Morton Downey
Encyclopedia
Morton Downey was a singer popular in the United States
, enjoying his greatest success in the 1930s and 1940s. Downey was nickname
d "The Irish Nightingale".
, the child of James and Bessie (Cox) Downey. He later dropped his first name in favor of his middle name as his professional name
, sang with Paul Whiteman
's Orchestra. He first recorded in 1923 for Edison Records
under the pseudonym
Morton James; the following year he recorded for Victor
with the S.S. Leviathan Orchestra. In 1925 he began 4 years of recording for Brunswick Records
. In 1926 he had a hit in the show Palm Beach Nights.
He toured London
, Paris
, Berlin
, New York City
and Hollywood. He also began appearing in motion pictures
in 1929.
Downey was also a songwriter
whose most successful numbers include "All I Need is Someone Like You", "California Skies", "In the Valley of the Roses", and "Now You're in My Arms", "Sweeten Up Your Smile", "That's How I Spell Ireland", "There's Nothing New", and "Wabash Moon". He joined ASCAP in 1949.
broadcasts after opening his own nightclub (The Delmonico) in New York. He was voted America's "Radio Singer of the Year" in 1932. At the time, Downey was featured nightly on the Camel Quarter Hour radio broadcast. In the 1930s he recorded for ARC
, Hit of the Week, and Decca Records
, and in the 1940s made records for Columbia
.
. In the 1950s, he hosted the television show Star of the Family.
personality Morton Downey, Jr.
, by his first wife, actress Barbara Bennett
(1906–1958), the sister of actresses Constance
and Joan Bennett
, and with whom he ultimately had five children, four sons and a daughter: Michael, Sean (Morton Downey, Jr), Lorelle, Anthony and Kevin. Her early promise as a dancer and actress gave way to her turbulent marriage with Downey. The couple married in 1929, and divorced in 1941. She would marry singing cowboy
actor Addison Randall
shortly afterward.
Downey's second wife was Margaret Boyce Schulze (1922—1964), the former wife of Prince Alexander zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen and the granddaughter of Colorado mining industralist William Boyce Thompson
.
Downey owned a house in Hyannis, Massachusetts
next to Joseph P. Kennedy's. This house was used by John F. Kennedy
as his summer White House.
Downey's third wife was Ann Trainer, the widow of Howell Van Gerbig and the former wife of John Kevin Barry; they married in 1970. Downey died from a stroke
in Palm Beach, Florida
, aged 83.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, enjoying his greatest success in the 1930s and 1940s. Downey was nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
d "The Irish Nightingale".
Early years
Sean Morton Downey was born in Wallingford, ConnecticutWallingford, Connecticut
Wallingford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 43,026 at the 2000 census.- History :Wallingford was established on October 10, 1667, when the Connecticut General Assembly authorized the "making of a village on the east river" to 38 planters and freemen...
, the child of James and Bessie (Cox) Downey. He later dropped his first name in favor of his middle name as his professional name
Music
For a time in the 1920s, Downey, a tenorTenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
, sang with Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
's Orchestra. He first recorded in 1923 for Edison Records
Edison Records
Edison Records was one of the earliest record labels which pioneered recorded sound and was an important player in the early recording industry.- Early phonographs before commercial mass produced records :...
under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Morton James; the following year he recorded for Victor
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey....
with the S.S. Leviathan Orchestra. In 1925 he began 4 years of recording for Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
. In 1926 he had a hit in the show Palm Beach Nights.
He toured London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Hollywood. He also began appearing in motion pictures
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
in 1929.
Downey was also a songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
whose most successful numbers include "All I Need is Someone Like You", "California Skies", "In the Valley of the Roses", and "Now You're in My Arms", "Sweeten Up Your Smile", "That's How I Spell Ireland", "There's Nothing New", and "Wabash Moon". He joined ASCAP in 1949.
Radio
In 1930, Downey began making national radioRadio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
broadcasts after opening his own nightclub (The Delmonico) in New York. He was voted America's "Radio Singer of the Year" in 1932. At the time, Downey was featured nightly on the Camel Quarter Hour radio broadcast. In the 1930s he recorded for ARC
American Record Corporation
ARC, the American Record Company, also referred to as American Record Corporation, or as ARC Records, was a United States based record company...
, Hit of the Week, and Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
, and in the 1940s made records for Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
.
Television
Starting in 1949, Morton Downey began appearing on televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. In the 1950s, he hosted the television show Star of the Family.
Personal life
Morton Downey was the father of the right-wing televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
personality Morton Downey, Jr.
Morton Downey, Jr.
Morton Downey, Jr. was an American singer, songwriter and later a television talk show host of the 1980s who pioneered the "trash TV" format on his program The Morton Downey Jr. Show....
, by his first wife, actress Barbara Bennett
Barbara Bennett
Barbara Jane Bennett was an American silent film actress.Born into an acting family, she was the daughter of actor Richard Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrison, whose father was the stage actor Lewis Morrison. Her sisters were actresses Constance and Joan Bennett.Bennett would never succeed to...
(1906–1958), the sister of actresses Constance
Constance Bennett
-Early life:She was born in New York City, the daughter of actor Richard Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrison, whose father was the stage actor Lewis Morrison , a wealthy performer of English and Spanish ancestry...
and Joan Bennett
Joan Bennett
Joan Geraldine Bennett was an American stage, film and television actress. Besides acting on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 motion pictures from the era of silent movies well into the sound era...
, and with whom he ultimately had five children, four sons and a daughter: Michael, Sean (Morton Downey, Jr), Lorelle, Anthony and Kevin. Her early promise as a dancer and actress gave way to her turbulent marriage with Downey. The couple married in 1929, and divorced in 1941. She would marry singing cowboy
Singing cowboy
A singing cowboy was a subtype of the archetypal cowboy hero of early Western films, popularized by many of the B-movies of the 1930s and 1940s...
actor Addison Randall
Addison Randall
Addison Byron Owen Randall was an American film actor, chiefly in Westerns...
shortly afterward.
Downey's second wife was Margaret Boyce Schulze (1922—1964), the former wife of Prince Alexander zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen and the granddaughter of Colorado mining industralist William Boyce Thompson
William Boyce Thompson
William Boyce Thompson, , was an American mining engineer, financier, promoter of Western support for the revolutionary Alexander Kerensky and Bolshevik governments of Russia, philanthropist, and founder of Newmont Mining....
.
Downey owned a house in Hyannis, Massachusetts
Hyannis, Massachusetts
Hyannis is the largest of seven villages in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Also it is the commercial and transportation hub of Cape Cod and was designated an urban area as a result of the 1990 census. Because of this, many refer to Hyannis as the "Capital of the Cape"...
next to Joseph P. Kennedy's. This house was used by John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
as his summer White House.
Downey's third wife was Ann Trainer, the widow of Howell Van Gerbig and the former wife of John Kevin Barry; they married in 1970. Downey died from a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
in Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
, aged 83.