In spite of the Depression, or maybe because of it, folks were hungry for a good time, and an evening of dancing seemed a good way to have it.

I have a tremendous desire to learn, and to grow, and to develop whatever I have that will make for any kind of improvement in me.

Over and over I marvel at the blessings of my life: Each year has grown better than the last.

I played a Spaniard. I looked about as Spanish as any other fair-skinned German.

On the stage of the Italian Terrace Room in the William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1938 ... the place where Champagne Music was born.

I always worried I'd forget my lines or say the wrong words or the audience would laugh in the wrong places.

We really were a very musical family. In spite of the fact that we were so poor when I was a youngster that supper was often just a bowl of bread and milk, Father somehow managed to squeeze out enough pennies to buy us a small pump organ, and I just loved this instrument too.