Theodore Salvatore Fiorito (December 20, 1900 – July 22, 1971),DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 95. known professionally as Ted Fio Rito, was an American composer, orchestra leader, and keyboardist, on both the piano and the Hammond organ, who was popular on national radio broadcasts in the 1920s and 1930s. His name is sometimes given as Ted Fiorito or Ted FioRito.

Biography

He was born Teodorico Salvatore Fiorito in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Barringer High School in Newark. In Italy, his mother had sung light opera. He was still in his teens when he landed a job in 1919 as a pianist at Columbia's New York City recording studio, working with the

Harry Yerkes Harry A. Yerkes was a marimba player, inventor, and recording manager who assembled many recording sessions in the early years of jazz. Many of the sessions organized by Yerkes used his name for the artist credit, including Yerkes' Jazarimba Orc ...

bands—the Yerkes Novelty Five, Yerkes' Jazarimba Orchestra and The Happy Six. His earliest compositions were recorded by the Yerkes groups and Art Highman's band. Fio Rito had numerous hit recordings, notably his two number one hits, "

My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii "My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii", written by Tommy Harrison, Bill Cogswell, and Johnny Noble in Hawaii in 1933, is a Hawaiian song in the Hawaiian musical style known as '' hapa haole''. One of the earliest recordings by Ted Fio Rito ...

" (1934) and "

I'll String Along with You ''Twenty Million Sweethearts'' is a 1934 American Pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Ray Enright and starring Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers, and The Mills Brothers. The film was remade in 1949 as ''My Dream Is Yours''. Plot Ag ...

" (1934). He also demonstrated piano music for

Al Piantadosi Al Piantadosi (born John Alberto Joseph Piantadosi; August 18, 1882 in New York City – April 8, 1955 in Encino, California) was an American composer of popular music during the of Tin Pan Alley. He started out as a saloon and vaudeville piani ...

. He composed more than 100 songs, collaborating with such lyricists as Ernie Erdman,

Gus Kahn Gustav Gerson Kahn (November 6, 1886October 8, 1941) was an American lyricist who contributed a number of songs to the Great American Songbook, including "Pretty Baby", "Ain't We Got Fun?", "Carolina in the Morning", "Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' By ...

, Sam Lewis, Cecil Mack, Albert Von Tilzer, and Joe Young. He moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1921 to join

Dan Russo Dan Russo (born October 13, 1885 in Chicago - died December 15, 1944) was an American violinist and big band leader during the 1920s and 1930s. Russo assembled his first orchestra in Chicago at the beginning of the 1920s, which had an engagement ...

's band, and the following year he was the co-leader of Russo and Fio Rito's Oriole Orchestra. When Russo and Fio Rito opened at Detroit, Michigan's Oriole Terrace, their band was renamed the Oriole Terrace Orchestra. Their first recordings (May 1922) included Fio Rito's "Soothing." He did "Sleep" and other tunes for the AMPICO Reproducing Piano.

Radio remotes

The band returned to Chicago for a booking at the

Edgewater Beach Hotel The Edgewater Beach Hotel was a resort hotel complex on Lake Michigan in the far-north neighborhood community of Edgewater in Chicago, Illinois, designed by Benjamin H. Marshall and Charles E. Fox. The first section was built in 1916 for its o ...

, where they did their first radio remote broadcast on March 29, 1924. The band had a four-year engagement at the hotel. Contralto Harriet Lee frequently sang off-stage with some of the band's numbers, unseen by the audience. In August 1925, the Russo-Fio Rito orchestra opened Chicago's new Uptown Theatre. They opened the famous Aragon Ballroom in July 1926, doing radio remotes nationally from both the Aragon and the

Trianon Ballrooms The Trianon Ballroom was the name given to a number of ballrooms in cities during America's big-band era. The first and most prominent Trianon opened December 6, 1922 in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, and was marketed as "The Wor ...

