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 gunshots, whistles, cowbells,

hiccups A hiccup (scientific name ''singultus'', from a Latin word meaning "to catch one's breath while sobbing"; also spelled hiccough) is an involuntary contraction ( myoclonic jerk) of the diaphragm that may repeat several times per minute. The hi ...

, burps, and outlandish and comedic vocals. Jones and his band recorded under the title Spike Jones and His City Slickers from the early 1940s to the mid-1950s, and toured the United States and Canada as "The Musical Depreciation Revue".

Biography

Lindley Armstrong Jones was born in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, the son of Ada (Armstrong) and Lindley Murray Jones, a Southern Pacific railroad agent. Young Lindley Jones was given the nickname 'Spike' for being so thin that he was compared to a

railroad spike A rail fastening system is a means of fixing rails to railroad ties ( North America) or sleepers (British Isles, Australasia, and Africa). The terms ''rail anchors'', ''tie plates'', ''chairs'' and ''track fasteners'' are used to refer to parts ...

. At the age of 11 he got his first set of drums. As a teenager he played in bands that he formed himself; Jones' first band was called Spike Jones and his Five Tacks. A railroad restaurant chef taught him how to use pots and pans, forks, knives and spoons as musical instruments. Jones frequently played in theater pit orchestras. In the 1930s, he joined the

Victor Young Albert Victor Young (August 8, 1899– November 10, 1956)"Victor Young, Composer, Dies of Heart Attack", ''Oakland Tribune'', November 12, 1956. was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. Biography Young is commonly said to ...

orchestra and got many offers to appear on radio shows, including

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed ...

's ''Lifebuoy Program'', ''

Burns and Allen Burns and Allen was an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen. They worked together as a successful comedy team that entertained vaudeville, film, radio, and television audiences for over forty years. The duo ...

'', and Bing Crosby's '' Kraft Music Hall''. Jones became bored playing the same music each night with the orchestras. He found other like-minded musicians and they began playing parodies of standard songs for their own entertainment. The musicians wanted their wives to share their enjoyment, so they recorded their weekly performances. One of the recordings made its way into the hands of an RCA Victor executive, who offered the musicians a recording contract. One of the City Slickers' early recordings for the label was a

Del Porter Del Porter (April 13, 1902, Newberg, Oregon – October 4, 1977, Los Angeles) was an American jazz vocalist, saxophonist, and clarinetist who, in the 1930s, performed on Broadway, toured with Glenn Miller, and recorded with Bing Crosby, Dick Powe ...

arrangement of "

Der Fuehrer's Face ''Der Fuehrer's Face'' (originally titled ''A Nightmare in Nutziland'' or ''Donald Duck in Nutziland'' ) is a 1943 American animated anti-Nazi propaganda short film produced by Walt Disney Productions, created in 1942 and released on January 1, ...

". The record's success inspired Jones to become the band's leader. He initially thought the popularity the record brought them would fade. However, audiences kept asking for more, so Jones started working on more comic arrangements. From 1937 to 1942, Jones was the percussionist for

the John Scott Trotter Orchestra John Scott Trotter Jr. (June 14, 1908 – October 29, 1975), also known as "Uncle John", was an American arranger, composer and orchestra leader. Trotter was best known for conducting the John Scott Trotter Orchestra which backed singer and ...

, which played on Bing Crosby's first recording of " White Christmas". He was part of a backing band for songwriter

Cindy Walker Cindy Walker (July 20, 1918 – March 23, 2006) was an American songwriter, as well as a country music singer and dancer. She wrote many popular and enduring songs recorded by many artists. She adopted a craftsman-like approach to her songw ...

during her early recording career with Decca Records and Standard Transcriptions. Her song "We're Gonna Stomp Them City Slickers Down" provided the inspiration for the name of Jones's future band. The City Slickers developed from the Feather Merchants, a band led by vocalist-clarinetist

, who took a back seat to Jones during the group's embryonic years. They made experimental records for the Cinematone Corporation and performed publicly in Los Angeles, gaining a small following. Original members included vocalist-violinist Carl Grayson, banjoist Perry Botkin, trombonist King Jackson and pianist

Stan Wrightsman Stanley Aubrey Wrightsman (June 15, 1910 – December 17, 1975) was an American jazz pianist. Biography Wrightsman, whose father was a musician, began playing professionally in a Gulfport, Mississippi hotel, and in territory bands in Oklahoma. In ...

