Mary Jane Walsh

American singer and stage actress. Born April 14, 1914, in Davenport, Iowa; died March 1, 1993, in Longboat Key, Florida. She dropped out of college to pursue a singing career, auditioning to sing on radio station WOC on a summer break after leaving college. That fall, Walsh headed to Chicago to study voice, singing on WMAQ with the orchestras of Ted Weems and Ben Bernie. After a three-month engagement at The Pierre Hotel in New York City with the orchestra of Shep Fields, Walsh decided to go solo in the night clubs of Boston, Philadelphia, and Detroit. She also began to pursue Broadway parts in 1935. She appeared with Rudy Vallee at London's Mayfair Hotel in the summer of 1937. Following that engagement, she appeared on Broadway in productions of "I'd Rather Be Right" from 1937-1938, "Sing Out the News" from 1938-1939, "Too Many Girls" from 1939 -1940, with Danny Kaye in "Let's Face It" from 1941-1943, all hits. She also starred in "Allah Be Praised!" in 1944, and as a replacement for the lead role of Annie Oakley in the Broadway cast of "Annie Get Your Gun" from 1946 to 1949. During this time, she also headlined in night club revues, at the Copacabana, the Waldorf and other well-known nocturnal resorts.