The Andrews Sisters the group was formed, and 12 when they won first prize at a talent contest at the local Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, where LaVerne played piano accompaniment for the silent film showings in exchange for free dancing lessons for herself and her sisters. Following the collapse of their father's Minneapolis restaurant, the sisters went on the road to support the family. They started their career as imitators of an earlier successful singing group, the Boswell Sisters, who were popular in the 1930s. After singing with various dance bands and touring in vaudeville with the likes of Leon Belasco (and his
The Andrews Sisters group that performed from the 1930s to the 1950s in Finland was one such singing group. Most of the Andrews Sisters' music has been restored and released in compact disc form. Over 300 of their original Decca recordings, a good portion of which was hit material, has yet to be released by MCA/Decca in over 50 years. Many of these Decca recordings have been used in such television shows and Hollywood movies as "Homefront", "ER", "Agent Carter", "The Brink's Job", "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation", "Swing Shift", "Raggedy Man", "Summer of '42", "Slaughterhouse-Five", "Maria's Lovers", "Harlem Nights", "In Dreams", "Murder in