Sally B. Galjour, the beautiful and talented mother of Bristol Bird Club
member Michele Sparks, passed away Tuesday at the age of 93 after an
extended illness.
She was being cared for by Michele and other family members and was in
hospice at Bakersville, NC.
Michele had moved her mother from New York eight months ago. Her mother
never saw the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountain or the community of Bakersville,
NC since she was totally blind.
She was still living in her Brooklyn home where she had lived for more than
50 years before the move to be near another daughter in Bakersville.
With her sister, Margie O'Dair, the veteran stage and screen actress also
well-known as a broadcasting star during the golden age of WWL Radio of New
Orleans Sally enjoyed a famous New Orleans career before moving her family
to New York in the early 1960s.
Margie O'Dair, regularly rode the "Desire" streetcar line from her family's
French Quarter home to work every morning. Many of you remember that transit
line from the title of Tennessee Williams' famed screen play, A Streetcar
Named Desire made into a popular movie.
Sally's sister, Margie O'Dair (Michele's aunt) was well-known for her later
career which put her in the limelight on New Orleans stages, as a frequent
performer which included Fiddler on the Roof, Hello Dolly, Gypsy (her role
as Mama Rose was a favorite), Chicago, The Music Man, and Follies among many
others. She also starred in several feature films, including The Big Easy
and Tightrope, in which she played Clint Eastwood's family housekeeper.
O'Dair and Sally Galjour (Michele Spark's mother) were a famous sister team
on WWL-AM's long-running morning show performing alongside host Henry Dupre
and orchestra leader Pinky Vidacovich for nearly 20 years, from the 1930s
through the 1950s. Led by Dave Winstein, the orchestra featured top talents
like Godfrey Hirsch, Johnny Senac and Warren Galjour (Michele's father),
plus singers Bonnie Bell, Johnny Diebold and Norman Treigle, who went on to
a legendary opera career. Al Hirt, a young trumpet player at the time,
rounded out the ensemble cast.
Michele's father was a graduate of Julliard School of Music and worked
closely with the "cream of the crop" of the Golden Era of Music. He
performed the world premier in of Frances Poulent's Le Ball Masque at
Carnegie Hall in 1947. It was sung entirely in French. He went on to
perform many operas and musicals. It was the first ever opera broadcast on
television (ABC) and was Madame Butterfly by Puccini.
He also sang under the batons of world known masters Stokowsky, Metropolis,
Arturo Toscaninni. He performed many Broadway musicals and musical plays
on stage and television and was very well recorded.
Funeral arrangements are pending but Michele said they will include
cremation and a celebration of her life.
Sally Galjour is survived by her daughters, Michele Galjour Sparks of
Bristol Tennessee; Germaine E. Galjour of Bakersville; Isadora M. Galjour,
Chapel Hill, NC; Suzanne T. Galjour, Tyler, TX; a son, Gerard B. Galjour,
Brokliyn NY and a son Remy Galjour of Bristol Tennessee. One son, James G
Galjour of Brooklyn, NY proceeded her in death. She is survived by seven
grandchildren (including Michele's son, Colin Jones of Johnson City).
