Rudy Vallée | |
|---|---|
 Valléec. late 1920s | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Hubert Prior Vallée (1901-07-28)July 28, 1901 Island Pond, Vermont, U.S. |
| Died | July 3, 1986(1986-07-03) (aged 84) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Traditional pop |
| Occupations |
|
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 1924–1984 |
| Labels | Harmony,RCA Victor,Bluebird,Columbia,Hit of the Week,Melotone |
| Website | rudyvallee |
Hubert Prior Vallée (July 28, 1901[1] – July 3, 1986),[2] known professionally asRudy Vallée, was an American singer, saxophonist, bandleader, actor, and entertainer. He was the first male singer to rise from local radio broadcasts in New York City to national popularity as acrooner.
Vallée was born inIsland Pond, Vermont on July 28, 1901,[1] the son of Catherine Lynch and Charles Alphonse Vallée. His maternal grandparents were English and Irish, while his paternal grandparents wereFrench Canadians fromQuebec.[3] He grew up inWestbrook, Maine. On March 29, 1917, he enlisted in theUS Navy inPortland, Maine to fight inWorld War I, but authorities discovered he was only 15 and had given the false birth date of July 28, 1899. He was discharged at the Naval Training Station inNewport, Rhode Island on May 17, 1917, after 41 days of active service.[citation needed]
After playing drums in his high school band, Vallée played clarinet and saxophone in bands aroundNew England as a teenager. The popularity of the saxophone and an unexpected reply from his idol Rudy Wiedoeft prompted Vallée to perfect his technique. He paidColumbia Records to make four "personal records", which he used for audition purposes with a number of bands. From 1924 to 1925, he played with theSavoy Havana Band at theSavoy Hotel in London, where band members discouraged his attempts to become a vocalist.[4] He returned to the United States, briefly attending theUniversity of Maine. He was initiated into theSigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity there on December 5, 1921. He transferred toYale University in 1924, from which he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1927. As a Yale student he led the football band and was the lead saxophonist in the Yale Collegians withPeter Arno, who became a cartoonist forThe New Yorker magazine.[5]
In 1928, following his graduation from Yale, Vallée formed the band Rudy Vallée and the Connecticut Yankees, having named himself after saxophonistRudy Wiedoeft.[6] With this band,[7] which included two violins, two saxophones, a piano, a banjo, and drums, he began singing as a member of a trio and as a soloist. He had a thin, waveringtenor voice and seemed more at home singing sweet ballads thanjazz songs. But his singing, saxophone playing, and the innovative arrangements he wrote for his band attracted attention from a rapidly increasing number of listeners, especially young women.[8] In 1928 he started performing on the radio, first at New York station WABC, leading his Yale Collegians Orchestra,[9] and then on WEAF and the NBC Red Network beginning in February 1929.[10]
He became one of the firstcrooners.[8] Singers needed strong voices to fill theaters in the days before microphones. Crooners had soft voices that were suited to the intimacy of radio; the microphones, in this case, promoted direct access to "a vulnerable and sensuous interior," or in other words, "a conjured intimacy".[11] Vallée was one of the first celebrity radio vocalists.[8]Flappers pursued him wherever he went.[8] His live appearances were usually sold out. Contrary to popular belief, he did not have screaming girls at his appearances. However, his voice still failed to project in venues without microphones and amplification, so he often sang through a megaphone, a device he had used when leading the Yale football band. A caricature of him singing this way was depicted in the Betty Boop cartoonPoor Cinderella (1934).[12] Another caricature is inCrosby, Columbo, and Vallee, which parodies him,Bing Crosby, andRuss 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.[13]
Vallée had his share of detractors as well as fans when his popularity was at its height.Radio Revue, a radiofan magazine, held a contest in which people wrote letters explaining his success. The winning letter, written by a man who disliked Vallée'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."[14]
Vallée made his first commercial recordings in 1928 forColumbia's low-priced labelsHarmony,Velvet Tone, andDiva. He signed withRCA Victor in February 1929 and remained with the company through 1931, leaving after a heated dispute with executives over song selections. He then recorded for the short-livedHit of the Week label which sold rather poor quality records laminated onto a cardboard base. In August 1932, he signed with Columbia and remained with the label through 1933. Vallée returned to RCA Victor in June 1933; his records were initially issued on Victor's low-pricedBluebird label until November 1933, when he was back on the standard Victor label. He remained with RCA Victor until signing withARC in 1936. ARC issued his records on thePerfect,Melotone,Conqueror andRomeo labels until 1937, when he again returned to RCA 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[15] and "Vieni, Vieni" in the latter 1930s.
