Larry Wagner (September 15, 1907 – April 3, 2002) was an American arranger, composer, and bandleader. He worked for the band of
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist.
As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, W ...
and was long associated with
Glen Gray
Glenn Gray Knoblauch (June 7, 1900 – August 23, 1963), known professionally as Glen Gray, was an American jazz saxophonist and leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra.'' The Mississippi Rag'', "Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra," George A. B ...
and the
Casa Loma Orchestra
The Casa Loma Orchestra was an American dance band active from 1929 to 1963. Until the rapid multiplication in the number of swing bands from 1935 on, the Casa Loma Orchestra was one of the top North American dance bands. With the decline of the b ...
. His compositions "Whistler's Mother-in-Law", "No Name Jive" and "Turn Back the Hands of Time" became nationally popular.
Early life and career
Larry Wagner was born in
Ashland, Oregon
Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population was 21,360 at the 2020 ce ...
, on September 15, 1907.
He graduated from
Ashland High School in 1926,
and went on to attend the
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
, majoring in journalism.
He dropped out of college in 1930
to play trumpet in the West Coast territory band of Johnny Robinson
at
Jantzen Beach Amusement Park
Jantzen Beach Amusement Park was a popular amusement park from 1928 to 1970 in Portland, Oregon, on Hayden Island in the middle of the Columbia River. ''"The Coney Island of the West"'' opened on May 26, 1928 as the largest amusement park in t ...
.
He moved with the band to Seattle during their tenure at the
Olympic Hotel.
During this time he took a correspondence course in
musical arrangement
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestra ...
offered by
Archie Bleyer
Archibald Martin Bleyer (June 12, 1909 – March 20, 1989) was an American song arranger, bandleader, and record company executive.
Early life
Bleyer was born in the Corona section of the New York City borough of Queens. His father was a well-k ...
. He moved to New York and existed in subsidence mode as a freelance arranger, including work for
Cass Daley
Cass Daley (born Catherine Dailey; July 17, 1915 – March 22, 1975) was an American actress, comedian and singer. The daughter of an Irish streetcar conductor, Daley started to perform at night clubs and on the radio as a band vocalist in ...
,
George Hall George Hall may refer to:
People
The arts
* George Hall (actor) (1916–2002), Canadian-American actor
* George Hall (musician) (c. 1893 – c. 1989), American bandleader
* George Hall (cartoonist) (born 1960), Australian comic book writer and ...
, and the publishing company of
Clarence Williams.
While in New York he befriended Bleyer on a personal basis; Bleyer helped him land a job arranging for Paul Whiteman's vocalist
Durelle Alexander
Durelle Alexander (March 30, 1918 - May 21, 1994) was a child performer who appeared in "Hollywood Junior Follies" and several silent "Our Gang" comedies throughout the 1920s.
As an adult, she had a singing career with several big bands on radio ...
.
Success
Wagner joined Whiteman's outfit permanently in 1936, but left as an employee in November of that year. When Whiteman needed a composition he could use for a theme-song in response to the
ASCAP boycott The ASCAP boycott was a 1941 boycott of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) by radio broadcasters, due to license fees. From another perspective, it was a boycott of radio broadcasters by ASCAP, "concerned about the unl ...
,
Murray McEachern
Murray McEachern (August 16, 1915 – April 28, 1982) was a Canadian jazz trombonist and alto saxophonist, perhaps best known for having played trombone for Benny Goodman from 1936 to 1937. McEachern is also remembered for playing both the trombo ...
brought Wagner's composition "Whistler's Mother-in-Law" to him as a possibility. The song greatly pleased Whiteman, who wanted to record it but did not have a recording contract at the time. Before Whiteman could record it, the song was published; a
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
and
Muriel Lane duet took it to #9 on the charts and several other bands made recordings. This led to a permanent souring in Whitemans's and Wagner's relationship.
Very late in 1937, Wagner led his own band under the moniker of "Larry Wagner and his Rhythmasters", which recorded and released three sides for Victor Records.
Wagner was a member of Glen Gray's Casa Loma Orchestra, doing arranging and composing for the band
[ between the years 1938 and 1942.] "No Name Jive", which was a hit (#9) for Gray and his orchestra, was written by Wagner and in 1954, he recorded the song for A440 Records as the leader of a studio orchestra.
Wagner served in the United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through ...
during World War II and was part of an entertainment unit serving in the Pacific Theater. An ASCAP member, he wrote "The Men of Iwo Jima" for the Corps.[
]
Post-war
Following his military service, Wagner re-joined the Casa Loma Orchestra as arranger, and continued studies at the Schillinger School, which he credited with furthering his abilities as an arranger. The Casa Loma outfit disbanded around 1950, leaving Wagner to pursue other projects, such as writing musicals intended for high-school performance, fronting a studio band featuring Billy Butterfield
Charles William Butterfield (January 14, 1917 – March 18, 1988) was an American jazz bandleader, trumpeter, flugelhornist, and cornetist.
Early years
Charles William Butterfield was born in Middletown, Ohio and attended high school in Wyoming. ...
for A440 Records A44 may refer to :
* A44 road (Great Britain), a road connecting Oxford, England and Aberystwyth, Wales
* A44 motorway (Germany), a road connecting Aachen at the German-Belgian border and Kassel
* A44 motorway (Netherlands), a motorway in the Ne ...
, forming a touring band, and recording with his band in 1956 for Forest Records in a favorably-reviewed single. During this time Wagner had another hit song with his composition ''Turn Back the Hands of Time'' which Eddie Fisher
Edwin Jack Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was an American singer and actor. He was one of the most popular artists during the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show, ''The Eddie Fisher Show''. Actress Eli ...
took to #8 on the charts. He continued his association with Glen Grey
The Glen Grey Act is an 1894 Act of the Parliament of the Cape Colony. Instigated by the government of Prime Minister Cecil John Rhodes, it established a system of individual (rather than communal) land tenure and created a labour tax to force ...
into the 1960s and helped perpetuate the Casa Loma leader's name after his death.
Family
Wagner married Elizabeth "Betty" Brown, his high-school sweetheart, in 1931; they had a daughter, Linda. At his death, he was survived by his daughter, two grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.[
]
Compositions
*''Billy and I''
*''Flamenco Love''
*''Hearts Without Flowers''
*''In the Dark of the Moon''
*''A Lover's Lullaby''
*''No Name Jive''
*''One to Remember''
*''Over the Rhythm of Raindrops''
*''The Sound of America''
*''Speak Well of Me''
*''Turn Back the Hands of Time''
*''Two Dukes on a Pier''
*''Whistler's Mother-in-Law''
*''You'll Never Be Lonely''
* “I Looked Back” />
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Larry
Musicians from Ashland, Oregon
1907 births
2002 deaths
Musicians from Oregon
United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II
United States Marines
University of Oregon alumni
People from Roslyn Heights, New York
20th-century American musicians
Victor Records artists
Casa Loma Orchestra members
Ashland High School (Oregon) alumni