Paul Whiteman

Whiteman and his orchestra, 1921

Whiteman was born in Denver, Colorado.[2] He came from a musical family: his father, Wilburforce James Whiteman[8] was the supervisor of music for the Denver Public Schools, a position he held for fifty years,[9] and his mother Elfrida (née Dallison) was a former opera singer. His father insisted that Paul learn an instrument, preferably the violin, but the young man chose the viola.[10] According to Chris Popa, Whiteman was Protestant and of Scottish, Irish, English, and Dutch ancestry.[11]

Whiteman's skill at the viola resulted in a place in the Denver Symphony Orchestra by 1907, joining the San Francisco Symphony in 1914. In 1918, Whiteman conducted a 12-piece U.S. Navy band, the Mare Island Naval Training Camp Symphony Orchestra (NTCSO).[12] After World War I, he formed the Paul Whiteman Orchestra.[13]

That year he led a popular dance band in the city. In 1920, he moved with his band to New York City where they began recording for the Victor Talking Machine Company.[2] The popularity of these records led to national fame. In his first five recordings sessions for Victor, August 9 – October 28, 1920, he used the name "Paul Whiteman and His Ambassador Orchestra", presumably because he had been playing at the Ambassador Hotel in Atlantic City. From November 3, 1920, he started using "Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra."[14]

Whiteman became the most popular band director of that decade. In a time when most dance bands consisted of six to ten men, Whiteman directed a more imposing group that numbered as many as 35 musicians. By 1922, Whiteman already controlled some 28 ensembles on the East Coast and was earning over $1,000,000 a year.[15]

In 1926, Paul Whiteman was on tour in Vienna, Austria when he met and was interviewed by a young ambitious newspaper reporter named Billy Wilder who was also a fan of Whiteman's band.[16] Whiteman liked young Wilder enough, that he took him with the band to Berlin where Wilder was able to make more connections in the entertainment field, leading him to become a screenwriter and director, eventually ending up in Hollywood.

In 1927, the Whiteman orchestra backed Hoagy Carmichael singing and playing on a recording of "Washboard Blues".[17] Whiteman signed with Columbia Records in May 1928, leaving the label in September 1930 when he refused a pay cut. He returned to RCA Victor between September 1931 and March 1937.

Beginning in 1923 after the Buescher Band Instrument Company placed a crown on his head, the media referred to Whiteman as "The King of Jazz".[18] Whiteman emphasized the way he approached the well-established style of jazz music, while also organizing its composition and style in his own fashion.[2]

While most jazz musicians and fans consider improvisation to be essential to the musical style, Whiteman thought the genre could be improved by orchestrating the best of it, with formal written arrangements.[2] Eddie Condon criticized him for trying to "make a lady" out of jazz.[4] Whiteman's recordings were popular critically and commercially, and his style of jazz was often the first jazz of any form that many Americans heard during the era. Whiteman wrote more than 3000 arrangements.[19]

For more than 30 years Whiteman, referred to as "Pops", sought and encouraged promising musicians, vocalists, composers, arrangers, and entertainers. In 1924 he commissioned George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which was premiered by his orchestra with the composer at the piano.[2] Another familiar piece in Whiteman's repertoire was Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé.

Whiteman hired many of the best jazz musicians for his band, including Bix Beiderbecke, Frankie Trumbauer, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Steve Brown, Mike Pingitore, Gussie Mueller, Wilbur Hall (billed by Whiteman as "Willie Hall"), Jack Teagarden, and Bunny Berigan.[2] He encouraged upcoming African American musical talents and planned to hire black musicians, but his management persuaded him that doing so would destroy his career due to racial tension and America's segregation of that time.[5]

The members of Whiteman's Orchestra in 1930

In 1925, seeking to break up his musical selections, Whiteman's attention was directed by a member of his organisation to Bing Crosby and Al Rinker, who would perform as members of his orchestra, and later, as two of the three frontmen of The Rhythm Boys.[20]

He provided music for six Broadway shows and produced more than 600 phonograph recordings.[19] His recording of José Padilla's "Valencia" topped the charts for 11 weeks, beginning March 30, 1926, becoming the No. 1 record of 1926.[21]

Red McKenzie, leader of the Mound City Blue Blowers, and cabaret singer Ramona Davies (billed as "Ramona and her Grand Piano") joined the Whiteman group in 1932. The King's Jesters were with Paul Whiteman in 1931. In 1933, Whiteman had a No. 2 hit on the Billboard charts with Ann Ronell's "Willow Weep for Me".[22]

