THE STEINETTES (1980)

Text © Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 1980/2023
Images from the Internet unless indicated

The Steinettes were a brief moment in time, yet their short span made them a cult classic to fans of the ‘60s girl group sounds that they emulated, and for the comic timing in the two singular-word-titled Robert Altman films in which they appeared, HealtH and more famously Popeye, where they appeared as Olive Oyl’s four girlfriends. In both, they were sort of the Greek Chorus with a song in their hearts.

The group as a collective is gone now, but every once in a rare moment, they regather at parties and perform their old routines. Luckily, often, there is someone there with a camera.

This interview appeared in FFanzeen, issue No. 6, dated Year-end 1980.

(photo by Dennis Concepcion)

The Steinettes (1980)

Alphabetically, it’s as follows:

Natalie Blossom, far right
(photo by Dennis Concepcion)

Natalie Blossom. Blonde and sort of modish-looking with ‘sixties hairdo and make-up. The ham of the group, she is always making faces and clowning for both the camera and the audience. Hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, she now resides in Brooklyn, just a stones-throw away from the Midwood Theatre. Some of her solos are the Angel’s “My Boyfriend’s Back” and Betty Everett’s “The Shoop-Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss).”

Julie Janney (photo by Dennis Concepcion)

Julie Janney. A blonde who tends to wear a red T-shirt from her home state of Indiana. Of the foursome, her voice is the strongest, so she gets some of the more difficult songs to sing, like “Be By Baby,” and “Walking In The Rain,” both by the Ronettes. Usually, she sways her hips when she sings.

Julie, Patti Katz, Natalie Schaffer 
(photo by Dennis Concepcion)

Patty Katz. The spokesperson of the group and the only native New Yorker (Great Neck, Long Island). This brunette is the bass vocalist (very rare in all-female groups) and her repertoire includes one of the unit’s best renditions, the Shirelles’ “Foolish Little Girl” (with Natalie), and “Dedicated to the One I Love.” Patty is the one who talks the cops out of kicking the group off the street corners when the crowd exceeds the sidewalk and spills onto the roadway (as they usually do, by the second song).

Dianne Shaffer. The “Ringo” of the group, was the last member to join. This brunette is also the shortest. She wears pigtails and is the group’s verbal comedienne (as opposed to Natalie’s physical comedy). A couple of her songs are Shelley Fabares’ “Johnny Angel” (a la Swan Lake), and the Chantel’s “Maybe,” in which she holds the record for saying the most “maybes” in the shortest time span. Naw, I’m just making that up, but I still wouldn’t be surprised.

Singing "Sugar Fit" from Health
(photo by Dennis Concepcion)

Put ‘em all together and no, they don’t spell mother, but they do spell out Steinettes. Now, there are two questions that may be plaguing your mind at the moment:

First, and quite simply, what are the Steinettes? Well, so far we’ve established that they are a singing quartet of girls…er…women. So, what’s so unusual about that? Well, they are New York street performers who make their living by putting a trick-o-treat pumpkin out front and singing a cappella. This summer, it was on West Broadway, twixt Houston and Prince, in SoHo. Next summer, who knows? The police have been giving them a bit of a hassle about their listeners blocking traffic. They also perform once in a while in Sheridan Square Park, on Christopher Street.

Singing "Dominique" by the Singing Nun
(photo by Dennis Concepcion)

As you look over their names, you will notice that there is no one in the group named Stein. The second question, therefore, is how did they get the name Steinettes? The first version of the group, (sans Dianne), was formed by comedian Phil Stein for a review that he was putting on. The quartet was used as filler (what a waste of talent!) during his costume changes. When the show ended, so did the Steinettes. They re-formed for another review, this time with Dianne. When they rehearsed under the Washington Square Arch and a crowd started forming, they thought, “Hmmm.” And a quartet was born – sort of a “Hey kids, let’s put on a show” history. (For more specific details on their early career, check out an article written in the New York Daily News, October 17, 1979.) But think that’s a dull story. Here’s the one they prefer:

Patty Katz: I was going uptown on an express train, and Julie and Dianne were sitting next to each other and singing. It was real empty. I sat down next to them and for some reason I came in with the third harmony. And (Natalie) just got in. She was going to Brooklyn. And she came in and did fourth harmony. And we said, “Hey, cool!”
Dianne Schaffer: “We got a group!”
Natalie Blossom: And they were really getting off singing to each other. I thought they all knew each other. They were laughing at themselves, and I was laughing with them, so I just came in with the fourth harmony.
Patty: We were all singing different songs.
Natalie: That’s why it was so funny.

