R.I.P. Gloria Parker: Princess of the Marimba

Word has trickled down to us that musician and bandleader Jean Parker (Gloria Rosenthal, b. 1921) just four months shy of her 101st birthday. You know Jean Parker, right? She’s what you get when you cross Gloria Jean with Jean Parker! Actually, if you’re younger than 90, you’d be most likely to know her from her entertaining turn in the Woody Allen movie Broadway Danny Rose (1984) — she’s the lady who plays the water glasses:

And that was a skill which she actually possessed, although in the business it’s known more respectfully as the “glass harp” (which seems especially appropriate at the moment). She was taught the skill from her grandfather, who’d immigrated from Czechoslovakia. She may better known for playing marimba and vibes, and she also played xylophone, piano, organ, guitar, all the bowed string instruments, Latin percussion, and drums (i.e., kit style as is played in jazz and modern rock and pop). Her mother played violin for Mark Warnow & the Hit Parade Orchestra, and at her instigation Jean began to play herself at age four, with formal training at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

While she seems perfect for vaudeville, she came along too late for that, and she started out in night clubs, building a 21-piece all-girl band called the Swingphony, the largest female-led band of the time. Starting in the 1940s she appeared in Soundies with the likes of Stepin Fetchit and Mel Blanc. From 1950 to 1957 she starred on the coast-to-coast radio program The Gloria Parker Show, and she also appeared on another show with Vincent Lopez called Shake the Maracas. There was also a local TV version of The Gloria Parker Show in the NYC market starting in 1952. Parker also composed music, and some of her tunes were recorded by others, such as Una Mae Carlisle.

At the time of Broadway Danny Rose Parker was only 63. Seemed old then; seems young now!

For more on show business history, please see No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.