His last hit record was a reissue of "As Time Goes By", popularized in the 1942 filmCasablanca. Due to the1942-44 AFM recording ban, RCA Victor reissued the version he had recorded in 1931.[16] During World War II, he enlisted in theUnited States Coast Guard to help direct the 11th district Coast Guard band as achief 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.[17]
According toGeorge P. Oslin, Vallée on July 28, 1933, was the recipient of the firstsinging telegram. A fan telegraphed birthday greetings, and Oslin had the operator sing "Happy Birthday to You".[18][19][20]
In 1929 Vallée began hostingThe Fleischmann's Yeast Hour,[21] a popular radio show with guests including asFay Wray andRichard Cromwell in dramatic skits. Vallée hosted radio shows including 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 nationalradio show in 1937, he insisted his sponsor hireLouis Armstrong as his substitute.[22]
In 1929 Vallée made his first feature film,The Vagabond Lover, forRKO Radio.In 1955, Vallée was featured inGentlemen Marry Brunettes, co-starringJane Russell,Alan Young, andJeanne Crain.[citation needed]
Vallée performed on Broadway as J.B. Biggley in the 1961 musicalHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and reprised the role inthe 1967 film version.[23] He appeared in the 1960sBatman television series as the villain Lord Marmaduke Ffogg and in theNight Gallery episode "Marmalade Wine" in 1971 as a vindictive surgeon.[24]
From 1948 to 1952, Vallée owned Vallee-Video, a television production company formed in the early days of national TV broadcasts. The company was incorporated on April 3, 1948.[25] Vallée made16mm film shorts for television, includingThese Foolish Things andUnder a Campus Moon, in which he appeared himself.Ed Wynn,Pinky Lee,Buddy Lester and Cyril Smith also appeared in Vallee-Video productions.[26] Comedy sequences in the productions featureddubbed-in laughter.[27]
In 1949, Vallee-Video produced one of the first cartoon shows on television,Tele-Comics.[28]
Vallee-Video's breakthrough in 1952 would have been a 15-minute television show based on theDick Tracy comic strip starring Vallée's friendRalph Byrd, who played the character in four successfulDick Tracy theatrical serials from 1937 to 1941. Vallée sold the show as a pilot toNBC. Vallée and Byrd also worked on a proposed radio show based on the comic stripHawkshaw the Detective.[29] Byrd died in August 1952, bringing theDick Tracy production to a halt, and ending for Vallee-Video.[26]
Vallée was aRepublican who strongly supportedRichard Nixon's1968 presidential campaign. He noted that he had donated money to it and had urgedReader's Digest magazine to reprint Nixon's article "Cuba, Castro and JFK," originally published in November 1964.[30][31]
Vallée maintained an estate atKezar Lake in Maine.[32]
Vallée died of cancer at his Los Angeles estate known as Silvertip on July 3, 1986 while watching the televised centennial ceremonies of the restoredStatue of Liberty. His wife Eleanor said that his last words were: "I wish we could be there; you know how I love a party."[33]
Vallée was married four times. During his divorce from his first wife, Fay Webb, she alleged that "Vallée 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 actressAlice Faye. Vallée denied the allegations and charged infidelity on her part. The judge found him "not guilty of any misconduct or maltreatment of Webb which detrimentally affected her health, physical or medical condition."[34]
He marriedJane Greer on December 2, 1943 in Hollywood. They separated after three months and divorced on July 27, 1944. His fourth and final wife, Eleanor, wrote a memoir titledMy Vagabond Lover.[35]
NBC announcerGeorge Ansbro wrote in his memoirs 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".[36] Alton Cook wrote, "Vallée may be fuming at his orchestra, but a Vallée 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..."[37]
In a heated dispute with producerGeorge White on the set of the 1934 filmGeorge White's Scandals, White struck Vallée in the jaw. 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 fought, he replied, "I just lost my temper. I'll admit I have a too-quick temper."[38]
In 1995, a Golden Palm Star on thePalm Springs, California,Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.[39]
For his work in radio, Vallée was inducted into the Vermont Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2011.[40]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1929 | Rudy Vallee and His Connecticut Yankees | Himself | Short,Vitaphone Varieties #771 (Lost film—soundtrack survives, containing the songs "Deep Night" and "Outside")[41] |
| 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. asBachelor 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 | WithElvis Presley |
| 1968 | The Night They Raided Minsky's | Narrator | Voice |
| 1970 | The Phynx | Himself | |
| 1975 | Slashed Dreams | Proprietor | Alternative title:Sunburst |
| 1976 | Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood | Autograph Hound |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | The Ford 50th Anniversary Show | Himself | Song medley and banter withBing Crosby andFrank Sinatra |
| 1955, 1957 | I've Got a Secret | Himself | 2 episodes |
| 1956 | The Johnny Carson Show | Himself | 1 episode |
| 1956–1957 | December Bride | Himself | 2 episodes |
| 1957 | The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour | Himself | 1 episode |
| 1961 | What's My Line? | 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) |