. The band's early records were issued on RCA Victor's budget-priced

Bluebird The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the order of Passerines in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. ...

label, but were soon moved to the more-prestigious Victor label. They recorded extensively for the company until 1955. They also starred in various radio programs (1945–1949) and in their own

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

television shows A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

from 1954 to 1961. During the 1940s, prominent band members included: * George Rock (trumpet, and vocals from 1944 to 1960) *

Mickey Katz Meyer Myron "Mickey" Katz (June 15, 1909 – April 30, 1985) was an American musician and comedian. He was the father of actor Joel Grey and paternal grandfather of actress Jennifer Grey. Early life Meyer Myron Katz was born on Sawtell Court in ...

(clarinet, vocals) *

Doodles Weaver Winstead Sheffield Glenndenning Dixon "Doodles" Weaver (May 11, 1911 – January 17, 1983) was an American character actor, comedian, and musician. Born into a wealthy West Coast family, Weaver began his career in radio. In the late 1930s, he p ...

(vocals – specialized in playing sports commentators and absentminded singers who persistently scrambled their lyrics into

malapropism A malapropism (also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to ...

s and digressed into stand-up comedy) *

Red Ingle Ernest Jansen "Red" Ingle (November 7, 1906 – September 6, 1965) was an American musician, singer and songwriter, arranger, cartoonist and caricaturist. He is best known for his comedy records with Spike Jones and his own Natural Seven sides f ...

(sax, vocals) *

Frank Rehak Frank Rehak (July 6, 1926, in New York City – June 22, 1987 Badger, California) was an American jazz trombonist. He began on piano and cello before switching to trombone. He worked with Gil Evans and Miles Davis. He also appeared with Davis on ...

(trombone) *

(clarinet, vocals) *Carl Grayson (violin, vocals) * Perry Botkin (banjo) *Country Washburne (tuba) *Luther "Red" Roundtree (banjo) *Earl Bennett, a.k.a. Sir Frederick Gas (vocals) *Joe Siracusa (drums; died 2021) *Joe Colvin (trombone) *Roger Donley (tuba) *Dick Gardner (sax, violin) *Paul Leu (piano) *Jack Golly (trumpet, clarinet) *John Stanley (trombone) *Don Anderson (trumpet) *Charlotte Tinsley (harp) *Eddie Metcalfe (saxophone) *Dick Morgan (banjo) *George Lescher (piano) *Freddy Morgan (banjo, vocals) * A. Purvis Pullen, a.k.a. Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath (bird calls, dog barks) * Russ "Candy" Hall (bass, tuba) The band's 1950s personnel included: *

Helen Grayco Helen Grayco (; September 20, 1924 – August 20, 2022) was an American singer and actress active from the 1930s to the 1960s. She was most famous for appearances with her husband Spike Jones on ''The Spike Jones Show'' in the 1950s and the 19 ...

(vocals) *Earl Bennett, as Sir Frederick Gas * Billy Barty (vocals and comedy routines, including impersonations of

Liberace Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...

) *

Lock Martin Joseph Lockard "Lock" Martin Jr. (October 12, 1916 – January 19, 1959) was an American performer afflicted with giantism. Martin and a twin brother were born in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; his brother died in childbirth. Martin would e ...

(comedy routines) *Freddy Morgan (banjo) *Peter James (vocals) * Jad Paul (banjo) * Gil Bernal (sax, vocals) *

Paul Garner Paul Albert "Mousie" Garner (July 31, 1909 – August 8, 2004) was an American actor. Garner earned his nickname by assuming the role of a shy, simpering jokester. He was one of the last actors still doing shtick from vaudeville, and has ...

(vocals) *Bernie Jones (sax, vocals) *Phil Gray (trombone) *Marilyn Olsen Oliveri (vocals, harp) The liner notes for at least two RCA compilation albums claimed that the two Morgans were brothers (the 1949 radio shows actually billed them as "Dick and Freddy Morgan"), but this was not true; Freddy's real name was Morgenstern. Peter James (who was sometimes billed as Bobby Pinkus) and Paul "Mousie" Garner were former members of

Ted Healy Ted Healy (born Charles Ernest Lee Nash; October 1, 1896 – December 21, 1937) was an American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor. Though he is chiefly remembered as the creator of The Three Stooges and the style of slapstick comedy th ...

