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Hotel Taft
The Taft Hotel building is a 22-story pre-war Spanish Renaissance structure that occupies the eastern side of Seventh Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets, just north of Times Square, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. In its modern configuration, it features two separate portions with their own entrance on 51st Street. The larger portion is devoted to the residential condominium called Executive Plaza, with each of its 440 units being privately owned. Certain units are rented by their owners to the public. A smaller portion of the building contains The Michelangelo, a Starhotels hotel. History Hotel Manger On October 22, 1924, it was announced that Manger Hotels, owned by the Manger brothers, had purchased a block on Seventh Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets from Realty Associates and Bing & Bing for approximately $5.5 million, after plans for a sports arena on that site fell through. H. Craig Severance was hired to design a 1,250 room hotel and Bi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state of New York. Located near the southern tip of New York State, Manhattan is based in the Eastern Time Zone and constitutes both the geographical and demographic center of the Northeast megalopolis and the urban core of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. Over 58 million people live within 250 miles of Manhattan, which serves as New York City’s economic and administrative center, cultural identifier, and the city’s historical birthplace. Manhattan has been described as the cultural, financial, media, and entertainment capital of the world, is considered a safe haven for global real estate investors, and hosts the United Nations headquarters. New York City is the headquarters of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolly Dawn
Dolly Dawn (born Theresa Maria Stabile; February 3, 1916 – December 11, 2002) was an American big band singer. She was vocalist with George Hall's Hotel Taft Orchestra in the 1930s, and later had a solo career. Life She was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1916, and grew up in Montclair, New Jersey. Her parents were Italian immigrants; the jazz saxophonist Dick Stabile was a cousin."Dolly Dawn, 86, Who Sang Center Stage in the Big Band Era" '''', December 18, 2002. Retrieved January 1, 2019. As Billie Starr, she appeared weekly on a local radio show. In 1935 she replaced [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Loeb
Philip Loeb (March 28, 1891 – September 1, 1955), was an American stage, film, and television actor, director and author. He was blacklisted under McCarthyism and committed suicide in response. Early life Philip Loeb was born March 28, 1891, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He first performed in a high school production of Lady Gregory's ''The Workhouse Ward''. He served in the Army, then worked as stage manager of '' The Green Goddess''. During his short career, he directed seven Broadway productions and appeared in 36 Broadway plays., his first ''If I Were King'' at the Shubert Theatre, 1916 and his last '' Time Out For Ginger'', 1953, at the Lyceum Theatre. Loeb also was co-author of the film adaptation of ''Room Service'' starring the Marx Brothers, Loeb had previously appeared in the hit Broadway show of the same name which had a 500 performance run at Broadway's Cort Theatre. His stage career gained strength in the early 1920s when he became associated with the newly f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmie Rodgers (country Singer)
James Charles Rodgers (September 8, 1897 – May 26, 1933) was an American singer-songwriter and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as "the Father of Country Music", he is best known for his distinctive rhythmic yodeling, unusual for a music star of his era. Rodgers rose to prominence based upon his recordings, among country music's earliest, rather than concert performances. He has been cited as an inspiration by many artists and inductees into various halls of fame across both country music and the blues, in which he was also a pioneer. Among his other popular nicknames are "The Singing Brakeman" and "The Blue Yodeler". Early life According to tradition, Rodgers' birthplace is usually listed as Meridian, Mississippi; however, in documents Rodgers signed later in life, his birthplace was listed as Geiger, Alabama, the home of his paternal grandparents. Yet historians who have researched the circumstances of that document, including Nolan P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinner Date (1950 DuMont TV Series)
''Dinner Date'', also known as ''Dinner Date with Vincent Lopez'', is a musical variety show that was broadcast on the DuMont Television Network on Saturdays from 8 to 8:30 pm ET from January 28, 1950, to July 22, 1950 or July 29, 1950. The show, "a relaxed program of music and song", hosted by bandleader Vincent Lopez, was broadcast from the Grill Room at the Hotel Taft in New York City, where Lopez and his orchestra performed from 1942 to 1962. Besides Lopez's longtime vocalists Lee Russell and Ann Warren, the show featured guest stars such as Cab Calloway, Arthur Tracy, and Woody Herman. Episodes often featured content related to letters sent in by viewers or to names of some of the viewers. The shows were unscripted, but Lopez planned "to the second" what he, the orchestra, and other performers would do. Unlike some contemporary variety programs, performers appeared only once in each episode. Warren Russell and George Putnam were the announcers. ''Dinner Dates competiti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in the United States. It was owned by DuMont Laboratories, Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, a television equipment and set manufacturer, and began operation on June 28, 1942.Weinstein, David (2004). ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'', p. 16. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. . The network was hindered by the prohibitive cost of broadcasting, a freeze on new television stations in 1948 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that restricted the network's growth, and even the company's partner, Paramount Pictures. Despite several innovations in broadcasting and the creation of one of television's biggest stars of the 1950s—Jackie Gleason—the network never found itself on solid fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gloria Parker
