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Albert James "Alan" Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965), also known as Moondog, was an American disc jockey.^[1] He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll. His career was destroyed by the payola scandal that hit the broadcasting industry in the early 1960s.

Early years[link]

Freed was born to a Jewish father, Charles S. Freed, and Welsh-American mother, Maude Palmer, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. In 1933, Freed's family moved to Salem, Ohio where Freed attended Salem High School, graduating in 1940. While Freed was in high school, he formed a band called the Sultans of Swing in which he played the trombone. Freed's initial ambition was to be a bandleader; however, an ear infection put an end to this dream. While attending Ohio State University, Freed became interested in radio. Freed served in the Army during World War II and worked as a DJ on WKBN Armed Forces Radio. Soon after World War II, Freed landed broadcasting jobs at smaller radio stations, including WKST (New Castle, PA); WKBN (Youngstown, OH); and WAKR (Akron, OH), where, in 1945, he became a local favorite for playing hot jazz and pop recordings.^[2] Freed enjoyed listening to these new styles because he liked the rhythms and tunes.

Career[link]

Freed is commonly referred to as the "father of rock'n'roll" due to his promotion of the style of music, and his introduction of the phrase "rock and roll", in reference to the musical genre, on mainstream radio in the early 1950s. He helped bridge the gap of segregation among young teenage Americans, presenting music by African-American artists (rather than cover versions by white artists) on his radio program, and arranging live concerts attended by racially mixed audiences.^[3] Freed appeared in several motion pictures as himself. In the 1956 film Rock, Rock, Rock, Freed tells the audience that "rock and roll is a river of music that has absorbed many streams: rhythm and blues, jazz, rag time, cowboy songs, country songs, folk songs. All have contributed to the big beat."

WAKR Akron[link]

In the late 1940s, while working at WAKR (1590 AM) in Akron, Ohio, Freed met Cleveland record store owner Leo Mintz. Record Rendezvous was one of Cleveland's largest record stores, who had begun selling rhythm and blues records. Mintz told Freed that he had noticed increased interest in the records at his store, and encouraged him to play them on the radio.^[4] In 1949, Freed moved to Cleveland and, in April 1950, he joined WXEL (TV channel 9) as the afternoon movie show host.^[5] The next year, he got a job playing classical music on Cleveland radio station WJW.^[6]

WJW Cleveland[link]

Mintz proposed buying airtime on Cleveland radio station WJW (850 AM) to be devoted entirely to R&B recordings, with Freed as host.^[4] On July 11, 1951, Freed started playing rhythm and blues records on WJW.^[7] Freed called his show "The Moondog House" and billed himself as "The King of the Moondoggers". He had been inspired by an offbeat instrumental called "Moondog Symphony" that had been recorded by New York street musician Louis T. Hardin, aka "Moondog". Freed adopted the record as his show's theme music. His on-air manner was energetic, in contrast to many contemporary radio presenters of traditional pop music, who tended to sound more subdued and low-key in manner . He addressed his listeners as if they were all part of a make-believe kingdom of hipsters, united in their love for "black" music.^[7]

Later that year, Freed promoted dances and concerts featuring the music he was playing on the radio.^[8] He was one of the organizers of a five-act show called "The Moondog Coronation Ball" on March 21, 1952 at the Cleveland Arena. This event is known as the first rock and roll concert. Crowds attended in numbers far beyond the arena's capacity, and the concert was shut down early due to overcrowding and a near-riot.^[8] Freed gained a priceless notoriety from the incident. WJW immediately increased the airtime allotted to Freed's program, and his popularity soared.^[7]

In those days, Cleveland was considered by the music industry to be a "breakout" city, where national trends first appeared in a regional market. Freed's popularity made the pop music business sit up and take notice. Soon, tapes of Freed's program began to air in the New York City area.^[7]

Hardin, the original Moondog, later took a court action suit against the station WINS for damages against Freed for infringement in 1956, arguing prior claim to the name "Moondog", under which he had been composing since 1947. Hardin collected a $6,000 judgement from Freed, as well as him giving up further usage of the name Moondog.^[9]

WINS New York[link]

In 1954, following his success on the air in Cleveland, Freed moved to WINS (1010 AM) in New York City. The station eventually became an around-the-clock Top 40 rock and roll radio station, and would remain so until April 19, 1965—long after Freed left and three months after he had died— when it became an all-news outlet. While in New York, Life magazine credited Freed as the originator of the rock 'n roll craze.^[10]

Radio Luxembourg[link]

In 1956, Freed was introduced to European audiences through his appearances in a succession of "rock and roll" movies such as Rock Around The Clock, Don't Knock the Rock and other titles. That same year, while working for WINS in New York City, Freed began recording a weekly half-hour segment of the Radio Luxembourg show called Jamboree that was aired on Saturday nights at 9:30 P.M., Central European Time. The billing of his segment in the 208 magazine program guide described him as "the remarkable American disc-jockey whose programs in the States cause excitement to the fever pitch." Jamboree with Freed was heard throughout the British Isles and much of Europe via the powerful AM nighttime signal of Radio Luxembourg, and outside of Europe by a simultaneous relay via transmission on shortwave. Due to the strange effect that the ionosphere had on the sky wave signal of Radio Luxembourg, it sometimes was heard poorly in parts of southern England with extreme fading, but sounded like a local station in northern England cities such as Liverpool. The Beatles claim to have been influenced by Black artists such as Little Richard and Chuck Berry, both of whom were promoted on Freed's radio shows. After trying other names including "Johnny and the Moondogs" the band was finally known as "The Beatles" after hearing "Alan Freed and The Moondog Show". In August Ringo Starr confirmed in a radio interview in 2011 that his first exposure to Elvis Presley and Little Richard was through this show. The recordings made by these artists were in turn promoted on sponsored shows paid for by the record labels that were also heard over Radio Luxembourg, which was the only commercial radio station heard in the United Kingdom until 1964.

