OPEN POST: Manor Music Monday With The Peters Sisters!

Clear the way! They're comin' through! Virginia, Mattie Jane and Anne Louise. That's right, the sisters. Are. In. The. House. Lucky you, you'll hear them tonight at the Manor's exclusive "Crisco Twister" after-hours club, where DJ Li'l Scratch will be spinning The Peters Sisters, a powerhouse vocal trio who started out singing at their local church in the early 1930s in Los Angeles. People took notice. In no time at all, they were swingin' and singin' at the popular Trocadero Club in Hollywood. Then the movie industry took notice.

Called "rotund and delightfully upbeat," they appeared as a novelty act in several 20th Century Fox movies, though their numbers were cut from prints distributed to the South. But no matter, since they continued killing at various night clubs, including The Cotton Club in Harlem where they performed with Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway, thankyouverymuch.

Yet these were international sisters, mind you, for they found their greatest fame - along with many movie and TV roles - in Europe from the late 1940s through the 70s. Could they have achieved such wild success in the U.S.? Maybe, maybe not. But would they have starred in a string of giggly spaghetti westerns and Italian pasta commercials? Probably not. The U.S. might have been their home, but it was Europe (especially Italy) which truly embraced them. If you ask an Italian who's over 50, they'll know exactly who The Peters Sisters are.

Behold - and prepare to be dazzled - by the sisters performing "Rhumbadi Bumbadi Cha Cha Cha," which was surely the highlight of the 1950s German-language musical comedy, "Hoch Droben Auf Berg," or "High Up On The Mountain."

Their singing - a festive mix of blues, jazz and swing - may at first remind you of The Andrews Sisters, but given their later time period, they're far more self-aware, and so their performances have an added comedic charge. And when they take center stage, they're delicious. 

Just imagine, you're Parisian, or visiting the city, and you're attending The Folies Bergere, where the sisters appeared in residency and seemingly dropped from the heavens and onto the stage in parachutes. They also had a sold-out residency at The Paris Olympia, and The London Palladium, too.

The sisters enjoyed life, living as the fun-loving divas they were. At one point, they were together in a huge, glamorous Paris apartment with spectacular views of the Arc de Triomphe (with three lavish bathrooms, thankyoueverso), but in time, they each married - to a German, a Frenchman, and a Dutchman, respectively. Virginia outlived her sisters and continued for a time as a successful jazz soloist, going by the name Virginia Vee, but before then, the sisters recorded scads of terrific best-selling albums in a variety of languages and music styles, the best of which are collected below.

What are you listening to this week? DJ Li'l Scratch wants to know.
Till next time...purr, bitches, purr! 🐾

Photo Credits: Capitol Records, Getty Images