Beatrice Ruth Wain was an American Big Band-era singer and radio personality born in the Bronx, New York City. She had a number of hits with Larry Clinton and his Orchestra. After her marriage she and her husband became involved in radio, helming a show titled "Mr. and Mrs. Music".
Career
On a 1937 recording with Artie Shaw, she was credited as Beatrice Wayne, which led some to assume that was her real name. On record labels, her name was shortened to "Bea" by the record company, ostensibly for space considerations. As she explained, "They cut it to 'Bea' Wain. They cut the 'Beatrice' out to 'Bea.' I was just a little old girl singer, but that's the truth. So that's how my name became 'Bea Wain'". She led the vocal group Bea and the Bachelors and the V8 on the Fred Waring show. In 1937, Wain joined former Tommy Dorsey arranger Larry Clinton and His Orchestra, which she joined after doing chorus work with Fred Waring and Ted Sttraeter. Her debut with Clinton was made in the summer of 1938 at the Glen Island Casino, New Rochelle, New York.
Radio
Wain made her debut on radio at age six as a "featured performer" on the NBC Children's Hour. As an adult, she sang regularly on The Larry Clinton Show, Monday Merry-Go-Round, Starlight Serenade, and Your Hit Parade.
Recordings
My Reverie stayed at the top of the chart for eight weeks in 1938. Wain was also the first artist to record the Harold Arlen-Yip Harburg classic "Over the Rainbow", but MGM prohibited the release until The Wizard of Oz had opened and audiences heard Judy Garland perform it. Wain rarely made recordings after she left the Clinton orchestra in 1939, focusing primarily on her work on radio instead.
Mr. and Mrs. Music
Following her musical career, Wain worked with Baruch as a husband-and-wife disc jockey team in New York on WMCA, where they were billed as "Mr. and Mrs. Music". An article in the May 1945 issue of Radio Best magazine noted, "In the trade she is looked upon as an accurate picker of hits and is a favorite song plugger of tunesmiths like Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen and Harry Warren." In 1973, the couple moved to Palm Beach, Florida, where for nine years they had a top-rated daily four-hour talk show from 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. on WPBR before relocating to Beverly Hills. During the early 1980s, the pair hosted a syndicated version of Your Hit Parade. In a 2004 interview with Christopher Popa, Wain reflected: "Actually, I've had a wonderful life, a wonderful career. And I'm still singing, and I'm still singing pretty good. This past December, I did a series of shows in Palm Springs, California, and the review said, "Bea Wain is still a giant." It's something called Musical Chairs. I did six shows in six different venues, and I was a smash. And I really got a kick out of it."
Personal life
On May 1, 1938, Wain married radio announcer André Baruch.