WABC New York[link]

After departing from WINS, Freed for a time was employed in New York by WABC (770 AM) around 1958, about two years before it evolved into one of America's great Top 40 stations by launching its "Musicradio" format. At this time, WABC (unlike rocker WINS) was more of a full-service station which began implementing some music programming elements. Freed was employed at the station around the same time as another famous pioneering disc jockey who arose during a different era: Martin Block (of WNEW 1130 AM—now WBBR—"Make Believe Ballroom" fame. Freed was fired by WABC (1959) during a dispute where he refused to sign a statement certifying that he had never accepted payola.

Film and television[link]

Freed also appeared in a number of pioneering rock and roll motion pictures during this period. These films were often welcomed with tremendous enthusiasm by teenagers because they brought visual depictions of their favorite American acts to the big screen, years before music videos would present the same sort of image on the small television screen. One side effect of these movies shown before mass audiences was that they sometimes presented an excuse for thugs to turn a fun event into a riot, in which cinemas in both West Germany and the United Kingdom were trashed.

Freed appeared in several motion pictures that presented many of the big musical acts of his day, including:

• 1956 - Rock Around the Clock featuring Freed, Bill Haley & His Comets, The Platters, Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, Lisa Gaye.
• 1956 - Rock, Rock, Rock featuring Freed, Teddy Randazzo, Tuesday Weld (her first on-screen kiss by Teddy Randazzo), Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Johnny Burnette, LaVern Baker, The Flamingos, The Moonglows. Weld's vocal performance was dubbed by Connie Francis.^[11]
• 1957 - Mister Rock and Roll featuring Freed, Rocky Graziano and Teddy Randazzo, Lionel Hampton, Ferlin Husky, Frankie Lymon, Little Richard, Brook Benton, Chuck Berry, Clyde McPhatter, LaVern Baker, Screamin' Jay Hawkins.
• 1957 - Don't Knock the Rock featuring Freed, Bill Haley and His Comets, Alan Dale, Little Richard and the Upsetters, The Treniers, Dave Appell and His Applejacks.
• 1959 - Go, Johnny Go! featuring Freed, Jimmy Clanton, Chuck Berry, Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochran, The Flamingos, Jackie Wilson, The Cadillacs, Sandy Stewart, Jo Ann Campbell, Harvey Fuqua and The Moonglows. Chuck Berry also played Freed's pal and sidekick, a groundbreaking role in those days.

A 1956 photo of Fats Domino singing Blueberry Hill on the television show "Alan Freed Show."

In 1957, Freed was given a weekly prime-time TV series, The Big Beat (which predated American Bandstand), on ABC, which was scheduled for a Summer run, with the understanding that if there were enough viewers, the show would continue into the 1957-58 television season. Although the ratings for the first three episodes were strong, the show was suddenly canceled after the fourth episode. During that episode, Frankie Lymon of Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers, after performing his number, was seen dancing with a white girl from the studio audience. Reportedly, the incident offended the management of ABC's local affiliates in the southern states, and led to the show's immediate cancellation despite its growing popularity.^{[citation needed]} During this period, Freed was seen on other popular programs of the day, including To Tell The Truth, where he is seen defending the new "rock and roll" sound to the panelists, who were all clearly more comfortable with swing music: Polly Bergen, Ralph Bellamy, and Kitty Carlisle. (This episode was re-broadcast on Game Show Network on February 4 or 5, 2007, and also on April 23, 2007.)

Freed went on to host a local version of "Big Beat" over WNEW-TV New York until late 1959 when he was fired from the show after payola accusations against Freed surfaced.

Legal trouble, payola scandal[link]

In 1958, Freed faced controversy in Boston when he told the audience, "The police don't want you to have fun." As a result, Freed was arrested and charged with inciting to riot.

Freed's career ended when it was shown that he had accepted payola (payments from record companies to play specific records), a practice that was highly controversial at the time. There was also a conflict of interest, that he had taken songwriting co-credits (most notably on Chuck Berry's "Maybellene"), which entitled him to receive part of a song's royalties, which he could help increase by heavily promoting the record on his own program. However, Harvey Fuqua of The Moonglows insisted Freed co-wrote "Sincerely".

Freed lost his own show on the radio station WABC; then he was fired from the station altogether on November 21, 1959.^[12] He also was fired from his television show (which for a time continued with a different host). In 1960, payola was made illegal. In 1962, Freed pleaded guilty to two charges of commercial bribery, for which he received a fine and a suspended sentence.

Personal life[link]

On August 22, 1943, Freed was married to Betty Lou Bean; both were 21 years old at the time. The couple had two children, Alana Freed and Lance Freed. On December 2, 1949, the Freeds divorced, with custody of the children awarded to Betty Lou. In 1950, Freed married again to Marjorie J. Hess. During this time, the couple had two children, Sieglinde Freed and Alan Freed, Jr. The marriage ended in 1958 whereupon Marjorie gained custody of the children. In 1959, Freed married for a third time to Inga Lil Boling, to whom he stayed married until his death on January 20, 1965.

Later years and death[link]

Freed's punishment from the payola scandal was not severe. However, the side effects of negative publicity were such that no prestigious station would employ him, and he moved to the West Coast in 1960, where he worked at KDAY-AM in Santa Monica, California. In 1962, after KDAY refused to allow him to promote "rock and roll" stage shows, Freed moved to WQAM in Miami, Florida, but that association lasted two months. During 1964, he returned to the Los Angeles area and worked at KNOB-FM.^{[13] [14]}

He died in a Palm Springs, California hospital on January 20, 1965 from uremia and cirrhosis brought on by alcoholism. He was 43 years old. Freed was initially interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York; his ashes were later moved to their present location in Cleveland, Ohio at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 21, 2002.^[15]

Legacy[link]

In 1978, a motion picture entitled American Hot Wax was released, which was inspired by Freed's contribution to the rock and roll scene. Although director Floyd Mutrux created a fictionalized account of Freed's last days in New York radio by utilizing real-life elements outside of their actual chronology, the film does accurately convey the fond relationship between Freed, the musicians he promoted, and the audiences who listened to them. The film starred Tim McIntire as Freed. Several notable personalities who would later become well-known celebrities starred in the movie, including Jay Leno and Fran Drescher. The film included cameo appearances by Chuck Berry, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Frankie Ford and Jerry Lee Lewis, performing in the recording studio and concert sequences.

