Some of the information is Boop-Oop-a-Dooping full of SPOILERS. Boop-Oop-a-Doop!
Edna Patricia O'Keefe
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(Edna O'Keefe holding a doll in 1932.) |
Edna O'Keefe[1] (born 1912) had an Italian mother and an Irish father. Her 1912 birth took place in San Francisco. She went to the KFRC radio station for an audition after graduating from high school.
Edna performed "The Desert Song" during her audition because she felt that the most ferocious African tiger was sitting on that still, indifferent microphone, waiting to rip a piece out of her shoulder.
O'Keefe was a radio "Boop-Oop-a-Doop" girl.
She weighed 115 pounds, had brown eyes, and brown hair. Her height was 5' 3".
On radio her title was "The Oh, Woe Is Me Girl". In the "Golden State Blue Monday Jamboree" on Mondays, she played the role of herself. The heroic figure, sobbing, "Oh woe is me!" which was represented by Edna. She portrayed this character for the Deep Dramatic Stock Company's weekly productions.
O'Keefe enjoyed football games, Cosmopolitan magazine, dogs, cats.
She made her radio début with contemporary operetta pieces. She was "Boop-Oop-Dooping" one day when she was waiting for her turn at the mic. She was assigned as a personality singer right away. She was subsequently been given other platforms for speech, but the operettes would never again be available.
As a comedienne and character actress, she amassed an impressive following. She was fluent in German, French, Irish, and Spanish dialects.
Edna O'Keefe worked with Edna Fischer. Fischer gained notoriety mostly as a traveling member of the renowned Duncan Sisters, Vivian and Rosetta, in their hit production of "Topsy and Eva". The only thing the two Ednas had in common was their love of cauliflower.
At the age of sixteen Edna O'Keefe recorded the popular 1929 song "Campus Capers"[2] on June 14, 1929 for Brunswick Records.
The phrase "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" was never copyrighted, therefore Helen Kane had no claim to its invention. This led to a dispute between Helen Kane and Mae Questel. Additionally, a galaxy of vocalists shared the baby-talk and phrase with great frequency.
At the age of 19 in April of 1931, she got married. Edna was performing in Sacramento on a Saturday night in April along with several other KFRC musicians. Edna was brought home by a staff baritone Maurice John Ronald Graham that evening, but the others remained until Sunday.
But the two headed to Reno instead of back home. They reached Reno at around daybreak. They arrived to an abandoned town. On Sunday night, the couple brought their marriage license back to KFRC and practiced as if nothing had occurred.
Edna's spouse, was a baritone who performed on radio. He arrived in America wearing kilts, having been born in Scotland. When he was six years old, he immigrated to America. In 1931 he had won the California Atwater-Kent audition.
During World War I, her husband's father served as an officer in the British army. His family in London witnessed the German air raids while he was fighting in France. He moved his family to the San Francisco Bay District following the war.
He took his family on a global tour, spending many months in England, Malta, Egypt, India, and Gibraltar.
RKO Radio offered Edna a contract in 1933 for a lead comedy show with Ted Fio Rito and his band. Maurice J. Graham (better known as Ronald Graham) and Edna May Graham were divorced in 1939. An interlocutory decree was ordered to be placed into force by Judge Franklin A. Griffin. Edna Graham said in court that her husband had prioritized his job over their marriage when the Grahams filed for divorce in 1937. Mrs. Graham received alimony payments of $100 per month.
Edna married Harrison Holliway general manager of KFI-KECA and became Mrs. Holliway on February 11, 1940, in Las Vegas.
On December 20, 1940, her ex-husband Ronald wed the actress Florence Sundstrom. A week after suffering a heart attack, on July 4, 1950, Ronald passed away in New York City.
Juliette Holliway was Harrison Holliway's first wife, and they were wed from 1928 to 1935. Juliet was a soprano on the radio, and they had two songs together. They did not get along, and his ex-wife accused him of cruelty.
Harrison tragically passed away at Good Samaritan Hospital in 1942 at the age of 41. Edna O'Keefe is also deceased, however her date of death is unknown, she is survived by her great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.
Quotes
- Edna O'Keefe: "I have a terrible Irish temper, but it seldom flares up." (1931)
Gallery
Trivia
- O'Keefe was best known for her baby-doll vamp look and baby voice.
- She married Ronald Graham in 1931, they later divorced.
- KFRC entered her in the Chicago radio beauty contest.
- Edna's first song over the "Golden State Blue Monday Jamboree" was "That's My Weakness Now".
- A daughter named Victoria Holliway was born to her. Her daughter went by the name Vicky. Holliway sadly passed away on January 4, 2024.
- Edna later changed her middle name from Patricia to May.