Skip to main content

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:
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.
  • 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

They appeared in various films:

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.
-
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota.  Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north.  Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge.  If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic.  Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing.  The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University.  Caught a bus. Was called the  Century 21 Exposition .  Also the Seattle World's Fair.  10 million joined me on a six-month run.  My first. These a...
Post a Comment
Read more

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that   Oktoberfest   in Germany is mostly in September?  The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3.  Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September?  The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich?  These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11.  Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town.  It was drizzling a bit.  We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served.  We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall.  So no one came to serve us beer.  After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine.  Thus, we might have been the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE FIRST 84 YEARS OF MY LIFE

The first half of my life was spent preparing myself for my final 42 years.  This was a mostly trying and stressful period involving a less than ideal youth, then struggles to get through school, my first few jobs and accompanying life, ending two months later on a Sunday with  Part 15E , so it was a spiritual conclusion to my final transition.  I never did count the number of actual postings, but I suspect it was around 25 parts.  The ending had to do with golf, the disappearance and re-appearance of an  8-iron cover.  That was the final clue to whether the beyond after death would be eternal gloom or Heaven. Today, I provide only one transition, but hint about a final one, for this, after all, is Sunday.  I'm 84 years old, so let me summarize what happened during the first phase, from 0-42, and follow with the years 42-84.  As this is 2024, that key transition year was 1982. I can't seem to find this photo, but as a one-year old baby, I was fat....
Post a Comment
Read more