Anne Triola
Encyclopedia
Anne Triola is an American singer, musician, and actress of stage, film, and television. As a comedienne and supporting actress, she got her start singing in Hollywood night clubs. Triola made her mark in the well known musical film Lullaby Of Broadway
Lullaby of Broadway (film)
Lullaby of Broadway is a musical romantic comedy film released by Warner Bros. in 1951. It starred Doris Day as Melinda Howard, an entertainer who travels to New York to see her mother, and Gene Nelson as Tom Farnham, a fellow entertainer and Melinda's love interest. Gladys George appears as...

(1951) and received much praise for her effort in the motion picture Without Reservations
Without Reservations
Without Reservations is a comedy film starring Claudette Colbert and John Wayne, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film was adapted by Andrew Solt from the novel Thanks, God! I'll Take It From Here by Jane Allen and Mae Livingston.The opening shot shows "Arrowhead"...

(1946) that starred John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...

. She participated in five Hollywood films, assisted with USO tours in the Pacific Theater
Pacific Theater of Operations
The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...

 during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, and caused audiences to lose themselves in laughter, but Triola may best be remembered for her work as a singer and comedienne with the musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 that included performances in night clubs all over the country such as the Blue Angel in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Triola was listed as being one of the most popular performers in the history of Music Circus
Music circus
Music circus is an American theatrical form begun in Lambertville, New Jersey, by St. John Terrell in 1949. Established as summer stock, the new theatre venues primarily housed light operas and operettas, produced in the round, under a circus-style big top....

 that included her work with the Sacramento Music Circus
California Musical Theatre
California Musical Theatre is the largest nonprofit arts organization in the state of California and the city of Sacramento's oldest professional performing arts organization...

 in the 1950s. She was described as a petite, dark haired, dark-eyed song stylist with the Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer.-Early life:Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg, daughter of a railroad foreman, Percy E. Thornburg and his wife, the former Mabel Lum . While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for...

 type of delivery.

Early life

Being of Italian descent, Triola was born in the crowded city of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. Her childhood wasn't typical for a little girl growing up in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

. Instead, Triola embarked on a long stint of study that began with piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 when she was just three years old, prematurely launching her professional career when most children were - back then - mastering the art of roller skating. She learned to play a musical instrument - the accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

, and by the early age of 12 Triola began playing the squeezebox
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

 and singing in various cafes, including one called "Burp Hollow."

World War II

The beginning of Triola's career in show business was interrupted by World War II as Hollywood became involved with the war effort through its USO tours that included big-name actors Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...

 and Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...

. From the Hollywood "Bar of Music" she went on a South Pacific tour with Judith Anderson
Judith Anderson
Dame Judith Anderson, AC, DBE was an Australian-born American-based actress of stage, film and television. She won two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award and was also nominated for a Grammy Award and an Academy Award.-Early life:...

's USO troupe. They served in a number of USO shows
United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...

 during the war and entertained at such well-remembered spots in New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

 as Lae
Lae
Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...

, Nadzab
Nadzab
-History:A Lutheran mission station was established at Nadzab around 1910. Nadzab was the site of the only Allied paratrooper assault in New Guinea on 5 September 1943.The Lae Nadzab Airport is a regional airport served by regional aircraft with domestic flights....

 and Finchhaven
Finschhafen
Finschhafen is a district on the northeast coast of the Morobe province of Papua New Guinea. It is named after the port of the same name.The port was discovered in 1884 by the German researcher Otto Finsch. In 1885 the German colony of German New Guinea created a town on the site and named it...

 in spite of all the dangers that existed from air raids by Japanese bombers and strafing zeros that were land-based or planes coming from aircraft carriers Shokaku
Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku
Shōkaku was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the lead ship of her class. Along with her sister ship , she took part in several key naval battles during the Pacific War, including the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands...

 and Zuikaku
Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku
Zuikaku was a Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Her complement of aircraft took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor that formally brought the United States into the Pacific War, and she fought in several of the most important naval battles of the war, finally being sunk...

.

It was recorded on a specific day in the summer of 1944 at Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea
Jayapura
Jayapura City is the capital of Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea. It is situated on Yos Sudarso Bay . Its approximate population in 2002 was 200,000....

