Bobbie's Early Years

There was always music playing in her family's apartment in Brooklyn. Every Friday night the family would have dinner at her mom's parent's house close by and sometimes her Dad's family joined their in-laws for Friday Dinner. They would sing aloud at the table. Bobbie's mom would have become a professional singer if that was considered a proper thing for a lawyer's daughter to do.

Bobbie was born in 1940. The early '40s weren't an easy time in America or in most of the world. When WWII broke out her dad - who was already practicing law in her mother's father's very well respected labor relations law firm - wisely decided to enlist in the US Navy. It was highly possible that healthy men over the usual draft age, which her dad was at the time, would be drafted into the army. Bobbie can remember being cuddled by her mother in 1942 who was trying her best to keep the two from tears as her dad left for the ship yard from which he would be taken to his naval post. To this day Bobbie can feel the joy she felt on the day in 1945, that her dad returned home.

Bobbie was very close to her dads' younger brother - her beloved Uncle Arnie. He had an illness that kept him from being drafted and he took her to the movies while her dad was away. He did his best to avoid the films that dealt with the war and he took her to movie houses that showed the classic films that had played in the 1930s.

Bobbie's dad brought the New York Hotel Association into her family's law firm as a client. Before Bobbie had turned 10 years old she was taken to great and famous entertainment and industry dining rooms in famous hotels like The Plaza, The Hotel Astor, The Sherry Netherland, The Pierre, and The Waldorf Astoria. They would allow her in at her young age because she came with her dad who was there for his client. Bobbie's baby sister Susie, who was born in 1946 after her dad returned from the navy, would join them when she reached 8 years old. By that time Bobbie rarely attended with them because she was already in high school and performing in high school events.

A wonderful team of musical directors: who later became famous for founding "The Horowitz and Stecher Foundation" produced a musical for the older "boys and girls" every summer. Bobbie got to star in "Desert Song" and in "Showboat."

The older campers at Camp Reena led an event called SING every summer. Bobbie would write for Sing. The camps produced known musicals starring campers who were in the senior group in the boys and in the girls camp. Each team would write and learn: 1. a Theme 2. a March & 3. an Alma Mater. The teams would compete.

Bobbie wrote songs and performed in entertainment events with her future professional songwriting and cabaret entertainment partner Sharon Spector – during the early and mid 1950s. They attended Bensonhurst Junior High and New Utrecht High School and wrote together and entertained both in school and in public events.

Bobbie was accepted into the New York State School of Industrial & Labor Relations at Cornell University and graduated "First in Class" in 1961.

She truly would have loved to be a performer, but it was more prestigious in her family to work in the field of law or be an educator. Bobbie graduated from Columbia Teachers College.

She then met and married Ralph Slone in 1964 and became mother to David F. Slone in 1968. David earned degrees from Cornell in both Philosophy and Law. David is now a highly reputed entertainer and producer.

Bobbie's major love was always entertainment. While she was still married she went to a talk in the neighborhood where she was living. Through attending this talk she was introduced to Stella Adler. She knew she had to take class with Stella Adler and Bobbie's professional performing life began.