1940s Vintage Photo of Bea Wain 1940s Big Band Singer in a 1940s dress and 1940s hairstyle.

Bea Wain is considered by many to be one of the best female vocalists of her era. A self-taught singer, with an expressive but understated swing style, she worked hard to leave her mark in the Big Band & Radio world.

Today’s post is all about this incredible and talented woman.

For further reading please check out all the posts I have done on this subject on my dedicated page “Women of the Big Band Era Everyone Should Know“. (Jan 2024 update)

1940s Vintage Photo of Bea Wain NBC's Manhattan Merry-Go-Round 1940s — Bea Wain for NBC’s Manhattan Merry-Go-Round 1940s Source: Getty Images

Bea Wain-Star Singer of the Big Band Era

Born Beatrice Wain April 30th, 1917 in the Bronx, New York, her singing career would begin at the young age of 6 on a radio program titled “NBC Children’s Hour,” where she earned $2 per broadcast (Source). Blessed with a raw talent and the knowledge that she wanted to be a singer, Beatrice would never took a single singing lesson growing up. Dance and piano lessons she agreed to but never singing.

“I never wanted anybody to teach me how to sing,” she said in an interview with Sara Fishko for the New York public radio station WNYC in 2013 (Source).

This raw talent would keep Beatrice busy, singing with various radio shows and even cutting records for popular big band leaders. One particular record with Artie Shaw in September 1937, saw her name accidentally go from ‘Beatrice Wain’ to ‘Beatrice Wayne’. Then later on record labels, her name was shortened (without her permission) to “Bea” by the record company, ostensibly for space considerations.

1940s Vintage Photo of Bea Wain Big Band Singer in a 1940s Dress and a 1940s Hairstyle.

She would get her big break in 1937, when she emerged from the chorus on the radio show “The Kate Smith Hour” to sing an eight-bar solo. The arranger Larry Clinton, who was listening, needed to hear no more. He was forming a band at the time and quickly signed her to be its vocalist.

“I did a lot of singing, choral things,” she recalled. “And he heard me on the Kate Smith show. He didn’t see me. Actually, it was very strange, because . . . I had a call and went to the phone and this man said, ‘My name is Larry Clinton. I’m starting a band and I’m looking for a girl singer and I would like you to make some sides with me.’ Which was really cuckoo [laughs], ’cause I said to myself, ‘He never saw me. He never really heard me, it was just a few bars. And he told me to meet him at RCA Victor the next week, he was recording, and he sent me a tune to do, and I did it. And the first time I saw him was when I walked in the studio (Source).”

Following this recording session Bea remained with the band and would make her debut with Larry Clinton officially in the summer of 1938 at the Glen Island Casino, New Rochelle, New York. This would be the turning point for Larry Clintons Orchestra because as they were broadcasted live across the radio wires, theirs and Bea’s popularity would rise.

Glen Island Casino Vintage Image — Source: Glen Island Harbour Club

Bea Stated: “If we played in an elegant ballroom, it was very nice. We played a lot of colleges, and that was fun. As I said, I was very young. We played at Yale, we played at Princeton, we played [at] the University of North Carolina… you know, we just went on the road, and you went from one to the other. And they all couldn’t wait until the band arrived, because the band became very popular on account of these radio broadcasts (Source).”

During her time with The Larry Clinton Orchestra, Bea would go on to record several hit songs:

Her Signature Song: My Reverie and was top of the charts for 8 weeks in 1938. (Video Link)

“Deep Purple”, “Heart and Soul” as well as “Cry, Baby, Cry” were also # 1 hits.

It’s time to move on…

After a year and a half with the band, she tired of the road trips and poor pay for recordings** and left to perform on her own. At this time she was also a married woman to radio announcer André Baruch who she had met on the Kate Smith Show (where she was singing in the chorus if you remember my mention above). They had married May 1st, 1938.

1940s vintage photo of BEA WAIN and ANDRE BARUCH. Bea is wearing a 1940s dress and a 1940s hairstyle. — Source: Pinterest

1940s Vintage Article about Bea Wain and André Baruch — Source: Pinterest

After the orchestra, Bea would go on to have a successful radio career singing in programs like CBS’s, “Your Hit Parade” from 1939-44 where her husband Andre was also the announcer. Monday Merry-Go-Round (NBC Blue 1941-1942) and Starlight Serenade (Mutual 1944) (Source).

