Phil Spitalny
Phil Spitalny ( born November 7, 1890 in Tetiev, Ukraine, † October 11, 1970 in Miami Beach ) was an American bandleader, known for the creation of a women 's big band in the swing era.
Life and work
Spitalny was a Russian emigrant and played clarinet since early childhood. On the Conservatory in Odessa, he studied piano and violin. In 1905 he came with his family to the United States to Cleveland, where he played in the hotel orchestra ( with his brothers ), and the forerunners of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. He moved to Boston, where he founded a 50köpfige band playing at Loew's State Theater, and directed a dance orchestra, with whom he toured and recorded from 1924 to 1926 for Victor. In 1928 he moved to New York City and founded the Phil Spitalny Hotel Pennsylvania Orchestra, which was quite successful until the Great Depression forced him to the U.S. for the task. He met Evelyn Kaye Klein, a violinist who had studied at the Juilliard School and as Evelyn and her magic violin occurred, and built them a all-girl orchestra. After choosing from over 1000 candidates in the orchestra audition was with a cast of 22 women and was a great success. It was not just Phil Spitalny and His All Girl Orchestra, but also the Hour of Charm Orchestra named after the radio show Hour of Charm, in which it was heard regularly from 1935 ( first at CBS, 1936-1946 for NBC under the sponsor General Electric and from 1946 to 1948 again for CBS). To get the first radio sponsorship agreement arranged Spitalny a blind audition - the sponsor Linit Bath Oil only found out later that he had chosen a woman band. Spitalny conceived the band as a novelty attraction of an all-women band under the slogan Sweet and Charming.
The arrangements were from Kaye ( 1946 Wife of Spitalny ), the trombonist Velma Rooke and the pianist Rosa Linda. They played mostly dance music.
The musicians were allowed under the contract two years not married ( and had a marriage to announce half a year in advance and otherwise to pay attention to their "reputation" ), got their looks prescribed (hairstyle and weighing less than 122 pounds ) and exercised daily at first five to six hours. It was played from memory without notes on the stage ( not to distract from the stage presentation). Due to its success, the band toured in comparison to other all-girl band comfortable in their own train compartments. Sherrie Tucker mentioned in her book Swing Shift (2000 ) that he had the irritating habit to interview new band members in Underwear (but seems to have not gone on). The band was in two movies: When Johnny comes marching home (1942 ) and Here come the Co -eds (1945 ) with Abbott and Costello.
In the early 1950s, he joined several times on the Ed Sullivan Show on television and moved to Miami in 1955, where he retired and worked as a music critic, a local newspaper. His widow, Evelyn Kaye Klein died in 1990.
He was also a composer and collaborated with other composers such as Gus Kahn and Lee " Stubby " Gordon. With Frank Magine and Walter Hirsch, he is co-author of Save the last dance for me (later a hit of The Drifters ).
Spitalny has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.