Limelight memories

There was a time, before she sang with the Jerry Ford Orchestra, that Pat Blackwell was joined on stage by two other women, forming a trio that became local celebrities.

At each performance, Blackwell, Virginia Hill and Virginia Boren would don their homespun sequined evening gowns and sing the songs of the McGuire Sisters to the beat of a jazz combo.

As The Mama-nettes (so named because each woman was a devoted mother -- they had nine children between them) they sang to audiences across the local area in the 1950s, '60s and '70s and made frequent appearances on KFVS12 during their early years.

The group formed after the women sang together in the Cape Choraliers and decided to cover the McGuire Sisters' songs.

A small exhibit is opening in the Cape River Heritage Museum on Saturday that documents The Mama-nettes' time in the limelight. It contains photos of their performances -- including one at the World's Fair in Seattle in 1962, when the fair had Missouri Day and the trio was featured with the Cape Choraliers.

The exhibit also shows visitors the homespun evening dresses the women wore during their performances and contains a rare video of one of their early performances.

The video is fuzzy, but through the static can be heard well-executed harmonies of the kind a professional trio would perform behind a piano, drum and stand-up bass combo.

Blackwell is the only member of the group still around to tell the story. Hill is deceased and Boren is incapacitated. Blackwell, who is the mother of the Southeast Missourian's managing editor, Sam Blackwell, remembers the great times the three had together, with a natural friendship and chemistry that allowed them to stay together across three decades.

"Virginia Hill was the biggest joker," said Blackwell. "She was just naturally a funny-talking person -- everything that came out of her mouth was great.

"We were hams."

The woman shared plenty of laughs during that time, such as a performance when a persistent fly wouldn't stop landing on Blackwell's nose, and she burst into laughter in the middle of a song.

One of the primary gigs The Mama-nettes had was the annual Follies, which became the Jaycee Follies. During the yearly concert, the trio would sing with Jerry Ford and his combos.

"They were classy ladies and they were really great singers with great harmonies, and they were all characters," said Ford. "They were really vivacious and had a lot of pizzazz."

Ford's professional career pretty much began with backing The Mama-nettes. At that time he was just a sophomore in high school, said Ford.

"We fed off each other," said Ford.

At the time the trio started, music from the big band era was still popular with many people, even though rock 'n' roll was starting to make large inroads with the younger crowds. With The Mama-nettes' style, the popularity of big band music made them a hit.

And the TV helped make them stars at a time when the technology was still new. For four years The Mama-nettes sang on KFVS12's morning show every week. During that time they also did commercials for KFVS12's advertising department.

"The stars are on TV," said Ford. "They're the ones people see every day and feel like they know. Today people still respond to it."

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182