In 1942, Whiteman began recording for Capitol Records, co-founded by songwriters Buddy DeSylva and Johnny Mercer and music store owner Glenn Wallichs. Whiteman and His Orchestra's recordings of "I Found a New Baby" and "The General Jumped at Dawn" was the label's first single release.[23] Another notable Capitol record he made is the 1942 "Trav'lin Light" featuring Billie Holiday (billed as "Lady Day", due to her being under contract with another label).[23]

A frame from the trailer for the film Rhapsody in Blue (1945)

Whiteman appeared as himself in the 1945 movie Rhapsody in Blue on the life and career of George Gershwin,[2] and also appeared in The Fabulous Dorseys in 1947, a bio-pic starring Jimmy Dorsey and Tommy Dorsey. Whiteman also appeared as the baby in Nertz (1929), the bandleader in Thanks a Million (1935),[2] as himself in Strike Up the Band (1940),[2] in the Paramount Pictures short The Lambertville Story (1949), and the revue musical King of Jazz (1930).[2]

Although giving priority to stage appearances during his peak years in the 1920s, Whiteman participated in some early prestigious radio programs. On January 4, 1928, Whiteman and his troupe starred in a nationwide NBC radio broadcast sponsored by Dodge Brothers Automobile Co. and known as The Victory Hour (The program introduced the new Dodge "Victory Six" automobile). It was the most widespread hookup ever attempted at that time. Will Rogers acted as MC and joined the program from the West Coast, with Al Jolson coming in from New Orleans.[24] Variety was not impressed, saying: "As with practically all of the important and high-priced commercial broadcasting programs under N.B.C. auspices in the past, the Dodge Brothers' Victory Hour at a reputed cost of $67,000 was disappointing and not commensurate in impression with the financial outlay." However, the magazine noted. "...The reaction to Paul Whiteman's grand radio plug for "Among My Souvenirs"…was a flock of orders by wire from dealers the day following the Dodge Brothers Victory Hour broadcast."[25]

Dodge Brothers must have been satisfied with the results of the broadcast because on March 29, 1928, Whiteman took part in a second Dodge Brothers radio show over the NBC network, which was entitled Film Star Radio Hour.[26] Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, John Barrymore, and several other Hollywood stars were featured. United Artists Pictures arranged for additional loudspeakers to be installed in their theatres so that audiences could hear the stars they had only seen in silent pictures previously. The New York Herald Tribune commented: "...Of Mr. Paul Whiteman's share in the pretentious program, only the best can be said. Mr. Whiteman's orchestra is seldom heard on the radio, and its infrequent broadcasts are the subject of major jubilations, despite the presence of tenors and vocal harmonists in most of the Whiteman renditions."[27]

In 1929, Whiteman agreed to take part in a weekly radio show for Old Gold Cigarettes for which he was paid $5,000 per broadcast. Old Gold Presents Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra was an hour-long show on Tuesday nights over CBS from station WABC in New York. The Whiteman Hour had its first broadcast on February 5, 1929, and continued until May 6, 1930. On May 7, 1930, he was paid $325,000 for 65 radio episodes.[28]

Whiteman then became far busier in radio. His shows were:

