| Interment Location | Visited | |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles, CA | April 4, 2023 |
“The Andrews Sisters are as American as apple pie, apple blossom and apple tree,” a New York Times columnist opined in 1974. “Patty, Maxine and LaVerne, and their close‐harmony vocalizing became embedded in the mythology of World War II, along with Glenn Miller’s trombone, Benny Goodman’s clarinet, Harry James’s trumpet, Betty Grable’s legs, Sonja Henie’s skates, Esther Williams’s swimsuits; F.D.R.’s cigarette holder, war bonds, stagedoor canteens, Spam and other signs of the times.” The sisters who sang swing and boogie-woogie music had good company in the public zeitgeist, and they continue to rub shoulders with big names in death — Maxine and LaVerne are interred among many fellow celebrities at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, as is Patty in Los Angeles’s Westwood Village Memorial Park. Patty’s ashes rest in the Garden of Serenity in a niche shown in the center of this image.
The Andrews Sisters first performed together in 1925, when Patty was seven years old. They started out performing vaudeville and singing on radio shows before they landed a recording contract in 1937. Their profile rose in 1938 when their English cover of the Yiddish song “Bei Mir Bistu Shein (Means That You’re Grand)” topped the charts. Their other popular hits include “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else but Me),” “I Can Dream, Can’t I?,” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” which debuted in the 1941 film Buck Privates and was nominated for an Academy Award. The trio partnered with crooner Bing Crosby on 47 songs, such as a rendition of the Christmas classic “Jingle Bells” and the number one hit “(There’ll Be a) Hot Time in the Town of Berlin (When the Yanks Go Marching In).” The group initially dissolved around 1953 when Patty ventured out as a solo act, but they reunited in 1956.
LaVerne Andrews died of liver cancer in 1967 at age 55, and Maxine left show business around that time. Patty continued to perform, though, and Maxine was lured back into the spotlight to appear with her surviving sibling in the 1974 Broadway musical “Over Here!” This was the last time the sisters performed together. The group received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1987. Maxine died in 1995, and Patty outlived her by 18 years, making it to age 94. Her ashes are interred with those of her second husband, Wally Weschler, who was the Andrews Sisters’ accompanist and Patty’s manager.
Fast Facts
Born: February 16, 1918 in Mound, Minnesota
Spouses: Martin Melcher (m. 1947-1949); Melvin Walter Weschler (m. 1951-2010)
Died: January 30, 2013 in Northridge, California
Cause of Death: Natural Causes
Age: 94
Interment: Westwood Village Memorial Park, Westwood Village, Los Angeles, California
"We fought. I mean we used to argue -- but as fast as we'd argue with each other, that's how fast we made up, because we really loved each other."
- Patty Andrews
discussing the relationships among the three sisters in a 1971 interview conducted by John Gilliland for Pop Chronicles
Sources Consulted and Further Reading
Barnes, Clive. “Stage: The Andrews Sisters Return.” New York Times. March 7, 1974. https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/07/archives/stage-the-andrews-sisters-return-the-cast.html.
Duke, Alan. “Last Andrews Sister, Patty, dies at 94.” CNN. Updated March 7, 2013. https://www.cnn.com/2013/01/30/showbiz/patty-andrews-obit/index.html.
Gilliland, John. “Pop Chronicles Interviews #2 – Patty Andrews, part 2, audio recording, 1971.” From University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library. Accessed July 7, 2023. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1692073/m1/.