On January 23, 1986, Freed was part of the first group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which was built in Cleveland in recognition of Freed's involvement in the promotion of the genre. In 1988, he was also posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. On December 10, 1991, Freed was given a Star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame. On February 26, 2002, Freed was honored at the GRAMMY Awards with the Trustees Award.

Freed was used as a character in Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes as an evil version of himself, who enthusiastically announces the names of deceased rock n roll legends in You Know They Got a Hell of a Band as part of an upcoming concert to perform. He was portrayed by Mitchell Butel in the television adaptation on the Nightmares & Dreamscapes mini-series. The Cleveland Cavaliers' mascot Moondog is named in honor of Freed.

Freed was also mentioned in The Ramones song "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" as one of the band's idols in rock and roll. ("Do you remember Murray the K/Alan Freed/and high Energy Others to mention the influential D.J. include "Ballroom Of Mars" by Marc Bolan "They Used to Call it Dope" by Public Enemy and "Payola Blues" by Neil Young. He also is mentioned in "The Ballad of Dick Clark," a song on the eponymous first solo album by Skip Batin, a member of the Byrds.

Quotation[link]

This section is a candidate to be copied to Wikiquote using the Transwiki process.

Rock 'n' roll is really swing with a modern name. It began on the levees and plantations, took in folk songs, and features blues and rhythm. It's the rhythm that gets to the kids — they're starved of music they can dance to, after all those years of crooners.

—NME - February 1956^[16]

Let's face it—rock 'n' roll is bigger than all of us.^[17]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Wolff, Carlo (2006). Cleveland Rock and Roll Memories. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. ISBN 978-1-886228-99-3
• Big Beat Heat: Alan Freed and the Early Years of Rock & Roll, by Jackson, John A. - Schirmer Books, 1991. ISBN 0-02-871155-6
• The Pied Pipers of Rock Roll: Radio Deejays of the 50s and 60s, by Smith, Wes (Robert Weston). - Longstreet Press, 1989. ISBN 0-929264-69-X
• Rock Around the Clock: The Record That Started the Rock Revolution by Dawson, Jim (Backbeat Books/Hal Leonard, 2005. ISBN 0-87930-829-X

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (March 2012)

• Official website
• Freed's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame page
• http://www.history-of-rock.com/freed.htm
• Alan Freed at the National Radio Hall of Fame
• AlanFreed.Com: death certificate
• Works by or about Alan Freed in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Article on the career of Alan Freed
• Information on Freed from the first chapter of the book Cleveland Rock and Roll Memories
• DVD review of Mr. Rock 'n Roll
• http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/freed_alan/artist.jhtml

Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton at the 1979 North Sea Jazz Festival
Background information
Birth name	Lionel Leo Hampton
Also known as	"Hamp", "Mad Lionel"
Born	(1908-04-20)April 20, 1908 Louisville, Kentucky, United States
Died	August 31, 2002(2002-08-31) (aged 94) New York City, New York, United States
Genres	Swing Big band Mainstream jazz New York blues
Occupations	Multi-instrumentalist Actor Composer
Instruments	Vibraphone Drums Piano Vocals
Years active	1927–2002
Labels	Decca
Associated acts	Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Quincy Jones, Louis Armstrong, Gloria Parker

Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy Rich to Charlie Parker and Quincy Jones. In 1992, he was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Lionel Hampton was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1908, and was raised by his grandmother. Shortly after he was born, he and his mother moved to her hometown Birmingham, Alabama.^[1][2][3] He spent his early childhood in Kenosha, Wisconsin before he and his family moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1916. As a youth, Hampton was a member of the Bud Billiken Club, an alternative to the Boy Scouts of America, which was off limits because of racial segregation.^[4] During the 1920s—while still a teenager—Hampton took xylophone lessons from Jimmy Bertrand and started playing drums.^[5] Hampton was raised Roman Catholic, and started out playing fife and drum at the Holy Rosary Academy near Chicago.^[6][7]

Early career[link]

Lionel Hampton began his career playing drums for the Chicago Defender Newsboys' Band (led by Major N. Clark Smith) while still a teenager in Chicago. He moved to California in 1927 or 1928, playing drums for the Dixieland Blues-Blowers. He made his recording debut with The Quality Serenaders led by Paul Howard, then left for Culver City and drummed for the Les Hite band at Sebastian's Cotton Club. During this period he began practicing on the vibraphone. In 1930 Louis Armstrong came to California and hired the Les Hite band, asking Hampton if he would play vibes on two songs. So began his career as a vibraphonist, popularizing the use of the instrument ever since.^[8]

While working with the Les Hite band, Hampton also occasionally did some performing with Nat Shilkret and his orchestra. During the early 1930s he studied music at the University of Southern California. In 1934 he led his own orchestra, and then appeared in the 1936 Bing Crosby film Pennies From Heaven alongside Louis Armstrong (wearing a mask in a scene while playing drums).^[9]

With Benny Goodman[link]

Also in November 1936,^[11] the Benny Goodman Orchestra came to Los Angeles to play the Palomar Ballroom. When John Hammond brought Goodman to see Hampton perform, Goodman invited him to join his trio, which thus became the celebrated Benny Goodman Quartet with Teddy Wilson and Gene Krupa completing the lineup. The Trio and Quartet were among the first racially integrated jazz groups to record and play before wide audiences,^[12][13] and were a leading small-group in an era when jazz was dominated by big bands.

Lionel Hampton Orchestra[link]

Lionel Hampton during a concert in Aachen (Germany) on May 19, 1977

While Hampton worked for Goodman in New York, he recorded with several different small groups known as the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, as well as assorted small groups within the Goodman band. In 1940 Hampton left the Goodman organization under amicable circumstances to form his own big band.^[14]

Hampton's orchestra became popular during the 1940s and early 1950s. His third recording with them in 1942 produced a classic version of "Flying Home", featuring a solo by Illinois Jacquet that anticipated rhythm & blues. The selection became very popular, and so in 1944 Hampton recorded "Flying Home, Number Two" featuring Arnett Cobb. The song went on to become the theme song for all three men. Guitarist Billy Mackel first joined Hampton in 1944, and would perform and record with him almost continuously through the late 1970s.^[15] In 1947 he recorded "Stardust" at a "Just Jazz" concert with Charlie Shavers and Slam Stewart produced by Gene Norman.