Gloria Parker (née Rosenthal; August 20, 1921April 13, 2022) was an American musician and bandleader who had a radio show during the big band era. ''The Gloria Parker Show'' was broadcast nightly from 1950 to 1957, coast to coast on WABC. She played the marimba, organ, and singing glasses (glass harp). Dubbed ''Princess of the Marimba'', she conducted the 21-piece Swingphony from the Kelly Lyceum Ballroom in Buffalo, New York. This was the largest big band led by a female bandleader. Edgar Battle and Walter Thomas were arrangers for the Swingphony. Early life Parker was born in Brooklyn on August 20, 1921. Her father, Jack, was the owner of a garage; her mother, Rose (Glickman), was a violinist with Mark Warnow & the Hit Parade Orchestra. Her grandfather immigrated to the United States from the modern-day Czech Republic, and taught her how to play glasses. She started learning the violin at the age of four or five, playing a quarter-sized version of the instrument at the Bro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vincent Lopez
Vincent Lopez (December 30, 1895 – September 20, 1975) was an American bandleader, actor, and pianist. Early life and career Vincent Lopez was born of Portuguese immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, Distinguished Americans & Canadians of Portuguese Descent and was leading his own dance band in New York City by 1916. On November 27, 1921, his band began broadcasting on the new medium of entertainment radio; the band's weekly 90-minute show on the Newark, New Jersey, station WJZ boosted the popularity of both himself and of radio. He became one of America's most popular bandleaders, and would retain that status through the 1940s. Lopez saw jazz and bandleading as a big business opportunity. Like rival Paul Whiteman had done a few years earlier with his United Orchestras, Inc, in 1924, he created the company Vincent Lopez, Inc, with a stated goal of starting jazz orchestras and schools in major American cities, and managing copyrights. By 1926 the ende ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Pastor (bandleader)
''For the Victorian era impresario of the same name, see Tony Pastor.'' Tony Pastor (born Antonio Pestritto; October 26, 1907 – October 31, 1969) was an Italian American novelty singer and tenor saxophonist. Career He was born in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. Pastor began playing saxophone when he was sixteen. He played tenor sax with John Cavallaro (1927), Irving Aaronson (1928–30), and Austin Wylie (1930), then opened his own night club in Hartford, Connecticut and led the band there for three years. After that, he played with Smith Ballew (1934), Joe Venuti, Paul Fredricks, Vincent Lopez, and Artie Shaw's first (1936–37) and second (1937–39) orchestras. In November 1939, when Shaw walked off the bandstand in the Cafe Rouge located inside the Hotel Pennsylvania (essentially quitting his own band), Pastor was soon coaxed into leading his own big band, which he did from 1939 to 1959. Radio Soon after going out on his own, Pastor and his orchestra played at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glenn Miller
Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces, US Army Air Forces. Glenn Miller Orchestra, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was one of the most popular and successful bands of the 20th century and the big band era. His military group, the Major Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra, was also popular and successful. Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was the best-selling recording band from 1939 to 1942. It did not have a string section, but did have a slap bass in the rhythm section. It was also a touring band that played multiple radio broadcasts nearly every day. Their best-selling records include Miller's iconic theme song"Moonlight Serenade"and the first gold record ever made, "Chattanooga Choo Choo". The following tunes are also on that best-seller list: "In the Moo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Dorsey
James Francis Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards "I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary People)" and " It's The Dreamer In Me". His other major recordings were "Tailspin", " John Silver", " So Many Times", " Amapola", "Brazil ( Aquarela do Brasil)", " Pennies from Heaven" with Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, and Frances Langford, "Grand Central Getaway", and "So Rare". He played clarinet on the seminal jazz standards "Singin' the Blues" in 1927 and the original 1930 recording of "Georgia on My Mind", which were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Early life Jimmy Dorsey was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, United States, the first son of Theresa Langton Dorsey and Thomas Francis Dorsey. His father, Thomas, was initially a coal miner, but would later become a music teacher and marching-band director. Both Jimmy and his younger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tommy Dorsey
Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombone playing. His theme song was "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You". His technical skill on the trombone gave him renown among other musicians. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey. After Dorsey broke with his brother in the mid-1930s, he led an extremely successful band from the late 1930s into the 1950s. He is best remembered for standards such as "Opus No. 1, Opus One", "Song of India (song), Song of India", "Marie", "On Treasure Island", and his biggest hit single, "I'll Never Smile Again". Early life Born in Mahanoy Plane, Pennsylvania, Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. was the second of four children born to Thomas Francis Dorsey Sr., a bandleader, and Theresa (née Langton) Dorsey. He and Jimmy, his older brother by slightly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
