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Rusty Warren

Rusty Warren was born in New York City on March 20,1930 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, then studied piano at the New England Conservatory of Music, graduating around 1954. She spent her first free summer entertaining in small lounges, and later taught at NEC briefly after obtaining her degree. Her musical mentor at the time was Arthur Fiedler, the conductor of the Boston Pops. Her career began in the early 1950s in Phoenix, Arizona. Later she moved her act to Las Vegas, Nevada.  Her comedy routines exposed the subject of sex from a female perspective. She recorded for Jubilee Records, then GNP Crescendo Records which reissued some of her earlier Jubilee albums. Known as the “Knockers Up Gal” (name from her 1960 album Knockers Up), she has frequently been called the “mother of the sexual revolution”.

Rusty Warren Archives

This collection is stored in one small manuscript box containing 7 folders

Gift of Rusty Warren’s sister, Elizabeth Rizzo, April 2018.  She also donated a box of music to be given to NEC students.

Access to the Rusty Warren Papers can be arranged by making an appointment with the NEC Archivist. There are no access restrictions pertaining to this collection.

Please contact the NEC Archivist for publication permissions. Citation should read: NECA 18.34. Rusty Warren Papers, New England Conservatory Archives, Boston, MA.

The Rusty Warren Papers are organized into 2 series:

  1. Music materials
  2. Publicity materials

The Music materials include pedagogical materials, Jewish hymns, and popular music. The Publicity materials are articles/clippings, photographs and ephemera.

Series 1: Music

Folder 1 – Pedagogical

Folder 2 – Jewish hymns (mostly photocopies), lyrics

Folder 3 – Jewish hymnals

Folder 4 – Popular music (2 small binders of lead sheets)

Series 2: Publicity

Folder 5 – Articles/clippings

Folder 6 – Photographs

Folder 7 – Ephemera