Rudy Vallée | |
---|---|
Born |
Hubert Prior Vallée July 28, 1901 Island Pond, Vermont, United States |
Died |
July 3, 1986 Los Angeles, California, United States | (aged 84)
Occupation | Singer, actor, bandleader, entertainer |
Years active | 1924–1984 |
Website | |
rudyvallee.com |
Hubert Prior "Rudy" Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986) was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and radio host. He was one of the first modern pop stars of the teen idol type.
Early life[]
The son of Charles Alphonse Vallée and Catherine Lynch, Rudy Vallée was born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont. His parents were born and raised in Vermont, but his grandparents were immigrants. The Vallées were Francophone Canadians from Quebec, while the Lynches were from Ireland. Vallée grew up in Westbrook, Maine.
In 1917, he enlisted for World War I but was discharged when United States Navy authorities discovered he was only 15 years old. He enlisted in Portland, Maine, on March 29, 1917, under the false birthdate of July 28, 1899. He was discharged at the Naval Training Station, Newport, Rhode Island, on May 17, 1917, with 41 days of active service.
Career[]
Music[]
After playing drums in his high school band, Vallée played clarinet and saxophone in bands around New England as a teenager. From 1924 through 1925, he played with the Savoy Havana Band at the Savoy Hotel in London, where band members discouraged his attempts to become a vocalist.[1] He returned to the United States, briefly attending the University of Maine. He received a degree in philosophy from Yale University, where he played in the Yale Collegians with Peter Arno, who became a cartoonist for The New Yorker magazine.[2]
After graduation, he formed Rudy Vallée and the Connecticut Yankees, having named himself after saxophonist Rudy Wiedoeft.[3] With this band, which included two violins, two saxophones, a piano, a banjo, and drums, he started singing. He had a thin, wavering tenor voice and seemed more at home singing sweet ballads than jazz songs. But his singing, suave manner, and boyish good looks attracted attention, especially from young women.[4] Vallée was given a recording contract, and in 1928 he started performing on the radio.
He became one of the first crooners.[4] Singers needed strong voices to fill theaters in the days before microphones. Crooners had soft voices that were suited to the intimacy of radio. Vallée's trombone-like vocal phrasing on "Deep Night" would inspire Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Perry Como to model their voices on jazz instruments.
Vallée was one of the first celebrity pop stars.[4] Flappers pursued him wherever he went.[4] His live appearances were usually sold out. Among screaming female fans, his voice failed to project in venues without microphones and amplification, so he often sang through a megaphone. A caricature of him singing this way was depicted in the Betty Boop cartoon Poor Cinderella (1934).[5] Another caricature is in Crosby, Columbo, and Vallee, which parodies him, Bing Crosby, and Russ Columbo.
In the words of a magazine writer in 1929,
At the microphone he is truly a romantic figure. Faultlessly attired in evening dress, he pours softly into the radio's delicate ear a stream of mellifluous melody. He appears to be coaxing, pleading and at the same time adoring the invisible one to whom his song is attuned.[6]
Vallée had his share of detractors as well as fans when his popularity was at its height. Radio Revue, a radio fan magazine, held a contest in which people wrote letters explaining his success. The winning letter, written by a man who disliked Vallee's music, said, "Rudy Vallee is reaping the harvest of a seed that is seldom sown this day and age: LOVE. The good-looking little son-of-a-gun really and honestly LOVES his audience and his art. He LOVES to please listeners—LOVES it more than he does his name in the big lights, his mug in the papers. He loved all those unseen women as passionately as a voice can love, long before they began to purr and to caress him with two-cent stamps."[7]
Vallée made his first records in 1928 for Columbia's low-priced labels Harmony, Velvet Tone, and Diva. He signed to RCA Victor in February 1929 and remained with the company through 1931, leaving after a heated dispute with executives over title selections. He then recorded for the short-lived Hit of the Week label which sold records laminated onto cardboard. In August 1932, he signed with Columbia and stayed with the label through 1933; he returned to RCA Victor in June 1933. His records were initially issued on Victor's low-priced Bluebird label until November 1933, when he was back on the Victor label. He remained with Victor until signing with ARC in 1936. ARC issued his records on the Perfect, Melotone, Conqueror and Romeo labels until 1937, when he again returned to Victor.
With his group the Connecticut Yankees, Vallée's best-known recordings include "The Stein Song" (a.k.a University of Maine school song) in 1929[8] and "Vieni, Vieni" in the latter 1930s.
