Tony Pastor (bandleader)
''For the Victorian era impresario of the same name, see Tony Pastor.'' Tony Pastor (born Antonio Pestritto; October 26, 1907 – October 31, 1969) was an Italian American novelty singer and tenor saxophonist. Career He was born in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. Pastor began playing saxophone when he was sixteen. He played tenor sax with John Cavallaro (1927), Irving Aaronson (1928–30), and Austin Wylie (1930), then opened his own night club in Hartford, Connecticut and led the band there for three years. After that, he played with Smith Ballew (1934), Joe Venuti, Paul Fredricks, Vincent Lopez, and Artie Shaw's first (1936–37) and second (1937–39) orchestras. In November 1939, when Shaw walked off the bandstand in the Cafe Rouge located inside the Hotel Pennsylvania (essentially quitting his own band), Pastor was soon coaxed into leading his own big band, which he did from 1939 to 1959. Radio Soon after going out on his own, Pastor and his orchestra played ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tony Pastor
Antonio Pastor (May 28, 1837 – August 26, 1908) was an American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner who became one of the founding forces behind American vaudeville in the mid-to-late-nineteenth century. He was sometimes referred to as the "Dean of Vaudeville". The strongest elements of his entertainments were an almost- jingoistic brand of United States patriotism and a strong commitment to attracting a "mixed-gender" audience, the latter being something revolutionary in the male-oriented variety halls of the mid-century. Although he was a performer and producer, Pastor is best known for "cleaning up" bawdy variety acts and presenting a clean and family-friendly genre called vaudeville. A collection of his papers is maintained at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas in Austin, and in the archives of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Life and career Family Antonio Pastor, father of Tony, was a fruit-sel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Smith Ballew
Sykes "Smith" Ballew (January 21, 1902 – May 2, 1984) was an American actor, sophisticated singer, orchestra leader, and a western singing star. He also was billed as Buddy Blue, Charles Roberts, and Billy Smith. Early years The son of William Young Ballew and his wife, May Elizabeth (Smith) Ballew, he was born in Palestine, Texas in 1902, where he grew up attending local schools. He attended Sherman High School, Austin College and the University of Texas. During his time at Austin College, Ballew and his brother, Charlie, formed the Texasjazzers orchestra. Before that, he organized Jimmie's Joys jazz combo at the university, playing banjo and singing with the group. Career Starting in the late 1920s, he became one of the most recognizable vocalists on hundreds of dance band and jazz records, based in New York City. During this time, Ballew along with Scrappy Lambert, Dick Robertson, and Chick Bullock were the most prolific studio vocalists. In 1929, he organized the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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American Jazz Singers
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label that was previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1969 Deaths
1969 (Roman numerals, MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1960s decade. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 – Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to London's Gatwick Airport, killing 50 of the 62 people on board and two of the home's occupants. * January 14 – USS Enterprise fire, An explosion aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65), USS ''Enterprise'' near Hawaii kills 28 and injures 314. * January 16 – First successful docking of two crewed spacecraft in orbit and the first transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another (by a space walk) between Soviet craft Soyuz 5 and Soyuz 4. * January 18 – Failure of Soyuz 5's service module to separ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1907 Births
Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 9 – The " Mud March", the first large procession organised by The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies ( NUWSS), takes place in London. * February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco. * February 12 – The steamship ''Larchmont'' collides with the ''Harry Hamilton'' in Long Island Sound; 183 lives are lost. * February 16 – SKF, a worldwide mechanical parts manufacturing brand (mainly, bearings and seals), is founded in Gothenburg, Sweden. * February 21 – The English mail steamship ''Berlin'' is wrecked off the Hook of Holland; 142 lives are lost. * February 24 – The Austrian Lloyd steamship ''Imperatrix'', from Trieste to Bombay, is wrecked on Cape of Crete and sinks; 137 lives are lost. March * March ** The steamship ''Congo'' collide ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive with a respective county. The city is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the United States by both population and urban area. New York is a global center of finance and commerce, culture, technology, entertainment and media, academics, and scientific output, the arts and fashion, and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations, international diplomacy. With an estimated population in 2024 of 8,478,072 distributed over , the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hotel Pennsylvania
The Hotel Pennsylvania was a hotel at 401 Seventh Avenue (15 Penn Plaza) in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, across from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden. Opened in 1919, it was once the largest hotel in the world. It remained the city's fourth-largest until it closed permanently on April 1, 2020. After years of unsuccessful preservation battles, it was demolished in 2023. The hotel is to be replaced by 15 Penn Plaza, a 68-story tower. The Pennsylvania Railroad announced the construction of a hotel on Seventh Avenue in 1916, six years after completing the original New York Penn Station. The Hotel Pennsylvania was formally dedicated on January 25, 1919, and was originally managed by Ellsworth M. Statler of the Statler Hotels chain. Statler Hotels agreed to buy the property in 1948, and the Pennsylvania was renamed the Hotel Statler. The hotel became The Statler Hilton in 1958, four years after Hilton Hotels & Resorts acquired it. The developer William Zecke ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cafe Rouge (Hotel Pennsylvania)
The Café Rouge was constructed as the main restaurant at Hotel Pennsylvania in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It achieved its greatest fame as a nightclub. Construction The Café Rouge (as well as the rest of the interior and exterior of Hotel Pennsylvania) was designed by the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. It measured 58 feet by 142 feet (17.7 × 43.3 m), with a ceiling height of 22 feet (6.7 m), making the Café Rouge the largest of its kind anywhere at the time of its creation. Due to the enormous size of the room, the Café was divided into three sections. There was a main central floor level and two terraces on either side of the central space. The terraces were raised 18 inches (46 cm) above the central floor level, whose purpose being to break up the monotony of the large floor space. The terrace sections were available to guests upon request who wanted a view of the entire scene of activities in the main portio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Artie Shaw
Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led one of the United States' most popular big bands in the late 1930s through the early 1940s. Though he had numerous hit records, he was perhaps best known for his 1938 recording of Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine". Before the release of "Beguine", Shaw and his fledgling band had languished in relative obscurity for over two years and, after its release, he became a major pop artist in short order. The record eventually became one of the era's defining recordings. Musically restless, Shaw was also an early proponent of what became known much later as Third Stream music, which blended elements of classical and jazz forms and traditions. His music influenced other musicians, such as Monty Norman in England, whose "James Bond Theme" features a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |