THE FABULOUS DORSEY BROTHERS

I've had numerous articles featuring the Big Band Era.  To the right Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, with Janet Blair.   In 2020 I posted:

My favorite song #56 enters the Big Bang era, and today, I feature Jimmy Dorsey:

• I'll Be Seeing You
• All the Things You are
• I'm Getting Sentimental Over You

In the beginning there were the Dorsey brothers, Jimmy (left), elder, and Tommy.  In their early group was Rudy Vallee.  They joined Paul Whiteman in 1927 and in 1929 had their first hit.  In 1934 they signed with Decca, and a member of their band was Glenn Miller, who received a loan from Tommy to form his own band.  The brothers had a falling out, so in 1935 Tommy, who played the trombone, formed his own orchestra.  Frank Sinatra became a singer with him, then quit.

Boogie Woogie came in 1939.  Frank Sinatra returned from the Harry James band in 1940 and they made 80 records.  In 1940 I'll be Seeing You, written by Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal made it to #4, but the Bing Crosby solo in 1944 reached #1.  Along the way, Nelson Riddle also played trombone with Tommy, and in his group were Jo Stafford and Paul Weston, where they got married.  Others included Doc Severinsen, Buddy Rich, the Pied Pipers, Dick Haymes, Connee Boswell, Gene Krupa (even after he was arrested for marijuana possession) and Connie Haines

Even though he disbanded his band in 1946, he did record How are Things in Glocca Morra in 1947, so formed another band.  He and Jimmy reconciled.  The biographical film that year, The Fabulous Dorseys, was released.  That was the whole movie, but Rotten Tomatoes audiences only gave it a 28 rating. In 1953 Jimmy joined Tommy, and they did well on TV.  In 1956 they introduced Elvis Presley to the world.

Tommy choked on food and died at the age of 51 in 1956.  All his works were destroyed by that 2008 Universal Studios fire.  Jimmy passed soon thereafter at the age of 53 of stomach cancer.

Tommy Dorsey had 286 Billboard chart hits, with 17 reaching #1.  The biggest was I'll Never Smile Again with Frank Sinatra, which stayed at #1 in 1940 for twelve weeks. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You (1935) was his theme song and is my #56.  Haunting and sad, I get emotional.

I could end nostalgia Tuesday with above, but I add a few more items of interest:

• 
  From an Irish mining community in Pennsylvania, older brother Jimmy was born in 1904, with Tommy the following year.
• Their first band was with father, Thomas senior, who wanted his boys out of the mines.  He succeed beyond expectations, but at least one grandchild did work there, until he became a teacher.
• The two joined various bands from 1922, with Jimmy playing the saxophone and clarinet, with Tommy taking up the trombone.  One way to distinguish between the two is that I'm Getting Sentimental Over You is clearly led by a trombone.
• 
  They got a break in 1927 when Paul Whiteman hired their latest group.
• Seven years later in 1934, they formed the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, with Glenn Miller on second trombone.  Their Boogie Woogie.
• They broke up only a year later over a dispute, where Jimmy gained controlled of their band and Tommy took over a band from Joe Haymes.
• Over the next 18 years, both bands were immensely successful.
• 
  They temporarily reunited in 1947 for the film,  The Fabulous Dorseys.  Full movie, but Rotten Tomatoes audiences only gave it a 28% rating.
• In 1953, Jimmy's band fell apart and the brothers reconciled as The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, featuring Jimmy Dorsey.
• They performed together for three years, and had a national TV program called Stage Show on CBS, the program where Elvis made his debut in 1956.  Watch Elvis singing Heartbreak Hotel.

• 
  They died six months apart in 1956 and 1957, where Jimmy only two days before his death received a gold record for his greatest instrumental, So Rare.
• Tommy Dorsey had 286 Billboard chart hits, and The Dorsey Band had 17 #1 hits.  However, the Beatles had 20, #2 Mariah Carey 19, #3 Elvis 18 and #4 Rihanna 14.  What about the Dorsey Band?

• 
  How's this for a list of who played for them:
• Rudy Valée
• Frank Sinatra
• Bunny Berigen
• Bing and Bob Crosby
• Johnny Mercer
• Ray McKinley
• Glenn Miller
• Jack Teagarden
• Buddy Rich
• Gene Krupa

• 
  Mildred Baily
• Bob Eberly
• Helen O'Connell
• Mae West
• Paul Weston
• Jo Stafford
• Frank Sinatra
• In 1956, Dorsey Brothers on NBC Bandstand.

They appeared in various films:

• Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra (1938 short)
• The Fleet's In (1942)
• Du Barry Was a Lady (1942)
• Ship Ahoy (1942)
• I Dood It (1943)

• Four Jills in a Jeep (1944)
• Lost in a Harem (1944)

• Hollywood Canteen (1944)
• The Fabulous Dorseys (1947)
• Disk Jockey (1951)

In 1996 they were honored with a commemorative stamp.

Typhon Mawar jumped from Category 1 to 4 in one day, and stormed over Guam today as a Super Typhoon at 155 MPH.  Fox reports now at 160 MPH, and headed for the Luzon Strait between the Philippines and Taiwan.

AccuWeather projects that Mawar will turn north and miss Taiwan, heading for China.

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