Rusty Warren

Warren was born in New York City in 1930 and adopted six months later by Helen and Herbert Goldman, a couple from Milton, Massachusetts, who named her Ilene Goldman. She graduated from Milton High School around 1948, studied piano at the New England Conservatory of Music, graduating around 1954, and later taught there briefly after obtaining her degree. She spent her first free summer entertaining in small lounges.[7] Her musical mentor at the time was Arthur Fiedler, the conductor of the Boston Pops.

"Late at night, there’d be nobody in these places (cocktail lounges in the Boston area), to cut the boredom, I got some repartee going with the regulars."[7]

In 1955, Warren began at The Pomp Room, at 16th Street and Camelback Road, Phoenix, AZ. Songs for Sinners was recorded there, for Jubilee Records, and released in November 1958. Knockers Up! was recorded at The Golden Falcon, Pompano Beach, Florida,[8] and released in November 1960.

GNP Crescendo Records reissued some of her Jubilee albums. Known as the "Knockers Up Gal", she has been called the "mother of the sexual revolution".[9] Her career began in the early 1950s in Phoenix, Arizona. Later she moved her act to Las Vegas, Nevada.[3] Her comedy routines exposed the subject of sex from a female perspective. Her most famous contribution to the sexual revolution was the song "Knockers Up" from the 1960 album of the same name.[10]

SCTV comedian Catherine O'Hara performed a character called Dusty Towne who was based on Warren.

Elizabeth Rizzo self-published Rusty Warren - The Knockers Up Gal, containing excerpts from news articles and magazine articles in chronological order.

In 2014, some of Rusty Warren's music (Knockers Up) was provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises and could be subscribed at the Rusty Warren - Topic[11] channel; it is now set to private. In 2023, some of Rusty Warren's music was provided to YouTube by CDBaby[12] and Symphonic Distribution[13] and can be subscribed at the @rustywarrenknockersupgal[14] channel.

Her life partner was Elizabeth Rizzo from 1984 to 2019 and they resided in Hawaii after moving from Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Rusty Warren died in her sleep on May 25, 2021, at the age of 91.[15][7][16][17][18]

The Rusty Warren collection,[19] with news articles, photographs, slides, video footage from her Las Vegas shows, magazines, promotional materials, letters, performance contracts, handwritten notes, pertaining to her career as a comedian, spanning from 1955 through the late 1980s, is in the archives of the Library of Congress and on display at the National Comedy Museum.

• Nesteroff, Kliph (June 27, 2010). "The Life and Times of Rusty Warren". Beware of the Blog. WFMU. In 1954 Ilene Goldman was a recent graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music. She spent her first free summer entertaining in small lounges. A rare exception was her participation in a salient twenty-one piano tribute to Chopin directed by future PBS favorite Arthur Fiedler.
• McKim, Brian; Skene, Traci. "Interview with Rusty Warren". Sheckymagazine. WELCOME TO FORT LIQUORDALE IN THE WINTER. I played there from after or on New Year's 'til up to spring break, when I would go back to Scottsdale, AZ, 'til before summer, then head off for another tour of the country.
• Mock, Roberta (27 September 2016). Jewish Women on Stage, Film, and Television. Springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-137-06713-5. ISBN 978-1-137-06713-5.
• Gaw, Melanie (2021). Joan Rivers: Comedy and Identity on the Road to Fashion Police. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Theses and Dissertations. 2783. Retrieved 24 October 2023.

• Official website
• Rusty Warren Papers at New England Conservatory NECA 18.34

Gift of Rusty Warren's sister, Elizabeth Rizzo, April 2018.

• Rusty Warren - Topic YouTube

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• Rusty Warren at iTunes

Metadata

• Rusty Warren discography at Discogs
• Rusty Warren at IMDb