How I was Named - Mary Kaye Trio

The story goes that my parents knew that they were going to name me Mary (my brother's name is Paul, so I'm guessing there was some connection to the Bible, but I don't think I ever questionned either), but my middle name was the source of some contention between my mom and dad.  My mom wanted to name me after my paternal grandmother whose name was Gertrude.  She wanted to call me Mary Gertrude, but my dad said NO!  Thank goodness!!!

So, again as I heard it, when they were still living in the city of St. Louis, they went to clubs, danced and my dad drank a little (my mom was a tea totaler which means that she never drank alcohol).  They had listened to a band called the Mary Kaye Trio.  My dad thought Mary Kay would be preferable to Mary Gertrude. 

Two things to add to the this story:

1. When I was in Junior High School, I signed my name with an E on the end of Kay.
2. I don't believe my parents really saw the Mary Kaye trio.  From what I gathered (see below), they probably didn't travel to St. Louis, but I guess we'll never know for sure!

Information on the Mary Kaye Trio from Wikipedia:
Mary Kaye (January 9, 1924 – February 17, 2007) was sometimes called the "First Lady of Rock and Roll.  She was a guitarist and performer who was active in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.^] Mary Kaye (born Malia Ka'aihue) descended from Hawaiian royalty in the line of Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii's last reigning monarch, and was born into a show business family. She is credited, along with Louis Prima, as being a founder of the Las Vegas "lounge" phenomenon: an all-night party atmosphere where stars and common folk rubbed elbows in a freewheeling environment. Mary Kaye died in a Las Vegas hospital of pulmonary disease on February 17, 2007.
 
Mary was photographed with her combo, the Mary Kaye Trio, in a 1956 Fender promotional advertisement featuring a new Stratocaster electric guitar. This ash blonde guitar with maple neck and gold hardware later became popularly known as "The Mary Kaye Strat." A Maple Neck Swamp Ash blonde 1954 Fender Stratocaster guitar, the Mary Kaye model, is one of the most expensive and highly collectable guitars in the world. Only a few were produced in 1954, but the color has been re-introduced to the Fender line after the strong international demand for the Mary Kaye color scheme. A limited Custom Shop series Mary Kaye Tribute Strat was issued in 2005. In 2007 a 57 Reissue Mary Kaye Strat was released for the 50th anniversary of the Stratocaster. The Custom Shop release can be seen in the 2005 Fender Frontline Catalog along with her personal history as interviewed by Fender
 
From the Los Angeles Times:
In about 1950, the trio was winding up its first engagement in the main showroom of the Last Frontier on what would become the Las Vegas Strip, and the owner wanted to keep them performing at the hotel.
 
"Without a room to go to, I suggested a stage be built in the bar area, and it could be called a 'lounge,' " Mary Kaye told Vintage Guitar magazine in 2003.
 
Norman Kaye told The Times on Monday, "We were the first lounge group advertised as such.... It was a marvelous career for all of us."
 
The group performed between 1 and 6 a.m. on the newly enclosed stage, helping to turn Las Vegas into a 24-hour town, Mary Kaye told Guitar Player magazine in 2006.
 
Before the lounge era, the town tended to close down during those hours, she recalled.
 
During the trio's first week in the Last Frontier lounge, Frank Sinatra and friends dropped $120,000 gambling while hanging out with the "dusk till dawn crowd" -- the nickname given to patrons of the free overnight shows, Mary Kaye said in Guitar Player.
 
Celebrities often took in their lounge act -- including Elvis Presley, who watched from backstage, according to a family history.
 
The best-known incarnation of the trio included Mary Kaye on guitar, her older brother Norman on bass and Frank Ross, the group's comedian and sometimes accordionist.
 
"They changed the history of Las Vegas," George Schlatter, a 1950s booking agent who became a film and television producer, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week. "They were all over the room and they were hysterical. Anybody who ever saw the act realized this was the most sound you ever got out of three pieces."
 
The trio worked an average of 36 weeks a year, often appearing at the Sahara and Tropicana hotels. The group recorded dozens of songs, including "My Funny Valentine" and "April in Paris," and released a dozen albums before breaking up in 1966.
 
"I never thought the band would end," Kaye told Guitar Player, but there was friction over who should control the business. After the last show, at the Tropicana, she said, "Charlton Heston came into my dressing room and cried with me."
 
Mary Kaye, who continued performing as a solo artist into the 1970s, also had a guitar nicknamed after her, although she rarely played it.

Birthday Treats

My mom was one of the best cooks ever! She made great pies (something my dad was really fond of). On my birthday, my mom would bake a Sugar Pie for me. I have the recipe somewhere, but have never really baked one myself. I'm going to try soon. The recipe came from my dad's mom who, during the Great Depression and after, didn't have much money, but lived on the farm. Their she was able to use what she had and a little sugar and flour to make pie.

I will add the Sugar Pie recipe when I find it, but also wanted to tell you that every birthday in our family was also celebrated with an Angel Food Cake (from a box mix) that always turned out really ugly. My mom would then ice it with a super sweet icing made from powdered sugar, melted butter, a little vanilla and some milk. It was not my favorite thing!