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celebrities
The Girl Singer 8
Dreaming The Impossible Dream 12
A Loving Tribute 14
One Fine Day 16
| tw e nt y y e ars of hop e and histor y |
The Girl Singer
Rosemary Clooney’s circle began and ended
in Maysville, Kentucky.
Clooney began singing as a child, often performing on the corner of Third and Market
streets with her sister Betty. She was born in
1928, and by 1945, The Clooney Sisters were
getting a regular paycheck singing on radio station WLW in Cincinnati.
Rosemary’s talent and warmth of personality
caused her meteoric rise from a twenty dollar
per week radio career, to starring in her own
movie “The Stars are Singing,” in 1953.
She remembered her hometown and brought
the movie’s premiere to the Russell Theater on
Third Street, where she’d sung so many times
before, but without the price of admission.
She was welcomed with a parade, of course,
and ten thousand cheering fans. Those who
wanted to see the movie the night of the premiere paid the price – three dollars for a single
ticket. More frugal Maysvillians were later able
to see the first movie in which Rosemary Clooney starred for less than one-third of that price
– ninety cents.
There was no doubt as to how many fans
came out to see Clooney in 1953, but The
Daily Independent couldn’t be sure how many
press members were in attendance. ‘There were
press and radio people all over the place, and
they wouldn’t stand still long enough to be
counted. The count went as high as seventeen
but there was some confusion as to how many
bald-headed men were there,” the paper reported. “Also the exact number of female hats
[there were].”
Fifty-five years later the memory was still
crystal-clear for lifelong Maysville resident
Jimmy Meadows. “I was at the corner by Kilgus’ Drugstore all day,” said Meadows in 2008.
“My daughter Caren was three years old at the
time and I took her down to see her [Rosemary
Clooney]. It was a good, fun day. Rosemary
talked to everyone. She was as down-to-earth
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a person as George (her now-famous nephew)
is.”
Rosemary wore a long mink coat and rode in
a convertible Chevrolet, proclaiming once “Is
this really me?” according to a Daily Independent story about the premiere.
As her career soared and family grew, there
were fewer trips to Maysville, but when something was really important to her, Rosemary
came home.
It would be another thirty years before Rosemary would entertain hometown fans in person again with an August 1983 concert at Mason County Fieldhouse.
“It’s good to be home, to be loved,” she said at
the time. “Coming home is something I don’t
do often enough,” she said.
A career revival was on the near horizon, but
a wistful Clooney didn’t seem to know it and
chose “Have I Stayed Too Long at the Fair,” to
express her feelings.
“This song is about a singer who strayed and
then came home. The fair is over. I’ve come
home,” she said.
When Hospice of Hope was about to celebrate a decade in Maysville, Rosemary Clooney returned to marry longtime sweetheart
Dante DiPaolo in November 1997. It was the
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closest thing to Hollywood seen in Maysville
since 1953, when her movie premiered. Again,
she was back on Third Street, bringing Hollywood to the small river town.
It was another joyous occasion in Maysville
when Rosemary Clooney returned to St. Patrick Church where she had been baptized in
1928, to marry DiPaolo.
Again, the media descended on the tiny river
town and friends, and fans came out to wish
the county’s favorite daughter happiness in her
future life with DiPaolo.
Rosemary Clooney was almost seventy years
old when the wedding occurred – an indication
there is always a new chapter to be written. Her
brother Nick Clooney said minutes before the
vows, “This is great. This is wonderful. [This]
proves love doesn’t have a timetable.”
There were lots of famous people on hand,
but none as famous as Bob Hope, who held
up the wedding and started a bout of regular
good-natured ribbing between siblings Nick
and Rosemary.
Hope entered the chapel nearly fifteen minutes late singing “Get Me to the Church On
Time.” Moments before her betrothal, Nick
challenged his sister. “Now Rosemary, top
that,” Nick Clooney teased.
It was a storybook wedding and one of those
good news events every reporter likes to cover.
“Everybody loves Rosemary,” said freelance
photographer Laura Cavanaugh. “This is the
kind of thing people enjoy reading.”
Maysville is a small town to be sure, but there
was never any doubt that no matter how famous Rosemary Clooney got – and she was a
legend – she would always come home when it
was important.
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“I knew whenever she got married, she’d do
it here,” said Maysville resident and lifelong
friend Blanche Chambers. “She never told me
that, but I just thought she’d come back to
Maysville.”
