The "Singing Glasses Star Is No Longer In Sight!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about Mr. Woody Allen who performed as the title character in "Broadway Danny Rose" in 1984.  He may have been the star of the show, but the person who drew the most recognition was a woman named Gloria Parker who played music by rubbing her moistened fingers along the rims of 28 crystal wineglasses.  Ever try that?  I did and we now have quite a few less wine glasses in the cupboard.  But, that's OK, since we don't invite as many guests over anymore.  Gloria was known as the Jascha Heifetz of this instrument and if you don't know whom Mr. Heifetz might be...well he was considered the greatest violinist of all time. And, to top that off, she is self-taught.  Because of her performance in "Broadway Danny Rose," she had an uptick in other bookings and increased attention for her mastery of the "singing glasses," or glasspiel, which she learned from her grandfather.  She claimed to be an emissary, "God's worker to bring glasses to the world."  Miss Gloria Parker recently died on April 13 on Long Island.  She was 100 years old.  She was said to have conjoled music out of glasses.  She was a multi-instrumentalist who also played the marimba, vibraphone, violin, maracas and tabor which is a type of drum.  At the age of 14 she led an all-girl troupe known as the Rumba Maids who recorded "soundies" which were shown on coin-operated jukeboxes.  In those films, she sang, played the glasses and marimba, and shared the stage with co-stars like Mel Blanc and Lincoln Perry.  She also hosted a show on ABC radio network in the 1950s that featured another band consisting of women known as the Swingphony.  In 1981 she recorded an album, "A Toast to Christmas in the 80's with Singing Glasses."  Gloria was born on August 20, 1921 in Brooklyn NY.  Her dad owned a garage while her mother played violin with Mark Warner & the Hit Parade Orchestra.  At age 8 she learned how to play the glasses from her grandfather who brought the skill to this country from his native Czechoslovakia.  She mastered how to make music with 28 glasses, each filled with white wine to produce particular sounds.  One drop too many or too little made a big difference in the sound.  She could play pop, classical, jazz and calypso music.  She was a guest performer at one time on "The Ed Sullivan Show," "Mike Douglas Show" and "Late Night With David Letterman."  I would have loved to have seen those shows!  She once said that "Benjamin Franklin played the glasses - introduced them to America in 1751, in fact.  They are part of our heritage and now the whole world can see them in the 20th century, and I will be the person affixed to them."  Well said...Gloria Parker, but too bad you won't be here to lead the band with your singing glasses.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.