Hold the Roses by Rose Marie

by Rose Marie

A revealing memoir of actress and comedienne Rose Marie traces her career from nightclub singer to her best known role as the wisecracking Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show. (Biography)

Genres: Biography, Tv, Autobiography, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Rose Marie Mazzetta , known professionally as Rose Marie, was an American actress, with a career spanning nine decades. Her best known role was television comedy writer Sally Rogers on the CBS situation comedy The Dick Van Dyke Show.
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Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many other reviewers, I only knew Rose Marie from The Dick Van Dyke show and various game shows like Hollywood Squares. Oh, and I remember watching her on The Doris Day Show.

But I never knew she was singing professionally when she was three years old, or that she had a nation wide radio program not long after that. I never knew about all the concerts, plays and nightclub shows she did over the years.

And naturally I never knew anything about her private life.

But now i do know all of those things and my admiration for this woman is even greater than before. She faced some tough situations in her life and came through the best way she could, like most of us try to do. She was extremely talented and knew lots of people so there is a lot of name dropping here, just like in any entertainer's life story. But I happened to be familiar with quite a few of the people she mentions, so that wasn't as perplexing as it could have been.

Two things that surprised me: Rose Marie's connections to 'the boys' as she calls them. Her father knew (perhaps worked with or for?) certain shady characters and the family even went at least once a party at Al Capone's house. Somehow I never imagined such connections.

The other surprise was that there was a reason for the black bow in Rose Marie's hair. But she doesn't tell us what it was, she says it's a secret. Well, of course now I am curious and there is nothing worse than being curious about something that you will never get to know the answer to!

Very enjoyable book, the only complaint I have is that the used copy I bought did not come with a cover. There are plenty of great pictures inside, but I was looking forward to seeing that colorful cover up close!

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reread this after she died, and it was just as good as I remembered. Rose Marie is best known for "The Dick Van Dyke Show," which I watched on Nick at Nite. She was a classy, immensely talented lady despite a less than ideal upbringing. Rose Marie's father had two families simultaneously. Rose Marie's mother was his mistress. Once it became clear that Baby Rose was incredibly talented, she became the cash cow for two families. It took her years to get away from her bully of a father. Her husband was clearly the love of her life, and I was so sad for her that he was taken too soon. She tells great stories about her own life and Hollywood. I didn't know that she was good friends with Lucille Ball. This is a really enjoyable read about a gem of a lady. I just wish she'd divulged the secret behind the hair bow!

[Bethany · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book could have benefitted so much from a good editor. I got a sense of Rose Marie's warmth and humor, but everything was so disjointed. Things were written out of order, with no dates, and sometimes no explanation until several pages later when she would say "oh, i forgot to say that..." The epilogue was a whole series of "I forgot to tell you that..." Those should've been incorporated into the main body of the book! As it was, most of the later chapters (and a good portion of the first) were just a running tally of places Rose Marie performed.
An interesting life, especially the early part, but ultimately this book was really a bad composition.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

TV star writes about her life on stage and especially on the Dick Van Dyke Show and Hollywood Squares.

[Samantha Glasser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rose Marie started her career as a "baby," a young girl with a mature set of pipes that brought her center stage in a Vitaphone short singing torch songs. She never stopped working and as an adult found success in Las Vegas and on the Dick Van Dyke Show and later as a regular on Hollywood Squares. She had a lot of talent and worked with interesting and talented people. Her romance with Bobby Guy was beautiful but brief and she recounts his illness in this book. This is an entertaining and emotional read, if a bit scattered at times.

"If there's anything true about 'past lives,' I must have once been English. I seemed to know my way around London better than Hollywood. I always knew which bus to take, which underground to take--it was eerie. I would turn into a street and say, 'There's a little house next to a bakery,' and sure enough, I would turn the corner and there was a little house next to a bakery."

I own the photo of Dick Powell from the Stanley theater from Rose Marie's collection that was reprinted for this book.

[Debi Emerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like many of my generation (and later), I only knew of Rose Marie from "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Hollywood Squares". I had no idea she'd been a very famous child star and a very successful stage performer long before "Dick Van Dyke". About a year ago, I saw a documentary about her that was very well done. When I stumbled across this book, I had to read of her life in her own words! Fascinating!! Well written & well lived. She was a treasure who will be remembered and missed for a long time.

[David Ambrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many people, I enjoyed watching Rose Marie on reruns of The Dick Van Dyke Show, and I've seen her in a handful of other things through the years. I enjoyed reading her stories of the start of her career in the 1920s, and her later work including a lot on the theater and nightclub scenes that just aren't there anymore. The book might bog down a bit when she's giving details of her travel late in her career, but that's ok. In all an enjoyable read about an old-school entertainer.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful memoir by Rose Marie. The way she wrote it, it felt like you were sitting with her and she was telling you all her stories. I didn't know much about her life except for her working on the Dick Van Dyke Show and the Doris Day Show, but she was an all around entertainer. I good read!

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Rose Marie, she is an underrated Icon in my opinion. While I loved learning more about her life, this book was much more of a rambling diary entry than an edited and compiled memoir. It had many asides and lifelong reveries interjected into a previously somewhat narrative plot. All in all, glad I read it, but it was hard to get through.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent autobiography from the woman that most of know only has Sally Rogers from the Dick Van dyke Show and the Hollywood Squares. Her career spanned 80+years and worked with everyone in the business from Vaudeville to Vegas to Hollywood and all the places in-between.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a charming and entertaining book and an inspiring woman! Really enjoyed her stories and memories of such an incredible career!

[Dave Dellecese · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delight and a touchstone to the Golden Age. From vaudeville to the screen, to social media - Rose Marie is a class act all the way.

[Polly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Give this lady her respect. She has earned it. Rosie Marie is much more than the Dick Van Dyke show, the Doris Day show, and Hollywood Squares. Read about her from the time she was a little tyke, belting it out on stage and on the radio. Youtube her. Watch her documentary when it comes out. Learn about her. One heck of a broad.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me feel like I was sitting down with Rose Marie in her living room, looking through her scrapbook while she was recalling all the amazing tales from a life lived in the spotlight. Talk about someone who has done it all! When I finished reading it I felt a closeness to her, as though she were an old friend. I'm so glad she shared these stories with me.

[Terragyrl3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great broad! : )

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a life! Such a great career and life. A fast read full of so many names, it's hard to put down until you've finished.