Any way you look at it, the first official gig as the Steinettes (as opposed to four actresses singing together) arrived around Labor Day, 1978.

(photo by Dennis Concepcion)

Hanging out with Dennis Concepcion in the spring of 1979, we were eating at the late and lamented Burger Towne at Sheridan Square on 7th Avenue South and Christopher Street, across the narrow road from the triangular park (you see it coming, don't you?). As we ate our burgers, through the window we saw this large crowd gathering. Having finished, we went outside to see what was going on.

We entered the park, and saw the four. All were wearing silver jackets with their “Steinettes” logo on the back, sort of like a gang would. Three of the four were wearing sweat-sox in the bobby-sox style, with sneakers. Natalie was wearing black pumps and had on a black and white striped T-shirt that just came short of her waist; Julie, her red Indiana T-shirt; Patty’s was white with a Minnie Mouse design; and Dianne’s was blue with some writing that I can never quite remember. These are still, to this day, their work clothes. Two blondes, two brunettes.

It was love at first sight.

Since that time, between Dennis and myself, we have renamed the spot “Steinette Park,” and thus it shall ever more be. But that was the last we were to see them for a long time.

During the early Spring of this year, FFanzeen managing editor Stacy Mantel, art editor Alan Abramowitz, and I were walking around SoHo (see it coming again, huh?) to the SoHo Music Gallery, a really good record store on Wooster, and we saw a large crowd. I heard the voices long before I saw who it was, but there was no question in my mind who they were. “My God, it’s the Steinettes!” I shouted. The three of us went over and there were two more Steinettes converts – proselytizing was unnecessary. We sat through both of their one-hour sets (with a five to fifteen minute “intermission” to catch their breath and new audience.

A few months after that, an actor with whom I worked named Richard “When’s FFanzeen comin’ out” Hill asked, “Hey, did you ever hear of a group called the Steinettes?” He seemed surprised that I did. Well, as it turns out, Patty is his friend, and before the week was out, my friend Dennis and I had interviewed them. Now we rarely miss a performance.

Of course, there is an argument against them – namely that they are actresses and not really rock’n’roll singers; that they do not deserve as much attention from the music world as they are getting. Bull. They are, in fact, four girls who grew up listening to the Chantels, and Ronettes, and Shangri-Las, and loved them as kids (didn’t we all?), and in their way, are singing for both fun and (hopefully) profit. But that element of fun is very important to the way they perceive their music. No two sets are identical, distinguished by all the improv joking around that happens between them and their audience – even among themselves. They are always talking to the audience, sometimes including them in the act. But more than anything else, they have fun. And more than anything else, that is what rock’n’roll is all about, isn’t it?

Scene from HealtH

But still, there is the acting part of the group that cannot be ignored. And their career seems to be taking off. Robert Altman was turned on to them, and he offered them the role of the pseudo-Greek Chorus in his film, HealtH (1980). HealtH, which took what seemed like forever to come out, has been released in LA, where it was badly shot down by critics (nothing bad said about the Steinettes). So, it was canned before it ever reached New York. However, they are also in Altman’s Popeye (1980), which appears as if it will be a hit. Maybe if it does really well, they will re-release HealtH.

As far as publicity for the film goes, the Steinettes seemed to have been almost ignored. When Life Magazine had a large feature on Popeye, they were never even mentioned in the cast. Ditto with many film magazines. Luckily, they haven’t been totally ignored. Papers such as The Daily News and The New York Post have run articles on them. And now they are going to be on”20/20”, and have a great shot at a guest appearance on the new season of “Saturday Night Live” (it didn’t happen – RBF., 2023).

I hope they go far, because they represent a genre of song-style that has not been around lately, but is sorely missed.

Dennis Concepcion and the Steinettes
(ffoto by Robert Barry Francos)

The following short documentary gives a nice overview of their music, after an intro by Patti. Dennis, mentioned above, took some of the still photos of them performing live, and can be seen wearing a Schaffer Music Festival tee-shirt in front of the crowd at 11:36.