's stage act on Broadway. James joined Healy for a two-year run in the Shubert revue ''A Night in Spain'' (1927–1928) where he worked alongside

Shemp Howard Samuel Horwitz (March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955), known professionally as Shemp Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was called "Shemp" because "Sam" came out that way in his mother's thick Litvak accent. He is best known as the ...

and

Larry Fine Louis Feinberg (October 5, 1902 – January 24, 1975), known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges. Early life Fine was born to a Russian Je ...

. Mousie joined with Healy from 1931 to 1932 after

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 ...

and

had their first split with Ted, and with fellow Healy "stooges" Dick Hakins and Jack Wolfe, appeared in the Broadway shows ''The Gang's All Here'' and ''Billy Rose's Crazy Quilt''. Mousie, with Hakins and Sammy Glasser (aka Sammy Wolfe) rejoined Healy in 1937 for radio and personal appearances, until Healy's death in December 1937. Spike Jones's second wife, singer

, performed in his stage and television shows. Jones had four children: Linda (by his first wife, Patricia), Spike Jr., Leslie Ann, and Gina. Spike Jr. is a producer of live events and television broadcasts. Leslie Ann is the Director of Music and Film Scoring at George Lucas'

Skywalker Ranch Skywalker Ranch is a movie ranch and workplace of film director, writer and producer George Lucas located in a secluded area near Nicasio, California, in Marin County. The ranch is located on Lucas Valley Road, named for an early-20th-century l ...

in Marin County.

Record hits

"Der Fuehrer's Face"

A strike by the American Federation of Musicians in 1942 prevented Jones from making commercial recordings for over two years. He could, however, make records for radio broadcasts. These were released on the Standard Transcriptions label (1941–1946) and have been reissued on a CD compilation called ''(Not) Your Standard Spike Jones Collection''. Recorded just days before the recording ban, Jones scored a huge broadcast hit late in 1942 with "

", a song ridiculing

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

, which followed every use of the word " Heil" with a derisive raspberry sound, as in the repeated phrase " Heil, (raspberry), Heil (raspberry), right in Der Fuehrer's face!".

More spoof songs

The romantic ballad "

Cocktails for Two "Cocktails for Two" is a song from the Big Band era, written by Arthur Johnston and Sam Coslow. The song debuted in the movie '' Murder at the Vanities'' (1934), where it was introduced by the Danish singer and actor Carl Brisson. Duke Ellingto ...

", originally written to evoke an intimate romantic rendezvous, was re-recorded by Spike Jones in 1944 as a raucous, horn-honking, voice-gurgling, hiccuping hymn to the cocktail hour. The Jones version was a huge hit. Other Jones spoofs followed: " Hawaiian War Chant", "

Chloe Chloe (; ), also spelled Chloë, Chlöe, or Chloé, is a feminine name meaning "blooming" or "fertility" in Greek. The name ultimately derives, through Greek, from the Proto-Indo-European root ', which relates to the colors yellow and green. T ...

", " Holiday for Strings", " You Always Hurt the One You Love", " My Old Flame", referring to

Peter Lorre Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...

's voice (impersonated on the recording by

Paul Frees Solomon Hersh "Paul" Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986) was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass, and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during ...

) and eerie scenes in contemporary movies, and many more.

"Ghost Riders"

Spike's parody of

Vaughn Monroe Vaughn Wilton Monroe (October 7, 1911 – May 21, 1973) was an American baritone singer, trumpeter, big band leader, actor, and businessman, who was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for rec ...

's rendition of "

Ghost Riders in the Sky "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend" is a cowboy-styled country/western song written in 1948 by American songwriter, film and television actor Stan Jones. A number of versions were crossover hits on the pop charts in 1949, the most ...

" was performed as if sung by a drunkard and ridiculed Monroe by name in its final stanza:

CHORUS: 'Cause all we hear is "Ghost Riders" sung by Vaughn Monroe.
I.W. HARPER: I can do without his singing.
SIR FREDERICK GAS: But I wish I had his dough!

The official American release edited out the dig at Monroe, because Monroe, a popular RCA Victor recording artist and also a major RCA stockholder, demanded it. The original version was released in the European market in 1949. (A limited number of original 78 rpm pressings containing the first ending were mistakenly released on the West Coast and are a prized rarity today.) The original recording with the unedited ending was later issued on a German RCA LP collection and on some CD and audio tape releases containing the song.

"Trailer Annie"

In the 1940s, Spike also recorded a comedic song titled "Trailer Annie", about a woman who tries to find a job in the United States military.

