Seventy-five years ago this month, the December 1940 issue of Radio Varieties profiled a rising country star, Mary Ann Estes of WLS radio’s Saturday night National Barn Dance program. Then 21 years old, she also appeared on other WLS programs, including “Smile-A-While” at 5:00 AM daily, the “Prairie Ramblers” at 6:30 AM Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and on “Merry-Go-Round” on Saturday afternoons.

Miss Estes was born in Crescent, Ohio, population 300, in 1919. She grew up listening to WWVA, Wheeling, WV, and “learned to play the guitar and sang because she liked to.” She made a number of amateur appearances, including a minstrel show in Wheeling. Another quartet in the show appeared regularly on WWVA, “were intrigued by the singing of this cute little brunette and demanded to meet her.” They suggested she audition at WWVA, and she appeared regularly over the next three years.

In 1940, she went to Chicago and approached WLS, and was accepted as soon as she had sung her first number.  The photo at the left is from the station’s 1941 Family Album.  She was not shown in the 1942 edition. According to an item in Billboard,  Feb. 3, 1945, she was then with Buddy Starcher on WXVA, Harrisonburg, Virginia, on “Buddy Starcher and His All-Star Round-Up.”  According to the September 27, 1947 issue, the show moved to WPDX, Clarksville, WV, that year.

According to this source, Mary Ann Estes was a stage name for Mary Ann Vasas.  She apparently married Buddy Starcher, and appeared with him on his television show on WCHS-TV, Charleston, WV, from 1960-66.  Mary Ann Estes died in 2003 at the age of 83; Buddy Starcher died in 2001.  Starcher’s greatest commercial recording success was a spoken word recording, “History Repeats Itself,” which can be heard in this video:

I’ve been unable to find any recordings of Mary Ann Estes.  If you’re aware of any, I’d appreciate if you would leave a comment below.

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