. In 1927, he had a radio program on KTHS in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Dan Russo left the band in 1928, and Fio Rito took over as leader, touring the midwest with engagements in St. Louis, Kansas City and Cincinnati. In August 1929, the band's first recording without Russo featured Ted Lewis on clarinet and vocal. Billed as Ted Fio Rito and His Edgewater Beach Hotel Orchestra, they headed for San Francisco to fill in for the

Anson Weeks Anson Weeks (February 14, 1896, Oakland, California – February 7, 1969, Sacramento, California) was an American pianist and the leader of a popular west coast dance band from the late 1920s through the 1960s, primarily in San Francisco. He made ...

orchestra at the Mark Hopkins Hotel.

Radio in the 1930s

Fio Rito reached a national audience through syndicated and network radio programs. In Chicago, the band was heard on the ''Brunswick Brevities'' program, and they were the featured orchestra on NBC's ''Skelly Gasoline Show'' in New York. They broadcast on many 1930s radio programs, including ''The Old Gold Hour'', ''

Hollywood Hotel The Hollywood Hotel was a famous hotel, society venue of early Hollywood, and landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible fr ...

'', ''The Al Jolson Show'', ''Frigidaire Frolics'' and ''

Clara, Lu, and Em ''Clara, Lu, 'n Em'' is a radio soap opera, which first aired on June 16, 1930, over WGN-AM Chicago, Illinois. The show was picked up by the NBC Blue radio network and premiered at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time on January 27, 1931. Thus, it became the f ...

''. The Fio Rito Orchestra's vocalists included Jimmy Baxter,

Candy Candido Jonathan Joseph “Candy” Candido (December 25, 1913 – May 19, 1999) was an American radio performer and voice actor. He was best remembered for his famous line "I'm feeling mighty low". Early and personal life Born on Christmas Day in ...

, the Debutantes,

Betty Grable Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer. Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million; for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she reign ...

June Haver June Haver (born Beverly June Stovenour, June 10, 1926 – July 4, 2005) was an American film actress, singer, and dancer. Once groomed by 20th Century Fox to be "the next Betty Grable", Haver appeared in a string of musicals, but she never achie ...

, the Mahoney Sisters,

Muzzy Marcellino Maurice "Muzzy" Marcellino (November 27, 1912 – June 11, 1997) was an American singer and musician, known primarily for his clear, melodious style of whistling. Marcellino was born in San Francisco. He began playing with the Lofner-Harris Orchest ...

, Joy Lane (1947–1951), Billy Murray ("the Denver Nightingale"), Maureen O’Connor, Patti Palmer (born Esther Calonico), Kay and

Ward Swingle Ward Lamar Swingle (September 21, 1927 – January 19, 2015) was an American vocalist and jazz musician who founded The Swingle Singers in France in 1962. Life and career Born in Mobile, Alabama, Swingle studied music, particularly jazz, from a ...

. During the 1940s, the band's popularity diminished, but Fio Rito continued to perform in Chicago and Arizona. He played in Las Vegas during the 1960s. In his last years, he led a small combo at venues throughout California and Nevada until his death in

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

, from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

. He is buried in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in the Mission Hills community of northern Los Angeles. Details of his chart successes are given below.

Recordings

The Fiorito Band recorded prolifically starting in 1929 for Columbia. He signed with Victor from 1929 to 1930. After a single session in 1930 for Hit Of The Week, he signed with Brunswick in 1932 and recorded scores of records through 1935, when he signed with Decca from 1936 to 1942. He did a single session for Victor's Bluebird label in 1940. From 1932 through the 1942 recording ban, he primarily recorded in San Francisco and Los Angeles (most of his pre-1932 were recorded in Chicago).

Motion picture career

*The short animation '' Oh Mabel'' (1924), made in the sound-on-film

Phonofilm Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s. Introduction In 1919 and 1920, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film process, ...

process, featured the song "Oh, Mabel!" by Fio Rito and Gus Kahn. *Fio Rito appeared as himself, with his orchestra, in a number of motion pictures during the 1930s and early 1940s. He and his orchestra were featured in the following films: ''

Twenty Million Sweethearts ''Twenty Million Sweethearts'' is a 1934 American Pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Ray Enright and starring Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers, and The Mills Brothers. The film was remade in 1949 as ''My Dream Is Yours''. Plot Agen ...

