Randall Webster Weeks (February 25, 1907 – April 26, 1979) was an American bandleader, actor, naval commander, and university administrator.

Early life

Weeks was born in 1907 in

Everett, Massachusetts Everett is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, directly north of Boston, bordering the neighborhood of Charlestown. The population was 49,075 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. Everett was the last city in the U ...

. His father, William E. Weeks, was a politician who served as Mayor of Everett and was a member of the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

. Weeks attended Everett High School and played quarterback for the school's football team. However, his family moved to

Reading, Massachusetts Reading ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, north of central Boston. The population was 25,518 at the 2020 census. History Settlement and American independence Many of the Massachusetts Bay Colony's original settler ...

, before he finished school. After graduating from Reading High School, Weeks attended

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original c ...

's Business and

Law school A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

s, but left in 1929 due to a lack of funds.

Music

In 1928, Weeks began spending his summers singing and playing piano at a coffee house in

Hyannis, Massachusetts Hyannis is the largest of the seven villages in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is the commercial and transportation hub of Cape Cod and was designated an urban area at the 1990 census. Because of this, many refer ...

, to help pay for school. After leaving school he joined Bert Lowe's Orchestra and later formed his own band. In 1929 and 1930, Weeks recorded as a vocalist with the Colonial Club Orchestra. In 1930, Ranny Weeks and his Red Cross Aristocrats were given a weekly show on WBZ radio. From 1930 to 1932, Weeks led the I. J. Fox Fur Trappers Orchestra, which was heard twice a week on WEEI. On March 13, 1931, Ranny Weeks & His Orchestra recorded four songs 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 ...

. In 1934 he was hired to conduct a permanent orchestra in the

RKO Boston Theatre The RKO Boston Theatre was a movie theatre in Boston, Massachusetts, located at 616 Washington Street, near Essex Street in the Boston Theater District. It opened as the Keith-Albee Boston Theatre on October 5, 1925. History The building had or ...

Acting

In 1932, Weeks made his film debut in ''It Happened in Paris'', a musical remake of '' The Two Orphans''. In 1937,

Herbert Yates Herbert John Yates (August 24, 1880 – February 3, 1966) was the founder and president of Republic Pictures, who had western stars John Wayne, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers under contract. Between the years 1935 and 1959, Republic, under Yates' ...

signed Weeks to a contract with

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City a ...

. He appeared in ten films for the company, including a starring role in '' Bill Cracks Down''.

Return to Boston

After his contract with Republic ended, Weeks and his family moved to

Newtonville, Massachusetts Newtonville is one of the thirteen villages within the city of Newton in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Geography Newtonville is a predominantly residential neighborhood. It is divided into two parts by the Massachusetts Turnpi ...

. He went into the advertising business and resumed his career as a bandleader. In 1942, Weeks was appointed co-chairman of the Massachusetts Committee on Public Safety's radio division, which supervised all programming on every radio station in the state. He then served four years as an administrative officer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during and following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. From 1947 to 1949, Weeks and his Orchestra spent the summer playing the Sheraton Roof in Boston. In 1950, Weeks was a Republican candidate for

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth is the principal public information officer of the government of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The Secretary of the Commonwealth oversees the Corporations Division, the Elections Division, the ...

. He finished second in a seven candidate primary with 19% of the vote to

Russell A. Wood Russell Abner Wood (March 25, 1880 – September 19, 1952) was an American politician who was a Perennial candidate for statewide office in Massachusetts. He served as Massachusetts State Auditor from 1939 to 1941. Early life Wood was born on ...

's 26%. Weeks returned to the Navy during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

. From 1951 to 1954 he was in charge of recruitment in the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

district. In 1954, Weeks was named

's executive alumni secretary. In 1965 he was named special assistant to the vice president for university affairs. He also served as executive director of the B.U. Law School Alumni Association. After retiring from B.U., Weeks moved to

Falmouth, Massachusetts Falmouth ( ) is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 32,517 at the 2020 census, making Falmouth the second-largest municipality on Cape Cod after Barnstable. The terminal for the Steamship Authority ferri ...

. He died on April 26, 1979, after a short illness.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weeks, Ranny 1907 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American singers American bandleaders United States Navy personnel of the Korean War United States Navy personnel of World War II Big band bandleaders Boston University faculty Massachusetts Republicans Military personnel from Massachusetts People from Everett, Massachusetts People from Falmouth, Massachusetts People from Newton, Massachusetts Singers from Massachusetts