"All I Want for Christmas"

Jones's recording, " All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth", with a piping vocal by George Rock, was a number-one hit in 1948. (

Dora Bryan Dora May Broadbent, (7 February 1923 – 23 July 2014), known as Dora Bryan, was a British actress of stage, film and television.Beatle".)

Murdering the Classics

Among the recordings Spike Jones and his City Slickers made in the 1940s were many humorous takes on classical music such as the adaptation of

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

's '' Liebestraum No. 3'', played at a breakneck pace on unusual instruments. Others followed: Rossini's ''William Tell Overture'' was rendered on kitchen implements using a horse race as a backdrop, with one of the "horses" in the "race" likely to have inspired the nickname of the lone

chrome yellow __NOTOC__ Chrome yellow is a yellow pigment in paints using monoclinic lead(II) chromate (PbCrO4). It occurs naturally as the mineral crocoite but the mineral ore itself was never used as a pigment for paint. After the French chemist Louis Va ...

-painted SNJ aircraft flown by the U.S. Navy's

Blue Angels The Blue Angels is a flight demonstration squadron of the United States Navy.

aerobatic team's shows in the late 1940s, "Beetle Bomb". In live shows Spike would acknowledge the applause with complete solemnity, saying "Thank you, music lovers." An LP collection of twelve of these "homicides" was released by RCA (on its prestigious Red Seal label) in 1971 as ''Spike Jones Is Murdering the Classics.'' They include such ''tours de force'' as Pal-Yat-Chee ('' Pagliacci''), sung by the Hillbilly humorists Homer and Jethro, Ponchielli's ''

Dance of the Hours ''Dance of the Hours'' (Italian: ') is a short ballet and is the act 3 finale of the opera '' La Gioconda'' composed by Amilcare Ponchielli. It depicts the hours of the day through solo and ensemble dances. The opera was first performed in 1876 ...

'', Tchaikovsky's '' None but the Lonely Heart'', Strauss's '' Blue Danube'' waltz and Bizet's '' Carmen''. In 1944, RCA Victor released "Spike Jones presents for the Kiddies" version of Tchaikovsky's ''Nutcracker Suite'', in three 10 inch 78 rpm records, P-143, arrangement credited to Joe "Country" Washburne with lyrics by Foster Carling. The set was also issued by RCA Victor on three 7 inch vinyl 45 rpm records in 1949 as WP-143 and on one 45rpm "extended play" record, EPA-143 in 1952. An abridged and re-sequenced version of the recording is also included in the aforementioned RCA Red Seal 'classics' album, with the complete original version available on the CD collection ''Spiked: The Music of Spike Jones''.

Radio

After appearing as the house band on ''

The Bob Burns Show ''The Bob Burns Show'' (also known as ''The Arkansas Traveler'') was an American old-time radio comedy program that starred comedian Bob Burns. The program derived from a character Burns performed for five years on Bing Crosby's ''Kraft Music Hal ...

,'' Spike got his own radio show on

, '' The Chase and Sanborn Program'', as Edgar Bergen's summer replacement in 1945.

Frances Langford Julia Frances Newbern-Langford (April 4, 1913 – July 11, 2005) was an American singer and actress who was popular during the Golden Age of Radio and made film and television appearances for over two decades. She was known as the "GI Nightinga ...

was co-host and Groucho Marx was among the guests. The guest list for Jones's 1947–49 CBS program for

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...

(originally ''The Spotlight Revue'', retitled ''The Spike Jones Show'' for its final season) included Frankie Laine,

Mel Torme Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to: Biology * Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL) * National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL People * Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...

, Peter Lorre,

Don Ameche Don Ameche (; born Dominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, stock, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which ...

and

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

. Frank Sinatra appeared on the show twice October 1, 1948 & December 3, 1948 and Lassie in May 1949. Jones's resident "girlsinger" during this period was

Dorothy Shay Dorothy Shay (April 11, 1921 – October 22, 1978) was an American popular comedic recording artist in the late 1940s and early 1950s, who later became a character actress. She was known as the "Park Avenue Hillbillie". Early life Shay was bor ...

, "The Park Avenue Hillbillie." One of the announcers on Jones's CBS show was the young Mike Wallace. Writers included Eddie Maxwell, Eddie Brandt and

Jay Sommers Jay Sommers (January 3, 1917September 25, 1985) was an American producer, director and comedy writer whose career spanned four decades. He wrote more than 90 television comedy episodes, produced 63, and was creator and producer of the ''Green Ac ...

