Rosy Prospects

Recognize our birthday girl there? Granted, it's a slightly out-of-date photo, but it just serves to illustrate how long Rose Marie (born August 15, 1923) has been entertaining audiences. Many fans, of course, think of her first and foremost as wisecracking Sally Rogers from The Dick Van Dyke Show (CBS, 1961-66). But her first show business success came in the late 1920s, when her fine singing voice won her a radio contract at the age of five. After that came nightclub engagements, movies, appearances on The Hollywood Squares and The Doris Day Show, and her happy marriage to trumpeter Bobby Guy, cut short by his death in 1964.

If you haven't done so, you should definitely read her fine autobiography Hold the Roses, published by the University Press of Kentucky in 2002. It's a great way to get better acquainted with this show business veteran who has given us all so many hours of pleasure. Happy birthday, Rose Marie!