From the mid-1940s until the early 1950s, Hampton led a lively rhythm & blues band whose Decca Records recordings included numerous young performers who later achieved fame. They included bassist Charles Mingus, saxophonist Johnny Griffin, guitarist Wes Montgomery, vocalist Dinah Washington and keyboardist Milt Buckner. Other noteworthy band members were trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Cat Anderson, and Kenny Dorham, trombonists Snooky Young and Jimmy Cleveland, and saxophonists Illinois Jacquet and Jerome Richardson.

The Hampton orchestra that toured Europe in 1953 included Clifford Brown, Gigi Gryce, Anthony Ortega, Monk Montgomery, George Wallington, Art Farmer, Quincy Jones, and singer Annie Ross. Hampton continued to record with small groups and jam sessions during the 1940s and 1950s, with Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Buddy DeFranco, and others. In 1955, while in California working on The Benny Goodman Story he recorded with Stan Getz and Art Tatum for Norman Granz as well as with his own big band.

Hampton performed with Louis Armstrong and Italian singer Lara Saint Paul at the 1968 Sanremo Music Festival in Italy. The performance created a sensation with Italian audiences, as it broke into a real jazz session.^[16] That same year, Hampton received a Papal Medal from Pope Paul VI.

Later career[link]

President George W. Bush honors Lionel Hampton during a ceremony recognizing Black Music Month in the East Room of the White House on June 30, 2001.

During the 1960s, Hampton's groups were in decline; he was still performing what had succeeded for him during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. He did not fare much better in the 1970s, though he recorded actively on the Who's Who Record label.^[17]

Beginning in February 1984, Hampton and his band played at the University of Idaho's annual jazz festival, which was renamed the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival the following year. In 1987 the UI's school of music was renamed for Hampton, the first university music school named for a jazz musician.

Hampton remained active until a stroke in Paris in 1991 led to a collapse on stage. That incident, combined with years of chronic arthritis, forced him to cut back drastically on performances. However, he did play at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in 2001 shortly before his death.^[18][19][20]

Personal life[link]

On November 11, 1936, in Yuma, Arizona, Lionel Hampton married Gladys Riddle (c. 1910-1971).^[21] Gladys was Lionel's business manager throughout much of his career. Many musicians recall that Lionel ran the music and Gladys ran the business.

During the 1950s he had a strong interest in Judaism and raised money for Israel. In 1953 he composed a King David suite and performed it in Israel with the Boston Pops Orchestra. Later in life Hampton became a Christian Scientist.^[22] He had a love for puppies and in fact owned 30. He named half of them Bill and half Sharon. Hampton was a Thirty-third degree Prince Hall freemason in New York, also.^[23] In January 1997, his apartment caught fire and destroyed his awards and belongings; Hampton escaped uninjured.^[24]

The grave of Lionel Hampton

Lionel Hampton died from congestive heart failure on August 31, 2002 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York. His funeral was held on September 7, 2002 and featured a performance by Wynton Marsalis and David Ostwald's Gully Low Jazz Band at Riverside Church in Manhattan; the procession began at The Cotton Club in Harlem.^[25][26]

Charity[link]

Lionel Hampton Houses housing project in Harlem (far right). Photo by Jordan Davis

Hampton was deeply involved in the construction of various public housing projects, and founded the Lionel Hampton Development Corporation. Construction began with the Lionel Hampton Houses in Harlem, New York in the 1960s, with the help of then Republican governor Nelson Rockefeller. Hampton's wife—Gladys Hampton—also was very involved in construction of a housing project in her name—the Gladys Hampton Houses. Gladys died in 1971. In the 1980s, Hampton built another housing project called Hampton Hills in Newark, New Jersey.

Hampton was a staunch Republican and served as a delegate to several Republican National Conventions.^[27] He served as Vice-Chairman of the New York Republican County Committee for some years^[28] and also was a member of the New York City Human Rights Commission.^[29] Hampton donated almost $300,000 to Republican campaigns and committees throughout his lifetime.^[30]

Awards[link]

• 2001 - Harlem Jazz and Music Festival's Legend Award
• 1996 - National Medal of Arts presented by President Bill Clinton
• 1995 - Honorary Commissioner of Civil Rights by George Pataki
• 1995 - Honorary Doctorate from the New England Conservatory of Music
• 1993 - Honorary Doctorate from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore
• 1992 - Inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
• 1992 - "Contributions To The Cultural Life of the Nation" award from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
• 1988 - The National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowship
• 1988 - The National Association of Jazz Educators Hall of Fame Award
• 1987 - Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from the University of Idaho - UI's School of Music renamed "Lionel Hampton School of Music."
• 1987 - The Roy Wilkins Memorial Award from the NAACP
• 1986 - The "One of a Kind" Award from Broadcast Music, Inc.
• 1984 - Jazz Hall of Fame Award from the Institute of Jazz Studies
• 1984 - Honorary Doctorate of Music from USC
• 1983 - The International Film and Television Festival of New York City Award
• 1983 - Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the State University of New York
• 1982 - Hollywood Walk of Fame Star
• 1981 - Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Glassboro State College
• 1979 - Honorary Doctorate of Music from Howard University
• 1978 - Bronze Medallion from New York City
• 1976 - Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Daniel Hale Williams University
• 1975 - Honorary Doctorate of Music from Xavier University of Louisiana
• 1974 - Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Pepperdine University
• 1968 - Papal Medal from Pope Paul VI
• 1966 - George Frederick Handel Medal
• 1957 - American Goodwill Ambassador by President Dwight D. Eisenhower
• 1954 - Israel's Statehood Award

Discography[link]

