|
Gene Austin
Lemeul Eugene Lucas (June 24, 1900 – January 24, 1972), better known by his stage name Gene Austin, was an American singer and songwriter, one of the early "crooners". His recording of " My Blue Heaven" sold over 5 million copies and was for a while the largest selling record of all time. His 1920s compositions "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" and "The Lonesome Road" became pop and jazz standards. Early life Austin was born as Lemeul Eugene Lucas in Gainesville, Texas (north of Dallas), to Nova Lucas (died 1943) and the former Serena Belle Harrell (died 1956). He took the name Gene Austin from his stepfather Jim Austin, a blacksmith. Austin grew up in Minden, Louisiana. In Minden, he learned to play piano and guitar. He ran away from home at 15. He attended a vaudeville act in Houston, Texas, where the audience was allowed to come to the stage and sing. On a dare from his friends, Austin took the stage and sang for the first time since singing as a Southern Baptist choir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
My Blue Heaven (song)
"My Blue Heaven" is a popular song written by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by George A. Whiting. The song was used in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927. It has become part of various fake book collections. In 1928, "My Blue Heaven" became a huge hit on Victor 20964-A for crooner Gene Austin, accompanied by the Victor Orchestra as directed by Nat Shilkret. It charted for 26 weeks, stayed at number one for 13, and sold over five million copies worldwide. Victor 20964-A was recorded on September 14, 1927 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978. The recording was reissued as Victor 24573 and has been reissued on several commercially available CDs.Shilkret, Nathaniel, ed. Shell, Niel and Barbara Shilkret, ''Nathaniel Shilkret: Sixty Years in the Music Business'', Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, 2005, pp 75, 237, 257, 265 and 272. Background The music for "My Blue Heaven" was written in 1924: "Donaldson wrote it one afternoon at the Friars Club in New York while wai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition or light poetry, interspersed with songs or ballets. It became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, but the idea of vaudeville's theatre changed radically from its French antecedent. In some ways analogous to music hall from Victorian Britain, a typical North American vaudeville performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts have included popular and classical musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, ventriloquists, strongmen, female and male impersonators, acrobats, clowns, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and movies. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mexican Service Medal
The Mexican Service Medal is an award of the United States military for service in Mexico from 1911 to 1919. History The Mexican Service Medal awarded by the Army was established by General Orders of the United States War Department on December 12, 1917. The Navy's Mexican Service Medal was established by Navy Department General Orders Number 365 on February 11, 1918, as amended by Navy Department General Orders No. 464 of April 27, 1919. The Mexican Service Medal recognizes those servicemen who performed military service against Mexican forces between the dates of April 12, 1911 and June 16, 1919. To be awarded the Mexican Service Medal, a serviceman was required to perform military duty during the time period of eligibility and in one of the following military engagements. *Veracruz Expedition: April 21 to November 23, 1914 * Punitive Expedition into Mexico: March 14, 1916 to February 7, 1917 *Buena Vista, Mexico: December 1, 1917 *The punitive expedition in the aftermath of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety (magazine)
''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based in Los Angeles, to cover the motion-picture industry. ''Variety.com'' features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, cover stories, videos, photo galleries and features, plus a credits database, production charts and calendar, with archive content dating back to 1905. History Foundation ''Variety'' has been published since December 16, 1905, when it was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering theater and vaudeville with its headquarters in New York City. Silverman had been fired by ''The Morning Telegraph'' in 1905 for panning an act which had taken out an advert for $50. As a result, he decided to start his own publication "that ouldnot be influenced by advertising." With a loan of $1,500 from his father- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yes Sir, That's My Baby (song)
"Yes Sir, That's My Baby" is a popular music, popular United States, U.S. song from 1925. The music was written by Walter Donaldson and the lyrics by Gus Kahn. It is now in the Public domain in the United States, public domain. Background The chorus begins, "Yes sir, that's my baby, no sir, don't mean maybe. Yes sir, that's my baby now." According to one source, the song was written when Donaldson and Kahn were visiting Eddie Cantor. Cantor's daughter Marjorie brought out one of her favorite toys, a walking mechanical pig. She wound it up and it started walking in rhythm while two notes kept coming from the little creature. Kahn was inspired and started working lyrics to these notes in rhythm with the pig, coming up with the title and opening line of the chorus in short order. 1925 recordings Successful 1925 recordings include: *Margaret Young *Ace Brigode *Gene Austin *Blossom Seeley *Ben Bernie *Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra (vocal by Carleton Coon). * Lee Morse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathaniel Shilkret
