cians but I was the actress. I was always very
melodramatic about everything. I saw myself as
being a very serious actress.”
The amount of varied talent in Birdie’s family
is a story in itself. “I’m the fourth child of ten.
Everyone calls me ‘Miss Birdie.’ My mother said I
looked like a bird when I was born, so that’s what
she named me. My dad (among other things) was
a professional banjo player. The oldest child, my
brother George, worked a short time for Disney. He won a contest with his drawings. So, he
worked a short time for Disney. Then he left and
joined the Merchant Marines.
My sister, Betty, my one older sister
was a chef. She did table settings for
‘House and Gardens.’ Later, she was
in charge of the kitchen at Sandpoint
Naval Base. And another of my older
brothers, you see I had two older
brothers and only one older sister,
well, he was my dance partner, played
the saxophone and was an athlete.
He played football and baseball and
everything. Then, the next brother
whom we called Juni (?), (his name
was Wilbur.) was a professional drummer. He had been invited to play with
the Duke Ellington (band). Actually,
we had two drummers in the family.
Brother Arthur was a drummer with
his own band.
teach me all of the string instruments! So, at this
point, I played 9 different instruments. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2000. So, I haven’t
kept up with my playing – it was such a terrible,
terrible blow – his passing.”
As hard as the loss of her long-time teacher and
friend, Abe Mandel was to Birdie, she has endured
more than her share of losses. “I have survived
my mother, my father, my husband, five brothers
and their wives, four sisters and their husbands.
I am the only one left of 10 children. I have no
siblings left. I feel sadness. I would prefer that
my immediate family not to be dead. But, I am
also a very private person. I can be alone in a
“And one day shortly after that, I got a phone
call. The caller said, ‘I understand you want to
learn how to play the banjo.’ I said, ‘Yes, how did
you know that?’” He told me that Maxine had
called him. So, he introduced me to Abe Mandel
because he saw that I really want to learn to play
the banjo.”
“At that time, I had very long nails because I
used to model my hands. Abe gave a sample test
of the banjo and didn’t say anything about my
nails. I knew what he was thinking. And I knew
I couldn’t play the banjo with nails like that.
Later, after we got acquainted, he said that he
didn’t think that I would ever come back because I
had beautiful hands and nails and he didn’t think
I would cut them off to play. But I did. And, I
had such a great ear for music that Abe decided to
Birdie believes that this peace comes from the
wonderful way she was raised and her strong,
Christian parents. “My dad was good at everything. He had great, great talent. As I said he
could play music on anything. He was happy and
he was kind and very, very wise. And, my mother! I just don’t know how any of us got here, she
was so pure! I can remember when my mother
would not let my dad see her nurse one of the
babies. And she wouldn’t let our brothers see us
change our dolls’ diapers. She lived by God. She
always said, ‘take your troubles to the Lord and
leave them there. Stay out of his way and let him
work.’”
The faith that has sustained Birdie
throughout her life has come from,
“Doing what my mother said to do. If
an issue or problem arises then I do
the very best I can about it. Because
no matter what your plans are, ‘Man
proposes and God disposes.’ It is going
to come out God’s way, in His time and
He’s never late. We can ask for things
but we will get what we are supposed to
have.”
That strong faith can be hard for a lot
of people. “I have had it happen to
me many times. Problems have come
up that I just didn’t know what to do
about. So, I just let them go and forget
them. Then, it will be resolved in some
way! And, I will say to myself, ‘I never
thought of that!’ I listen to this small
voice, and I believe that is God talking to me. For instance, if I am going
out someplace, and something tells me
don’t go this way, go some other way.
And, it’s for a reason. I’ll meet somebody that I haven’t seen that I haven’t
seen in years or something happens
in the area that I was going to go into.
And that little voice that talks to you is
God.”
Sister Beulah was with the Conservatory of Music in San Francisco for
years. She was a Doctor of Music in
classical and jazz. She had a professional career and taught music too!
Jessica was in real estate and banking.
She worked on world computers. She
was a walking encyclopedia of information. The baby of the family was a
registered nurse and a pianist also.
Although Birdie was a self-professed
actress from a young age, sh