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 were among the team's popular full-length films. The Andrews Sisters sing the title song as the opening credits roll and also perform two specialty numbers in the all-star revue "Hollywood Canteen" (1944). They can be seen singing "You Don't Have to Know the Language" with Bing Crosby in Paramount's "Road to Rio" with Bob Hope, that year's highest-grossing movie. Their singing voices are heard in two full-length Walt Disney features: "Make Mine Music", in a segment which featured animated characters Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet; and "Melody Time", in the segment "Little Toot" (both of which are available on