, that Triola, Anderson, and their USO troupe entertained as many as 1,500 American servicemen - Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

, and Merchant Marine
United States Merchant Marine
The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...

 personnel - at the 113th Amphitheater. Triola played her accordion while Shirley Cornwell played the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

. Noted actress Anderson and Helen McClure each performed singing duties while PFC Paul Parmalee played the piano as the group worked together to lift the spirits of battle-weary, worn-out soldiers.

On an interesting but costly note during all of this, Triola lost one $1,500 accordion in the Pacific when a light globe set fire to it.

Started As Accordionist

The career of Anne Triola was marked by circumstances, and her success as a singing comedienne was the result of one of these. Originally Triola was an accordionist and as such accompanied Judith Anderson's USO troupe into the Pacific Theater during World War II.

She was well known as a night club performer only. In New Guinea her accordion burned and it became necessary for Triola to reschedule her act. "Then," she said, "I just started singing a little bit to help out."

She found she had success with comedy selections.

"My friends used to tell me I had a flare for comedy with the accordion, but I never specialized in it until I started singing," she said.

Becomes Singer

When she returned from USO tours she set out to "develop a style of my own" and once more started a night club circuit act, this time as a singer.

Possibly her greatest fortune occurred while singing in the Blue Angel in New York City. There she became acquainted with some of the top New York theatrical persons. Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...

 asked her to star in the London production of Annie Get Your Gun. Her night club commitments prevented her from taking the offer but several years later Oscar Hammerstein
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...

 recommended her for the same role in the Sacramento Music Circus.

While singing at Slapsy Maxie's, Director Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy was an American film director, producer and sometime actor.-Early life:Born to Jewish parents in San Francisco, California, his family was financially ruined by the 1906 earthquake...

 and Producer Jesse L. Lasky
Jesse L. Lasky
Jesse Louis Lasky, Sr. was a pioneer Hollywood film producer. He was a key founder of Paramount Pictures with Adolph Zukor, and father of screenwriter Jesse L...

 signed her for movies at RKO where she made three movies, one with John Wayne. It was reported that Triola was in the floor show at Slapsy Maxie Rosenbloom's when Lasky and LeRoy found her and immediately whipped out a contract. From those movies, Without Reservations stood out where she had a feature role. Journalist Gene Handsaker singled out Triola for this reason in a June 5, 1946 edition of the Prescott Evening Courier as he explained, "Some supporting performances are terrific, especially that of Anne Triola, who amid shrieks of preview laughter swiped her scenes clear away from Stars Colbert
Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert was a French-born American-based actress of stage and film.Born in Paris, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures...

 and John Wayne."

She was loaned to Warner Brothers
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

 for the comedienne supporting role opposite Billy De Wolfe
Billy De Wolfe
Billy De Wolfe was an American character actor. He was active in films from the mid-1940s until his death in 1974. He was a good friend of Doris Day from the time of their meeting during the filming of Tea for Two until his death...

 in Lullaby Of Broadway (1951). Then the motion picture industry deflated, leaving contracts mostly worthless.

Lullaby Of Broadway would be her last movie which was filmed in Technicolor. Triola and De Wolfe sang a couple of duets, "You're Dependable" and "We'd Like to Go on a Trip." Box-office star Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...

 and actor Gene Nelson
Gene Nelson
Gene Nelson was an American dancer, actor, screenwriter, and director.-Biography:Born Leander Eugene Berg in Astoria, Oregon, he moved to Seattle when he was one year old. He was inspired to become a dancer by watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films when he was a child...

 received most of the attention in the Technicolor musical extraganza, but the comedy aspect of the film was well provided with the performances of De Wolfe and his vaudeville partner, Triola.

Started in Television

Once more Anne Triola returned to night clubs and started in the new entertainment medium, television. She appeared on panel programs and as guest artist on shows. Her last television program was a guest of Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

.

Soon afterward, Triola's career would come to a halt as she would soon marry in 1953, move to nearby Modesto and become a housewife. "After the hustle and bustle of show business," she said, "it is nice to settle down for a change where it is quiet."

