In the jazz age of the 1920s, local crowds thrilled to the “crazy music” of Sally Kaye Rosemont. She was billed as “Boop-boop-a-doo Girl” at the Chicago Theatre in 1929–two years before the first Betty Boop cartoon. Now, at 83, she’s holding an exhibit of her artwork and jazz memorabilia.
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Born in Chicago to Polish immigrants and raised in Bucktown, Salomea Janiak mastered piano and accordion by the time she was 11. In 1925, at the age of 13, she was the chief support of her family, winning cash prizes at amateur nights. Soon she was a hit at speakeasies all over town. Many of these joints were run by gangsters, a couple were hangouts for the Cubs, and all served liquor, which of course was illegal. This may not have been the nicest environment for a teenage girl, but she recalls that mobsters and ballplayers tended to be big tippers.
After performing under the stage names Sally Jane, Sally Jayne, and Sally Kay, Rosemont officially settled on Sally Kaye, “personality girl with an accordion.” Theater owner Barney Balaban got her into the musicians’ union, and she went on to play every Balaban & Katz theater in the Chicago area. Her popularity soared. Schmaltz king Sammy Kaye called from New York and petulantly asked, “Don’t you think people will get us confused?” Rosemont, whose own jazz was largely inspired by Art Tatum, Fats Waller, and Mary Lou Williams, replied simply, “No, I don’t think so.”