. The final program in the series was broadcast in June 25, 1949.

Spike Jones and His Other Orchestra

While Jones enjoyed the fame and prosperity, he was annoyed that nobody seemed to see beyond the craziness. Determined to show the world that he was capable of producing legitimate "pretty" music, he formed a second group in 1946. Spike Jones and His Other Orchestra played lush arrangements of dance hits. This alternate group played nightclub engagements and was an artistic success, but the paying public preferred the City Slickers and stayed away. Jones wound up paying some of the band's expenses out of his own pocket. Some of the City Slickers band members appeared and recorded with the Other Orchestra, but most of the Other Orchestra personnel consisted of "serious," accomplished studio musicians from the Los Angeles area. The one outstanding recording by the Other Orchestra is "Laura", which features a serious first half (played exquisitely by the Other Orchestra) and a manic second half (played hilariously by the City Slickers). Jones's son, Spike Jones Jr., called attention to the precision of his father's most outlandish musical arrangements: "One of the things that people don't realize about Dad's kind of music is, when you replace a C-sharp with a gunshot, it has to be a C-sharp gunshot or it sounds awful."

Movies

In 1940, Jones had an uncredited bandleading part in the

Dead End Kids The Dead End Kids were a group of young actors from New York City who appeared in Sidney Kingsley's Broadway play '' Dead End'' in 1935. In 1937, producer Samuel Goldwyn brought all of them to Hollywood and turned the play into a film. They prov ...

film ''Give Us Wings'', appearing on camera for about four seconds. As the band's fame grew, Hollywood producers hired the Slickers as a specialty act for feature films, including '' Thank Your Lucky Stars'' (1943), ''

Meet the People ''Meet the People'' (1944) is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film, musical comedy film made, and set, during World War II, and starring Lucille Ball and Dick Powell and featuring Virginia O'Brien, Bert Lahr, Rags Ragland and June Allyson. The film ...

'' (1944), '' Bring on the Girls'' (1945), ''

Breakfast in Hollywood ''Breakfast in Hollywood'' is a morning radio show created and hosted by Tom Breneman broadcast from 1941 to 1948 on three different radio networks: NBC, ABC and Mutual. These unscripted shows were spontaneous and involved much audience partici ...

'' (1946) and ''

Variety Girl ''Variety Girl'' is a 1947 American musical comedy film directed by George Marshall and starring Mary Hatcher, Olga San Juan, DeForest Kelley, Frank Ferguson, Glenn Tryon, Nella Walker, Torben Meyer, Jack Norton, and William Demarest. It was ...

'' (1947). Jones was set to team with Abbott and Costello for a 1954

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

comedy, but when Lou Costello withdrew for medical reasons, Universal replaced the comedy team with look-alikes

Hugh O'Brian Hugh O'Brian (born Hugh Charles Krampe; April 19, 1925 – September 5, 2016) was an American actor and humanitarian, best known for his starring roles in the ABC Western television series ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp'' (1955–1 ...

and

Buddy Hackett Buddy Hackett (born Leonard Hacker; August 31, 1924 – June 30, 2003) was an American actor, comedian and singer. His best remembered roles include Marcellus Washburn in ''The Music Man'' (1962), Benjy Benjamin in ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Wo ...

, and promoted Jones to the leading role. The finished film, '' Fireman Save My Child'', turned out to be Spike Jones's only top-billed theatrical movie.

Soundies

In 1942, the Jones gang worked on numerous

Soundies Soundies are three-minute American musical films, and each short displays a performance. The shorts were produced between 1940 and 1946 and have been referred to as "precursors to music videos" by UCLA. Soundies exhibited a variety of musical gen ...

, musical shorts similar to later

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

s which were shown on coin-operated projectors in small nightclubs, arcades, malt shops, and taverns. The band appeared on camera under their own name in four of the Soundies ("Clink! Clink! Another Drink", "Pass the Biscuits, Mirandy", "The Sheik of Araby", and "Blacksmith Song"), and, according to musicologist Mark Cantor, provided background music for at least thirteen others. Mel Blanc, the voice of

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring role ...

and other

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink" (reissued in 1949 as "The Clink! Clink! Polka").

