Who Am I? January 2, 2021

I was born in N.Y.C. and grew up in New Haven, CT.  My mom, Sarah, was an immigrant from Austria, and my dad, Harry, was a dressmaker and photographer who emigrated from Russia. I left school at age 15 for a career in music and to help support my family.

I kicked around for a few years performing as a sideman, a musical director, a studio session musician and a member of the CBS orchestra. I had a breakthrough moment in 1938 when I recorded a Cole Porter song that was written for an unsuccessful 1935 Broadway show.

Soon after, I led one of the famous big bands of the 1930’s and 1940’s; however, after the U.S. entered WWII I enlisted in the navy shipping out on the battleship ‘North Carolina’. I implored the Secretary of the Navy at the time, James Forrestal, to let me assemble band members to entertain troops in the South Pacific. I was promoted to chief petty officer and led my 17 piece band in Guadalcanal, New Zealand and Australia. On the way we performed on tiny islands, in airplane hangars and aboard ships often being bombed by the Japanese. I was totally exhausted and suffered from nervous depression when I was finally released on a medical discharge in 1944.

I was probably the first big band leader to hire a black vocalist. I was a very serious artist and a virtuoso soloist. As an innovative musician, I experimented with different combinations of fusion, jazz, strings and woodwinds, be-bop, and classical music. We did many remote radio broadcasts and some of you might have listened in on us. Some of you may even have showed up at the Meadowbrook in Cedar Grove because I appeared there several times.

Even though I sold over 100 million records I tired of making commercial hits and playing the same songs over and over. I resented and developed a complete revulsion to frenzied fans and obnoxious bobby-soxers who mobbed me and tried to tear off my clothes when I led dance bands.  

In 1954 I put down my ‘licorice stick’ for the next 30 years. Here’s what I said at the time, “I did all you can do with my {instrument of choice}. Any more would have been less.”

Some may remember me as a musician, a composer, a band leader or an actor, but many of you probably will remember me as a serial 8-time husband. My controlling and obsessive personality probably contributed to my many divorces and separations.

Along the way, I authored an autobiography and some historical fiction, took a few film roles, became a dairy cattle farmer, resided in Europe and became a lecturer on the college circuit. I’ve appeared on Mike Douglas, What’s My Line? and the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. My hobbies are target shooting with high powered rifles and fly fishing. I have also earned my star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That’s me in the photo below.

(1)Who Am I? (2a)What was my blockbuster 1938 recording? (2b) What unsuccessful Broadway show was that tune written for? (3a)Name one movie in which I appeared as myself (3b) Name 2 of my big band vocalists (3c) What is the title of my autobiography? (4a)Among my 8 wives, 3 were actresses. Name one of them. (4b)One of my father-in-laws was a famous composer. What was his name? (5a)Where are my papers, my collection of scores and sheet music today? (5b)Where exactly is my star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?