Orville Knapp (January 1, 1904 - July 16, 1936) was an American dance bandleader born in
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
. He was the brother of
Evalyn Knapp
Evalyn Knapp (born Evelyn Pauline Knapp; June 17, 1906 – June 12, 1981) was an American film actress of the late 1920s, 1930s and into the 1940s. She was a leading B-movie serial actress in the 1930s. She was the younger sister of the orche ...
.
Orville Knapp was an autodidact on saxophone, and moved to New York City in the early 1920s, where he played in the bands of
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 Am ...
and
Leo Reisman
Leo F. Reisman (October 11, 1897 – December 18, 1961) was an American violinist and bandleader in the 1920s and 1930s. Born and reared in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, he was of Jewish ancestry; from German immigrants who immigrated to th ...
. He then joined the
Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra
Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra was the first Kansas City jazz band to achieve national recognition, which it acquired through national radio broadcasts. It was founded in 1918, as the Coon-Sanders Novelty Orchestra, by drummer Carleto ...
. Later in the 1920s, he formed his own group, which included
Curly Howard
Jerome Lester Horwitz (; October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), known professionally as Curly Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of the American comedy team the Three Stooges, which also featured his elder ...
, later one of the
Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...
(Curly Howard was
Shemp and
Moe Howard
Moses Harry Horwitz (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He is best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television ...
's brother); their stage show often included a gag in which Howard, playing the part of orchestra conductor, would progressively lose pieces of his
tuxedo
Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element ...
as he led the band, including his pants.
Eugene Chadbourne
Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic.
Life and career
Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar when he was eleven or twel ...
Orville Knapp
at Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
Knapp's sister, Pauline (who used her middle name informally but her first name Evalyn professionally), had by this time moved to
Hollywood to pursue work in film and become a star, appearing as leading lady with
Edward G. Robinson and
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, Cagney was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He ...
in ''
Smart Money'' (1931) and
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...
in ''
His Private Secretary
''His Private Secretary'' is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Phil Whitman and starring Evalyn Knapp and John Wayne. It is an early Wayne non-Western film appearance, made when he was 26 years old.
Plot
Dick Wallace (Wayne) h ...
'' (1933) among many others; Knapp joined her there in 1933, where he founded a new band. This group performed at the Grand Hotel in
Santa Monica
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...
in 1934 and the
Wilshire Hotel in
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...
in 1935-1935, and recorded for
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
.
Edith Caldwell,
Ray Hendricks
Ray may refer to:
Fish
* Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea
* Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin
Science and mathematics
* Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point
* Ray (gr ...
, Dave Marshall,
Don Raymond
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
* Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
* Don, Dang, a vi ...
,
Norman Ruvell
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
, and
Virginia Verrill
Catherine Virginia Verrill ( November 20, 1916 – January 18, 1999) was a singer in the era of old-time radio and big bands. Her work included providing the off-screen singing voices for some female film stars.
Early years
Verrill was born Cath ...
all served as vocalists for the group. Eventually,
Leighton Noble
Leighton Noble, born Faye Leighton Jepson (December 25, 1912 – March 5, 1994) was an American vocalist and bandleader active during the swing era. He was also an actor and television presenter.
Noble's parents divorced when he was young, and h ...
became the group's regular singer. Critic
Eugene Chadbourne
Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic.
Life and career
Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar when he was eleven or twel ...
remarked of Knapp's hiring process, "Knapp revealed an absolute lack of instinct for new talent by turning down both
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though K ...
and
Spike Jones
Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gun ...
for the respective positions of pianist and drummer"
[ although Knapp might have passed on them for other reasons.
In 1935, Knapp's orchestra broadcast on WOR and went on a nationwide tour, recording in New York for ]Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916.
History
From 1916
Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing prod ...
. He married Gloria Grafton
Gloria may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music
* Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise
* Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise
** Gloria (Handel)
** Gloria (Jenkin ...
, a Broadway star, that same year, and began taking flying lessons. In July 1936, while piloting a biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
, he crashed on the runway at Beverly Regional Airport and was killed.["Orville Knapp". Colin Larkin, ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. 4th edition, 2006.]
Following Knapp's death, Noble took over the group, but he was pushed out by Knapp's widow and by the talent agency
Talent has two principal meanings:
* Talent (measurement), an ancient unit of mass and value
* Talent (skill), a group of aptitudes useful for some activities; talents may refer to aptitudes themselves or to possessors of those talents
Talent may ...
which managed the band.[ ]George Olsen
George Edward Olsen Sr. (March 18, 1893 - March 18, 1971) was an American bandleader.
Born in Portland, Oregon, Olsen played the drums and attended the University of Michigan, where he was drum major. There he formed his band, George Olsen an ...
became the orchestra's leader; Olsen later changed the group's name to the Music of Tomorrow Orchestra.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knapp, Orville
1904 births
1936 deaths
20th-century American musicians
20th-century American male musicians
American bandleaders
Musicians from Missouri
American aviators
Accidental deaths in Massachusetts
Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1936