Her absence from this neck of the woods was
much shorter than before, and with the encouragement of cousin Ben Breslin. Presented
with the opportunity to save the Russell Theatre, she came back to sing on the same corner,
more than fifty years later.
“I called her one night,” Breslin recalled,
“and said ‘What about a Rosemary Clooney
Festival?’ She said ‘Let’s start out by supporting the Russell Theatre, and help get it on its
feet.’”
Thus the first Rosemary Clooney Music Festival was born.
“I used to sing for nothin’ on these street corners. Now, all these years later, I’m doing the
same damned thing,” Clooney joked on Sept.
25, 1999. It was the first Rosemary Clooney
Music Festival.
The Russell Theatre was built in 1930 by Col.
J. Barbour Russell at a price tag of one hundred
twent- five thousand dollars, and the first movie shown there was “Whoopee” starring Eddie
Cantor. Clooney’s premiere was in 1953, and
the movie was “The Stars Are Singing.”
After it stopped showing movies, the Russell
was leased and sub-leased for several years acting as a hamburger stand, video arcade, flower
shop, used clothing store and paper filler business. It had been closed since 1983, and was
purchased by the Rescue the Russell group in
1996.
Just three years later, Clooney sang at the
first annual Rosemary Clooney Music Festi-
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val, bringing recognition to the historic and
unique structure which had been badly damaged by water.
She was happy, Clooney said, because she
was now singing what she wanted when she
wanted. One of her biggest hits “Come Ona
My House” was a fan favorite, but Clooney
never liked the song and recorded it only at
her label’s insistence. When she sang it for her
old friends and neighbors in 1999, she told the
crowd to enjoy it because it was the last time
she was ever going to sing it. Then in her seventies, Clooney said she’d earned the right to
sing only what pleased her.
Like Maysville’s other favorite daughter,
Heather French Henry, Rosemary Clooney
also claimed Augusta as home and owned a
home there until her death in 2002.
She surprised her Augusta neighbors with a
free concert at General George Marshall Park
the first year of the Clooney festival.
Bandleader Matt Catingub of the Big Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack coaxed Rosemary
to the stage.
“There’s someone here who wants to sing, and
I guess I will let her,” said Catingub.
The setting was casual with Rosemary sitting
in a large driftwood chair, prompting a good
natured jab from her brother Nick from the
sidelines.
“Where did I get this ugly chair?” Rosemary
parroted. “I love this chair. I got it out of your
living room.”
The tiny river town responded by making her
music part of its daily life.
The carillon atop Augusta High School was
rededicated in the name of the Girl Singer.
Using private donations four computer chips
containing forty-eight songs recorded by Rosemary Clooney were purchased for the city.
Sadly, Rosemary Clooney did not have much
time to do what pleased her, and her family
had to face what so many had before – the
need to provide comfort to a dying loved one.
On June 29, 2002, lung cancer took The Girl
“I used to sing for nothin’
on these street corners.
Now, all these years later,
I’m doing the same damned thing.”
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Singer from the world and back to Maysville
forever.
“Rosemary loved Maysville and this whole
area. It was an integral part of her life,” brother
Nick Clooney said the day his sister died. “The
way she centered herself was to come home to
Maysville, to Augusta, to Kentucky. “
“She used to always say flying in ‘This is the
only place in the world that has a thousand
shades of green.’”
Friends that she never forgot and fans that
she never met mourned her loss.
Lifelong friend Blanche Chambers rode in
the convertible with Rosemary during the parade for her movie premiere. The duo stayed in
touch even when Rosemary was traveling the
world.
“Rosemary never forgot Maysville. Maysville
was her home and she never forgot it. Most
people would have forgotten a little town like
Maysville,” Chambers said upon learning of
her friend’s death.
Her funeral was at St. Patrick Church, and
her funeral procession travelled on the streets
where she sang as a child.
“Rosemary, you are back here at St. Patrick
where you were baptized … took first communion … and four years ago, married your
Dante. So you are here for the last time, Rosemary, with your family … and at the same
time at the gates of heaven,” said Rev. William
Hinds during her eulogy.
An agreement between the two very close
siblings called for the survivor to speak at the
other’s funeral.
“Here we are, three blocks from her muddy
river, in the town she called home, to mourn
the days we won’t spend with her and celebrate
the ones that we did.”
The people had loved his sister, Nick Clooney
said, and she reciprocated.
“Everyone in their secret heart is saying ‘I
knew her best.’ And they are all correct. She
connected with everyone from Maysville to
Singapore.”
| tw e nt y y e ars of hop e and histor y |
Here she comes,
Miss America
She dreamed the impossible dream.
