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Frid a y, \ ljeceritee 27, 1985 THE DET1401rJEWISH - NEWS

Sisters In Song

BY SANDRA MAURER
Special to The Jewish News

It has been said that the Margolis
Twins, Eudi and Euni, began singing
together before they could even talk.
Their grandfather had been a flutist in
the Czar's orchestra in Russia and
their mother, also a musician continu-
ally filled their home with music.
So it came as no real surprise that
the twins began to perform publicly at
age 4 when they sang between boxing
matches at the Cleveland Arena and
continued to perform every chance
they had throughout their childhood.
As teenagers, the twins had their own
radio and television shows in Cleve-
land.
However, being a non-show biz
family, they didn't have clear ideas or
direction on what was to come next. It
wasn't until late in their teen years,
during a benefit performance in Cleve-
land that the twins met Fred Strauss,
then the manager of The Crew Cuts, a
group which was just making a name
for themselves.
Euni recalls that Strauss, a sur-
vivor of the Holocaust was "terrified of
anyone knowing that he was Jewish or

having anyone around him who was
Jewish so when we signed our contract
with him, he wanted us to change our
names from The Margolis Twins to
The Tracey Twins, a name picked at
random out of the telephone book.
The Tracey Twins went on the
road for the next five years and toured
with such stars as The Four Lads, The
Crew Cuts and Della Reese. They have
appeared on many network and local
television programs nationwide, such
as The Tonight Show, Dick Clark's
American Bandstand and The Soupy
Sales Show.
At one point they were invited to
compete on Arthur Godfrey's talent
scout show. However, they almost
didn't make it to the studio. The prog-
ram aired from New York and that city
was experiencing the worst snowstorm
in a half century. The rehearsal was
scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and leaving
Cleveland at 8:30 a.m. with plenty of
time to spare, they could only manage
to fly to Washington, D.C. with an ar-
rival time in that city of 3 p.m.
They sent telegrams informing

the producers that they would be there
no matter what, but they weren't sure
when. From Washington, D.C., they
boarded a train to New York and upon
arrival found that the city was liter-
ally shut down by the snow.
Their agent miraculously greeted
them in a cab which got them to NBC
by 8 p.m. Since the show was to air at
8:30 p.m., they quickly had to rehearse
in front of a live audience. Im-
mediately following the rehearsal, not
having time to relax, the twins were
scheduled to perform as the first act.
Despite the hectic fiasco, the Tracey
Twins proceeded to win, which ena-
bled them to perform on the show for
the entire week.
The Tracey Twins continued to
tour clubs, state and county fairs with
such performers as Homer and Jethro
and Peg-Leg Bates and military bases
throughout the United States and
spend 15 memorable days at Thule Air
Force Base in Greenland.
Even though they were no longer
known as the Margolis Twins, they
were able to keep their Jewish iden-

tities throughout their travels. At
Thule Air Force Base, they arrived
during Passover.
The population on the base was
30,000 and out of that populace only 30
people were Jewish," Euni said. "The
Jewish Welfare Federation had sent in
food for the Seder along with a young
rabbi from New York. Eudi and I were
invited to greet the rabbi at the plane.
However, the rabbi became very ill
and was unable to conduct the Seder.
After instruction from the rabbi, we
were able to conduct the Seder along
with the help of a non-Jewish enter-
tainer."
It was during these years that
they recorded for Epic, Atlantic and
Reserve Records. Their hit Tonight
You Belong To Me appeared on the Top
Ten of the national charts.
In addition, between recording
dates and engagements away from
Cleveland, they appeared in commer-
cials nationally and locally for such
notables as Big Boy Restaurants and
The Cleveland Browns.
In 1959, Eudi and Euni grew tired