Patsy Garrett a dance recital at age four, Garrett had her own children's radio show in Richmond, Virginia by age seven. At the age of seventeen, Garrett was a regular on Fred Waring's national radio show ""Pleasure Time"" as a comic singer from 1938 to 1945. During this time, she was approached by Cole Porter to promote a ballad ("Begin the Beguine") which he had written for a new musical. In 1981, Garrett was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award recognizing her achievements within the entertainment industry as a child actress and singer. In
Begin the Beguine to finish without the printed music ... about the sixtieth measure I find myself muttering another title, "End the Beguine."" At first, the song gained little popularity, perhaps because of its length and unconventional form. Josephine Baker danced to it in her return to America in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936, but neither she nor the song were successful. Two years later, however, bandleader Artie Shaw recorded an arrangement of the song, an extended swing orchestra version, in collaboration with his arranger and orchestrator, Jerry Gray. After signing a new recording contract with RCA Victor Shaw chose "Begin the Beguine"