• January 27, 1931 – July 1, 1932, Blue Network. 30m, Tuesdays at 8, then Fridays at 10. Allied Paints (1931), Pontiac (1932).
• July 8, 1932 – March 27, 1933, NBC. 30m, Fridays at 10, then Mondays at 9:30. Pontiac (to September), then Buick.
• June 26, 1933 – December 26, 1935. NBC. 60m, Thursdays at 10. The Kraft Music Hall, often with Al Jolson.
• January 5 – December 27, 1936, Blue Network. 45m. Sundays variously at 9, 9:15, and 9:45. Paul Whiteman's Musical Varieties. Woodbury Soap. With Bob Lawrence, Johnny Hauser, Morton Downey, Durelle Alexander, songs by the King's Men, and announcer Roy Bargy. The show featured a children's amateur contest. Near the end of the run Whiteman introduced comedian Judy Canova, who inherited timeslot and sponsor in the Woodbury Rippling Rhythm Revue.
• December 31, 1937 – December 20, 1939, CBS. 30m. Fridays at 8:30 until mid–July 1938, then Wednesdays at 8:30. Chesterfield Time, with Joan Edwards, Deems Taylor (musical commentary) and announcer Paul Douglas. Whiteman took over the slot vacated by Hal Kemp and two years later vacated it for the sensational new Glenn Miller orchestra.
• November 9 – December 28, 1939, Mutual. 30m, Thursdays at 9:30.
• June 6 – August 29, 1943, NBC. 30m, Sundays at 8. Paul Whiteman Presents. Summer substitute for Edgar Bergen. Chase and Sanborn.
• December 5, 1943 – April 28, 1946, Blue/ABC. 60m. Sundays at 6. Paul Whiteman's Radio Hall of Fame. Philco.
• September 5 – November 14, 1944, Blue Network, 30m, Tuesdays at 11:30. Music of current American composers.
• January 21 – September 23, 1946, ABC. 30m, Mondays at 9:30. Forever Tops. "a weekly program featuring the top tunes of the day."[29]
• September 29 – October 27, 1946, ABC. 60m, Sundays at 8. The Paul Whiteman Hour. Extended until November 17, 1947, as a 30m show, The Paul Whiteman Program, various days and times.
• June 30, 1947 – June 25, 1948, ABC. 60m, five a week at 3:30. The Paul Whiteman Record Program. Glorified disc–jockeyism.
• September 29, 1947 – May 23, 1948, ABC. 30m, Mondays at 8, then at 9 after October On Stage America, for the National Guard. Whiteman's orchestra with John Slagle, George Fenneman, etc. Producer: Roland Martini. Director: Joe Graham. Writer: Ira Marion.
• June 27 – November 7, 1950, ABC. 30m, Tuesdays at 8. Paul Whiteman Presents.
• October 29, 1951 – April 28, 1953, ABC. Various times. Paul Whiteman's Teen Club. An amateur hour with the accent on youth.[30]
• February 4 – October 20, 1954. ABC. 30m. Thursdays at 9 until July, then Wednesdays at 9:30. Paul Whiteman Varieties.[31]

In the 1940s and 1950s, after he had disbanded his orchestra, Whiteman worked as a music director for the ABC Radio Network.[2] He also hosted Paul Whiteman's TV Teen Club from Philadelphia on ABC-TV from 1949 to 1954. The show was seen for an hour the first two years, then as a half-hour segment on Saturday evenings. In 1952 a young Dick Clark read the commercials for sponsor Tootsie Roll.[32] Whiteman's TV-Teen Club, along with Grady and Hurst's 950 Club, proved to be an inspiration for WFIL-TV's afternoon dance show called American Bandstand.[33]

He also continued to appear as guest conductor for many concerts. His manner on stage was disarming; he signed off each program with something casual like, "Well, that just about slaps the cap on the old milk bottle for tonight." In the early 1960s, Whiteman played in Las Vegas before retiring.[4]

On August 18, 1931, Whiteman married for the fourth and final time to actress Margaret Livingston in a ceremony in Denver, Colorado. Livingston was unable to have children, and the couple adopted four.[34][35]

Whiteman lived at Walking Horse Farm near the village of Rosemont in Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, from 1938 to 1959. After selling the farm to agriculturalist Lloyd Wescott, Whiteman moved to New Hope, Pennsylvania, for his remaining years.[36][37][38]

Paul Whiteman died of a heart attack on December 29, 1967, in Doylestown Hospital, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, aged 77. He was survived by his wife and children.[39]

Whiteman was a close friend of NASCAR and Daytona International Speedway founder Bill France.[40]

On June 13, 1954, the #4 Jaguar XK120, driven by Al Keller, won the International 100 race of the Grand National series, held on a one mile road course on the airport at Vineland, New Jersey. This was the first, and so far only, victory by a European car in NASCAR's top series. The car was owned by Ed Otto, race promoter and co-founder of NASCAR, but was entered under the ownership of Whiteman to avoid issues arising from conflicts of interest - Keller won a $1,000 first prize, and Whiteman's registration as owner survives in archives.[41][42]

The #7 Cadillac owned by Whiteman ran in five Nascar Grand National races during the 1954 season, with future Hall of Famer Junior Johnson driving in three and Gwyn Staley driving in two. In the 1955 season, it ran in one race with Junior Johnson driving.[43][44]

"Paul Whiteman Trophy" races, arranged by the Central Florida Region SCCA, were held from 1958 until 1972.[45] The 1958 event was held at the New Smyrna Beach Airport,[46] and from 1961, it was held annually at the Daytona Speedway.[47]