His last hit record was a reissue of "As Time Goes By", popularized in the 1942 film Casablanca. Due to the mid-1940s recording ban, RCA Victor reissued the version he had recorded in 1931.[9] During World War II, he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard to help direct the 11th district Coast Guard band as a Chief Petty Officer. He was promoted to Lieutenant and led the 40 piece band to great success. In 1944 he was placed on the inactive list and returned to radio.[10]
According to George P. Oslin, Vallée on July 28, 1933 was the recipient of the first singing telegram. A fan telegraphed birthday greeting, and Oslin had the operator sing "Happy Birthday to You".[11][12][13] In 1995, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.[14]
Radio and film[]
In 1929, Vallée began hosting The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, a popular radio show with guests such as Fay Wray and Richard Cromwell in dramatic skits. Vallée continued hosting radio shows such as the Royal Gelatin Hour, Vallee Varieties, and The Rudy Vallee Show through the 1930s and 1940s.
When Vallée took his contractual vacations from his national radio show in 1937, he insisted his sponsor hire Louis Armstrong as his substitute[15] This was the first instance of an African-American hosting a national radio program. Vallée wrote the introduction for Armstrong's 1936 book Swing That Music. For his work in radio, Vallee was inducted into the Vermont Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2011.
In 1929, Vallée made his first feature film, The Vagabond Lover for RKO Radio. His first films were made to cash in on his singing popularity. While his initial performances were rather wooden, his acting greatly improved in the late 1930s and 1940s, and by the time he began working with Preston Sturges in the 1940s, he had become a successful comedic supporting player. He appeared opposite Claudette Colbert in Sturges's 1942 screwball comedy The Palm Beach Story. Other films in which he appeared include I Remember Mama, Unfaithfully Yours and The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer.
In 1955, Vallée was featured in Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, co-starring Jane Russell, Alan Young, and Jeanne Crain. The production was filmed on location in Paris. The film was based on the Anita Loos novel that was a sequel to her acclaimed Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Gentlemen Marry Brunettes was popular throughout Europe at the time and was released in France as A Paris Pour les Quatre ("Paris for the Four"), and in Belgium as Tevieren Te Parijs.
Vallée performed on Broadway as J.B. Biggley in the 1961 musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and reprised the role in the 1967 film version.[16] He appeared in the 1960s Batman television show as the villain Lord Marmaduke Ffogg and in 1971 as a vindictive surgeon in the Night Gallery episode "Marmalade Wine".[17]
Personal life[]
His fourth and last wife, Eleanor, wrote a memoir, My Vagabond Lover. Always loyal to Yale University, he never forgot his Maine roots, and maintained an estate at Kezar Lake in Maine.[18]
NBC announcer George Ansbro wrote in his memoir that Vallée "had quite a temper and a very foul mouth... Almost always the butt of his nastiness was the orchestra... his outbursts were mean-spirited, and he didn't care who overheard".[19] Alton Cook, however, wrote, "Rudy Vallee may be fuming at his orchestra, but a Vallee hour rehearsal never quite loses its air of being a gathering of old friends...Rudy is grimly serious about rehearsal. He sometimes has his band spend a quarter-hour going over one short passage that doesn't satisfy him. On those occasions his temper wears thin..."[20]
During his divorce from his second wife, Fay Webb, she alleged "Vallee is possessed of a violent, vicious and ungovernable temper, and given to the use of blasphemy and the use of intemperate, vile and vituperative language, particularly when applied to [her]". She accused him of committing adultery with three women, including actress Alice Faye. Vallée denied the allegations, and the judge found Vallée "not guilty of any misconduct or maltreatment of [Webb] which detrimentally affected [her] health, physical or medical condition".[21]
Vallée got into a fist fight with producer George White on the set of George White's Scandals. Dorothy Brooks wrote in 1936, "Other stars on the air have their troubles, their disagreements, and yet you don't read about their ending in black eyes. Only Rudy Vallee seems to figure in endings of this kind." In an interview with Brooks, Vallée claimed he found fighting "savage and stupid" and "the wrong way to try to solve problems, because it never solves them." When asked why he got into fights, he replied, "I just lost my temper. I'll admit I have a too-quick temper."[22]
