The St. Louis Songstress: Mary Norleen Mizerany
The St. Louis Songstress: Mary Norleen Mizerany
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| 1957 Saint Joseph Academy Yearbook. Courtesy of Ancestry.com |
Most of the Arab and Arab American musicians we’ve featured on Midwest Mahjar sang, performed, and recorded in Arabic, but several including Virginia Atter, Eddie Kochak, Russell & Louise Carlyle, and Johnny Barakat, performed exclusively in English. Although hafla and mahrajan have always been synonymous with Arabic singing and music, as Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian immigrants settled in the US and had American-born children the number of English-language musicians of Arab descent on the festival circuit served as a critical cultural gateway for the younger generations. This month’s musician not only sang exclusively in English but was born, raised, and resided in the American midwest her entire life. With career beginnings on small private and specialty labels like “Big M,” “Vassar,” and “VIR,” Mary Norleen Mizerany emerged as a popular singer in the late 1950s and early 1960s better known as Mari Norleen or Mary Norleen.
Born to an immigrant parent Joseph Mizerany and first generation US-born Matilda Tabash, Mary Norleen entered the world on 6 December 1939 in Saint Louis, Missouri. Joseph’s parents were from Batoun, Greater Syria (now Lebanon). First, Joseph’s parents Alexander and Deby Mizrany immigrated to the United States on 18 January 1908 leaving their young son and Alexander’s mother behind. Alexander and Deby settled in Saint Louis, Missouri, which had 1,500 of the state’s 2,000 Syrian residents at the time. Missouri boasted the fifth largest Syrian population of any state when the Mizerany’s arrived. Syrian immigrants established Saint Anthony the Hermit Maronite Church in 1898 and Saint Raymond Maronite Church in 1911. Alexander, a former teacher at College de la Sainte Famille and Saint Joseph University of Beirut, offered Arabic and Aramaic instruction to both children and adults at Saint Anthony’s parochial school and Saint Louis University before he eventually established a grocery store in the 1920s. Maloof Record’s recording artist Anthony Shaptini was born and raised in this very community and attended Saint Raymond before relocating to Michigan. Meanwhile, Alexander and Deby Mizerany had Joseph, Virgil, Edward, Martha, George, and Steven. After delays resulting from World War I and immigration restrictions on people with certain illnesses, Joseph and his paternal grandmother, Mary, finally arrived in Saint Louis around 1919. Joseph attended schools locally and eventually married Matilda Tabash, the daughter of Syrian jewelry store owners John and Genevieve Slyman Tabash. Joseph and Matilda wed in May 1935, four years before Mary Norleen’s birth.
Mary Norleen first grew up with her parents at 1800 and 1802 Geyer Road in Saint Louis supported by a strong upper middle-class upbringing. As her father pivoted from a grocery store owner to an appliance retail owner, the family moved to 8109 Halifax Drive. Mary attended Immacolota School and the all-girls Saint Joseph’s Academy where she sang in the school glee club, acted in the Harlequin Drama Guild, bowled, joined the horse riding club, and played volleyball. By the time she graduated high school, she appeared in a three-act comedy “Career Angels” where she played the lead. In addition to the activities she engaged in at Saint Joseph’s she regularly swam, took dancing lessons, and was an avid record collector.
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| "Big M" label cut of Mary Norleen's 1962 "Knock Me A Kiss," and "I Think of You." Courtesy of Richard Breaux collection. https://youtu.be/RohfJF8GXow Mari Norleen "Tee Le Le Le Lum," https://youtube.com/shorts/wHmOxzJrKhk?feature=share Mari Norleen "Teenage Philosophy," https://youtu.be/opS_b3nzBJE |
Her aspirations to move to New York and perform on Broadway never materialized, but her presence could not be missed in the Saint Louis metropolitan area’s media. In 1954, her father, by then an appliance retailer, escorted her to a KTVI audition for a guest spot on a local teen television program - she got the job. Mary so impressed producers that she ended up singing on Joe Reynold’s “Showcase” and then Harry Honig’s “Dixie in Saint Louis” fronting Joe Schrimer and his Bourbon Street Six on KSD-TV on Saturday nights. Radio station KMOX gave Mary her own program and she performed on the S.S. Admiral during the summers of 1957 and 1958 with John Polzin’s orchestra. Mary made public and local celebrity appearances at a host of events including "Miss Missouri" TV program and the Batroun Lebanese Aid Society’s fundraiser and dance at the old Alhambra Grotto.
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| Mary's show on KMOX was "Interlude on Ivory." St. Louis Post Dispatch, 9 March 1956. Courtesy of Newspapers.com |
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| St. Louis Post Dispatch, March 25, 1958. Courtesy of Newspapers.com |
Some sources made public note of Mary Norlene’s Lebanese ancestry but others did not. The family’s creation and involvement in the Batroun Lebanese Aid Society and their support of the Association of Lebanese and Syrian American Charities/Aiding Leukemia Stricken American Children was visible in their charity work. Some of the first newspapers to celebrate her rise to popularity and stardom were the Arab American press. In July 1961, approximately 1,500 Arab Americans descended on Saint Louis for the 25th annual Midwest Federation of American Syrian Lebanese Clubs annual meeting. Founded in Indianapolis in 1936, the Midwest Federation, as its known, included chapters from Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, and Missouri. We have not confirmed whether Mary Norleen performed at or even attended the meeting held in Saint Louis but both are likely.
