 (1965)
Rusty Rides Again – Jubilee JGM 2064 (1967)
Bottoms Up! – Jubilee JGM 2069 (1969)
Look What I Got for You – Jubilee JGS 2074 (1969)
Lays It on the Line – GNP-Crescendo GNPS-2081 (1974)
Knockers Up '76 – GNP-Crescendo GNPS-2088 (1976)
Sexplosion – GNP-Crescendo GNPS-2114 (1977)

=Reissued albums=

Knockers Up! / Songs For Sinners – GNP-Crescendo GNP 2-2079 1973 (reissue of Jubilee JGM 2029 and JGM 2024)
Bounces Back / Sin-sational – GNP-Crescendo GNP 2-2080 1973 (reissue of Jubilee JGM 2039 and JGM 2034)
Bottoms Up! – GNP-Crescendo GNPS-2103 (1976) (reissue of Jubilee JGM 2069)

=Singles=

"Knockers Up" / "Basin Street" / "Bounce Your Boobies" / "Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" – Jubilee 45-2039 (1961)
"Roll Me Over" / Do It Now / "Twist Blues" – Jubilee 45-2049 (1962)
"I Like Everybody" / "Waltz Me Around Again Willie" / "Greenback Dollar" / "The Sexy Life" – Jubilee 45-2059 (1963)
"The Pill Song" / "Surprise" / "Red River Sally" / "Steel Drivin' Man" – Jubilee 45-2069'' (1964)

= DVD =

Label GNP Crescendo produced a DVD that chronicles her life in show business. The DVD, Rusty Warren: Knockers Up! The Lady Behind the Laughs, was released by GNP Crescendo in 2008.