Feature Article on Rosa Phillips. Topic:
PEOPLE & ENTERTAINMENT
Written by Jim Sayre in October,
1998
| MEDICINE SHOWS, VAUDEVILLE...STARRING ROSA AND EDDIE PHILLIPS!...Pg 2 |
Eddie composed 'original music' for his unique instruments. |
| "Throw it
out there!" This was Eddie’s advice to Rosa from behind the curtains when
she wasn’t speaking loudly enough. Early in show business Eddie had learned how to
use his voice properly. "He had a beautiful voice," Rosa remembers.
Eddie was good at extemporaneous speaking. "A medicine show was a good place for a
person to learn how to play to the audience...better training than stage acting,"
Rosa says. "Red Skelton began his career in a medicine show." Rosa still has Eddie’s musical instruments stashed away in her home. The violin, saws, banjo, funnels, the stringed horn hybrid instrument have been silent for close to 40 years. But, she made them available for others to see in the October, 1998, library exhibit. Writing her memoirs, Rosa remembers some of the old minstrel gags: Interlocutor: "I was reading in the paper this evening that suits were now being made of paper. Do you think that paper can be used effectively in keeping a person warm? End Man: I sure does. I had a thirty-day note that once kept me in a sweat for months!" Eddie had a trailer made for them to live in while they traveled the one-night shows. "He had it made of pressed wood so that it would be sturdy enough to take the mountains when pulled by our Peerless," Rosa said. Rosa and Eddie finally settled in Anna, Eddie becoming a salesman with a musical difference. Many remember the Phillips’ minstrel shows at community functions and special Saturday night "street" performances. Eddie organized Anna merchants to put these shows on to draw the buying public to town...reprising his vaudeville days. Rosa played the piano for many years at St. Jacob Lutheran church in Anna. She played with some pep and even played while the children marched in and out of the sanctuary. "Remember...never leave the audience cold," she cautions. She says she could play the piano still if it weren’t for her crooked left arm which came from a break that was never set. She can hear the music in her mind and feel the thrill of tickling the ivories. Some balance problems and arthritis, but other than that... "I am in fine shape," she says. "It’s just a state of mind." [ Back ] [ Next ] [ Up ] [ New Search ] |
