Sammy Kaye Showroom #28 Laura Leslie

The Sammy Kaye Showroom - Pgm 28 The songs on program 28 include “Kiss Me Sweet”, “Louise”, “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now” and a new tune Kaye had just recorded, “Belmont Boogie”.  The vocals are by Laura Leslie and Tony Alamo.  The Presto-Magic Fluid Drive Transmission and Chrysler service are promoted in the commercials. A fifteen minute syndicated music program sponsored by Chrysler-Plymouth. Jay Jackson Announcer One of "America's Sweethearts' on stage again Pinellas Park resident Laura Leslie has loved the limelight all her life, and this Saturday she'll be on stage again, singing with the Sammy Kaye Orchestra for the first time in more than 40 years. "Roger Thorpe, who's been conducting the band since Sammy died a few years ago, called me up and asked me if I'd like to do a reunion with the Swing and Sway band when they played here," said Leslie. "I thought that sounded like fun, so that will happen this Saturday at the Coliseum.” Leslie never stopped singing. It's part of her life. She's active at the Pasadena Community Church, where she sings in the choir. She also sings with the Bill Evans Orchestra at the Coliseum twice a month."I started singing when I was 3, in church and at school, and by the time I was 11, I was performing on a children's radio show in Baltimore," said Leslie. "When I was in high school, I had my own radio show." From those early years, Leslie molded a successful career as a pop singer that earned her several hit recordings in the early '50s, when she was the singer for the Sammy Kaye Orchestra. Born Betty Wilhelm, she changed her name to Betty Wells when she went to try her luck in Hollywood in the mid-1940s. She had no luck, however, and returned to Baltimore. And when Kaye brought his orchestra to town in 1947, she auditioned. Kaye didn't make a decision, but that didn't deter the young singer, who took off for Washington, D.C., the band's next stop. She auditioned again, and even did a few shows with the band, but still wasn't offered a job. When the band went on to New York for a monthlong engagement at the Capitol Theater, she went to the city and auditioned until Kaye hired the young singer, giving her the name of Laura Leslie. "When I joined the band, they'd just made a record of I'm A Big Girl Now," said Leslie. She was just 19. For the next three and a half years, she toured the country with Sammy Kaye's Orchestra, playing and appearing on radio and TV. She sang all the big tunes: I Can't Get Started, Tangerine and All of Me; she sang with Tony Alamo. She made records, and cut a duet of Baby, It's Cold Outside with singer Don Cornell. "We were called America's Sweethearts," she said. It was an exciting life, but the popularity of the big bands was winding down and being replaced with the smaller combos of the '50s, so in 1951 she quit the band to go solo. She made a few records for RCA, did some studio work for a couple of years until she married the guitar player from the Sammy Kaye Band, Bill Suyker in 1953. "Bill played rhythm guitar," she said. "He was self-taught, and sometimes he played the steel guitar for the Hawaiian sound that was popular.” When Bill retired and they moved to Florida, music once again became a major part of her life. They joined the Bob Creash Quartet, with Leslie as singer, Creash on piano, Art Reno on drums, and Bill on guitar. Her husband died in 1993 just after their 40th anniversary, but Leslie's still singing. And she looks forward to what the future may hold. "Roger Thorpe has asked me if I want to do some cruises with the band," she said. "That might be fun.” Laura Leslie with the Sammy Kaye Orchestra Reunion 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday at the Coliseum, 535 Fourth Ave. N in St. Petersburg. Tickets $12. 892-5202. Tampa Bay Times By NANO RILEY Published Oct. 3, 2005

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.