Minnie and Clara were born in the Bronx, New York, to Ashkenazi Jewish parents, Herman and Ester, from the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires, respectively.
When Minnie and Clara decided to entertain by singing in Yiddish, as The Bagelman Sisters, their father told them they would need to do it in the manner of the Old World and not with American accents.
When the Andrews Sisters' version of the Yiddish song, "Bei Mir Bistu Shein" (as "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön"), became a hit, musician and composer Sam Medoff, known professionally as Dick Manning, started his Yiddish Melodies in Swing radio program on New York's WHN.
[5] Their recordings included popular tunes, such as "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", translated into Yiddish ("Trop'ns Fin Regen Oif Mein Kop").
[7][8][9][10] Claire Barry (later Mrs. Easton) was born on October 17, 1920, and died on November 22, 2014, aged 94, in Aventura, Florida, having survived her younger sister by 41 years.