Death[]
Vallée died of cancer at his home on July 3, 1986, while watching the televised centennial ceremonies of the restored Statue of Liberty. His wife, Eleanor, said his last words were: "I wish we could be there; you know how I love a party."[23]
Discography[]
Filmography[]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1929 | Rudy Vallee and His Connecticut Yankees | Himself | Vitaphone Varieties #771;[24] Lost film (soundtrack survives, containing the songs "Deep Night" and "Outside")[25] |
1929 | Radio Rhythm | Himself | Short |
1929 | The Vagabond Lover | Rudy Bronson | |
1929 | Glorifying the American Girl | Himself | |
1930 | College Sweethearts | Short | |
1931 | Kitty from Kansas City | Himself | Short |
1931 | Musical Justice | Judge | Short |
1932 | The Musical Doctor | Dr. Vallee | Short |
1932 | Rudy Vallee Melodies | Himself | Short |
1933 | International House | Himself | |
1934 | George White's Scandals | Jimmy Martin | |
1934 | Hollywood on Parade # B-9 | Himself | |
1935 | Sweet Music | Skip Houston | |
1938 | Gold Diggers in Paris | Terry Moore | Alternative title: The Gay Impostors |
1939 | Second Fiddle | Roger Maxwell | |
1941 | Too Many Blondes | Dick Kerrigan | |
1941 | Time Out for Rhythm | Daniel "Danny" Collins | |
1942 | The Palm Beach Story | John D. Hackensacker III | |
1943 | Happy Go Lucky | Alfred Monroe | |
1945 | It's in the Bag | Himself | |
1945 | Man Alive | Gordon Tolliver | |
1946 | People Are Funny | Ormsby Jamison | |
1946 | The Fabulous Suzanne | Hendrick Courtney, Jr. | |
1947 | The Sin of Harold Diddlebock | Lynn Sargent | Alternative title: Mad Wednesday |
1947 | The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer | District Attorney Tommy Chamberlain | Alternative title: Released in the U.K. as Bachelor Knight |
1948 | I Remember Mama | Dr. Johnson | |
1948 | So This Is New York | Herbert Daley | |
1948 | Unfaithfully Yours | August Henshler | |
1948 | My Dear Secretary | Charles Harris | |
1949 | Mother Is a Freshman | John Heaslip | Alternative title: Mother Knows Best |
1949 | The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend | Charles Hingleman | |
1949 | Father Was a Fullback | Mr. Roger "Jess" Jessup | |
1950 | The Admiral Was a Lady | Peter Pedigrew (Jukebox king) | |
1954 | Ricochet Romance | Worthington Higgenmacher | |
1955 | Gentlemen Marry Brunettes | Himself | |
1957 | The Helen Morgan Story | Himself | Alternative titles: Both Ends of the Candle Why Was I Born? |
1967 | How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying | Jasper B. Biggley | |
1968 | Live a Little, Love a Little | Louis Penlow | |
1968 | The Night They Raided Minsky's | Narrator | Voice |
1970 | The Phynx | Himself | |
1975 | Sunburst | Proprietor | Alternative title: Slashed Dreams |
1976 | Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood | Autograph Hound |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1956–1957 | December Bride | Himself | 2 episodes |
1957 | The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour | Himself | 1 episode |
1967 | Batman | Lord Marmaduke Ffogg | 3 episodes |
1969 | Petticoat Junction | Herbert A. Smith | Episode: "But I've Never Been In Erie, Pa" |
1970 | Here's Lucy | Himself | 1 episode |
1971 | Night Gallery | Dr. Francis Deeking | 1 episode |
1971–1972 | Alias Smith and Jones | Winford Fletcher | 2 episodes |
1976 | Ellery Queen | Alvin Winer | Episode: "The Adventure of the Tyrant of Tin Pan Alley" |
1979 | CHiPs | Arthur Forbinger | Episode: "Pressure Point" |
1984 | Santa Barbara | Elderly Con | 1 episode, (final appearance) |
Gallery[]
Illustrations[]
Magazine covers[]
Videos[]
See also[]
- Vallee Family House, a house listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Westbrook, Maine
References[]
- ↑ Rust, Brian, "The Savoy Havana at the Savoy Hotel, London", sleeve notes to disc 2 of World Record Club LP set SH165/6, issued 1971
- ↑ "Cartoonist Peter Arno of the New Yorker Dies". The Milwaukee Journal. February 23, 1968. Part 1, p. 20.
- ↑ "How Rudy Wiedoeft's Saxophobia Launched the Saxual Revolution" (PDF). http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v12p068y1989.pdf. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Whitcomb, Ian. "The Coming of the Crooners". Sam Houston University. http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_fwh/book/roots_of_rock/support/crooner/EarlyCroonersIntro2.htm. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
- ↑ "Betty Boop: Poor Cinderella". September 29, 1934. http://archive.org/details/Betty_Boop_Poor_Cinderella_1934.