Television

Spike Jones Bill Dana Helen Grayco Spike Jones Show 1960

Jones saw the potential of television and filmed two half-hour pilot films, ''Foreign Legion'' and ''Wild Bill Hiccup'', in the summer of 1950. Veteran comedy director Eddie Cline worked on both, but neither was successful. The band fared much better on live television, where their spontaneous antics and crazy visual gags guaranteed the viewers a good time. Spike usually dressed in a suit with an enormous check pattern and was seen leaping around playing a washboard, cowbells, a suite of klaxons and foghorns, then xylophone, then shooting a pistol. The band starred in variety shows, such as ''

The Colgate Comedy Hour ''The Colgate Comedy Hour'' was an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show featured many notable comedians and entertainers of the era as guest stars. Many of the scripts of the series ...

'' (1951, 1955) and their ''

All Star Revue ''Four Star Revue'' (also known as ''All Star Revue'' and ''All Star Summer Revue'') was an American variety/comedy program that aired on NBC from October 4, 1950, to December 26, 1953. The series originally starred four celebrities, Ed Wynn, Dan ...

'' (1952) before being given his own slot by

, '' The Spike Jones Show'', which aired early in 1954, and Club Oasis on NBC, in the summer of 1958; and by CBS, as ''The Spike Jones Show,'' in the summers of 1957, 1960, and 1961. Jones and his City Slickers also appeared on

's ''

The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford ''The Ford Show'' (also known as ''The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford'' and ''The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show'') is an American variety program, starring singer and folk humorist Tennessee Ernie Ford, which aired on NBC on Thursday eveni ...

'' in the episode which aired on November 15, 1956. In 1990, BBC2 screened six compilation shows from these broadcasts; they were subsequently aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

stations.

Later years

The rapid decline of big bands immediately following the end of World War II and the rise of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

in the early 1950s had a marked effect on Spike Jones's repertoire. Early rock songs were ''already'' novelties, and Jones could not spoof them the same way he had lampooned "Cocktails for Two", "Laura" or "Chloe". He played rock music for laughs when he presented "for the first time on television, the bottom half of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

!" This was the cue for a pair of pants—inhabited by dwarf actor Billy Barty—to scamper across the stage. Jones was always prepared to adapt to changing tastes. In 1950, when America was nostalgically looking back at the 1920s, Jones recorded a straight album of Charleston arrangements. In 1953, he responded to the growing market for children's records, with tunes aimed directly at kids (like "Socko, the Smallest Snowball"). Over the years, Jones had become increasingly unhappy at RCA Victor due to management censoring his recordings and other matters, and he left the label in 1955. His later recordings were issued by Verve,

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

and

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

In 1956, Jones supervised an album of Christmas songs, many of which were performed seriously. In 1957, noting the television success of

Lawrence Welk Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) was an American accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted the '' The Lawrence Welk Show'' from 1951 to 1982. His style came to be known as "champagne music" to his radio, te ...

and his dance band, he revamped his own act for television. Gone was the old City Slickers mayhem, replaced by a more straightforward big-band sound, with tongue-in-cheek comic moments. The new band was known as Spike Jones and the Band that Plays for Fun. The last record credited to the City Slickers was the LP '' Dinner Music for People Who Aren't Very Hungry''. Spoken-word comedy (

Bob Newhart George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery style. Newhart came to prominence in 1960 when his album of comedic monologues, ''The Button-Down Mi ...

Mort Sahl Morton Lyon Sahl (May 11, 1927 – October 26, 2021) was a Canadian-born American comedian, actor, and social satirist, considered the first modern comedian. Sahl pioneered a style of social satire that pokes fun at political and current event t ...

, Stan Freberg, Shelley Berman) was the current trend in comedy records. Spike Jones adapted to this, too; most of his later albums are spoken-word comedy, including the horror-genre sendup '' Spike Jones in Stereo'' (1959) and the send-up of television programs of the period in ''Omnibust'' (1960). Jones remained topical to the last: his final group, Spike Jones's New Band, recorded four LPs of brassy renditions of pop-folk tunes of the 1960s (including "Washington Square" and "The Ballad of Jed Clampett"). One of his New Band tracks in 1964 was a cover of " Dominique", a recent hit by

The Singing Nun Jeanne-Paule Marie "Jeannine" Deckers (17 October 1933 – 29 March 1985), better known as Sœur Sourire () and often called The Singing Nun in English-speaking countries, was a Belgian singer-songwriter and a member of the Dominican Order in ...