Compilations

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Lionel Hampton Library Collection, part of the International Jazz Collections at the University of Idaho Library
• Christopher Popa, "Lionel Hampton: Music Was His Fountain of Youth," Big Band Library
• Interview with Lionel Hampton by Felix Grant in 1982
• Lionel Hampton's Gravesite
• Lionel Hampton: His Life and Legacy at University of Idaho
• Lionel Hampton at Drummersworld
• Gene Krupa - What's New(s)
• Lionel Hampton Band - Midnight Sun 1947, Decca 28059 on YouTube
• Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival at University of Idaho
• Lionel Hampton at IMDB
• Official website of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
• Photos at Jazzhouse.org

Steve Allen
Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows at the 39th Emmy Awards in September 1987.
Born	Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (1921-12-26)December 26, 1921 New York City, New York
Died	October 30, 2000(2000-10-30) (aged 78) Los Angeles, California
Occupation	Actor, comedian, television personality, musician, writer
Years active	1940s–2000
Spouse	Dorothy Goodman (m. 1943-1952; divorced) Jayne Meadows (m. 1954-2000; his death)

Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" Allen (December 26, 1921 - October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best known for his television career. He first gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. He graduated to become the first host of The Tonight Show, where he was instrumental in innovating the concept of the television talk show. Thereafter, he hosted numerous game and variety shows, including The Steve Allen Show, I've Got a Secret, The New Steve Allen Show, and was a regular panel member on CBS' What's My Line?

Allen was a "creditable" pianist,^[1] and a prolific composer, having penned over 14,000 songs,^{[citation needed]} one of which was recorded by Perry Como and Margaret Whiting, others by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Les Brown, and Gloria Lynne. Allen won a Grammy award in 1963 for best jazz composition, with his song The Gravy Waltz. His vast number of songs have never been equaled. Allen wrote more than 50 books, has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a Hollywood theater named in his honor The Steve Allen Theater.^[2]

Life and career[link]

Early life[link]

Allen was born in New York City, the son of Billy and Isabelle Allen (née Donohue), a vaudeville comedienne, who performed under the stage name Belle Montrose.^[3] Allen was raised on the south side of Chicago by his mother's Irish Catholic family. Milton Berle once called Allen's mother "the funniest woman in vaudeville."

Allen's first radio job was on station KOY in Phoenix, Arizona, after he left Arizona State Teachers College (now Arizona State University) in Tempe, while still a sophomore. He enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II and was trained as an infantryman.^{[citation needed]} He spent his service time at Camp Roberts, near Monterey, California and did not serve overseas. Allen returned to Phoenix before deciding to move back to California.

Career[link]

Allen became an announcer for KFAC in Los Angeles and then moved to the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1946, talking the station into airing a five-nights-a-week comedy show, Smile Time, co-starring Wendell Noble. After Allen moved to CBS Radio's KNX in Los Angeles, his music-and-talk half-hour format gradually changed to include more talk on a full-hour, late-night show, boosting his popularity and creating standing-room-only studio audiences. During one episode of the show reserved primarily for an interview with Doris Day, his guest star failed to appear, so Allen picked up a microphone and went into the audience to ad lib for the first time.^[4] His radio show attracted a huge local following, and in 1950 it replaced Our Miss Brooks, exposing Allen to a national audience for the first time.

Allen's first television experience had come in 1949 when he answered an ad for a TV announcer for professional wrestling. He knew nothing about wrestling, so he watched some shows and discovered that the announcers did not have well-defined names for the holds. When he got the job, he created names for many of the holds, some of which are still used today.

After CBS radio gave Allen a weekly prime time show, CBS television believed it could groom him for national small-screen stardom and gave Allen his first network television show. The Steve Allen Show premiered at 11 am on Christmas Day, 1950, and was later moved into a thirty-minute, early evening slot. This new show required him to uproot his family and move from LA to New York, since at that time a coast to coast program could not originate from LA. The show was only a modest ratings success, and was canceled in 1952, after which CBS tried several shows to showcase Allen's talent.^[5]

Allen achieved national attention when he was pressed into service at the last minute to host Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts because Godfrey was unable to appear. Allen turned one of Godfrey's live Lipton commercials upside down, preparing tea and instant soup on camera and then pouring both into Godfrey's ukulele. With the audience (including Godfrey, watching from Miami) uproariously and thoroughly entertained, Allen gained major recognition as a comedian and host.

He was a regular on the popular panel game show What's My Line? (where he coined the popular phrase, "Is it bigger than a breadbox?") from 1953 to 1954 and returned frequently as a panelist after Fred Allen died in March 1956, until the series ended in 1967.

[edit] The Tonight Show

Bookmark promotion for Allen's late-night show.

Leaving CBS, he created a late-night New York talk-variety TV program in 1953 for what is now WNBC-TV. The following year, on September 27, 1954, the show went on the full NBC network as The Tonight Show, with fellow radio personality Gene Rayburn (who later went on to host hit game shows such as Match Game, 1962–1982) as the original announcer. The show ran from 11:15 pm to 1:00 am on the East Coast.

While Today developer Sylvester "Pat" Weaver is often credited as the Tonight creator, Allen often pointed out that he had previously created it as a local New York show. Allen told his nationwide audience that first evening: "This is Tonight, and I can't think of too much to tell you about it except I want to give you the bad news first: this program is going to go on forever... you think you're tired now. Wait until you see one o'clock roll around!"^{[citation needed]}

It was as host of The Tonight Show that Allen pioneered the "man on the street" interviews and audience-participation comedy breaks that have become commonplace on late-night TV.

The Steve Allen Show[link]

In 1956, NBC offered Allen a new, prime-time, Sunday night variety hour, The Steve Allen Show, aimed at dethroning CBS's top-rated Ed Sullivan Show. The show included a typical run of star performers, including early TV appearances by Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. Many popular film and television stars were guest stars, including Bob Hope, Kim Novak, Errol Flynn, Abbott and Costello, Esther Williams, Jerry Lewis, Martha Raye, The Three Stooges, and a host of others.

