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Gene Austin
Lemeul Eugene Lucas (June 24, 1900 – January 24, 1972), better known by his stage name Gene Austin, was an American singer and songwriter, one of the early " crooners". His recording of " My Blue Heaven" sold over 5 million copies and was for a while the largest selling record of all time. His 1920s compositions " When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" and " The Lonesome Road" became pop and jazz standards. Early life Austin was born as Lemeul Eugene Lucas in Gainesville, Texas (north of Dallas), to Nova Lucas and the former Serena Belle Harrell. He took the name Gene Austin from his stepfather Jim Austin, a blacksmith. Austin grew up in Minden, Louisiana. In Minden, he learned to play piano and guitar. He ran away from home at 15. He attended a vaudeville act in Houston, Texas, where the audience was allowed to come to the stage and sing. On a dare from his friends, Austin took the stage and sang for the first time since singing as a Southern Baptist choir boy. The audience re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
My Blue Heaven (song)
"My Blue Heaven" is a popular song written by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by George A. Whiting. The song was used in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927. It has become part of various fake book collections. Its musical composition entered the public domain on January 1, 2023. In 1928, "My Blue Heaven" became a huge hit on Victor 20964-A for crooner Gene Austin, accompanied by the Victor Orchestra as directed by Nat Shilkret. It charted for 26 weeks, stayed at number one for 13, and sold over five million copies worldwide. Victor 20964-A was recorded on September 14, 1927 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978. The recording was reissued as Victor 24573 and has been reissued on several commercially available CDs.Shilkret, Nathaniel, ed. Shell, Niel and Barbara Shilkret, ''Nathaniel Shilkret: Sixty Years in the Music Business'', Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, 2005, pp 75, 237, 257, 265 and 272. Background The music for "My Blue Heaven" was written in 1924: " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition or light poetry, interspersed with songs and dances. Vaudeville became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, while changing over time. In some ways analogous to music hall from Victorian Britain, a typical North American vaudeville performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts have included popular and classical musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, ventriloquists, strongmen, female and male impersonators, acrobats, clowns, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and films. A vaudeville performer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
How Come You Do Me Like You Do
"How Come You Do Me Like You Do?" is a song written by vaudeville comedy duo Gene Austin and Roy Bergere in 1924. It has later been covered by many artists, and is considered a jazz standard. Austin and Bergere were a vaudeville comedy duet act performing in the East and Midwest. "How Come You Do Me Like You Do?" became a national hit in 1924 for Marion Harris. Austin would later achieve even greater fame with his recording of " My Blue Heaven" in 1927. The song has been covered by many artists, including Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Eddie Condon, Duke Ellington, Lead Belly, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Fletcher Henderson, George Shearing, Jane Powell, Teddi King, and Old Man Markley. A recording by Lisa Kirk with orchestra was made at Manhattan Center, New York City, on July 16, 1952. It was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-4869. Jane Powell included the song in her album ''Can't We Be Friends'' (1956). Julie London included the song in her album '' Swi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety (magazine)
''Variety'' is an American trade magazine owned by Penske Media Corporation. It was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933, ''Daily Variety'' was launched, based in Los Angeles, to cover the film industry, motion-picture industry. ''Variety'' website features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, plus a credits database, production charts and film calendar. History Founding ''Variety'' has been published since December 16, 1905, when it was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering theater and vaudeville, with its headquarters in New York City. Silverman had been fired by ''The Morning Telegraph'' in 1905 for panning an act which had taken out an advert for $50. He subsequently decided to start his own publication that, he said, would "not be influenced by advertising." With a loan of $1,500 from his father-in-law, he launched ''Variety'' as publisher and editor. In additi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy "Uke" Carpenter
William Arnold Costello (February 2, 1898 – October 9, 1971), commonly known as "Red Pepper Sam", was an American actor and the original voice of ''Popeye, Popeye the Sailor'' in animated cartoons. Life and career Costello was born on February 2, 1898, in Rhode Island to William E. and Susan B. (née Steere) Costello. In addition to voice acting, he worked as a vaudeville performer under the name "Red Pepper Sam". In the early 1930s, he also played drums with the Fred Waring Orchestra. Costello had worked with the Fleischer Studios as the voice of Gus the Gorilla on the Betty Boop radio show, and they felt that the raspy voice he had used for that character would work for a series of cartoons based on Popeye (created by E.C. Segar) they were planning. He was cast to provide the voice for the first Popeye cartoon, 1933's ''Popeye the Sailor''. Costello then appeared in the next 24 Popeye shorts before he was fired by the Fleischers, allegedly over "bad behavior". Although ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yes Sir, That's My Baby (song)
