Biography
Betty Jane Rhodes, a regular presence in Paramount Studios' wartime musical productions, built her lasting reputation on the 1948 pop hit "Button and Bows." The singer and actress entered the world on April 24, 1921, in Rockford, IL, and by age 16 had already shared the screen in the Hollywood serial Jungle Jim. She soon landed a brief radio program of her own on the Mutual/Don Lee Network, then appeared on bandleader David Rose's California Melodies broadcast. Rhodes next joined the cast of Meet Me at Parky's, the comedy series built around Harry Einstein's Parkyakarkus persona. After accumulating several small musical-comedy roles, she received featured billing in the 1941 Tim Holt Western Along the Rio Grande, which opened the door to a co-starring part in the comedy Mountain Moonlight. Her most enduring contributions, however, came through song-filled pictures such as Sweater Girl, Star Spangled Rhythm, and You Can't Ration Love. Her screen career stopped suddenly with 1944's Halfway to Heaven; that same year she cut her first single, "I Don't Want to Walk Without You," for Decca Records. The release met with little success and the label ended the arrangement, yet she quickly moved to RCA Victor and issued "This Is Always." Her 1946 recording of the George Weiss/Benny Benjamin song "Rumors Are Flying" became her first Top Five hit. The follow-up singles "Bless You" and "Maybe You'll Be There" drew far less attention, but in 1947 she returned to the upper reaches of the charts with the Top 20 entry "Tonight Be Tender to Me." Subsequent releases "Why Should I Cry Over You" and "Just Around the Corner" again failed to connect. Late in 1948, while Dinah Shore's Academy Award-winning version of "Button and Bows" sat at number one on the Billboard pop chart, Rhodes delivered her own competing rendition backed by the Harry Zimmerman Orchestra, which climbed as high as number 15.