The show's regulars were Tom Poston, Louis Nye, Bill Dana, Don Knotts, Pat Harrington, Jr., Dayton Allen, and Gabriel Dell. All except film veteran Dell were relatively obscure performers prior to their stints with Allen, and all went on to stardom. The comedians in Allen's gang were often seen in "The Man in the Street," featuring interviews about some topical subject. Poston would appear as a dullard who could not remember his own name; Nye was "Gordon Hathaway," fey Madison Avenue executive; Dana played amiable Latino "Jose Jimenez"; Knotts was an exceedingly jittery man who, when asked if he was nervous, invariably replied with an alarmed "No!"; Harrington was Italian immigrant "Guido Panzini"; Dayton Allen played wild-eyed zanies answering any given question with "Why not?". Gabe Dell usually played straight men in sketches (policemen, newsmen, dramatic actors, etc.).

Other recurring routines included "Crazy Shots" (also known as "Wild Pictures"), a series of sight gags accompanied by Allen on piano; Allen inviting audience members to select three musical notes at random, and then composing a song based on the three notes; a satire on radio's long-running The Answer Man and a precursor to Johnny Carson's Carnac the Magnificent (Sample answer: "Et tu, Brute."/Allen's reply: "How many pizzas did you eat, Caesar?")

The live Sunday night show aired opposite The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS and Maverick on ABC. One of Allen's guests was comedian Johnny Carson, a future successor to Allen as host of The Tonight Show. Among Carson's material during that appearance was a portrayal of how a poker game between Allen, Sullivan, and Maverick star James Garner (all impersonated by Carson) would transpire. Allen's programs also featured a good deal of music; he helped the careers of singers Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, who were regulars on his early Tonight Show, and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Allen's show also had one of the longest unscripted "crack-ups" on live TV when Allen began laughing hysterically during "Big Bill Allen's Sports Roundup." He laughed uncontrollably for over a minute, with the audience laughing along, because, as he later explained, he caught sight of his unkempt hair on an off-camera monitor. He kept brushing his hair and changing hats to hide the messy hair, and the more he tried to correct his appearance the funnier it got.

Allen helped the recently invented Polaroid camera become popular by demonstrating its use in live commercials and amassed a huge windfall for his work because he had opted to be paid in Polaroid Corporation stock.

Allen remained host of "Tonight" for three nights a week (Monday and Tuesday nights were taken up by Ernie Kovacs) until early 1957, when he left the "Tonight" show to devote his attention to the Sunday night program. It was his (and NBC's) hope that the Steve Allen show could defeat Ed Sullivan in the ratings. Nevertheless the TV Western Maverick often bested both The Ed Sullivan Show and The Steve Allen Show in audience size.^[6] In September 1959, Allen relocated to Los Angeles and left Sunday night television (the 1959-'60 season originated from NBC Color City in Burbank as The Steve Allen Plymouth Show, on Monday nights). Back in Los Angeles, he continued to write songs, hosted other variety shows, and wrote books and articles about comedy.

Later TV projects[link]

From 1962 to 1964, Allen re-created The Tonight Show on a new late-night The Steve Allen Show, which was syndicated by Westinghouse TV. The five-nights-a-week taped show was broadcast from an old vaudeville theater renamed The Steve Allen Playhouse on 1228 N. Vine St. in Hollywood.^[7] (Several sources have erroneously identified Allen's show using the name of his theater.)

The show was marked by the same wild and unpredictable stunts and comedy skits that often extended down the street to a supermarket known as the Hollywood Ranch Market. He also presented Southern California eccentrics, including health food advocate Gypsy Boots, quirky physics professor Dr. Julius Sumner Miller, wacko comic Prof. Irwin Corey, and an early musical performance by Frank Zappa.^[8]

During one episode, Allen placed a telephone call to the home of Johnny Carson, posing as a ratings company interviewer, asking Carson if the Television was on, and what program he was watching. Carson didn't immediately realize the caller was Allen, and the exchange is classic humor from both, beginning to end. A rarity is the exchange between Allen and Carson about Carson's guests, permitting him to plug his own show on a competing network.

One notable program, which Westinghouse refused to distribute, featured Lenny Bruce during the time the comic was repeatedly being arrested on obscenity charges; footage from this program was first telecast in 1998 in a Bruce documentary aired on HBO. Regis Philbin took over hosting the Westinghouse show in 1964, but only briefly.

The show also featured plenty of jazz played by Allen and members of the show's band, the Donn Trenner Orchestra, which included such virtuoso musicians as guitarist Herb Ellis and flamboyantly comedic hipster trombonist Frank Rosolino (whom Allen credited with originating the "Hiyo!" chant later popularized by Ed McMahon). While the show was not an overwhelming success in its day, David Letterman, Steve Martin, Harry Shearer, Robin Williams, and a number of other prominent comedians have cited Allen's "Westinghouse show," which they watched as teenagers, as being highly influential on their own comedic visions.

Allen later produced a second half-hour show for Westinghouse, titled Jazz Scene, which featured West Coast jazz musicians such as Rosolino, Stan Kenton, and Teddy Edwards. The short-lived show was hosted by Oscar Brown, Jr.

Allen hosted a number of television programs up until the 1980s, including The New Steve Allen Show in 1961 and the game show I've Got a Secret (replacing original host Garry Moore) in 1964. In the summer of 1967, he brought most of the regulars from over the years back with The Steve Allen Comedy Hour, featuring the debuts of Rob Reiner, Richard Dreyfuss, and John Byner and featuring Ruth Buzzi, who would become famous soon after on "Laugh-In." In 1968–71, he returned to syndicated nightly variety-talk with the same wacky stunts that would influence David Letterman in later years, including becoming a human hood ornament; jumping into vats of oatmeal and cottage cheese; and being slathered with dog food, allowing dogs backstage to feast on the free food. During the run of this series, Allen also introduced Albert Brooks and Steve Martin to a national audience for the first time.

A syndicated version of I've Got A Secret hosted by Allen and featuring panelists Pat Carroll and Richard Dawson was taped in Hollywood and aired during the 1972-73 season. In 1977, he produced Steve Allen's Laugh-Back, a syndicated series combining vintage Allen film clips with new talk-show material reuniting his 1950s TV gang. From 1986 through 1988, Allen hosted a daily three-hour comedy show heard nationally on the NBC Radio Network that featured sketches and America's best-known comedians as regular guests. His cohost was radio personality Mark Simone, and they were joined frequently by comedy writers Larry Gelbart, Herb Sargent, and Bob Einstein.