Okay. It wasn’t impossible, but if you look
at the record, Heather Renee French winning
the title of Miss America 2000 did seem a long
shot – at least until the pageant started.
Though a veteran of numerous beauty pageants (her first title was that of Augusta’s Miss
Sternwheeler when she was nine years old),
Henry’s luck in the swimsuit competition had
always been hard. When she surprised everyone (including herself ) with a win, it seemed
an ultimate victory might be in the cards.
It was the first swimsuit win for the unassuming beauty queen and because it was
hard-fought, it was particularly sweet. In high
school French weighed about one hundred
fifty pounds and to keep her body in swimsuit
competition winning form she ran twice each
day. “I just believe in doing the best that you
can,” Henry said after the win. “The man who
expects nothing is always surprised.”
French may have been surprised, but
Maysville friend Mary Lou Anderson wasn’t.
“She is poised and very in control of herself.
We felt she had a very good chance. We were
certainly expecting her to do well,” Anderson
said after the victory.
It just seemed to be in the cards. “Everywhere
we went, everybody loved Heather” said Janie
Hord, who traveled to New Jersey for the pageant. “People would stop us and say ‘Oh, you
know Miss Kentucky?’ We had a feeling that
Heather would win.”
Heather’s father, Ronnie French, had a good
feeling too, but his confidence was bolstered
when his daughter remained poised during
the interview portion of the competition. “I
didn’t have any doubt in my mind after she got
through the interview,” he said.
Once crowned, Heather Renee French became an instant celebrity, and her surprised
parents shared in her newfound fame.
The moment the title was revealed, security guards surrounded the Diana and Ronnie French to whisk them off to post-pageant events. “I don’t know what I expected,”
her mother said. “I thought she’d win, they’d
sweep her off, and we’d come home and have
a normal life.”
Heather did not make it to the Miss America
Pageant until her third try. That attempt almost didn’t happen because her father fell so
ill before the deadline for application to the
Miss Kentucky pageant French almost decided
not to compete.
Ronnie French was in a coma when the time
drew near to enter the Miss Louisville pageant,
and according to her parents, Heather Renee
almost decided to hang up the pageant gear.
Her father, however, was such a large part of
her inspiration and so decidedly in her corner,
Heather Renee threw her hat in the ring. A
win at Miss Louisville was necessary to move
onto the Miss Kentucky pageant where she
would make the third time the charm.
Though out of the coma, Ronnie French was
still in the hospital on a respirator, recovering
from pneumonia, when his daughter competed for the first time knowing her parents were
not in the audience cheering her on.
French’s father Ronnie is a disabled veteran of
the Vietnam War and was the inspiration for
her platform of bringing help and awareness to
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“I’ve never seen a Miss America have an impact so quickly.”
America’s homeless veteran problem.
Her issue was personal and her efforts continue today through the Heather French Foundation for Veterans.
She testified before Congress in an effort to
increase VA hospital funding and shine a light
on the shameful problem of homeless veterans.
Though our country prides itself on never
leaving our wounded on the battlefield; Heather French said soon after she was crowned
technically that isn’t true. “Well, the reality is,
we have, and it’s time to go into the streets and
bring them home.”
She thrust herself into her platform. “I’ve
never seen a Miss America have an impact so
quickly,” said then Senate Majority Leader
Trent Lott, R-Miss.
She is Kentucky’s only Miss America and was
greeted with parades and thousands of wellwishers when she returned with the crown
to her double hometowns of Augusta and
Maysville. Speaking at her alma mater Mason County High School soon after she won
the crown, French stressed to the students that
dreams sometimes do come true.
“See, this dream is tangible,” French said
holding the tiara aloft. “Everybody has a
dream. Whatever you dream, you can be.”
She credited the communities where she was
born and raised with the realization of her
dream. “I am my church. I am my community,
the people who carried me on their shoulders
– they’re the real award winners. I think
it’s ordinary people who d o
extraordinary things.”
She lived in Maysville
from the time she was nine
years old, but was born and spent her
early years in one of the area’s other
small river town, Augusta.
The celebration began there the
moment she was crowned.
“Everybody in town was watching the pageant,” then-Augusta Mayor
Wendell High said. “After it was over, the
phone started ringing and everyone was
saying how great it is.” Before long, a
neighbor knocked on High’s door and
said everyone was gathering on Main
Street in celebration.
The celebration spurred a bonfire
and soon the hotdogs were being
roasted over it. “It’s funny,” High said,
“But everyone in Augusta must keep
hotdogs on hand in their freezers.”
