Ramona

Biography

Estrild Raymona Myers, an unlikely show biz name, would become internationally known as "Ramona." Her mother simply wanted to name her after her father, 17-year-old Raymond P. Myers, and the nearest name to it was Ramona. Raymond's wealthy parents believed that his bride, Rachel DeCamp, was below the social level of their teenage son. They annulled the marriage, unaware that fifteen-year-old Rachel was carrying Raymond's child. Rachael and infant Ramona moved across the border to Ashland, Kentucky, where she met her future husband, Charles C. Payne. Ramona told a reporter that her professional début took place at the age of 12 in Kentucky, when she was asked to play with a dance orchestra. The Paynes soon made their home in Kansas City, Missouri, where young Ramona attended school at St. Agnes Academy. According to an old press release, the only black marks on her school record were for sneaking out from time to time to play piano in a Kansas City movie house. At station WDAF she became staff pianist for the Kansas City Night Hawk Frolic where, for a three-year period, she played in the company of many great performers. From there she went to Pittsburgh, Pa., and became 10 of the Twenty Fingers of Sweetness, a program sponsored by Swans Down Sugar on Westinghouse station KDKA. After hearing her on the radio, the renowned bandleader Don Bestor engaged 16-year-old Ramona as featured singer and pianist when he took his recording and stage orchestra on a coast-to-coast tour. Her appearances with Bestor's group led to her own stage act on vaudeville circuits such as Keith, Orpheum and Loew's. In February, 1931 Ramona joined WLW in Cincinnati, "The Nation's Station," along with singer Seger Ellis, where she played on such programs as King Edward Cigar Band, Sohio Night Club and Werk's Bubble Blowers. At this time Paul Whiteman had the most famous orchestra in the world. He was paying Mildred Bailey $350 a week, sweetened by $600 from NBC. In the spring of 1932 Whiteman was doing five shows a day at a theatre engagement in Cincinnati. While relaxing in his dressing room, he tuned in WLW and heard Ramona singing in Spanish. A short time later he tuned in and heard her accompanying an Irish singer. Another time he tuned in and caught her accompanying her own singing. At a meeting arranged with Ramona, Whiteman asked her to join him when he opened in New York. Meanwhile, Mildred Bailey, after singing "We Just Couldn't Say Good-bye" on a Whiteman record, left in a flurry of lawsuits and joined CBS. Ramona stepped in and accepted a two-year contract at $125 a week (about one third what Whiteman was paying Bailey). Whiteman's original intention was to pair Ramona with crooner Red McKenzie, billing them as "Red & Ramona," but McKenzie had plans for his own orchestra. Ramona's recording début was on August 16, 1932, when she recorded "I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plan." The ornate black and gold RCA-Victor label read: "Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra, Featuring Ramona and Her Grand Piano." Over the next five years Ramona would be presented and managed by Paul Whiteman. In concert halls, magazines, movie theaters, auto shows, night clubs, county fairs, films, on records and network radio, she would shine with the greatest names in show business. Ramona's most important radio appearances were on the Kraft Music Hall, which made its début on NBC in 1933. The stars were Al Jolson and Paul Whiteman's Orchestra. Ramona's four years with Whiteman were her most illustrious. Her shapely figure, charming voice and vivacious personality added glamour to the already famous Whiteman cast of characters. She went by one name only, as did the Broadway actress Tamara, the French entertainer Mistinguett and, most assuredly, the incomparable Hildegarde. At some point she married quick-witted horn player Howard Davies, and was known by some as Ramona Davies. In 1936 the Whiteman orchestra was hired by producer Billy Rose to appear in his extravaganza Casa Mañana for the Fort Worth Frontier Centennial Exposition. For the entire summer the orchestra moved to Texas to play the nationally acclaimed show. It was during Casa Mañana that Whiteman hired Ken Hopkins, a handsome young arranger, to write orchestrations. Ramona, recently divorced from Howard Davies, married Hopkins before the year ended. Ramona was one of many performers managed by Whiteman's Artists Management Bureau. She sued Whiteman in 1937 accusing him of charging large fees for her services and giving her too little of it. On February 16, 1937, Justice Joseph M. Callahan of the Supreme Court ruled in Whiteman's favor, and he let her out of her contract early. Joan Edwards, niece of Gus Edwards, eventually replaced her. Ramona sailed to Europe on the luxurious Normandie to reap the benefits of her fame. On October 13, 1937, she began a choice engagement in London, headlining with Jack Harris at Ciro's Club on Orange Street. Ramona's London engagement was supposed to be for four weeks, but it was extended to six months. During her stay she gave a command performance for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Ramona returned to New York in 1938, and with her husband Ken's help, she formed a 12-piece all-male band. Ramona soon learned that a national career without Whiteman's help was infinitely more difficult. Competition in Ramona's professional relationship with Hopkins led to his drinking, and their marriage felt the strain. Ramona met announcer Al Helfer (1912-1975) while doing her 15-minute radio show in Manhattan. They were married in Baltimore, Maryland, and Ramona worked until the time their only child, Ramona was born. Ramona's last network radio appearance may have been on ABC's Piano Playhouse on October 19, 1946. The radio network beckoned again from Manhattan, only this time it was not for Ramona and her Grand Piano. Her husband Al was in great demand as a sports announcer. The family was so close-knit the parents moved to Denver to be near daughter Mona when she studied flute and voice at Denver University. By now her love of family had greatly overshadowed her show business yearnings and her husband's radio career surpassed hers. He was celebrated for making the annual presentation, beginning in 1947, of the famous Heisman Memorial Trophy. When Al Helfer retired, around 1969, he and Ramona moved to a house by a golf course near Sacramento, California. After an eight-month bout with cancer, Ramona died in Mercy San Juan Hospital in Sacramento. She was 63.