An Interview with Jackie Ward, part 1

cmongethappy.com /interviews/jw/index.html

An Interview with

Fans of The Partridge Family know Jackie Ward

as the lone female voice, behind the scenes with
the quartet of Studio Singers. What many fans
may not know, is just how extensive her on-
The screen career is as well. Reading Jackie Wards
McDonnell resume, whether for TV, Movies or Records, is
Sisters like reading the Hollywood phone book. Danny
Kaye. Carol Burnett. Red Skelton. Rodgers &
Hammerstein. Pat Boone. Frank Sinatra. Barbra
Streisand. The Carpenters. Sonny & Cher. Mama Cass.
Shaun Cassidy. Ray Conniff. Percy Faith. Anita Kerr.
Joan Baez. The list goes on and on and on. In addition
to singing, she was often contracted to find the best
voices around for projects she was hired to assemble.
Jackie was gracious enough to sit down and reminisce
about her career with Scott Awley and
cmongethappy.com from August through October, 2000.
So sit back as we take you on another spin around San
Horace Pueblo...
Heidt

KTLA
Studios

The Red
Skelton
Show

Get Happy: How did you become interested in music?

Jackie Ward: Well, lets see. I came from a musical family. The first public performance I did was
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 with my sisters in church. I was eight years old, and they were older. I had to stand on the piano
bench in order to get up to their level. I sang the alto parts.

GH: Where were you raised?

JW: I was actually born in Hawaii and my father was in the Navy. I went from there to Nebraska,
which is where my parents families are from. I grew up primarily in a small town in Nebraska.

GH: How did your trek west start?

The Carol
Burnett JW: My sisters and I sang in a trio, called The McDonnell Sisters. We entered a nationwide radio
Show talent contest that a man named Horace Heidt ran. We auditioned, and then had to travel to
Yangton, South Dakota with the other contestants. Thats where the show was broadcast from. We
won the contest! My parents thought, "Gosh, if they could do that, then we really should give them a
chance to see what they can do in Hollywood." So, they up and moved us. I finished my last year of
high school in California, because thats when we moved.

GH: Did you start auditioning right away?

JW: Oh, sure! While I was a senior, we auditioned for KTLA, and they hired us for a television show
called Bandstand Revue. We did that for about 4 years.

Danny GH: What kind of music did you sing for the show?
Kaye
JW: Bandstand Revue was like Your Hit Parade, which were songs of the day. So we sang all the
songs that were popular then. This was around 1954.

GH: Hollywood is such a "closed door" type of town. Did working on KTLA help you get started?

JW: Well, actually not at all! After a while, my sisters decided that they didnt want to be in the
business for various reasons, such as marriage, etc. Although I was married at the time too, I
decided that I liked it enough to stick it out. So, I started doing demos for songwriters.

GH: Did you want to be an actress or a singer?

JW: Its a funny story I think youll appreciate this: When I was singing with my sisters, some star
Cinderella came on that was doing a number, and all of a sudden this background group showed up. And they
were just like the musicians that played in the orchestra. The star was passing out music, and I am
realizing that these singers have never met the star, nor have they seen this music before. That just
blew me away. Here were singers that could do something that I couldnt do. I knew I could sing
anything. Any style, or whatever because I had the voice. But I didnt know how to read music. It
bugged me -- that I couldnt do what they could do, so I went to City College and learned music.

GH: Since you had been singing with your sisters, was it easier for you to pick out the harmonies?

"I wish I JW: Oh, sure. My ears were so good. But it was just a matter of understanding what I was singing,
were a and putting a name to it. Learning what the key signatures were, and how it all worked. It was all
fairly simple. I was also married to a music copyist at the time, so I would practice by taking a score
sweeter
girl..." he was working on and take the different sections, such as the trumpet section, or the violin section,
and practice sight reading what they had written, along with the rhythm. By doing that, I had a good
Play It! head start. But while I was learning, I was also recording demos for songwriters, because thats just
the melody, which is a piece of cake.

GH: Songwriters needed demos recorded?

JW: Thats the way they used to do it. Singers that worked for recording studios would be pitched all
these songs by the writers. It was a different world then. That was the main way it was done.
Songwriters sent the demos to the producers that were working with the artists. Producers would
listen to all these demos and bring the ones to the artists that they felt worked best. Then the artists
would pick and choose.