1940s Vintage Photo: Bea Wain, singer on CBS Radios popular music program, Your Hit Parade. Here, She applies makeup. Image dated October 1, 1940. New York, NY. — Bea Wain, singer on CBS Radios popular music program, Your Hit Parade. Here, She applies makeup. Image dated October 1, 1940. New York, NY. Source: Getty Images

1940s Vintage Ad featuring Bea Wain, big band singer in General Electric ad — Source: Pinterest

During WW2 while her husband served overseas, Bea would do her part by performing at Army Camps and Naval Bases for the troops. Upon his return they would go on to host a radio program called “Mr. and Mrs. Music,” a daily program on WMCA in New York, on which they doubled as disc jockeys and interviewers.

1940s Vintage Photo of Bea Wain, big band singer with her husband, Andre Baruch, at WMCA in 1947. — Source: NY Times

In 1973, the couple moved to Palm Beach, Florida, where they had a similar radio show before relocating to Beverly Hills. During the early 1980s, the pair hosted a syndicated version of “Your Hit Parade”, reconstructing the list of hits of selected weeks in the 1940s and playing the original recordings on-air (Source).

Around the same time, Bea was featured on TV’s “Jukebox Saturday Night”. She was sensational, proving that her voice was still very much intact and that she was still a force to be reckoned with.

Bea passed away this year at the age of 100 on August 19th, 2017 (Andre passed in 1991).

In a 2004 interview with Christopher Popa, Wain reflected: “Actually, I’ve had a wonderful life, a wonderful career. And I’m still singing, and I’m still singing pretty good” (Source).

Thank You for all the music.

Other Awesome Facts about Bea:

1940s Vintage Image of Big Band Singer, Bea Wain in 1943 in a beautiful 1940s Hairstyle with Hair bow. — Source: Wikipedia

*Ms. Wain was voted most popular female band vocalist in Billboard’s 1939 college poll (Ella Fitzgerald was second) (Source).

*She is considered by many to be one of the best female vocalists of her era, possessing a natural feel for swing-music rhythms not often found among white singers of the day. With regard to technique, she excelled in pitch and subtle utilization of dynamics. She also communicated a feminine sensuality and sang with conviction in an unforced manner (Source).

*Wain was also the first artist to record the Harold Arlen-Yip Harburg classic “Over the Rainbow” (on December 7, 1938, with Clinton’s orchestra), but MGM prohibited the release until The Wizard of Oz (1939) had opened and audiences heard Judy Garland perform it (Source).

Other Hits (not a complete list):

Friends, I hope you enjoyed learning about this beautiful and talented star of the Big Band Era. I had heard of Bea in passing, but did not realize what a true talent she was until now. Bea will be on rotation on my playlist going forth and she will always be mentioned when discussing the women of the big band era.

Question Time: Have you heard of Bea Wain? If yes then please share your favorite song in the comments below, I would love to know what it is!

FURTHER READING:

**Bea made $50 a week (about $870 in today’s dollars) working every night all summer with the Clinton band at Glen Island and only $30 for a three-hour session recording four songs. That meant that while songs like “My Reverie” and “Deep Purple” reaped a fortune for others, she made all of about $7.50 (or about $130 today) for each song (Source).

I am making a deceleration..I have a Swizzle Sticks addiction (vintage in particular). I just love all the creative things that have been done on such a small piece of real estate. They are colourful, they are fun, they are artistic and they are so darn collectible! I want them all and I’m on a mission to do just that.

Swizzle sticks and stir sticks collection from the vintage inn blog — Just SOME of my collection

For today’s post I’m not going to go on about how I’m going to achieve total Swizzle Stick domination but instead we are going to check out their history (my coles notes version) and also view some examples of these lovely works of art.

Let’s begin!

Disclosure: Some of the links on my blog from Etsy , eBay, are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Note: If the item you clicked on is no longer available, just do a search for like items. There are loads of vintage items being added to Etsy and eBay daily!

The Early Days of the Swizzle Stick-Brief History

According to my research, it looks like the Swizzle Stick made its appearance around the 1600’s in the West Indies. It’s purpose was to help enhance a Barbados-based cocktail “The Swizzle” that contained rum, sugar and ice.

Frederick Albion Ober’s 1920’s book ‘A Guide to the West Indies, Bermuda and Panama’ gives one of the first recorded insights into the origins of the stick itself (Source):

“The stem of a native plant with radiating twigs, or roots, which, being deprived of its outer bark, is revolved rapidly between the palms of the hands,” writes Ober, “and, through the combined action of the motion and a peculiar saponaceous quality of the cambium layer of the twigs, produces a delicious froth.”

