Rosa Rio

Rosa Rio

Rosa Rio's career began in the silent film era in spectacular movie palaces in New York and New Orleans.

In the 1930s and 40s she was dubbed "Queen of the Soaps" having provided organ accompaniment for several classic radio shows including "The Shadow" and "The Bob and Ray Show".

She worked with many Hollywood legends including Lucille Ball, Orson Welles, and Art Carney. In 1984, Video Yesteryears hired Rosa to score 365 silent films for its VHS collection, a project she completed within six years, performing each soundtrack on a Hammond organ.

And now things have come full circle with her performances as feature organist at the Tampa Theatre.

For more information go to Rosa's page at the Tampa Theatre website.

How old is Rosa? For years, her standard reply was "Age is a number and mine's unlisted." But on her birthday, June 3, 2007, before a full house at Tampa Theatre, she announced that she was celebrating her 105th!