, in which he not only plays part of the melody on a banjo but melds the melody successfully with "

When the Saints Go Marching In "When the Saints Go Marching In", often referred to as simply "The Saints", is a traditional black spiritual. It originated as a Christian hymn and is often played by jazz bands. This song was famously recorded on May 13, 1938, by Louis Armstron ...

" Jones was a lifelong heavy smoker, reportedly 4-5 packs a day, and eventually he developed breathing problems, including emphysema. Never the picture of health, his emphysema advanced to the point where he used an oxygen tank both on and offstage and he was confined to a seat behind his drum set while performing. In spite of his illness, he continued smoking until his death on May 1, 1965, at the age of 53. He is interred in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California. His second wife,

, died as a result of cancer in Los Angeles on August 20, 2022, at the age of 97.

Influence and legacy

There is a clear line of influence from

Harry Reser Harrison Franklin Reser (January 17, 1896 – September 27, 1965) was an American banjo player and bandleader. Born in Piqua, Ohio, Reser was best known as the leader of The Clicquot Club Eskimos. He was regarded by some as the best banjoist of ...

's 1920s hot-comic "Six Jumping Jacks" band (whose drummer and vocalist was the distinctive Tom Stacks, "The Voice With a Smile"), the Hoosier Hot Shots, Freddie Fisher and his Schnickelfritzers, and the

Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...

to Spike Jones — and to Stan Freberg,

Gerard Hoffnung Gerard Hoffnung (22 March 192528 September 1959) was an artist and musician, best known for his humorous works. Raised in Germany, Hoffnung was brought to London as a boy, to escape the Nazis. Over the next two decades in England, he became kno ...

Peter Schickele "Professor" Peter Schickele (; born July 17, 1935) is an American composer, musical educator, and parodist, best known for comedy albums featuring his music, but which he presents as being composed by the fictional P. D. Q. Bach. He also hosted ...

P.D.Q. Bach P. D. Q. Bach is a fictional composer invented by the American musical satirist Peter Schickele, who developed a five-decade-long career performing the "discovered" works of the "only forgotten son" of the Bach family. Schickele's music combines ...

, The Goons,

Joe Raposo Joseph Guilherme Raposo, OIH (February 8, 1937 – February 5, 1989) was an American composer, songwriter, pianist, singer and lyricist, best known for his work on the children's television series ''Sesame Street'', for which he wrote the theme ...

, Mr. Bungle, Frank Zappa,

George Maciunas George Maciunas (; lt, Jurgis Mačiūnas; November 8, 1931 – May 9, 1978) was a Lithuanian American artist, born in Kaunas. A founding member and the central coordinator of Fluxus, an international community of artists, architects, composers ...

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as The Bonzo Dog Band or The Bonzos) was created by a group of British art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelia with surreal humour and avant-garde ar ...

, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, and "Weird Al" Yankovic. According to David Wild's review in Rolling Stone Magazine, Elvis Costello's 1989 Album "

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...

" was named partly in tribute to Jones. Syndicated radio personality

Dr. Demento Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941), known professionally as Dr. Demento, is an American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograp ...

regularly features Jones' records on his program of comedy and novelty tracks. Jones is mentioned in The Band's song, " Up on Cripple Creek". (The song's protagonist's paramour states of Jones: "I can't take the way he sings, but I love to hear him talk.") Novelist

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...

is an admirer and wrote the liner notes for a 1994 CD reissue, ''Spiked!'' (BMG Catalyst). A scene in the romantic comedy ''

I.Q. An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. The abbreviation "IQ" was coined by the psychologist William Stern for the German term ''Intelligenzq ...

'' shows a man demonstrating the sound of his new stereo to

Meg Ryan Meg Ryan (born Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra; November 19, 1961) is an American actress. She began her acting career in 1981 when she made her acting debut in the drama film ''Rich and Famous''. She later joined the cast of the CBS soap oper ...

's character by playing a Jones recording. In the 1948 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short '' Back Alley Oproar'', a caterwauling Sylvester the Cat does a Spike Jones-inspired solo finale cover of " Angel in Disguise" by opening with a brief, serious-sounding introduction before immediately breaking into a jazzy rendition featuring a collection of crazy sound effects produced by firing guns, breaking bottles and exploding firecrackers among other sounds, much to Elmer Fudd's annoyance. Spike Jones is referenced several times in the American TV series ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. Th ...

