The LuLac Edition #5, 132, June 25th, 2024

 

MAYBE I’M AMAZED

Our “Maybe I’m Amazed” logo

Ray Anthony Edition

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that the last of the big band leaders Ray Anthony is still alive and kicking at the age of 102. 

Anthony became the last living member of Glenn Miller's band when trombonist Nat Peck died in 2015. His birthday is January 20^th.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…that Anthony was just one of many big brass leaders who brought the music of the WW2 War time era and transitioned it into 1950s era middle of the road music. Anthony’s recordings are still played on Big Band Tribute shows in the United States and Canada.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that Anthony was Anthony was born to an Italian family in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania, but moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio, where he studied the trumpet. He played in Glenn Miller's band from 1940 to 1941  and appeared in the Glenn Miller movie Sun Valley Serenade before joining the U.S. Navy during World War II as Miller joined the Army, organizing another famous military band before his 1944 disappearance over the English Channel.

MAYBE I’m AMAZED……that after the war he formed his own group. The Ray Anthony Orchestra which became popular in the early 1950s with "The Bunny Hop", "Hokey Pokey", and the memorable theme from the radio/television police detective series Dragnet.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..In 1953, Anthony and his orchestra were featured when Helen O'Connell and Bob Eberly headlined a summer replacement program for Perry Como's CBS television show.[From 1953 to 1954, Anthony was musical director of the television series TV's Top Tunes, and he also appeared as himself with his orchestra in the 1955 musicale/dance film Daddy Long Legs starring Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…….that  In 1955 he married actress Mamie Van Doren. 

Their son Perry Ray was born on March 18, 1956. Anthony then began expanding his acting career. In 1956–1957 he starred in a short-lived television variety show, The Ray Anthony Show. Anthony also appeared in several films during the late 1950s, including The Five Pennies (in which he portrayed Jimmy Dorsey),

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that he also  appeared in Van Doren's movies High School Confidential (as "Bix") and Girls Town. In the 1959–1960 television season, he guest-starred in the episode "Operation Ramrod" of star David Hedison's espionage series Five Fingers on NBC. Anthony and his band appeared in the movie The Girl Can't Help It (1956).[n 1957, Anthony and his orchestra recorded the music score for the film This Could Be The Night, with vocals performed by Julie Wilson.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..but not that after Van Doren filed for divorce in 1958, citing "cruelty"  they finally divorced in 1961,and Anthony's brief film career ended at about the same time. However, he continued his musical career and had another hit record with the jazzy drumming theme from the Peter Gunn private detective series featuring Craig Stevens, which reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart with its popularity enduring for decades. The B-side of this single hit "Peter Gun theme " also contains the Norwegian song "Tango for Two".

MAYBE I’M AMAZED….that Anthony was considered one of the most modern big band leaders. In the lyrics to "Opus One", which imagine a number of players all performing the song, he is cited along with Les Brown and his Band of Renown:

If Mr. Les Brown can make it renowned

And Ray Anthony could rock it for me.