By John "Jack" Behrens (website)
You can order an autographed copy of Jack’s new book by sending a check for $15 to Jack Behrens, 57 Stebbins Drive, Clinton, NY 13323. Make sure you send a return address. US postal takes approximately three to five days from the date of the order.
A Dynamo Player Who Left the Popular Miller Band
Legendary bandleaders weren’t always the most popular people among their sidemen. Benny Goodman could irritate his musicians by his stingy pay, his lack of recognition and by his “ray like glare” when he was aware of a missed note or pick up bar. Glenn Miller didn’t recognize the input of others, also paid poorly in the beginning and a wasn’t keen on singling out soloists.
Ask Ray Anthony. At 86, he continues to appear occasionally and to sell his popular records and albums from previous eras. A trumpet player who came out of World War II with considerable experience from before and during the war, Ray started his first band in 1946 and never looked back.
I talked to him much later in life when I was working on my first book Big Band Days. He told me that while the big band days didn’t really last beyond a decade he just continued to “find new places to play and record. You had to be aware of what audiences were out there and appeal to them. “
Yet it was Glenn Miller who helped along the way.
Anthony, who began playing with the Antonini Family Orchestra (his real name, of course, was Antonini) at 5 as well as local groups in Cleveland, OH, got his professional touring debut with Al Donahue in 1940. Having six brothers certainly helped the family orchestra. His brother Leo joined Ray later on baritone sax. He was with Miller for six months but finally disagreements forced him to leave. He had a short stay with Jimmy Dorsey before he organized an innovative group which offered a trumpet, a French horn, five saxes and a rhythm section of drums, bass and piano. He enlisted in the Navy, spent 4 years leading service bands in the Pacific and came home with good connections which helped him organize his own band. He promptly signed with Johnny Mercer’s Capitol Records in Hollywood. Mercer sang with the Anthony band at one time.
Like Miller, he knew how to get to know the right people.
Ironically, while he disagreed with Glenn on a number of things, he obviously admired the leader’s popularity and methods of creating success. Ray emulated Harry James’ trumpet style but his group was a sound-like Miller band and it counted on the public’s recognition of the Miller book when it started . He took it a step further when the band used shout phrases and gestures with their instruments to mimic Glen’s band.
Personally, Ray appeared the opposite of his former bandleader. Glenn grew up in a conservative midwestern farm town with strong family values. Ray, by contrast, was a cavalier guy who enjoyed being a showman and mixed a colorful lifestyle with his playing. His Hollywood friends gave him added notoriety. During the 1950s, his musical hits paralleled television hits like “Peter Gunn,” probably his best selling single, and later, “Dragnet” the theme from a black and white TV series. Biographers claim that Ray badgered cop producer Jack Web for recording rights to “Dragnet.” He brought more life to his band when he ignited a dance craze called “The Bunny Hop.” His appeal was noted in the trade magazines when the band was voted the number one dance band in the country. He married Mamie Van Doren, a B movie queen which added to his exposure.
The public loved his dance tempos and the novelty numbers he blended in his one nighters. They also loved the energy he demonstrated as the leader. Miller, by contrast, was more stiff and reserved on and off the bandstand.
Ray’s musical energy was amazing. An entrepreneur in the band and recording businesses, he has run a variety of businesses including a music publishing house, contract bands which played under his label and a Hollywood nightclub.
In 2001, 55 years after he launched his first band, he released his 127th album, a compact disc called “Dream Dancing IV: In a Miller Mood.”
Meanwhile, he also spent some time in front of movie cameras too. A dapper, good-looking guy he got speaking parts, too. A movie called “Daddy Long Legs (1955)” which was followed by another called “The Girl Can’t Help It (1956) continued the popularity of his trumpet and band especially on college campuses while touring to play one nighters.
A few years later, he started his own recording label Aerospace which reissues his numbers as well as those of Glenn Miller and Billy May. He bought out Billy’s band which lasted less than a year. I think Glenn would have been proud him regardless their musical differences.
Anthony’s band, “The band that is the talk of America,” lived up to its reputation said thousands of bobbysoxers and dancers. Carolyn Ziebell of California, has wonderful memories of such bands at Ohio’s Buckeye Lake ballrooms. “I especially remember Keely Smith and Louis Prima. Also the great sounds of Ray Anthony. We would dance for ours and be soaking wet. . . but it was such fun! . . . I loved it when the featured band would do the Bunny Hop. Everyone could participate.”
Ray ended my interview with him several years ago by telling me that he couldn’t remember a time “when music wasn’t a part of his life. Music puts wings on the human soul. Nothing can touch people the way music can. And every day is a new opportunity to create, change, stretch and reach for new heights doing something that I absolutely love. . . entertaining people through great music.”
He certainly lived up to his words, in my opinion. Send me your impressions. Write to jbehrens@roadrunner.com.
Big Bands and Great Ballrooms: America Is Dancing...Again
Available now!
You’ll enjoy a nostalgic look back at bands and dance halls and get an up close view of today leaders and bands in this new book. Now available via AuthorHouse at 1-888-519-5121 ext. 5253 or www.authorhouse.com
My previous book "The Big Band Days: A Memoir and Source Book":