Nathaniel Shilkret (December 25, 1889 – February 18, 1982) was an American musician, composer, conductor and musical director. Early career Shilkret (originally named Natan Schüldkraut) was born in New York City, United States, to parents who emigrated from Lemberg (now Lviv in Ukraine).Shilkret, Nathaniel, ed. Shell, Niel and Barbara Shilkret, ''Nathaniel Shilkret: Sixty Years in the Music Business'', Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, 2005. Shilkret, Nathaniel, Barbara Shilkret, and Niel Shell, ''Feast or Famine: Sixty Years in the Music Business'', archival edition of Shilkret autobiography, 2001 (copies deposited in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, The City College of New York Archival Library, The New York Philharmonic Archives, The Victor Archives (SONY)). His father played a number of instruments, and made certain that Nat and his three brothers were all accomplished musicians at an early age. Older brother Lew Shilkret was a fine pianist who also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aileen Stanley
Aileen Stanley, born Maude Elsie Aileen Muggeridge (March 21, 1893 – March 24, 1982), was one of the most popular American singers of the early 1920s. Early life Born in Chicago, Illinois, Stanley was the youngest of four children of English parents Robert S. and Maria (née Capewell) Muggeridge who had immigrated from England in 1887. Her sister Elsie Muggeridge, died of typhoid in August 1892, passing it on to their father who died of the disease seven months before Aileen's birth. Her widowed mother resided in Chicago along with her surviving siblings, brothers Stanley and Robert Jr. Performances and recordings From childhood, she sang and danced in vaudeville with her older brother Stanley as Stanley and Aileen, with the encouragement of their widowed mother. After her brother left the act, Aileen started performing solo, forming her stage name by reversing the name of the old family billing. Stanley performed in vaudeville and cabarets. In 1920 she was a hit in New Yor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in the Flower District of Manhattan; a plaque (see below) on the sidewalk on 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth commemorates it. In 2019, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission took up the question of preserving five buildings on the north side of the street as a Tin Pan Alley Historic District. The agency designated five buildings (47–55 West 28th Street) individual landmarks on December 10, 2019, after a concerted effort by the "Save Tin Pan Alley" initiative of the 29th Street Neighborhood Association. Following successful protection of these landmarks, project director George Calderaro and other proponents formed the Tin Pan Alley American Popular Music Project to continue and com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fats Waller
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. His best-known compositions, " Ain't Misbehavin'" and " Honeysuckle Rose", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999. Waller copyrighted over 400 songs, many of them co-written with his closest collaborator, Andy Razaf. Razaf described his partner as "the soul of melody... a man who made the piano sing... both big in body and in mind... known for his generosity... a bubbling bundle of joy". It is likely that he composed many more popular songs than he has been credited with: when in financial difficulties he had a habit of selling songs to other writers and performers who claimed them as their own. Waller started playing the piano at the age of six, and became a professional organist at 15. By the age of 18, he was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ramona (1928 Song)
"Ramona" is a 1928 song, with lyrics written by L. Wolfe Gilbert and music by Mabel Wayne. Composed for the 1928 feature film ''Ramona'', it was the first theme song ever written for the movies. History It was created as the title song for publicity to the 1928 silent adventure film-romance ''Ramona'' (based on the 1884 novel ''Ramona'' by Helen Hunt Jackson). The song was used again in the 1936 remake of the movie. ''Ramona'' was recorded in 1928 by Dolores del Río for the film. Gene Austin's 1928 version charted for 17 weeks, with eight weeks at No. 1, and easily topped a million in sales. Recordings *On record it was a popular hit, usually performed as a romantic ballad, sometimes with a Latin inflection by "Whispering" Jack Smith and, in an idiosyncratic arrangement recorded on 4 January 1928, the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. The Paul Whiteman version, Victor 21214-A, featuring Bix Beiderbecke on cornet, was No. 1 for 3 weeks on the ''Billboard'' charts in 1928. Gene Austin's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tonight You Belong To Me (song)
"Tonight You Belong to Me" is an American popular song, written in 1926 by lyricist Billy Rose and composer Lee David. The first ever recording was made by Irving Kaufman in 1926 on Banner Records. In 1927 Gene Austin recorded it and the song became a major hit. Another popular recording during this time was by Roger Wolfe Kahn and his Orchestra. The song was revived by Frankie Laine in 1952, and recorded again in 1956 by Patience and Prudence, whose version reached #4 on the Billboard charts; they recorded it again in 1964. It was also recorded in 1956 by Lawrence Welk with The Lennon Sisters, and by the duo of Karen Chandler and Jimmy Wakely. In 1964 "Tonight You Belong to Me" was recorded by George Maharis in a sweet swing style on the Epic label. In 1977, "Tonight You Belong to Me" was recorded by American country music artist Dottie West. It was released as a single, peaking at number 30 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles chart in August 1977. The song was then issu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