Composer, actor, and author[link]

Allen was an accomplished composer who wrote over 10,000 songs. He began his recording career in 1953 by signing with Decca Records's Brunswick Records sublabel.^[9] In one famous stunt, he made a bet with singer-songwriter Frankie Laine that he could write 50 songs a day for a week. Composing on public display in the window of a Hollywood music store, Allen met the quota, winning $1,000 from Laine. One of the songs, Let's Go to Church Next Sunday, was recorded by both Perry Como and Margaret Whiting. Allen's best-known songs are "This Could Be the Start of Something Big" and "The Gravy Waltz," the latter having won a Grammy award in 1963 for Best Jazz Composition. He also wrote lyrics for the standards "Picnic" and "South Rampart Street Parade." Allen composed the score to the Paul Mantee imitation James Bond film A Man Called Dagger (1967), with the score orchestrated by Ronald Stein.

Allen was also an actor. He wrote and starred in his first film, the Mack Sennett comedy compilation Down Memory Lane, in 1949. His most famous film appearance is in 1955's The Benny Goodman Story, in the title role. The film, while an average biopic of its day, was heralded for its music, featuring many alumni of the Goodman band. Allen later recalled his one contribution to the film's music, used in the film's early scenes: the accomplished Benny Goodman could no longer produce the sound of a clarinet beginner, and that was the only sound Allen could make on a clarinet! In 1960, he appeared as the character "Dr. Ellison" in the episode "Play Acting" of CBS's anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson though his The Steve Allen Show had been in competition with the June Allyson program the preceding season.

From 1977 to 1981, Allen was the producer of the award-winning PBS series, Meeting of Minds, a "talk show" with actors playing the parts of notable historical figures and Steve Allen as the host. This series pitted the likes of Socrates, Marie Antoinette, Thomas Paine, Sir Thomas More, Attila the Hun, Karl Marx, Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and Galileo Galilei in dialogue and argument. This was the show Allen wanted to be remembered for, because he believed that the issues and characters were timeless and would survive long after his death.^{[citation needed]}

Allen was a comedy writer and author of more than 50 books, including Dumbth, a commentary on the American educational system, and Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion, and Morality. Twenty of his books were concerned with his views about religion.^[10] Perhaps influenced by his son's involvement with a religious cult, he became an outspoken critic of organized religion and an active member of such humanist and skeptical organizations as the Council for Media Integrity, a group that debunked pseudoscientific claims.^[11]

Allen and rock music[link]

Allen was notoriously contemptuous of rock 'n' roll music, although he was showman enough to scoop Ed Sullivan by being one of the first to present Elvis Presley on network television (after Presley had appeared on the Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey Stage Show and Milton Berle shows). "Allen found a way... to satisfy the Puritans. He assured viewers that he would not allow Presley 'to do anything that will offend anyone.' NBC announced that a 'revamped, purified and somewhat abridged Presley' had agreed to sing while standing reasonably still, dressed in black tie."^[12] In fact, on this occasion, Allen had Elvis wear a top hat and the white tie and tails of a "high class" musician while singing "Hound Dog" to an actual hound, who was similarly attired. According to Jake Austen, "the way Steve Allen treated Elvis Presley was his federal crime. Allen thought Presley was talentless and absurd, and so he decided to goof on him. Allen set things up so that Presley would show his contrition by appearing in a tuxedo and singing his new song 'Hound Dog' to an elderly basset hound..."^[13] Elaine Dundy says that Allen smirkingly presented Elvis "with a roll that looks exactly like a large roll of toilet paper with, says Allen, the 'signatures of eighteen thousand fans.' " Presley looked "at Steve as if to say, 'It's all right. I've been made a worse fool in my life,' and after he patted the basset hound he is about to sing Hound Dog to, he wiped his hands on his trousers as if to wipe away Steve Allen, the dog, and the whole show."^[14] Guitarist Scotty Moore later said that Elvis and the members of his band were "all angry about their treatment the previous night." "The next day, as Elvis entered the RCA studios to record 'Hound Dog,' fans greeted him with signs that declared, 'We Want the Real Elvis' and 'We Want the Gyrating Elvis.' In the press, critics were no kinder with the singer than they had ever been, this time pronouncing him a 'cowed kid' who had demonstrated, once again, that he 'couldn't sing or act a lick.' "^[15] In a column in Newsweek, John Lardner wrote, "Like Huckleberry Finn, when the widow put him in a store suit and told him not to gap or scratch, [Elvis] had been 'fouled' by NBC's attempt to 'civilize him... for the good of mankind.'"^[16] Presley often referred to the Allen show as the most ridiculous performance of his career.

The singer "was later featured in a mediocre cowboy sketch with Allen, Andy Griffith, and Imogene Coca. As 'Tumbleweed Presley,' his big joke was, 'I'm warning you galoots, don't step on my blue suede boots.' "^[17][18] That apparent mockery was consistent with other situations in which Allen had singers in such comic scenarios on his show, in contrast to the simple "singing in front of a curtain" style of the Sullivan show. The house singers on the early Tonight show were subjected to many such stunts. In addition, Allen's skit with Presley actually was less a put-down of Presley and mainly a satire of country music stage shows like the Grand Ole Opry and the Louisiana Hayride, the Shreveport-based country music radio show (over KWKH) Presley performed on in 1954 and 1955. It's highly debatable, given Presley's spirited performance, whether unlike the top hat and tails performance, there was any put-down motivation on Allen's part with this particular skit, since he could have easily done it in any of his other programs.

