Ethel Ponce

The Ponce Sisters, Ethel was born 4 August 1907 and died 24 September 1989 and Dorothea (aka 'Dobbie') (b. December 30, 1909; d. December 25, 2000, Cincinnati, Ohio), were a popular singing sister duo in the mid-1920s and early 1930s. They were reportedly born in New York.

They were the daughters of composer, author, publisher, radio executive, and music entrepreneur Phil Ponce (1886-1945), who became the first agent-manager for jazz legend Fats Waller in 1932.

The duo sang on radio programs, including the Old Gold Paul Whiteman Hour, sometimes with co-star Bing Crosby, and with Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians. The sisters performed in Manhattan theaters and toured the vaudeville circuit. In 1930, they appeared in three short films produced by MGM Studios.

The sisters recorded from 1925 to 1932 for the Columbia, Gennett, Cameo, Perfect, and Edison record labels. They recorded under the names Dorothea and Ethel Ponce and as The Ponce Sisters.

In 1935 the Ponce Sisters stopped performing as a duo following Ethel's marriage. Dorothea continued as a soloist on radio station WLW until 1937, when she married Ohio industrialist J. Richard Verkamp.

Although they were not jazz singers, they did record in 1932 with jazz legends Eddie Lang (guitar), Jimmy Dorsey (cornet), and Joe Venuti (violin). Ethel, in addition to singing, played piano on some recordings. During the sisters' 1930s NBC radio network broadcasts, Ethel often augmented their vocal duets with solo piano performances of popular tunes and serious works. She was also a respected composer (under the name Ethel Ponce-Fenley) of piano novelties, such as "Holiday," "Blue Haze," and "Happy Landing," as well as a writer of commercial jingles. In the 1950s she performed several of her compositions with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Ethel also wrote and performed jingles for such products as Bavarian Beer and the Yellow Pages. The two sisters were longtime members of ASCAP.

MGM/United Artists released a laser disc set of early "talkies" (sound films) entitled "Dawn Of Sound, Volume 3," which featured Vitaphone shorts of the Ponce Sisters singing "Ten Little Miles From Town" and "Oh, You Have No Idea."


All songs are available as Sheet Music, .pdf and or midi. I also sell 90 minute tapes or 1 hour CD's of the tunes using Proteus I - Proteus II and Sound Canvas for generating the sounds. Quite different than the General Midi Files you are hearing. (I think they are better) I don't know if this belongs in the classical selections but here it is anyway.

All midi files have been abbreviated on the server just to give you a taste.

For A Complete list of midi files click here

To order anything please click HERE


midi Holiday

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