Augusta’s former Mayor Louis
Habermehl was also part of the
spontaneous celebration and
would later be tasked with running the homecoming cel-
ebration.
“Everyone just started pouring out
of their houses whooping and hollering and saying ‘Can you believe
it?’” Habermehl said shortly after
French’s big win.
That was with no planning, however. When the native daughter
returned with the crown the
whole town came to welcome
her and present her with a
rare gift – the promise of
a street bearing her name.
Augusta City Council
made the decision quickly,
but it would be months
before the red tape was
sliced through and Heather Renee French Boulevard was dedicated.
By that time French had
agreed to marry the commonwealth’s Lt. Gov., Steve Henry,
with a ceremony planned only
days after her reign as Miss
America 2000 ended.
It was mid-July when French returned with her fiancé noting the
already long name – Heather Renee French Boulevard – would be
longer soon. “He’ll [fiancé Steve
Henry] be going ‘we need to add
a Henry behind that,’” French
joked at the ceremony.
She had been the reigning
Miss America for almost one year
when the street was dedicated, but
appeared unspoiled by the experience.
“I stopped traffic,” French exclaimed.
“It’s so unreal to see my name on
this sign knowing I grew up here. I
must have run by this way about
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a thousand times when I was four and five
years old.”
Her reign would end in three months after
the street unveiling. The wedding two weeks
later.
The marriage marked the first time in Kentucky’s history a lieutenant governor took
wedding vows while in office. It had been a
century since November 1900, when Governor J.C.W. Beckham became the only governor to marry while in office.
The Henrys were married on October 27,
2001, at the historic Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville. French wore a silk peau de
soie ball gown created by New York designers
Sherri Hill and Gene Speas. Her “something
borrowed” was a diamond tiara from Belgium
which had also been worn by Princess Diana.
The couple now has two daughters and Steve
Henry, an orthopedic surgeon by profession, is
currently outside the political arena.
But the street in Augusta and signs entering
Maysville are constant reminders that Heather
Renee French always will be Kentucky’s Miss
America. “Now she’s not only our daughter,
she’s everyone’s daughter,” her father noted
soon after she was crowned.
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A loving tribute
she listened to the president rattling pans in
the kitchen, Rosemary called Nick from The
White House to tease him.”
“At this very moment I’m in the White
House, and the President of the United States
is scrambling eggs for me Nicky! It’s a hell of
a long way from Maysville, Kentucky,” Rosemary said at the time.
The Henrys did renovation work to the home
and added a living space to use when they’re
in town. Like Clooney, Heather Henry feels at
home when she’s in the tiny river town.
“We (Clooney and Henry) could breathe
here during our hectic schedules,” Henry once
said.
She said her friend would be amused, but
grateful for the fuss.
“If she were here, I think Rosemary would be
looking at all of this and laughing at me. She
would also be flattered by all the attention.”
They belonged to different generations, but
Rosemary Clooney and Heather French Henry had more in common than not.
They shared the title “favorite daughter” in
both Maysville and nearby Augusta, Kentucky
and a friendship that transcended age.
Henry was named Miss America near the time
Rosemary Clooney began her annual music
festival in Maysville and performed during the
event’s second year. Clooney became Henry’s
mentor and they had a close relationship until
Clooney’s death in 2002.
To pay tribute to their friend, Heather and
husband Steve Henry purchased the Riverside
Drive home Rosemary Clooney kept in Augusta since 1980, and created a museum in her
honor.
The museum has amassed an extensive collection of Clooney memorabilia, including the
largest “White Christmas” collection in the
world, the blue dress Clooney wore in “Sisters”
and the dress she was wearing when President
John F. Kennedy cooked her breakfast.
“It was Jan. 29, 1962, at the White House,
and someone mentioned that they were hungry,” Heather Henry said the story goes. “So
the president (Kennedy) headed to the kitchen, rolled up his sleeves and cooked eggs for
everybody.”
Always close to her brother Nick, Rosemary
Clooney called him in the middle of the night
to give him the “can you believe it?” news. “As
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“If she were here, I think Rosemary would be looking at all of this
and laughing at me. She would also be flattered by all the attention.”
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One fine day
It was déjà vu all over again when George
Clooney brought the premiere of his movie
“Leatherheads” to Maysville on March 24,
2008. Like his Aunt Rosemary, who in 1953
premiered her first starring film “The Stars Are
Singing” in the small river town, George Clooney chose Maysville for his movie’s first showing.
