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
Dandridge Sisters trio became highly recognized as a musical trio at the Cotton Club and were often compared to another famous group, the Andrews Sisters. Although the Dandridge Sisters studied as dancers, their music career led them to study music more technically so as to be more stable artists. After working in New York, they began to be chaperoned by their aunt, Geneva Williams, rather than their mother. They moved to the islands of Hawaii for five months performing a show, and then moved back to Hollywood to work on musical shorts. In Hollywood, they worked for MGM and appeared in "Going