Feature Article on Rosa Phillips. Topic:
PEOPLE & ENTERTAINMENT
Written by Jim Sayre in October,
1998
| MEDICINE SHOWS, VAUDEVILLE...STARRING ROSA AND EDDIE PHILLIPS! | |
| Shelby
County’s direct connection to vaudeville, minstrel performances, and traveling
medicine-man shows began in the mid-twenties when Rosa Bertsch, a country girl with a big
musical talent, quite by accident got a temporary job as a medicine-show piano player. It was 1925. Rosa was visiting her brother Fred and his family in Anna. Harter’s Medicine Show was playing in the theater on the second floor of the town hall. The piano player was called home due to family sickness, so Rosa got a call to fill in. She played for Harter’s show for one week in Anna until their piano player came back. "But it was love at first sight for Eddie Phillips, Harter’s best and only vaudeville entertainer," Rosa says. Rosa, now 94 and living in Anna, was raised on a farm north of Sidney. She married her "Medicine-Show Man," Eddie Phillips, in 1927 and joined his musical life on the road. They played medicine shows, vaudeville, small circuses, and minstrels throughout Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. Rosa played the piano continuously during the medicine "pitch." The theory was to never leave the audience cold. Rose played softly at times so as to not drown out the speakers, especially the pitchman who did the selling. Then louder and faster to stir up excitement and the desire to get into the act, especially the act of buying! Eddie sang and told stories. He played guitar, banjo, violin, and the "saws." Not content with conventional instruments, Eddie invented new ones. He made his "funnels" from, naturally, funnels in which he inserted reeds. Eddie even composed a piece of music for his funnels. [ Back ] [ Next ] [ Up ] [ New Search ] |
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Rosa and her husband, Eddie along with several musical instruments are pictured above. Below, Rosa’s Wooden Shoe Song and Waltz Clog loudly caught the attention of the audience with these wooden shoes.
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