"Yes Sir, That's My Baby" is a popular U.S. song from 1925. The music was written by Walter Donaldson and the lyrics by Gus Kahn. Background The chorus begins, "Yes sir, that's my baby, no sir, don't mean maybe. Yes sir, that's my baby now." According to one source, the song was written when Donaldson and Kahn were visiting Eddie Cantor. Cantor's daughter Marjorie brought out one of her favorite toys, a walking mechanical pig. She wound it up and it started walking in rhythm while two notes kept coming from the little creature. Kahn was inspired and started working lyrics to these notes in rhythm with the pig, coming up with the title and opening line of the chorus in short order. 1925 recordings Successful 1925 recordings include: * Margaret Young * Ace Brigode *Gene Austin with Billy "Uke" Carpenter *Blossom Seeley *Ben Bernie * Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra (vocal by Carleton Coon). * Lee Morse Later recordings The song is a standard that has been recorded b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathaniel Shilkret
Nathaniel Shilkret (December 25, 1889 – February 18, 1982) was an American musician, composer, conductor and musical director. Early career Shilkret (originally named Natan Schüldkraut) was born in New York City, United States, to parents who emigrated from Lemberg (now Lviv in Ukraine).Shilkret, Nathaniel, ed. Shell, Niel and Barbara Shilkret, ''Nathaniel Shilkret: Sixty Years in the Music Business'', Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, 2005. Shilkret, Nathaniel, Barbara Shilkret, and Niel Shell, ''Feast or Famine: Sixty Years in the Music Business'', archival edition of Shilkret autobiography, 2001 (copies deposited in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, The City College of New York Archival Library, The New York Philharmonic Archives, The Victor Archives (SONY)). His father played a number of instruments, and made certain that Nat and his three brothers were all accomplished musicians at an early age. Older brother Lew Shilkret was a fine pianist who also w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aileen Stanley
Aileen Stanley, born Maude Elsie Aileen Muggeridge (March 21, 1893 – March 24, 1982), was one of the most popular American singers of the early 1920s. Early life Born in Chicago, Illinois, Stanley was the youngest of four children of English parents Robert S. and Maria (née Capewell) Muggeridge who had immigrated from England in 1887. Her sister Elsie Muggeridge, died of typhoid in August 1892, passing it on to their father who died of the disease seven months before Aileen's birth. Her widowed mother resided in Chicago along with her surviving siblings, brothers Stanley and Robert Jr. Performances and recordings From childhood, she sang and danced in vaudeville with her older brother Stanley as Stanley and Aileen, with the encouragement of their widowed mother. After her brother left the act, Aileen started performing solo, forming her stage name by reversing the name of the old family billing. Stanley performed in vaudeville and cabarets. In 1920 she was a hit in New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally, it referred to a specific location on West 28th Street, between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues in the List of New York City neighborhoods#Between Midtown and Downtown, Flower District of Manhattan, as commemorated by Media:Tin Pan Alley plaque crop.jpg, a plaque on 28th Street between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway and Sixth. Several buildings on Tin Pan Alley are protected as New York City designated landmark, New York City designated landmarks, and the section of 28th Street from Fifth to Sixth Avenue is also officially co-named Tin Pan Alley. The start of Tin Pan Alley is usually dated to about 1885, when a number of music publishers set up shop in the same district of Manhattan. The end of Tin Pan Alley is less clear cut. Some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fats Waller
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star in the jazz and swing eras, he toured internationally, achieving critical and commercial success in the United States and Europe. His best-known compositions, " Ain't Misbehavin'" and " Honeysuckle Rose", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999, respectively. Waller copyrighted over 400 songs, many of them co-written with his closest collaborator, Andy Razaf. Razaf described his partner as "the soul of melody... a man who made the piano sing... both big in body and in mind... known for his generosity... a bubbling bundle of joy". It is likely that he composed many more popular songs than he has been credited with. When in financial difficulties, he had a habit of selling songs to other writers and performers who clai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ramona (1928 Song)
"Ramona" is a 1928 song with lyrics by L. Wolfe Gilbert and music by Mabel Wayne. Composed for the 1928 feature film ''Ramona'', it was the first theme song written for the movies. The original lyrics and music of the song entered the public domain in the United States in 2024. History It was created as the title song for publicity to the 1928 silent adventure film-romance ''Ramona'' (based on the 1884 novel ''Ramona'' by Helen Hunt Jackson). The song was used again in the 1936 remake of the movie. ''Ramona'' was recorded in 1928 by Dolores del Río for the film. Gene Austin's 1928 version charted for 17 weeks, with eight weeks at No. 1, and easily topped a million in sales. Recordings *On record it was a popular hit, usually performed as a romantic ballad, sometimes with a Latin inflection by "Whispering" Jack Smith and, in an idiosyncratic arrangement recorded on 4 January 1928, the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. The Paul Whiteman version, Victor 21214-A, featuring Bix Beiderbeck ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
