Ted Weems
Encyclopedia
Wilfred Theodore Weems (originally Wemyes) (26 September 1901 - 6 May 1963) was an American bandleader
and musician. Weems' work in music was recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
, Weems learned to play the violin and trombone. Young Ted's start in music came when he entered a contest, hoping to win a pony. He won a violin instead and his parents arranged for music lessons. He was a graduate of Lincoln School in Pittsburgh. While still in school at Lincoln, Weems organized a band there, initially providing some instruments himself. His teacher offered young Ted and his band a penny each if they would play when the alarm sounded for fire drills. Weems kept the monies of the band and in turn charged each band member a penny for membership. He used the money to purchase better instruments than those the band started out with. When the family moved to Philadelphia, young Weems entered West Philadelphia High School. He joined the school's band and became its director.
He attended the University of Pennsylvania
, where he and his brother Art organized a small dance band that became the "All American Band". The brothers sought the most talented college musicians for the group. The All American Band soon started receiving offers to perform in well-known hotels throughout the United States. Weems, who had originally intended to become a civil engineer, found himself being attracted to a musical career. His band had a contract to play four weeks at a Philadelphia restaurant; the owner was able to keep Weems and his band there for four months by making Ted a partner in his business. They were one of the bands that played at the inaugural ball of President Warren Harding. Going professional in 1923, Weems toured for the MCA Corporation, recording for Victor Records. "Somebody Stole My Gal
" became the band's first #1 hit in early 1924.
Weems was a Victor band from 1923 through 1933, although the final 3 sessions were released on Victor's newly created Bluebird
label. He then signed with Columbia
for 2 sessions in 1934 and subsequently signed with Decca
from 1936. Weems also co-wrote several popular songs: "The Martins and the McCoys", "Jig Time", "The One-Man Band", "Three Shif'less Skonks", and "Oh, Monah!", which he co-wrote with band member "Country" Washburn.
Weems moved to Chicago
with his band around 1928. The Ted Weems Orchestra had more chart success in 1929 with the novelty song
"Piccolo Pete", and the #1 hit "The Man from the South". The band gained popularity in the 1930s, making regular radio
broadcasts. These included Jack Benny
's Canada Dry
program on CBS
and NBC
during the early 1930s, and the Fibber McGee & Molly program in the late 1930s.
In 1936, the Ted Weems Orchestra gave singer Perry Como
his first national exposure; Como recorded with the band (on Decca Records
), beginning his long and successful career. Among Weems' other discoveries were whistler-singer Elmo Tanner
, sax player and singer Red Ingle
, Marilyn Maxwell
, who left the band for an acting career; and arranger Joe Haymes
, who created the band's unique jazz-novelty style. Weems also signed 14 year old ventriloquist Paul Winchell
to a contract, after seeing him with one of the Major Bowes
touring companies. The first season of the Beat the Band
radio show (1940–1941) included Weems and his orchestra as part of the cast.
In November 1942, Ted Weems and his entire band enlisted in the United States Merchant Marine
, directing the Merchant Marine Band. Reorganizing his big band in 1945, he made records for Mercury
, including the hits "Peg O' My Heart" and "Mickey". However, the biggest hit of Weems' career was a reissue
on his former Victor label: the Weems Orchestra's 1933 recording of "Heartaches
" topped the national charts for 13 weeks.
For his April 4, 1933 session, Weems recorded 6 tunes, including "Heartaches". Since Victor wanted the recording made quickly, Weems and his band had time for only one rehearsal session prior to this. Weems did not like the song at first, and decided to have Elmo Tanner whistle rather than use a vocalist. While rehearsing, someone came up with an idea of trying the song at a faster tempo than it was written for. The recording attracted very little attention after its release. In 1947, a Charlotte, North Carolina
overnight disc jockey named Kurt Webster found it in a box of old records he had recently received. He played it on the air and the radio station's phones never stopped ringing; the callers wanted to hear the song again. The calls continued, now joined by record stores wanting to know how to order copies of the record. Other radio markets began playing the song, while Victor searched for its old masters to press copies. Since the Weems orchestra had also recorded "Heartaches" when the band moved to Decca, the company decided to re-release its version of the song also. "Heartaches" topped the Hit Parade on April 19, 1947; 14 years after it was first recorded.
Decca Records seized the moment, and it also reissued "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" with vocals by Perry Como, which became another major chart hit. The new-found popularity of the 1933 recording came at a time when Weems was struggling to re-form his band; many former members had other music-related jobs, others were no longer interested in performing. Two of his band members were killed in World War II. Weems was then able to recruit new band members and was again being asked to play at the same venues as before the war. In a 1960 interview, band member Elmo Tanner related that he and Weems received nothing for the reissue as both men had let their contracts expire while they were in the Merchant Marine.
Despite this sudden surfeit of popularity, the hits dried up after 1947. Weems toured until 1953. At that time he accepted a disc jockey
position in Memphis, Tennessee
, later moving on to a management position with the Holiday Inn
hotel chain. Perry Como played host to his old boss, Elmo Tanner, and three other Weems band members on his Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall show of October 18, 1961.
Ted Weems died of emphysema
in Tulsa, Oklahoma
, in 1963. He had been operating a talent agency in Dallas with his son which also served as his band's headquarters. Weems was in Tulsa with his band for an engagement the day he was taken ill. His son Ted Jr. led a revival band at times during the 1960s and 1970s.
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
and musician. Weems' work in music was recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Biography
Born in Pitcairn, PennsylvaniaPitcairn, Pennsylvania
Pitcairn is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, east of Pittsburgh. Early in the 20th century, it was the site of large railroad yards and shops that employed nearly ten thousand men. The population increased from 2,601 in 1900 to 6,310 in 1940, but has since declined...
