Earl Burtnett (February 7, 1896 – January 2, 1936)Earl Burtnett at ParlorSongs.com
/ref> was an American bandleader, songwriter and pianist who was popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

Life and career

Burtnett was born in

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He attended

Pennsylvania State College 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 campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

but left after two years. He began having songs published, including " Canadian Capers" (1915) and "Down Honolulu Way" (1916), and in 1918 joined

Art Hickman Arthur George Hickman (June 13, 1886 – January 16, 1930) was a drummer, pianist, and bandleader of one of the first big bands. Career Hickman founded a sextet in San Francisco in 1913. The band's first job was playing at training camp for the b ...

's touring band. Shortly afterwards, promoter Florenz Ziegfeld heard the band in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, and featured them on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in the ''

Ziegfeld Follies of 1920 The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' was a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934 and 1936. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air ...

''.Earl Burtnett at Big Bands Database
/ref>Earl Burtnett, ''Lyrics Vault''
Retrieved 5 November 2022 After they moved back to California, Burtnett continued as lead arranger and writer for the Hickman orchestra, his successful songs including "

Sleep Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a de ...

", "Leave Me With A Smile" (1921), "Mandalay" (1924), and "If I Should Lose You" (1927). In 1929, he took over as band leader on Hickman's retirement. His band then had a residency at the Biltmore Hotel in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, and recorded 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 ...

backing the Biltmore Trio. They also appeared in two films, ''The Flying Fool'' (1929) and ''The Party Girl'' (1930), billed as "Earl Burtnett and his Hotel Biltmore Orchestra and Trio". They played across the country in the early and mid 1930s, with periods at both the

Rice Hotel The Rice, formerly the Rice Hotel, is an historic building at 909 Texas Avenue in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The current building is the third to occupy the site. It was completed in 1913 on the site of the former Capitol buildin ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

(from 1933), and later at the Drake Hotel and other venues in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where their concerts were often broadcast on WGN radio. Burtnett recorded for Columbia from 1926 through 1928 when he signed with Brunswick and recorded prolifically through mid-1931. There was a further session in Chicago in May, 1934 for Columbia. During that break, his band was apparently making transcriptions, but none have ever turned up.

Death

On Christmas Eve, 1935, Burtnett underwent an appendectomy at Illinois Central Hospital in Chicago. However,

peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and cover of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One part o ...

set in after the operation, and he died on January 2, 1936, at the age of 39.

References

External links

* * Sheet music fo
"Leave Me With a Smile"
New York: Waterson-Berlin & Snyder Co. Fro
Wade Hall Sheet Music Collection

Earl Burtnett recordings
at the Discography of American Historical Recordings. {{DEFAULTSORT:Burtnett, Earl American bandleaders Songwriters from Pennsylvania Musicians from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 1896 births 1936 deaths Big band bandleaders Pennsylvania State University alumni Death in Illinois 20th-century American conductors (music)