- ↑ "What is the Secret of Rudy Vallee's Success?". New York: Radio Revue. December 1929. https://archive.org/stream/radiorevue01unse#page/n11/mode/2up.
- ↑ Hansen, Martin (January 1930). "Mere Man Wins First Prize in Rudy Vallee Contest". New York: Radio Revue. https://archive.org/stream/radiorevue01unse#page/n85/mode/2up.
- ↑ "The Maine Stein Song by Rudy Vallée - Songfacts". https://www.songfacts.com/facts/rudy-vallee/the-maine-stein-song.
- ↑ Template:Pop Chronicles 40s
- ↑ USCG: Frequently Asked Questions. Uscg.mil. Retrieved on 2012-01-30.
- ↑ "The Singing Telegram At 50". The New York Times. 1983. https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/10/business/the-singing-telegram-at-50.html. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
- ↑ Liz Sadler. "Special delivery: The singing telegram endures". Columbia News Service. Columbia School of Journalism. https://web.archive.org/web/20061108220256/http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-07-07/168.asp. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
- ↑ "The First Singing Telegram". Sound Beat. Syracuse University Libraries. https://soundbeat.org/episode/the-first-singing-telegram/. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
- ↑ "The Brightest Stars". Archived from the original on October 13, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121013165655/http://www.palmspringswalkofstars.com/web-storage/Stars/Stars%20dedicated%20by%20date.pdf.
- ↑ Features Archives. onhifi.com (March 1, 2002). Retrieved on 2012-01-30.
- ↑ Colin Larkin, ed (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 1208. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
- ↑ Skelton, Scott; Benson, Jim (1998). Rod Serling's Night Gallery: An After-hours Tour. Syracuse University Press. pp. 159–. ISBN 978-0-8156-0535-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=nf6HV6mbJGIC&pg=PA159. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- ↑ C. Stewart Doty, "Rudy Vallee: Franco-American and Man from Maine", Maine Historical Society Quarterly 1993 33(1): 2–19
- ↑ Ansbro, George (1 February 2000). I Have a Lady in the Balcony: Memoirs of a Broadcaster in Radio and Television. McFarland. pp. 89–. ISBN 978-0-7864-4318-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=paD3WwlxmGAC&pg=PA89. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- ↑ Cook, Alton (April 18, 1937). "Rudy Acts Like Real Tough Guy". The Pittsburgh Press. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19370418&id. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
- ↑ Fay Webb Vallee v. Hubert Prior Vallee. p. 56. https://books.google.com/books?id=mNu_zJvpsKEC&pg=PA56. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
- ↑ Brooks, Dorothy (August 1936). "Why I Always Have to Fight". Broadway, New York: Macfadden Publications, Inc.. https://archive.org/stream/radiomi00macf#page/n335/mode/2up.
- ↑ Obituary, Los Angeles Times, July 4, 1986.
- ↑ Picking, Patrick (2007). "Vitaphone Thrills the World During Event-Filled Year". Patrick J. Picking. http://picking.com/vitaphone84.html.
- ↑ "Rudy Vallee & His Connecticut Yankees Vitaphone". Vitaphone. 2012. https://soundcloud.com/vitaphone/04-rudy-vallee-his-connecticut.
Further reading[]
- McCracken, Allison. "Real Men Don't Sing Ballads (Section:The Rise and Fall of Rudy Vallée)". In Wojcik, Pamela Robertson; Knight, Arthur. Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Popular Music. Duke University Press. pp. 113–. ISBN 0-8223-2797-X. https://books.google.com/books?id=ElAh52dCq1MC&pg=PA113. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
External links[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Category:Rudy Vallee. |
Wikiquote has media related to: Rudy Vallée |
- Official site
- Rudy Vallee Collection at the American Radio Archive the Thousand Oaks Library
- Virtual History
- A collection of rare aluminum transcription discs of some of Vallée's radio broadcasts is housed in the Great American Songbook Foundation archives
- Rudy Vallée at the Internet Movie Database
- Rudy Vallée at the Internet Broadway Database
- Rudy Vallée at AllMusic
Media[]
- Rudy Vallée interviewed by Mike Wallace on The Mike Wallace Interview February 22, 1958
- The Royal Desserts Hour with Rudy Vallée (May 5, 1938) (one hour in)
- Recordings on Standard Labels at the Internet Archive
- Recordings on Discount Labels at the Internet Archive
- More recordings (including unreleased personal recordings) at the Internet Archive
The original article can be found at Rudy Vallée and the edit history here.