THE secret of the American entertainer Rosemary Clooney’s great success, the Glasgow Herald’s theatre critic decided in July 1955, was a ‘potion compounded of many things’.
Among them were “loveliness and vivacity, a pleasant voice, the intelligence to put over different types of songs with equal virtue, and an infectious sense of humour.”
But above all, he wrote after observing Clooney’s Scottish stage debut at the Glasgow Empire, she gave the impression of “being natural, and thoroughly nice ... whether lifting her hair back off her forehead, remembering to thank every one like a little girl after a party, singing the Brahms ‘Cradle Song’, or standing quite still when the National Anthem is being played.”
Clooney is pictured here with two of her fans, Charlie O’Donnell and Chris. Alexander, both of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, on her arrival in the city.
Read more:
Herald DiaryClooney had overcome a difficult childhood to become one of America’s biggest stars. She and her sister Betty had begun their singing careers on a radio station in Cincinnati. When she was 21 she signed a contract as a singer with Columbia Records, then had a huge hit with a song called Come On-a My House, which led to her being invited to co-host, with Bing Crosby, a popular radio show.
Clooney’s appearance in the film, White Christmas, further enhanced her reputation. By 1956, the year after her Glasgow concert, she was starring in her own TV series, which was syndicated to many stations across America.
She had a long spell of personal problems but made a successful comeback in the mid-seventies. She died in 2002. Her brother Nick is the father of film star George Clooney.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here