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Jimmie GH: How did that start for you? Did you have an agent, or answer audition ads in the paper?
Rodgers
JW: No, I never did any of that. I met a lot of people in the business while I was still doing the show.
Its just word of mouth somebody recommended me for something. Thats basically how it
happened. Even today, in the world of studio singers, its still that way. An agent cant really get you
a job. Its not even so much who you know, as it is how capable you are, and that word gets around.
Your reputation gets around.

GH: How did you get your start in front of the cameras?

JW: Alan Copeland was auditioning a whole bunch of singers for The Red Skelton Show. I went in
and auditioned. They were looking for three girls and four guys. Alan liked what I did and put me in
"...and the group. We were the set singers, and I did that every week. During this time, The Carol Burnett
then Show was going on, and I did that on several occasions, and I did The Danny Kaye Show as well.
there's This was in the early to mid 60s.
Maude!"
GH: Did these types of TV gigs pay well?
Play It!
JW: No, not at all. Dont get me wrong I was thrilled to have the job and it was nice, but the better
paying jobs for the time you put in -- were the record dates and commercials. So, I started picking
up more and more of those. After a while, I found it was hard to continue doing the television show
because it was interfering with the record dates, which paid more.

GH: How long would a record date take?

JW: It was usually a three-hour call. You would get paid either per hour, or per record side, with a
minimal call. You could book three record dates easily in a day. So, you could make good money.
"They call Much better than a television show, because they have you all day for the one flat rate.
him
Flipper, GH: Tom Bahler mentioned that he used to hate getting a movie call, because it was an all-day
Flipper..." affair. Did you have the same experience?
Play It! JW: Absolutely! If you got a movie call, that was an 8-hour call. Your day was gone. If you were
lucky and they didnt go into overtime, you might be able to do a record job in the evening, but you
couldnt always count on it. Youre in big trouble if you went into overtime and you had also booked
another gig!

GH: You were also in Rodgers and Hammersteins Cinderella, with Lesley Ann Warren. How did that
come about?

JW: That was while I was doing the Skelton show. Everything just coincided because it was all right
Hey there in the same studio at CBS. I was the town prostitute in that.
There! It's
Yogi Bear! GH: You were the prostitute? I thought you were a prospective princess for the prince?

JW: No, I think I was the town prostitute.

GH: Wow thats quite a fall! From princess to prostitute!

JW: (Laughs) I know youve talked to Tom and Ron, so you know that we worked with just about
Cuter than every star in Hollywood back then. Some were interesting, some not.
the
GH: Did you record with the stars or separately?
average
bear! JW: Well, back then everybody recorded live. You recorded with the orchestra and the soloist was
Play It! in a booth. We may have been in a booth as well but we could all see each other, and the
conductor. It wasnt a separate room, just a small booth with a glass window so you could isolate the
sound a bit.

GH: Who were you recording with at this time?

JW: I did a lot of stuff with Pat Boone, Jimmie Rodgers, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and I did one
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of the very last recordings that Bing Crosby did. That was a thrill, because I knew he wasnt going to
be doing too many more.

GH: Did you record any television themes?

JW: Oh, sure! I did so many sometimes its hard to remember them all. I did the main titles to
Flipper, Batman, and later on I did Love American Style and Maude. With Love American Style we
were all there Tom, John, Ron and myself. Maude was just three girls and Donny Hathaway. I think
Ron was with me on Batman and Flipper.

GH: You went from a prostitute in Cinderella to a little brown bear in Hanna-Barberas animated
motion picture, Hey There! Its Yogi Bear! How did that come about?

JW: Hoyt Curtin was the composer for all of Hanna-Barberas shows. He knew of me because my
husband (at the time) copied music for Hoyt. He knew I had done a lot of things, and asked to hear
me sing. When he did, he felt I was perfect to be the singing voice for Cindy Bear.

GH: Why didnt you record the speaking voice as well?

JW: At that time Hanna-Barbera had a very tight handful of actors doing their voices. They had it all
locked up. The only reason why I did the singing is because Hoyt insisted on it.

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