Lewis Joseph Bedell (March 21, 1919 – July 6, 2000)[1] was an Americanmusic business executive andcomic entertainer who foundedEra Records and thenDoré Records inLos Angeles, California in the 1950s. Originally namedLewis Joseph Bedinsky, he also used the pseudonymsLouis Bideu andBilly Joe Hunter, among others.
Lewis Bedinsky was born inEl Paso, Texas, the son of Joseph Bedinsky, a Jewish immigrant fromOdesa,Ukraine, who owned a small garment factory in the town, and his wife Sara (née Newman) who had been born inNew York City. His parents divorced when he was a child, and he moved with his mother and uncle, Max Newman, toBoyle Heights in Los Angeles. He attendedLos Angeles City College and thenSanta Barbara State College.[2] In 1941, he and his motherchanged their surname by decree to Bedell.[3]
DuringWorld War II, Bedell worked in anaircraft factory. In 1946 he teamed up with college friend Doug Mattson to form a comedy duo. Bedell and Mattson appeared together in clubs inSan Francisco,Las Vegas,Lake Tahoe, New York City and elsewhere, performing an act that involved them miming and clowning around on stage to currentpop hits and comedy records such as those bySpike Jones. By the early 1950s, the pair had become resident comedians atBilly Gray's Band Box, a supper club onFairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. The pair split up in 1953, and Bedell began working as a solo comedian on Los Angeles TV stationKTLA, as well as continuing in clubs.[3] He also had a short-lived TV show,The Lew Bedell Show, onWOR-TV in New York City in the early 1950s.[1]
By 1955 Bedell had begun work for a music publisher, Meadowlark Music.[1] That year he set up a newrecord label,Era, with his uncle Max Newman and cousin Herb Newman, and became itscomptroller. The company appointedBuddy Bregman as musical director, and he in turn brought singerGogi Grant to the label. Grant's successes with songs like "Suddenly There's a Valley" and "The Wayward Wind", co-written by Herb Newman, established the Era label. Later, the label won an action against Grant for breach of contract when she signed withRCA in 1957. Era signed several singers, such asGlen Glenn, in an attempt to break into therock and roll market, but had little success. However, in 1958 the label had another major hit with "Chanson d'Amour", byArt and Dotty Todd.[3]
Bedell married Dolores Ethel Mae "DeDe" Barrymore (born 1930) in 1956. She was the divorced daughter of actorsJohn Barrymore andDolores Costello. The couple had two children: a son, Doré Lewis Bedell (born 1957), who was named for Lew Bedell's grandmother Dora; and a daughter Stephanie Mae Bedell (born 1966). DeDe also had two children from her first marriage.[3]
Bedell was later described as "a garrulous man who masked a hardheaded business sense with endearing and sometimes annoying bluster."[4] In June 1958, he and Herb Newman set up a new label with record distributor George Jay, for releasing new rock and roll material, and named it Doré after Bedell's young son. The label's first hit was "To Know Him Is To Love Him" byThe Teddy Bears, written by and featuring the youngPhil Spector. Bedell and Newman decided to end their partnership in 1959, with Newman retaining control of Era and Bedell running the Doré label.[1][3][5]
The Doré label had several major pop andnovelty hits over the next few years, including "Baby Talk" byJan and Dean.[6] In 1961, Bedell suggested tosession leaderErnie Freeman that he and fellow musicians - including drummerEarl Palmer, guitaristRené Hall, bassistRed Callender andmarimba playerJulius Wechter - record a version of aMaxwell House advertisingjingle. The record, "Percolator (Twist)", was credited toBilly Joe & the Checkmates and rose to no.10 on theBillboardHot 100 in early 1962.[7] Bedell claimed a co-writing credit using the pseudonym "Louis Bideu", and, to help promote the record, used an old college photo of himself, as "Billy Joe Hunter". The label released a further 18 singles credited to Billy Joe & The Checkmates but recorded by studio musicians over the following years.[1][2][3]
From the mid-1960s, the Doré label issued pop andR&B records. It also produced comedy albums, including Bedell's own 1967 albumOh Mighty Game of Golf!!; Bedell was an enthusiastic golfer. He continued to run Doré Records until shortly before his death.[4] In later years Bedell released three additional comedy CDs under his own name:Mel's Hole (1997), Bad Bad Biker (1998), andExtra, Extra... Humor Discovered in the Bible (2000).[8]
Bedell died of cancer in Los Angeles in 2000, at the age of 81.[1]
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