Rose Marie, R.I.P.
 

It's not a shock to hear that the great performer Rose Marie has died at the age of 94. She'd been in and out of hospitals constantly the last few years and friends kept telling me, "She may not last the week." I started writing an obit for her three or four years ago and never finished it. I'm writing this one from scratch because I decided what I wanted to say about her and it wasn't what I set out to write back then.

https://www.newsfromme.com/2017/12/28/rose-marie-r-p/

An inconclusive postscript regarding her true age:

https://www.newsfromme.com/2017/12/28/roses-age/

One of the first shows I can remember watching was The Dick Van Dyke Show. I loved everyone in it but "Sally" was my absolute favourite. It was only when I was older that I understood that she was a woman who could hold her own in a "man's world" even if they did pull the "Sally wants a man and any man will do" crap far too often for my liking!

She had a great run, but I'm sad to see her take her last bow. Rest in peace.

I loved Dick Van Dyke as a kid (on Nick at Nite) and really loved Sally, she was my favorite character. RIP.

Interesting. I know from family research, and in particular my mother's first mention in the census, that the ages shown are not always entirely accurate. The only thing certain was that she was alive and living with her mother on the date of the New York census, 1 Jun 1925.

The bio on her official page says she was "Born on the day that the Broadway musical "Rose-Marie" opened." Wikipedia and IBDb both say that was 2 Sept 1924. However, I was able to discover that it opened prior to Broadway in Atlantic City on 18 Aug 1924.

So my guess is that she was born 15 Aug 1924. Whether or not she was actually named after the show is anyone's guess, but it is possible someone noted the coincidence and assumed there was a connection, or adopted one.

A still later addition by Mr. Evanier:

That wouldn't coincide with either date for the musical, but that sounds like something that someone could have made up later and it sounded good enough that even people who knew better accepted it. ...or not. No idea myself. ;)

My sister lives in LA and posted a picture of the flowers on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Rose Marie. It was a VERY impressive bunch of roses. It is good to see she was remembered well.

She really held her own in the Brady show writers' room scenes. I wonder if Dick Van Dyke realized how much his TV partners knew about show business?

I saw her in International House singing a pretty good blues song. She really was a precursor for other women in entertainment.

RIP Rose Marie Mazetti

Ali

My recollection of Van Dyke's memoir is that yes, he did know how experienced and talented Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam were.

Rose Marie just recently started posting on Twitter. She was so excited and touched to see her followers number grow. She was promoting the movie about herself.

http://www.rosemariemovie.com/

She also wrote a column for the Hollywood Reporterin December about #metoo.

Thanks for posting those links. I'd love to see that movie, I'll have to look for it.

Rose Marie was interviewed for the documentary Vaudeville, as were many others who are now gone. It's a great movie.

Seaboe

Thanks, Seaboe. I should be able to stream that, from PBS.com if not from Netflix.