Often the pronged branches of the allspice bush or aromatic quararibea turbinate (seen below) were used, which eventually earned the plant its nickname: the Swizzlestick Tree.

Quararibea turbinate swizzlestick tree branch

If you look at the my “collection” photo at the top of this post, you will see that one of the swizzle sticks looks like the quararibea turbinate branch. When I first received the stick as a gift I thought the prongs were for helping it stand up (silly Liz haha). Now I know that is not the true reason.

But where does the name “Swizzle” come from?

Tales of the Cocktail stated in a 2016 post that the word swizzle, according to the 1891 “Century Dictionary: An Encylopedic Lexicon of the English Language,” comes from a combination of the words swill and guzzle.

But they also stated that drink that was mentioned above called the “Swizzle” was named this because of the whisk-like motion of making it – “Swizzling”.

So it seems that the name of the stick truly reflects the original drinks origin as opposed the 1891 dictionary description. Do you agree?

Here comes the 1920’s!

The Swizzle sticks have found a new purpose in this decade beyond swizzling drinks, they are now being used by Queen Victoria and refined ladies to stir bubbles OUT of their Champagne. Why? Well ladies of Society don’t want any unwanted “gas like emissions” do they?

1950’s Champagne Swizzle Stick (1920’s looked similar)

Sterling Silver Champagne Swizzle Stick 1950s — Source: Bexfield Antiques

NOT the proper way to drink your Champagne.

Marketing comes into play

When a great idea is found and seems to be rising in popularity, you can ALWAYS be sure that Marketing is not that far behind to capitalize on its success and this is exactly what happened after prohibition was over.

Meet Inventor Jay Sindler, who needed a way to remove the olive from his martini without using his fingers. So he sketched out an idea of a barbed wooden spear featuring a small paddle at the other end, which could be imprinted with the establishment’s name or logo (Source). A problem was solved and bars who needed to advertise after Prohibition was over had a new marketing tool.

Further Reading: A Look Back At Life In 1940s-1960s Drinking Establishments & Home Bars

vintage stir swizzle sticks — Source: Pinterest

1950’s & 1960’s

For the next few decades these cocktail stirrers are now common sight with the 50’s and 60’s being the top of its game and of course the kitsch factor is kicked up to 10.

Further Reading: Mini Guide To Holding The Ultimate 1950’s Themed Party

vintage pink elephant cocktail stirrers — Source: Pinterest

Thanks to a friend, I now have these whistle cocktail stir sticks in my collection.

whistle cocktail swizzle sticks vintage — Source: Pinterest

Vintage mermaid swizzle sticks from The Seven Seas Cocktail Lounge in Edmonton, Alberta. Circa 1960’s (avail as of July 5th, 2022 HERE).

4 sweet vintage mermaid swizzle sticks from The Seven Seas Cocktail

Source: Etsy

Desert Cactus Happy Hour fun!

Vintage Cocktail Stirrers: Desert Cactus — Source: Pinterest

Pinup Stir Sticks

1950s Pin-Up Cocktail Sticks — Source: theinvisibleagent

Tiki Time!

vintage 60's tiki swizzle sticks — Source: Pinterest

TWA Cocktail Sticks-Cool!

Further Reading: The Stylish Fashions of Air Travel in the Early Days

1950s TWA Airlines Cocktail Swizzle Sticks — Source: Etsy

The End of an Era

The 1970’s saw the downfall of the swizzle sticks as wine took over as the cheap drink of choice and from that decade on, our favorite little drink decoration is left behind in the dust.

Today, Swizzle Sticks are still not back in popularity ($16 craft cocktails don’t see a need for a kitschy plastic stick in their glasses) but you can still see them in Tiki Bars that have risen in popularity over the last couple of years. AND for those who are serious collectors, there is an International Association of Swizzle Stick Collectors for you to join (now that is cool!).

That ends our little Swizzle Stick road trip for today so I hope you had as much fun as I did learning all about these cool pieces of cocktail history.

Question Time! Do you own a collection of Swizzle Sticks? And if you could create your OWN Swizzle Stick what would it look like? Please share in the comments below.

Liz

P.S. Make sure at your next Cocktail Party you add these to the bar! Or you can add them to your 1950’s Party. Check out my blog post on how to plan that party with those Swizzle Sticks.

Tag: 1930’s