The DeZurik Sisters (also known as The Cackle Sisters) were a country-music duo. They were two of the first women to become stars on both the ''
National Barn Dance
''National Barn Dance'', broadcast by WLS-AM in Chicago, Illinois starting in 1924, was one of the first American country music radio programs and a direct precursor of the ''Grand Ole Opry''.
''National Barn Dance'' also set the stage for other ...
'' and the ''
Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...
'', largely a result of their original
yodeling
Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from the ...
style.
Background
Born and raised on a farm in
Royalton, Minnesota
Royalton is a city in Morrison and Benton counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota, along the Platte River. The population was 1,281 at the 2020 census. The city is located mainly within Morrison County.
The Benton County portion of Royalton ...
, Mary Jane (February 1, 1917 – 1981) and Carolyn DeZurik (December 24, 1918 – March 16, 2009) were part of a family of seven. Their father Joe played fiddle, their sisters sang, and their brother Jerry played accordion and guitar. Inspired by their family and the sounds of the animals and birds around them, they developed an astonishing repertoire of high, haunting yodels and yips that soon had them winning talent contests all over central Minnesota.
Career
In 1936, the DeZurick Sisters signed a contract to appear regularly on Chicago radio station
WLS-AM
WLS (890 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Cumulus Media, through licensee Radio License Holdings LLC, the station airs a talk radio format. WLS has its radio studios in the NBC Tower on North Columbus Driv ...
's ''National Barn Dance'', and were hired in 1937 to perform on
Purina Mills
Purina Mills, LLC is the farm animal feeds unit of Land O' Lakes. It was previously part of Ralston Purina, until the U.S. animal feeds portion was first sold in 1986.
History
Purina traces its roots back to 1894, when founder William H. Danfo ...
' ''Checkerboard Time'' radio show, where they sang as The Cackle Sisters.
In 1938, the sisters recorded six songs for
Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is an American record company and label.
History
The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...
: "I Left Her Standing There" (Vocalion 4616-A), "Arizona Yodeler" (Vocalion 4616-B), "Sweet Hawaiian Chimes" (Vocalion 4704-A), "Guitar Blues" (Vocalion 4704-B), "Go To Sleep My Darling Baby" (Vocalion 4781-A) and "
Birmingham Jail" (Vocalion 4781-B). Those six songs were the only tracks the duo would ever commit to shellac, although some recordings exist of their appearances on ''Checkerboard Time.''
In 1940, Mary Jane and Carolyn appeared in
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City an ...
' country musical
B movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
''
Barnyard Follies
''Barnyard Follies'' is a 1940 Republic Pictures musical B movie directed by Frank McDonald with music directed by Cy Feuer and dance choreography by Josephine Earl. In the rural American West, a small-town orphanage struggles to become self-s ...
'' (6 Oct 1940) as The Cackle Sisters.
Both sisters married musicians they had met at WLS. Carolyn accepted a proposal from Ralph "Rusty" Gill, a singer and guitar player, on September 1, 1940, and Mary Jane said yes to Augie Klein, an accordionist, before the month was out. After Gill and Klein were drafted into
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in 1943, Mary Jane took a break from music to look after her new family and Carolyn joined
Sonja Henie
Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norway, Norwegian figure skating, figure skater and film star. She was a three-time List of Olympic medalists in figure skating, Olympic champion (Figure skating at the 1928 Winter Olympics, ...
's Ice Review for a year or so, afterwards returning to Minnesota for a series of appearances on radio station
KSTP-AM. Mary Jane rejoined her sister in 1944, doing road dates with Purina and regular shows at Nashville's ''Grand Ole Opry''.
Rusty was discharged from Army in 1946 and returned to WLS with his old band, the
Prairie Ramblers
Floyd Holmes (March 6, 1910 – January 1, 1970), better known as Salty Holmes, was an American country musician and Western B-movie actor.
Holmes was born in Glasgow, Kentucky. He became a virtuoso on the harmonica, specializing in the style k ...
. Mary Jane retired the next year, so Carolyn recruited their sister Lorraine, and the new DeZurik Sisters returned to WLS in Chicago. By 1951, after a stint at Cincinnati's
WLW
WLW (700 AM) is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio. Owned by iHeartMedia, WLW is a clear-channel station, often identifying itself as The Big One.
WLW operates with around the clock. Its daytime signal provides ...
-AM and
WLW-TV, Lorraine had retired and Carolyn had joined the Ramblers as their new female vocalist, filling a vacancy created by the absence of trick yodeler
Patsy Montana
Rubye Rose Blevins (October 30, 1908 – May 3, 1996), known professionally as Patsy Montana, was an American country music singer, songwriter and actress. Montana was the first female country performer to have a million-selling single with her ...
. Carolyn and Rusty moved back to Chicago, where they began appearing with the Ramblers on the daily variety show ''Chicago Parade'', airing on
WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington Stre ...
and
WBKB-TV
WBKB-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Alpena, Michigan, United States, affiliated with CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and MyNetworkTV. It serves as the flagship television property of the Marks Radio Group. WBKB-TV's studios are located on Nort ...
.
Personal life
Carolyn and Rusty lived in the Chicago area. Carolyn died in March 2009. Mary Jane and Augie also lived in the Chicago area. Mary Jane died in 1981. Lorraine married Edward Kosny December 1, 1951 in Oak Park Illinois. She died in 2009. They lived in Renton, Washington.
Years after the height of their fame, Carolyn recalled that the DeZurik Sisters achieved their sound simply because she and Mary Jane "listened to the birds and tried to sing with the birds."
References
External links
Hillbilly Music: DeZurik SistersNational Public Radio: The Cackle Sisters, Yodeling Queens (includes four songs)*
ttp://www.wlshistory.com/NBD The National Barn Dance on The History of WLS Radio
{{DEFAULTSORT:DeZurik Sisters, The
American country music groups
Country music duos
Grand Ole Opry members
Sibling duos
Yodelers
Musical groups established in 1936
People from Royalton, Minnesota