Babe Egan (1897-1966) was a violinist and bandleader who had an all-girl band called the Hollywood Redheads that was very successful from 1924 until 1933. They toured those years as a vaudeville act throughout the United States, Canada, and in Europe. In the 1980s, I met several of the "girls" who had played with her and heard the amazing stories about Babe and her band. Many women musicians in Los Angeles who knew her and who had played with her band said she was a terrific musician and inspired them to go into music professionally. I wrote about Babe and her band in my my book, Peggy Gilbert & Her All-Girl Band (Scarecrow Press, 2008). In the next couple of weeks on this blog I will share with you some of my research. I am writing a book about the band and keep running into snags--things that I just can't figure out.
In many ways, doing such research is like being a detective. I have very few items that Babe wrote herself. Most all of the documents are from the band members' recollections and from newspaper accounts. Sometimes it is difficult to separate the promotional materials (hoopla) from what actual took place. Researching vaudeville history is always difficult because there were tens of thousands of vaudeville performers and hundreds of venues. An earlier post on this blog was about one of Babe's trombone player Fern Spaulding Jaros who played with Babe's band. The other musicians included: Estelle Dilthey (drums), Billy (ie) Farley (banjo), Edith Griffith (piano), Dot Sauter (bass), Mildred Stevenson (trombone and violin), Anne B. Rehnborg (trumpet), Shirley Lee Thomas (trumpet), Marie Connor (saxophone), Audrey Hall Petroff (saxophone), Jerry Mark (saxophone), Juanita Klein (saxophone and clarinet), Virginia Maupin (trumpet and violin), Miriam Stiglitz (saxophone), among others. I would appreciate any information my readers have about Babe and her band members. Anyone else interested in jazz history of the 1920s and vaudeville?
Hello. I can't seem to locate an email address for you on this blog, so will post my info here. My mother was Virginia Maupin (later Sleeper) who played trumpet and violin with the Hollywood Redheads. She joined the band at the invitation of Shirley Thomas, who had been a trumpet student of my grandfather, Willis C. Maupin in St. Joseph, MO. My mother was attending Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS at the time. After careful consideration, my grandfather counciled that as he knew Shirley to be a level-headed and responsible person, he thought that the experience of traveling Europe with the Redheads was equally as valuable as two more years of college. My mother joined in time to play the Palace Theater in New York, the pinnacle of success at the time. The Redheads followed the Three Stoges on the line-up. While in New York, my mother reminisced that she was told she had beautiful legs by Ziegfeld, a nice complement from a vaudeville icon.
ReplyDeleteI have my mother's complete scrapbook of her adventures with the Hollywood Redheads, with many photos and memorabilia. Their 2 1/2 yr tour was only cut-short in Berlin, after Hitler came into power, and at the behest of the American Embassey, the tour was cut short by 6 months and they returned to the US.
Perhaps some of this information might be useful to your book. I would love to correspond with any information that might be helpful, including anecdotes about her travels.
Sincerely,
Janet Sleeper Kerr sorshasinead@gmail.com
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ReplyDeleteShirley Lee Thomas (trumpet player with the band) was my wonderful grandmother. My mom has photos, and old newspaper clippings. John Philip Sousa made a comment in a newspaper once (which my mom has) where he said that my grandmother "is the best female coronet player in the nation" - wow it still gives me chills.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! You you guys please contact us at Friends of Rockhaven and share some? Babe lived her last years at Rockhaven and we want to learn as much as we can! The owner said the band mates would come visit.
DeleteOh my goodness! You you guys please contact us at Friends of Rockhaven and share some? Babe lived her last years at Rockhaven and we want to learn as much as we can! The owner said the band mates would come visit.
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