She's No Warren Zevon--But Gisele MacKenzie's Dead, Too

Cafe Society
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From the L.A. Times:

Gisele MacKenzie, the Canadian-born singer-actress who was a regular on the popular 1950s television musical show “Your Hit Parade” and starred in her own short-lived NBC variety series, has died. She was 76. MacKenzie, who was once known as Canada’s First Lady of Song, died Friday in Providence St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Burbank after a long battle with colon cancer, said her daughter, Gigi Downs.

MacKenzie rose to national attention on “Your Hit Parade.” During her years on the weekly show, from 1953 to 1957, she joined such vocalists as Snooky Lanson, Russell Arms and Dorothy Collins in singing the seven most popular songs in America each week. In 1957, she starred in her own NBC musical variety program, “The Gisele MacKenzie Show,” which lasted six months. She later was a regular on “The Sid Caesar Show,” a 1963 ABC comedy-variety show. “She was such a lovely lady,” Caesar told The Times on Friday. “She was a wonderfully, wonderfully talented woman. She was a great singer and a great musician and had a great sense of humor.”

In 1946, her rich contralto singing voice caught the attention of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., which resulted in her own quarter-hour radio show, “Meet Gisele.” By 1951, she was in Hollywood doing radio guest spots with Edgar Bergen and Morton Downey before becoming a regular on Bob Crosby’s “Club 15” show and then as featured singer on “The Mario Lanza Show” on radio. An impressed Jack Benny had her join him on tour during the summers of 1952 and 1953. She made her dramatic debut in a 1955 “Kraft Television Theatre” production and also continued to make occasional TV guest appearances, as well as appearing in commercials.

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If ever there was a name that epitomized the 50s, it has to be “Snooky.”

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You know, Eve, I saw this obit over the weeekend, and figured you’d post it. I’m old enough to remember Gisele MacKenzie on the Sid Caesar show. And I remember hearing her on the radio back in the 50’s or so ( I was around five or so) and thinking I liked her almost as much as Rosemary Clooney!

Rest in peace, Gisele.

Oh, the Snooky Lanson show used to come on in the afternoons in Atlanta when I was in grammer school. It opened with him walking along a riverbank singing “Up a Lazy River.” You could either watch that or “Art Linkletter’s House Party.” Our rabbit ears only picked up two stations.

I’ll head back to the old folks home now…