Ramona(1909-1972)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Estrild Raymona Myers, an unlikely show biz name, would become
internationally known as "Ramona." Her mother simply wanted to name her
after her father, 17-year-old Raymond P. Myers, and the nearest name to
it was Ramona. Raymond's wealthy parents believed that his bride,
Rachel DeCamp, was below the social level of their teenage son. They
annulled the marriage, unaware that fifteen-year-old Rachel was
carrying Raymond's child. Rachael and infant Ramona moved across the
border to Ashland, Kentucky, where she met her future husband, Charles
C. Payne. Ramona told a reporter that her professional début took place
at the age of 12 in Kentucky, when she was asked to play with a dance
orchestra. The Paynes soon made their home in Kansas City, Missouri,
where young Ramona attended school at St. Agnes Academy. According to
an old press release, the only black marks on her school record were
for sneaking out from time to time to play piano in a Kansas City movie
house. At station WDAF she became staff pianist for the Kansas City
Night Hawk Frolic where, for a three-year period, she played in the
company of many great performers. From there she went to Pittsburgh,
Pa., and became 10 of the Twenty Fingers of Sweetness, a program
sponsored by Swans Down Sugar on Westinghouse station KDKA. After
hearing her on the radio, the renowned bandleader Don Bestor engaged
16-year-old Ramona as featured singer and pianist when he took his
recording and stage orchestra on a coast-to-coast tour. Her appearances
with Bestor's group led to her own stage act on vaudeville circuits
such as Keith, Orpheum and Loew's. In February, 1931 Ramona joined WLW
in Cincinnati, "The Nation's Station," along with singer Seger Ellis,
where she played on such programs as King Edward Cigar Band, Sohio
Night Club and Werk's Bubble Blowers. At this time Paul Whiteman had
the most famous orchestra in the world. He was paying Mildred Bailey
$350 a week, sweetened by $600 from NBC. In the spring of 1932 Whiteman
was doing five shows a day at a theatre engagement in Cincinnati. While
relaxing in his dressing room, he tuned in WLW and heard Ramona singing
in Spanish. A short time later he tuned in and heard her accompanying
an Irish singer. Another time he tuned in and caught her accompanying
her own singing. At a meeting arranged with Ramona, Whiteman asked her
to join him when he opened in New York. Meanwhile, Mildred Bailey,
after singing "We Just Couldn't Say Good-bye" on a Whiteman record,
left in a flurry of lawsuits and joined CBS. Ramona stepped in and
accepted a two-year contract at $125 a week (about one third what
Whiteman was paying Bailey). Whiteman's original intention was to pair
Ramona with crooner Red McKenzie, billing
them as "Red & Ramona," but McKenzie had plans for his own orchestra.
Ramona's recording début was on August 16, 1932, when she recorded "I
Guess I'll Have To Change My Plan." The ornate black and gold
RCA-Victor label read: "Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra, Featuring Ramona
and Her Grand Piano." Over the next five years Ramona would be
presented and managed by Paul Whiteman. In concert halls, magazines,
movie theaters, auto shows, night clubs, county fairs, films, on
records and network radio, she would shine with the greatest names in
show business. Ramona's most important radio appearances were on the
Kraft Music Hall, which made its début on NBC in 1933. The stars were
Al Jolson and Paul Whiteman's Orchestra. Ramona's four years with
Whiteman were her most illustrious. Her shapely figure, charming voice
and vivacious personality added glamour to the already famous Whiteman
cast of characters. She went by one name only, as did the Broadway
actress Tamara, the French entertainer Mistinguett and, most assuredly,
the incomparable Hildegarde. At some point she married quick-witted
horn player Howard Davies, and was known by some as Ramona Davies. In
1936 the Whiteman orchestra was hired by producer Billy Rose to appear
in his extravaganza Casa Mañana for the Fort Worth Frontier Centennial
Exposition. For the entire summer the orchestra moved to Texas to play
the nationally acclaimed show. It was during Casa Mañana that Whiteman
hired Ken Hopkins, a handsome young arranger, to write orchestrations.
Ramona, recently divorced from Howard Davies, married Hopkins before
the year ended. Ramona was one of many performers managed by Whiteman's
Artists Management Bureau. She sued Whiteman in 1937 accusing him of
charging large fees for her services and giving her too little of it.
On February 16, 1937, Justice Joseph M. Callahan of the Supreme Court
ruled in Whiteman's favor, and he let her out of her contract early.
Joan Edwards, niece of Gus Edwards, eventually replaced her. Ramona
sailed to Europe on the luxurious Normandie to reap the benefits of her
fame. On October 13, 1937, she began a choice engagement in London,
headlining with Jack Harris at Ciro's Club on Orange Street. Ramona's
London engagement was supposed to be for four weeks, but it was
extended to six months. During her stay she gave a command performance
for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Ramona returned to New York in
1938, and with her husband Ken's help, she formed a 12-piece all-male
band. Ramona soon learned that a national career without Whiteman's
help was infinitely more difficult. Competition in Ramona's
professional relationship with Hopkins led to his drinking, and their
marriage felt the strain. Ramona met announcer
Al Helfer (1912-1975) while doing her
15-minute radio show in Manhattan. They were married in Baltimore,
Maryland, and Ramona worked until the time their only child, Ramona was
born. Ramona's last network radio appearance may have been on ABC's
Piano Playhouse on October 19, 1946. The radio network beckoned again
from Manhattan, only this time it was not for Ramona and her Grand
Piano. Her husband Al was in great demand as a sports announcer. The
family was so close-knit the parents moved to Denver to be near
daughter Mona when she studied flute and voice at Denver University. By
now her love of family had greatly overshadowed her show business
yearnings and her husband's radio career surpassed hers. He was
celebrated for making the annual presentation, beginning in 1947, of
the famous Heisman Memorial Trophy. When Al Helfer retired, around
1969, he and Ramona moved to a house by a golf course near Sacramento,
California. After an eight-month bout with cancer, Ramona died in Mercy
San Juan Hospital in Sacramento. She was 63.