V.I.R. record label helped launch Mary’s recording career and she found national success in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In fact, in 1958, the V.I.R. label released “If My Heart Flew Out the Window” backed by “Poco a Poco.” Both songs included accompaniment by St. Louis musician Frank Harris. A record contract in 1961 with Vassar Records brought on collaborations with Lew Douglas, four new singles including “All You Do Is Hurt Me” & “Is It Any Wonder”, and the promise of a fifteen city tour and a concert in Las Vegas. Within the region, Mary Norlene had already performed at the Lake Club in Springfield, Illinois, in Michigan, at the B & B in Indianapolis, and several hotel engagements in Chicago. The Las Vegas deal meant concerts at the Flamingo Hotel for a three-week stint; and her popularity in Illinois gave way to a series of appearances at the Illinois State Fair in August 1961 and three weeks at Chicago's Cloister in April 1962. In all, Mary recorded “I Think of You” & “Knock Me a Kiss,” “Number 1” & “Silly Willy” and “Te Le Le Lum” & “Teenage Philosophy” in 1962 and “Such a Lonely World” & “Time After Time” in 1963.
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| The Decatur Daily Review, August 9, 1961. Courtesy of Newspapers.com |
In June 1963, Mary Norlene shocked the public by announcing she would marry University of Notre Dame graduate and University of Kansas Law student Carmen Civella on June 15, 1963, and relocate to Kansas City. Through all she had accomplished, Mary also attended the Goodman Theater, the performing arts school connected to the Art Institute of Chicago, Sadoun Al-Bayati would graduate from years after. Press coverage of Mary’s life between 1964 and 1968 decreased significantly; it remains unclear how much, if any, work she did performing publicly.
Whether Mary knew that Carmen’s father lived as one of Kansas City’s most notorious crime bosses remains unclear but her marriage to Carmen suffered as a result. Carmen Civella was the nephew of Nicholas Civella and the son of Carl “Cork” Civella. Nicholas Civella entered a life of crime in 1922, when he was just twelve years old. Within a few years of committing petty crimes he added car theft, bootlegging, gambling, and a host of other activities through the 1930s. By the 1950s, he had risen to one of the top positions in Kansas City’s organized crime world, an extension of Chicago’s organized crime syndicates with influence and reach as far west as Las Vegas. Convictions for tax evasion and illegal gambling finally landed Civella in prison. Nicholas Civella’s death in the early 1980s transferred influence to his brother Carl Civella, the father of mobster Anthony Civella and Carmen Civella, Mary Norlene’s husband for several years in the 1960s. Even Mary Norlene and Carmen’s wedding day was marred by rumors of theft and police evasion when associates of the Civellas travelled to Saint Louis to attend the wedding and reception in June 1963. Mary and Carmen remained married for several years and had two children together, Carl (1966) and Maria (1967) before their separation.
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| Mary Norleen, c. 1962. This publicity photo appeared in the 25 March 1962, Chicago Tribune. |
By 1969, Mary Norlene was divorced and back in Saint Louis where she resumed her singing career. She dyed her hair blonde and found work as the Seventy-One Supper Club performing every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night alongside Carl Kunze and Sal Ferrante. In a year’s time, Mary sang regularly Tuesday thru Saturday at Saint Louis’ River House, did voice work for television commercials, and worked at Alexander Discount loan company owned by her father. Joe Mizerany had expanded his appliance store to include an advertising firm and a loan agency.
Mary Norlene wed Paul T. Nicola in 1970 and she and her husband helped grow the family and the family business. The couple had one daughter, Nicole, and raised Mary’s two children from her previous marriage. They remained connected to Joe Mizerany’s appliance business which his wife, Matilda, rebranded as Pat Riley. In 1976, Pat Riley had three warehouse showrooms - two in Missouri and one in Illinois. Together, the Mizerany Brothers owned and operated twenty-two outlets. Mary’s father Joe remained a long-time patron and “golden member” of Danny Thomas’ ALSAC and Saint Judes. Mary took over operations of Mizerany Mattress and Furniture in Saint Ann, Missouri. Mary’s dad died in 1998 and her husband passed away in 2001.
Today, Mary is a eighty-five year old grandmother but shows little signs of slowing down otherwise. She still plays the piano at home and spends time with her friends, daughters, and grandchildren. The professional signing gigs are long behind her but her singles from the late 1950s and early 1960s, like "Knock Me a Kiss," occasionally show up re-issued on jazz compilations.
Richard M. Breaux
© Midwest Mahjar
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