Horace Heidt (May 21, 1901 – December 1, 1986) was an American pianist,

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

leader, and radio and television personality. His band, Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights, toured

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 drama ...

and performed on radio and television during the 1930s and 1940s.

Early years

Born in

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is built on an informal archipe ...

, Heidt attended

Culver Academies Culver Academies is a college preparatory boarding school in Culver, Indiana, which is composed of three entities: Culver Military Academy (CMA) for boys, Culver Girls Academy (CGA), and the Culver Summer Schools and Camps (CSSC). Culver Militar ...

. At the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, he was a guard on the football team. A broken back suffered in a practice session caused him to give up football, leading him to turn his attention to music. He and some classmates formed a band, The Californians.

Career

From 1932 to 1953, he was one of the more popular radio bandleaders, heard on both NBC and CBS in a variety of different formats over the years. He began on the NBC Blue Network in 1932 with Shell Oil's ''Ship of Joy'' and ''Answers by the Dancers''. During the late 1930s on CBS he did ''Captain Dobbsie's Ship of Joy'' and ''Horace Heidt's Alemite Brigadiers'' before returning to NBC for 1937–39 broadcasts. It was at this time that the band featured guitarist

Alvino Rey Alvin McBurney (July 1, 1908 – February 24, 2004), known by his stage name Alvino Rey, was an American jazz guitarist and bandleader. Career Alvin McBurney was born in Oakland, California, United States, but grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Early i ...

and

The King Sisters The King Sisters were an American big band-era vocal group, appearing as a trio or quartet. Six sisters were in the group at one time or another: Alyce, Donna, Luise, Marilyn, Maxine, and Yvonne King. History Born and raised in Pleasant Grov ...

. In 1936, Horace Heidt conducted an ensemble of eight musicians all of whom played harmonica on Saturday evenings at the Drake Hotel in Chicago. Singer

Matt Dennis Matthew Loveland Dennis (February 11, 1914 – June 21, 2002) was an American singer, pianist, band leader, arranger, and writer of music for popular songs. Biography Dennis was born in Seattle, Washington, United States. His mother was a viol ...

got his start with Heidt's band, and

Art Carney Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, he was best kn ...

was the band's singing comedian. The Heidt band's recordings were highly successful, with "Gone with the Wind" going to No. 1 in 1937 and "Ti-Pi-Tin" to No. 1 in 1938. In 1939, "The Man with the Mandolin" ranked No. 2 on the chart. He and his band played on the NBC '' Pot o' Gold'' radio show (1939–41). The 1941 film of the same title, produced by

James Roosevelt James Roosevelt II (December 23, 1907 – August 13, 1991) was an American businessman, Marine officer, activist, and Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party politician. The eldest son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor R ...

(son of the U.S. president) and directed by

George Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (31 December 1880 – 16 October 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army under pres ...

, starred

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...

and

Paulette Goddard Paulette Goddard (born Marion Levy; June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an American actress and socialite. Her career spanned six decades, from the 1920s to the early 1970s. She was a prominent leading actress during the Golden Age of Hollywood ...

, and it featured Heidt portraying himself with his band. Carney can be glimpsed in some of the film's musical numbers. The movie gives a fairly accurate depiction of Heidt's radio show but features staged sequences, such as a scene in which a Minnesota farmer is allegedly phoned at random by Heidt during his radio show. From 1940 to 1944 he did ''Tums Treasure Chest'', followed by 1943–45 shows on the Blue Network.

Lucky Strike Lucky Strike is an American brand of cigarettes owned by the British American Tobacco group. Individual cigarettes of the brand are often referred to colloquially as "Luckies." Name Lucky Strike was introduced as a brand of plug tobacco (chew ...

sponsored ''The American Way'' on CBS in 1953. On December 7, 1947, Heidt shortly came out of his retirement and founded a talent show. The talent show was sponsored by Phillip Morris Cigarettes, and lasted several years. The show was called "The Original Youth Opportunity Program", the first televised, traveling talent show in America. The first winner of this show was famous accordion player

Dick Contino Richard Joseph "Dick" Contino (January 17, 1930 – April 19, 2017) was an American accordionist and singer. Early life Contino was born in Fresno, California. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Contino, and he attended Fresno High School. H ...

. Other discoveries of note include,

Dean Jones (actor) Dean Carroll Jones (January 25, 1931 – September 1, 2015) was an American actor. He was best known as The Walt Disney Company's main leading man in the 1970s with his roles as Agent Zeke Kelso in '' That Darn Cat!'' (1965), Jim Douglas in ...

Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, and writer best known as the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson is a cultural phenomenon and w ...

Marlene Willis Marlene Willis (January 13, 1942 – March 29, 1982)California, US, Death Index 1940-1997, retrieved froAncestry.com/ref> was an American singer, who performed on many televised variety shows during the 1950s, and later appeared as a guest star ...

Florence Henderson Florence Agnes Henderson (February 14, 1934 – November 24, 2016) was an American singer and actress. With a career spanning six decades, she is best known for her starring role as Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom ''The Brady Bunch''. Henderson ...

Al Hirt Alois Maxwell "Al" Hirt (November 7, 1922 – April 27, 1999) was an American trumpeter and bandleader. He is best remembered for his million-selling recordings of "Java (instrumental), Java" and the accompanying album ''Honey in the Horn (album ...

Dominic Frontiere Dominic Carmen Frontiere (June 17, 1931 – December 21, 2017) was an American composer, arranger, and jazz accordionist. He composed the theme and much of the music for the first season of the television series '' The Outer Limits'', as w ...

Richard Keith (actor) Keith Thibodeaux (born December 1, 1950), also known as Richard Keith, is an American actor and musician, best known for playing Little Ricky on the television sitcoms ''I Love Lucy'' and '' The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour''. He was billed as Rich ...

, Johnny Standley, Ralph Sigwald, Conley Graves, Dick Kerr, and

Doodles Weaver Winstead Sheffield "Doodles" Weaver (May 11, 1911 – January 16, 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 performed on Rudy Va ...

. Heidt died in 1986, aged 85.

Legacy

For his contribution to radio, Heidt has a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

at 1631 Vine Street; and a second star for his contribution to television at 6628 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2001, a Golden Palm Star on the

Palm Springs Walk of Stars The Palm Springs Walk of Stars is a walk of fame in downtown Palm Springs, California, where "Golden Palm Stars", honoring various people who have lived in the greater Palm Springs area, are embedded in the sidewalk pavement. The walk includes p ...

was dedicated to him. Heidt developed an early apartment complex in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

community of

Sherman Oaks Sherman Oaks (founded in 1927) is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles, California within the San Fernando Valley region. The neighborhood includes a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower population densit ...

, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, so that his band members would have a place to live when they were in town for gigs, and many of the band members eventually retired there together. Known as ''Horace Heidt's Magnolia Estates'', the complex is a community of apartments, swimming pools, a clubhouse, and a golf course.

Discography

Billboard hits

The songs are listed with the most widely successful first. Friendly Tavern Polka" was re-released on 3-25-44. It was US Billboard 24-1944 (1 week). "Pound Your Table Polka" sung by Mary Martin was US Billboard 22-1942 (1 week). "It's in the Book" by Johnny Standley was US Billboard 1-1952 (2 weeks) million seller.

References

External links

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Horace Heidt History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heidt, Horace 1901 births 1986 deaths People from Alameda, California Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) American vaudeville performers Brunswick Records artists American big band bandleaders 20th-century American pianists People from Brentwood, Los Angeles American male pianists 20th-century male pianists 20th-century American male musicians Culver Academies alumni