Waring's Pennsylvanians was a dance band founded at Penn State University by

Fred Waring Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, choral director, and radio and television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to ...

. First named the Collegians, the group was formed in 1918 at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

by the brothers Fred and Tom Waring and their friends Freddy Buck and Poley McClintock. They had a hit in 1925 with the song " Collegiate". Other popular novelty songs were " I've Never Seen a Straight Banana" and "I Wonder How I Look When I'm Asleep". In 1929 they appeared in the movie ''

Syncopation In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat (music), off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of ...

'' and on stage in ''The New Yorkers'' the following year. Their popularity increased in the 1930s with their presence in radio and movies. During the 1940s, they performed on Broadway and at the

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a perio ...

and became the first band to broadcast its own TV show. From 1950 to 1970, they became a corporation that branched into workshops, real estate, and a magazine.

References

External links

Fred Waring Music Library
at Penn State University Library
Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians
at the Red Hot Jazz Archive {{Authority control Dixieland ensembles Dance bands Musical groups established in 1918 Jazz ensembles from Pennsylvania