'' (1934), ''What Price Jazz?'' (1934), ''

Broadway Gondolier ''Broadway Gondolier '' ( 1935) is a musical film directed by Lloyd Bacon. The film was released by Warner Bros., and featured Dick Powell, Joan Blondell and Adolphe Menjou. Plot Richard "Dick" Purcell ( Dick Powell), a taxi driver, aspires to ...

'' (1935), and ''

Rhythm Parade ''Rhythm Parade'' is a 1942 American musical comedy film starring Gale Storm and Margaret Dumont.The Honeymooners ''The Honeymooners'' is an American television sitcom which originally aired from 1955 to 1956, created by and starring Jackie Gleason, and based on a recurring comedy sketch of the same name that had been part of Gleason's variety show. It fol ...

'' episode, "Young at Heart", that aired February 11, 1956. Reminiscing about bands from their youth, Ralph Kramden (

Jackie Gleason John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916June 24, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer, and conductor known affectionately as "The Great One." Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was know ...

) and Ed Norton (

Art Carney Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, he was best known for his role as Ed Norton on the si ...

) recall Fio Rito, Isham Jones, Basil Fomeen, Jack Little, and Johnny Messner and his toy piano. In conclusion, Norton adds "don't forget Basil Fomeen" to that list. His radio-exclusive rendition of "This Is Romance" is sampled throughout the Post-Awareness stages of

Everywhere At The End Of Time ''Everywhere at the End of Time'' is the eleventh and final recording by the Caretaker, an alias of English electronic musician Leyland Kirby. Released between 2016 and 2019, its six studio albums use degrading loops of sampled ballroom music ...

, most prominently in the track "Q1 - Long decline is over", with various sections from the second half of the song being used throughout the album.

Chart successes

Other songs and recordings

* "Maybe" * "Sunshine of Mine" * "There's Yes, Yes in Your Eyes" * "That Lullaby Strain" * " Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo'bye)" * "

Charley, My Boy "Charley, My Boy" is a song with music by Ted Fio Rito and lyrics by Gus Kahn. The Russo-FioRito Oriole Orchestra introduced the song in 1924. The most popular recording was released by Eddie Cantor. The sheet music was published for voice and pia ...

" * "Alone at Last" * "No, No Nora" * "When Lights Are Low" * "Sometime" * "I Never Knew (That Roses Grew)" * "Drifting Apart" * "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" * "King for a Day" * "Then You've Never Been Blue" * "Now That You're Gone" * "Three on a Match" * "Kalua Lullaby" * "I Want Somebody to Cheer Me Up" * "I'm Sorry Sally" * "Nothing on My Mind" * "When the Moon Hangs High" * "Roll Along, Prairie Moon" * "Alone at a Table for Two" * "Yours Truly" * "

Lily of Laguna "Lily of Laguna" is a British coon song written in eye dialect. It was written in 1898 by English composer Leslie Stuart. It was a music hall favourite, performed notably by blackface performers such as Eugene Stratton and G. H. Elliott. In th ...

References

Listen to

"Boogie Woogie Lullaby," remote from the Naval Air Station at Banana River, Florida (August 1945)"Charley, My Boy": Ted Fio Rito Orchestra with Billy Murray vocal (1924)"Night in Manhattan": Ted Fio Rito Orchestra with Muzzy Marcellino vocal

External links

* * * as Ted Fio Rito Orchestra *
Ted Fiorito recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fiorito, Ted Songwriters from New Jersey American people of Italian descent Big bands Big band bandleaders Barringer High School alumni Four Star Records artists 1971 deaths 1900 births Burials at San Fernando Mission Cemetery 20th-century American musicians