''. In season 2, episode 5 "Dr. Pierce and Mr. Hyde", an exhausted Hawkeye sings a line of "Der Fuehrer's Face" in reference to the great songs that came out of World War II; in the season 8 episode " "Good-Bye, Radar: Part 1," when

Radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

returns from leave in Tokyo to a generator-less 4077th, he calls up Sparky to unsuccessfully bargain for a new one with a variety of items which included some Spike Jones records and in the season 11 episode "Foreign Affairs," visiting French Red Cross nurse Martine LeClerc (

Melinda Mullins Melinda Mullins (born April 20, 1958) is an American film, television and theatre actress. Early life and education She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in the Romance languages from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, i ...

), who develops a warm if brief affair with Charles Emerson Winchester III tells him that she's a huge fan of Spike Jones, which inspires him to admit, in a rare confession, secretly loving Tom & Jerry cartoons. In 1974,

Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer, specializing in electric bass, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (since 1 ...

(future bass player for

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

), recording under the name, The Clams, released a Spike Jones tribute of him giving the songs " Close To You" by

The Carpenters The Carpenters (officially known as Carpenters) were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinct, soft, musical style, combining Karen's contr ...

and "

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a 1957 folk song written by British political singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger, who later became his wife. At the time, the couple were lovers, although MacColl was still married to his ...

" by

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (born February 10, 1937) is a retired American singer. She topped the ''Billboard'' charts with the No. 1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song", " Feel Like Makin' Love", "Wher ...

, the Jones treatment. In 1986, the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

synthpop group

Telex The telex network is a station-to-station switched network of teleprinters similar to a telephone network, using telegraph-grade connecting circuits for two-way text-based messages. Telex was a major method of sending written messages electroni ...

paid homage to Spike Jones in their album ''Looney Tunes'', with a song named after him. The intro of that song is a part of the intro from "

Camptown Races "Gwine to Run All Night, or De Camptown Races" (popularly known simply as "Camptown Races") is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster (1826–1864). () It was published in February 1850 by F. D. Benteen of Baltimore, Maryland, and Benteen published ...

". In 1997, singers

Artie Schroeck Arthur Bruce Schroeck (born October 10, 1938) is an American musician, best known for arranging and composing popular songs and jingles. He has won multiple Clio Awards, such as when he composed the music for the 1981 ABC-TV promo "Now is t ...

and Linda November directed a production in Atlantic City titled "The New City Slickers Present a Tribute to Spike Jones", with a band that attempted to re-create the style and humor of Jones's music. Both

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Colonial India, where he spent his ...

and Spike Jonze were nick-named in reference to Jones.

Discography

* ''Spike Jones Plays the Charleston'' (1950) * ''Bottoms Up, Polka'' (1952) * ''Spike Jones Murders Carmen and Kids the Classics'' (1953) * '' Dinner Music For People Who Aren't Very Hungry'' (1956) * ''Spike Jones Presents a Xmas Spectacular'' (1956) (reissued as ''It's a Spike Jones Christmas'' and ''Let's Sing a Song of Christmas'') * ''Hi Fi Polka Party'' (1957) * '' Spike Jones in Stereo'' (1959) (reissued as ''Spike Jones in Hi Fi'') * ''Omnibust'' (1960) * ''60 Years of "Music America Hates Best"'' (1960) * ''Thank You Music Lovers!'' (1960) (reissued as ''The Best of Spike Jones'' in 1967 and 1975) * ''Rides, Rapes and Rescues'' (1960) * ''Washington Square'' (1963) * ''Spike Jones New Band'' (1964) * ''My Man'' (1964) * ''The New Band of Spike Jones Plays Hank Williams Hits'' (1965) * ''Spike Jones Is Murdering the Classics'' (1971) * ''The Best of Spike Jones Volume 2'' (1977) * ''Spike Jones and His Other Orchestra, 1946'' (Hindsight Records HUK185 1982) * ''Never Trust a city Slicker: Standard Transcription Discs 1942–1944'' (Harlequin HQ2042 1986)

Select singles

References

Other sources

External links

* *
Red Hot Jazz
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Spike 1911 births 1965 deaths American bandleaders American comedy musicians American novelty song performers American parodists Big band bandleaders Parody musicians RCA Victor artists Liberty Records artists Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City Deaths from emphysema Musicians from Long Beach, California 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American comedians American music arrangers Comedians from Los Angeles County Long Beach Polytechnic High School alumni