Music Circus

Triola's connection with the Music Circus eventually brought her out of retirement from show business. Actually, she was a part of the Sacramento Music Circus when it first started in 1951 which was vaudeville stage entertainment being held inside a big blue and green tent. Triola starred in this operation during its first two seasons before marrying Ralph J. Quartaroli in 1953. In July 1954, she broke out of retirement and began rehearsing for leading roles in the same Sacramento Music Circus. She assisted such musicals as New Faces
New Faces of 1952
New Faces of 1952 is a musical revue with songs and comedy skits. It ran on Broadway for nearly a year in 1952 and was then made into a motion picture in 1954...

, Oklahoma!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...

, and Brigadoon
Brigadoon
Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. Songs from the musical, such as "Almost Like Being in Love" have become standards....

. She played the role of Meg in Brigadoon and sang Eartha Kitt's
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...

 numbers in New Faces.

With Triola's popularity growing, producers Howard Young and Russell Lewis gave a fitting tribute to Music Circus' favorite actress as they opened the fifth anniversary season in May 1955. She starred in the musical Annie Get Your Gun
Annie Get Your Gun (musical)
Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...

which was her signature gig that Triola had performed during the Music Circus' first season.

In August 1959, she took on the lead role of Bells Are Ringing
Bells Are Ringing (musical)
Bells Are Ringing is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service and the characters that she meets there. The main character was based on Mary Printz, who worked for Green's answering...

at the Sacramento Music Circus. Co-starring with her were Gar Moore and Marvin Kaplan
Marvin Kaplan
Marvin Kaplan is an American character actor and voice artist. Kaplan is probably best known for his recurring role on the sitcom Alice where he portrayed a phone company employee named Henry Beesmeyer who frequented Mel's diner. He was a part of the cast from 1977 to the series end in 1985...

. She performed the role of a telephone answering service operator in this romantic musical comedy which ran for two weeks straight that summer.

Personal life

In 1953, Triola married successful businessman Ralph J. Quartaroli, president of Stanislaus Food Products Company, and decided to break away from show business as the couple moved to Modesto, California
Modesto, California
Modesto is a city in, and is the county seat of, Stanislaus County, California. With a population of approximately 201,165 at the 2010 census, Modesto ranks as the 18th largest city in the state of California....

 where his family owned a cannery
Canning
Canning is a method of preserving food in which the food contents are processed and sealed in an airtight container. Canning provides a typical shelf life ranging from one to five years, although under specific circumstances a freeze-dried canned product, such as canned, dried lentils, can last as...

. She had met him in Los Angeles when she was there on a business trip. She decided "from experience in show business" marriages and careers may mix but not well. So Triola abandoned her career and became a housewife. "It is hard work, the kind of work a person does for the love of it and not money," she added.

A few years later on November 16, 1956, Triola gave birth to a 6-pound, 13-ounce baby girl, whom they named Tina. This gave them two daughters in all as Quartaroli had a daughter named Susan from his previous marriage to his first wife, Edna B. Quartaroli.

Sadly, tragedy struck the family when Triola's husband and three passengers on board his private airplane were killed in a plane crash during a trip from Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

 to Van Nuys, California on May 15, 1960.

Filmography

  • Snow Follies (1939)
  • Moon Over Las Vegas (1944)
  • Without Reservations
    Without Reservations
    Without Reservations is a comedy film starring Claudette Colbert and John Wayne, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film was adapted by Andrew Solt from the novel Thanks, God! I'll Take It From Here by Jane Allen and Mae Livingston.The opening shot shows "Arrowhead"...

    (1946)
  • Sleep, My Love
    Sleep, My Love
    Sleep, My Love is a feature film directed by Douglas Sirk, and starring Claudette Colbert, Robert Cummings and Don Ameche.-Plot:Alison Courtland, a wealthy New Yorker, hasn't a clue how she ended up on a train bound for Boston...

    (1948)
  • Lullaby of Broadway
    Lullaby of Broadway (film)
    Lullaby of Broadway is a musical romantic comedy film released by Warner Bros. in 1951. It starred Doris Day as Melinda Howard, an entertainer who travels to New York to see her mother, and Gene Nelson as Tom Farnham, a fellow entertainer and Melinda's love interest. Gladys George appears as...

    (1951)

Additional sources

  • Newspaper article "Modestan Has Top Role in Sacramento Music Circus" by Melvin Morris from July 7, 1954 edition of The Modesto Bee.
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