In a 1996 interview Allen was asked about the show. Asked if NBC executives expressed any concerns about Elvis's planned appearance, Allen replied that he'd "read more nonsense about " it, and "a lot of wrong reports have gotten into the public -". "If there ever was, I never heard about it. And since it was my show, I think it would have brought to my attention. " Regarding Elvis's movements he stated "No! I took no objection to the movements I'd seen him make on the Dorsey Brothers show. I didn't see a problem. Of course, I had read about some of the controversy, much of it generated by Ed Sullivan, who was opposite of our show on CBS. It didn't matter to me. I was using good production sense in booking him."^[19]

In his book "Hi-Ho Steverino!" Allen wrote the following: "When I booked Elvis, I naturally had no interest in just presenting him vaudeville-style and letting him do his spot as he might in concert. Instead we worked him into the comedy fabric of our program." "We certainly didn't inhibit Elvis' then-notorious pelvic gyrations, but I think the fact that he had on formal evening attire made him, purely on his own, slightly alter his presentation."^[20]

Allen also appeared on the shows of entertainers, even the rock and roll program The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom on ABC.

Later career[link]

In the late 1970s early 80s, Steve Allen recorded a solo piano Pianocorder album for the Pianocorder Contemporary Artists Series, joining other illustrious artists-pianists of the day such as Liberace, Floyd Cramer, Teddy Wilson, Roger Williams, and Johnny Guarnieri to name a few. His solo album was very popular. Pianocorder was founded by Joseph Tushinsky. The Pianocorder was the first modern mechanical player piano made for the public that used solenoids to power the keys. Later, it was bought out by Yamaha-Disklavier and discontinued and is known today as the Yamaha Disklavier. During the late 80s, Allen and his second wife Jayne Meadows made numerous appearances on the drama St. Elsewhere, playing Victor Erlich's estranged parents.

The 1985 documentary film Kerouac, the Movie starts and ends with footage of Jack Kerouac reading from On the Road as Allen accompanies on soft jazz piano from The Steve Allen Plymouth Show in 1959. "Are you nervous?" Allen asks him; Kerouac answers nervously, "Noo," a take-off on the character usually played by Don Knotts.

Allen appeared in a PSA advocating for New Eyes for the Needy in the 1990s.

Also, Allen made a cameo appearance at Wrestlemania VI in a skit with The Bolsheviks. Allen told the Bolsheviks that he was going to play the Soviet National Anthem while The Bolsheviks sang along; however, Allen simply stalled playing other notes while never actually playing the anthem.

Personal life[link]

Steve Allen was married to Dorothy Goodman in 1943 and they had three children, Steve Jr., Brian, and David. That marriage ended in divorce in 1952. Allen's second wife was actress Jayne Meadows, sister to actress Audrey Meadows. The marriage of Allen and Meadows produced one son, Bill Allen. They were married from 1954 until his death in 2000.

Allen received a traditional Irish Catholic upbringing.^[10] He later became a secular humanist and Humanist Laureate for the Academy of Humanism, a member of CSICOP and the Council for Secular Humanism.^[10] He received the Rose Elizabeth Bird Commitment to Justice Award from Death Penalty Focus in 1998. He was a student and supporter of general semantics, recommending it in Dumbth and giving the Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture in 1992. In spite of his liberal position on free speech, his later concerns about the lewdness he saw on radio and television, particularly the programs of Howard Stern, caused him to make proposals restricting the content of programs, allying himself with the Parents Television Council.^[21] His full-page ad on the subject appeared in newspapers a day or two before his unexpected death. Allen's views evolved in the last dozen years of his life, as he called himself an "involved Presbyterian".{[fact}} He had been married for decades to Jayne Meadows, who was the daughter of a Christian missonary.^[10]

Allen made a last appearance on The Tonight Show on September 27, 1994, for the show's 40th anniversary broadcast. Jay Leno was effusive in praise and actually knelt down and kissed his ring.

He was a Democrat whereas his wife was a Republican^[22].

Death[link]

On October 30, 2000, Allen was driving to his son's home in Encino, California, when his car was struck by another vehicle backing out of a driveway. Neither Allen nor the other driver believed he was injured and damage to both vehicles was minimal, so the two exchanged insurance information and Allen continued on.

Shortly after arriving at his son's home (after carving pumpkins with his grandchildren and taping a radio tribute to an old friend, satirist Paul Krassner), Allen did not feel right and decided to take a nap. While napping, he suffered a massive heart attack and was pronounced dead shortly after 8 p.m. Autopsy results concluded that the traffic accident earlier in the day had caused a blood vessel in his chest to rupture, causing blood to leak into the sac surrounding the heart (known as haemopericardium.^[23]) In addition, he suffered four broken ribs as a result of the accident.

Allen was two months shy of his 79th birthday at the time of his death. He is interred in an unmarked grave at Forest Lawn Memorial Park-Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles.

Allen has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — a television star at 1720 Vine St. and a radio star at 1537 Vine St.

Works[link]

Shows[link]

• Songs for Sale (1950–1952)
• What's My Line? (regular panelist, 1953–1954; frequent guest panelist 1954-1967)
• Jukebox Jury (1953)
• Talent Patrol (1953–1955)
• The Steve Allen Show (1956–61)
• The Tonight Show (1954–1957, NBC)
• The Steve Allen Westinghouse Show (1962–1968)
• I've Got a Secret (1964–1967, 1972–1973)
• The Steve Allen Show (Filmways production, 1968–1969)
• Match Game (panelist, 1974)
• Meeting of Minds (1977–1981, PBS)
• Steve Allen Comedy Hour (1980–1981)
• The Start of Something Big (1985–1986)
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast (1997, one episode, Guest)
• Homicide: Life On The Street (1998): Steve and Jayne appeared as guests (January 16, 1998).

Songs[link]

• "Theme from Picnic"
• "This Could Be the Start of Something Big"
• "Pretend You Don't See Her, My Heart"
• "The Gravy Waltz"
• "The Saturday Evening Post"
• "Impossible"
• "Cool Yule"

Comedic Discography[link]

• "Man in the Street" (1963) (Signature 1004)
• "Funny Fone Calls" (1963) (Dot 3472, re-issued as Casablanca 811-366-1-ML)
• "More Funny Fone Calls" (1963) (Dot 3517, re-issued as Casablanca 811-367-1-ML)

Musical Discography[link]

This section requires expansion.

• Songs for Gentle People (Dunhill, 1967)
• Soulful Brass with Oliver Nelson (Impulse!, 1968)
• Soulful Brass #2 with Oliver Nelson (Flying Dutchman, 1969)

Books[link]