{"id":18882,"date":"2026-03-11T06:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T06:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/remembering-rose-marie-90-years-an-entertainer\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:06:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:06:43","slug":"remembering-rose-marie-90-years-an-entertainer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/entertainment\/movies-and-tv\/remembering-rose-marie-90-years-an-entertainer\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Rose Marie\u201490 Years an Entertainer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rose Marie played Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show, <\/em>made audiences laugh on Hollywood Squares<\/em>, and was a child star with a national radio show before Shirley Temple<\/a> was even born. She’s been working for more than 90 years. And she’s still working.<\/p>\n

I had the distinct pleasure recently of enjoying an hour-long phone conversation with Rose Marie. A delightful new documentary, Wait for Your Laugh<\/em><\/a>, celebrates her nine decades in show business and reminds us that, though she’s best remembered by many for her TV roles, those successes are just the tip of the iceberg of a career that has spanned vaudeville, radio, records, television, Broadway and motion pictures.<\/p>\n

“I’m very proud of [the documentary],\u201d said Rose Marie. \u201cI love it. I’m so proud of Jason [Wise, the director], I can’t stand it. I think he’s a genius.”<\/p>\n

At 94, Rose Marie maintains a positive outlook on life, but she acknowledges that living so long is not without its challenges. “It’s hard being older and losing all your friends little by little… I keep very busy and I keep in touch with my friends. I still send birthday cards, anniversary cards and things like that. I keep up my life as best I can.”<\/p>\n

She’s doing more than keeping up.<\/p>\n

Rose Marie, who lives in Southern California with her dog, Bailey, is active on social media, with large followings on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>. \u201cI love [social media]. I love what people say. I get so taken away by what people say about me. It’s wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

She started working when she was just four years old, had a widely popular national radio show soon after, and toured nationally when she was 7. She’s worked with Hollywood royalty like Lucille Ball, Danny Thomas, George Burns, and Jimmy Durante.<\/p>\n

“Life is one day after the other. You take one after the other as it comes, and you make the best of what it is.”<\/p>\n

Rose Marie\u2019s been making the best of it since 1927, when she began her historic career.<\/p>\n

“My family has always been very close… My mother used to take me to see all the shows, the vaudeville, the movies, this and that. I used to come back to the apartment and I would entertain my grandmother and grandfather, and [the neighbors] who lived up on the third floor.<\/p>\n

“One day, they came to my mother and they said, \u2018We’ve entered her in an amateur contest.\u2019 \u2026 They bought the dress that I wore. They bought the Mary Jane shoes\u2026 They’re in the Smithsonian, those shoes.<\/p>\n

“Now you’ve got to imagine a four-year-old kid with this voice that I have, singing What Can I Say, Dear, After I Say I’m Sorry?<\/em> like Sophie Tucker. Naturally, I won.”<\/p>\n

Soon, Baby Rose Marie, as she was now known, was performing at various spots around New York City. NBC Radio Network soon heard about Rose, and she was given a national radio program.<\/p>\n