“The Stars Are Singing” premiered at the Russell Theatre on Third Street. George chose the
recently restored Washington Opera House
on Second Street for the premiere of “Leatherheads.”
Though separated by nearly half a century, the
shows created the same kind of excitement and
world notoriety.
Maysville resident Phillip Manning heard
all the way from Iraq. “I
couldn’t believe it. My
friend is a petroleum worker located currently in the
Middle East. He called the
other day telling me how he
read about George’s return
to his hometown for the
premiere. He read a story in
The Arab Times. That just
amazes me.”
Most of the excitement
was closer to home. People
in Clooney’s hometown of
Augusta, where his parents
Nick and Nina still live, are
likely still pinching themselves. “Coming from Augusta it’s the biggest thing
you can think of. It’s the talk of the town,”
Aaron Linville said.
People travelled from miles around to catch
a glimpse of Clooney and co-star Renee Zellweger walk the red carpet – some had seen his
aunt’s parade and movie.
“The Clooneys have always been so good
to their hometown and it just shows how
much family and closeness means to
them. It’s special to me in that when
I was seven, I got to see Rosemary’s
premiere here in Maysville,” said
“Leatherheads” ticket holder Jerry
Gore.
“I was six years old and waited for
hours to see Rosemary Clooney in
person,” said Maysville resident
Laura Turner.
Universal Studios released only two
hundred seventy-five seats to the premiere. Tickets were extremely hard to
come by but one industrious Saint Patrick School
senior hit the big score. “I
couldn’t seem to get anywhere with the city when I
called to inquire about tickets,” Casey Baldwin said. “It
never really dawned on me
that tickets would be hard
to come by. When the city
avenue failed, I decided to
call Universal in California. I finally was connected
to some people who could
help. I guess I just called
the only place I could think
of. I think they were a little
surprised, but after a little
prodding, I managed to talk
to someone there at the studio into a ticket.
Now that I look back on it, I realize how hard
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that is for people to believe.”
A few other high school seniors were just as
lucky, but didn’t have to be quite so crafty to
score tickets. Four tickets were given to high
schools to raffle in Mason and Bracken counties. Students from Clooney’s alma mater, Augusta Independent School, had a unique connection. “One of our school board members
went to prom with George and said he’s the
biggest clown she’s ever known,” said Linville.
“My mother went to school with George. She
was at lunch when I called and told her. Her
friends didn’t believe her.”
A group of other high school students were
surprised with tickets at the last minute. The
Mason County Royals High School Boys Bas-
ketball champions were invited after they took
the state title. George Clooney was a high school
athlete and even tried out for the Cincinnati
Reds before choosing acting as his career.
Robin Wright of Maysville was the first ticket
holder in line the night of the premiere and felt
a little like Cinderella. “I’m so excited. Being
born and raised here in Maysville makes this
a truly extravagant experience. It’s hard to put
into words. Although I’m rather chilled from
the weather, I don’t think anything could
dampen this event for me. I’m going home, lie
down and go to bed. I’ve got to get ready for
work in the morning. I guess my carriage turns
into a pumpkin at midnight, but for tonight,
this is absolutely thrilling.”
Like Casey Baldwin, many people were willing to resort to whatever means necessary to get
a ticket for the show. “We’ve had bribe offers,
people begging, everything you could think of.
It’s amazing in the sense that people want to
play ‘Six-degrees of Separation’ with George,”
said Opera House Executive Director Mike
Thomas. “People say ‘I drove past George in
sixth grade’ or ‘I know someone at Universal’
to even ‘I used to play football.’”
You didn’t need a ticket to be excited or starstruck. Karen Edwards came from Loveland,
Ohio and said seeing George Clooney in person was a dream come true. “”He’s just a downhome boy that’s made it big. He’s a wonderful
actor, he has a great sense of humor and he’s
handsome. I’m going to stand right here. I’m
not going to lose my spot,” she said.
Maysville resident Jim Meadows Sr. was an
onlooker at the George Clooney event and
ticket holder for Rosemary’s – sort of. “You
didn’t have to have a ticket ahead of time to
get into [“The Stars Are Singing”]. I bought a
ticket at the window. It was jam-packed in the
theater.”
It was well worth the wait and braving of
the cold March evening and Clooney himself
seemed pleased with his decision.
“It seemed like the right thing, the right time.
It feels like the right kind of vibe,” Clooney
said. “It’s pretty great isn’t it? It’s kind of fun to
be back at the Opera House.”
“It seemed like the right thing, the right time.”
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