Participant Marge Benson brought in this picture (above) of her and six of her sisters. The Seven Spies Sisters Dance Revue performed comedy, sang, and danced tap, ballet, and jazz all over the United States in the 1930’s, and were billed as the largest all-sister dance group in the world. Marge (pictured below) was interviewed at the StoryCorps MobileBooth in Ames by her sons Bob and Curt.
November 19th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
What fond memories I have of the Seven Spies Sisters “cavorting” on the stage of the Atlantic Theater in Atlantic, Iowa. They were the biggest attraction on that stage which, at another time, included an appearance by Sally Rand and her Fan!
But my fondest memories is of 1) my big brother, Dutch, who dated Cleone at one time and 2) the youngest sister, Betty, with whom I played Jacks when they both came to Sunday dinner at the Cranston home in the late 30’s. Betty and I were about eight or nine years of age at the time, and what a thrill to entertain them for a brief time so long ago. The Spies Sisters grew up in Massena, not far from Atlantic, and were truly talented, beautiful and so unspoiled. Years later, I revisited Atlantic, went to the Sunnyside Park for a picnic and saw Cleone with her young child, and Ada, another sister. What fun to find this webpage so that I can add these few words about an “act” that is truly hard to follow!