, Weems learned to play the violin and trombone. Young Ted's start in music came when he entered a contest, hoping to win a pony. He won a violin instead and his parents arranged for music lessons. He was a graduate of Lincoln School in Pittsburgh. While still in school at Lincoln, Weems organized a band there, initially providing some instruments himself. His teacher offered young Ted and his band a penny each if they would play when the alarm sounded for fire drills. Weems kept the monies of the band and in turn charged each band member a penny for membership. He used the money to purchase better instruments than those the band started out with. When the family moved to Philadelphia, young Weems entered West Philadelphia High School. He joined the school's band and became its director.
He attended the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, where he and his brother Art organized a small dance band that became the "All American Band". The brothers sought the most talented college musicians for the group. The All American Band soon started receiving offers to perform in well-known hotels throughout the United States. Weems, who had originally intended to become a civil engineer, found himself being attracted to a musical career. His band had a contract to play four weeks at a Philadelphia restaurant; the owner was able to keep Weems and his band there for four months by making Ted a partner in his business. They were one of the bands that played at the inaugural ball of President Warren Harding. Going professional in 1923, Weems toured for the MCA Corporation, recording for Victor Records. "Somebody Stole My Gal
Somebody Stole My Gal
"Somebody Stole My Gal" is a popular song from 1918, written by Leo Wood. In 1923 Ted Weems & his Orchestra had a five-week run at number one with his million-selling version of Leo Wood’s 1922 standard...
" became the band's first #1 hit in early 1924.
Weems was a Victor band from 1923 through 1933, although the final 3 sessions were released on Victor's newly created Bluebird
Bluebird Records
Bluebird Records is a sub-label of RCA Victor Records originally created in 1932 to counter the American Record Company in the "3 records for a dollar" market. Along with ARC's Perfect Records, Melotone Records and Romeo Records, and the independent US Decca label, Bluebird became one of the best...
label. He then signed with 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...
for 2 sessions in 1934 and subsequently signed with Decca
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....
from 1936. Weems also co-wrote several popular songs: "The Martins and the McCoys", "Jig Time", "The One-Man Band", "Three Shif'less Skonks", and "Oh, Monah!", which he co-wrote with band member "Country" Washburn.
Weems moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
with his band around 1928. The Ted Weems Orchestra had more chart success in 1929 with the novelty song
Novelty song
A novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song, performed principally for its comical effect. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music. The other two divisions...
"Piccolo Pete", and the #1 hit "The Man from the South". The band gained popularity in the 1930s, making regular radio
Radio
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. These included Jack Benny
The Jack Benny Program
The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century American comedy.-Cast:*Jack Benny - Himself...
's Canada Dry
Canada Dry
Canada Dry is a brand of soft drinks owned since 2008 by the Texas-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group. For over a century Canada Dry has been known for its ginger ale, though the company also manufactures a number of other soft drinks and mixers...
program on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
during the early 1930s, and the Fibber McGee & Molly program in the late 1930s.
In 1936, the Ted Weems Orchestra gave singer Perry Como
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...
his first national exposure; Como recorded with the band (on 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....
), beginning his long and successful career. Among Weems' other discoveries were whistler-singer Elmo Tanner
Elmo Tanner
William Elmo Tanner, known as Elmo Tanner was an American singer, whistler, bandleader and disc jockey, best known for his whistling on the chart-topping song “Heartaches” with the Ted Weems orchestra...
, sax player and singer Red Ingle
Red Ingle
Ernest Jansen "Red" Ingle was an American musician, singer and songwriter, arranger, cartoonist and caricaturist. He is best known for his comedy records with Spike Jones and his own Natural Seven sides for Capitol....
, Marilyn Maxwell
Marilyn Maxwell
Marilyn Maxwell , born Marvel Marilyn Maxwell, was an American actress and entertainer.Noted for her blonde hair and sexually alluring persona, she appeared in several films and radio programs, and entertained the troops during World War II and the Korean War on USO tours with Bob Hope.-Career:She...
, who left the band for an acting career; and arranger Joe Haymes
Joe Haymes
Joseph Lawrence Haymes was an American jazz bandleader and arranger.Born in Marshfield, Missouri, Haymes relocated with his family to Springfield, Missouri, after his railroader father was killed in an accident. Joe attended Greenwood Laboratory School in Springfield and was a drummer in the local...
, who created the band's unique jazz-novelty style. Weems also signed 14 year old ventriloquist Paul Winchell
Paul Winchell
Paul Winchell was an American ventriloquist, voice actor and comedian, whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s...
to a contract, after seeing him with one of the Major Bowes
Major Bowes Amateur Hour
Major Bowes Amateur Hour, American radio's best-known talent show, was one of the most popular programs broadcast in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s...
touring companies. The first season of the Beat the Band
Beat the Band
Beat the Band was a musical quiz show heard on NBC radio from 1940 to 1944 in two distinctly different series. The program popularized the show business catch phrase, "Give me a little traveling music," often uttered on TV a decade later by Jackie Gleason....
radio show (1940–1941) included Weems and his orchestra as part of the cast.
In November 1942, Ted Weems and his entire band enlisted in the United States Merchant Marine
United States Merchant Marine
The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...
, directing the Merchant Marine Band. Reorganizing his big band in 1945, he made records for Mercury
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
, including the hits "Peg O' My Heart" and "Mickey". However, the biggest hit of Weems' career was a reissue
Reissue
A reissue is the repeated issue of a published work. In common usage, it refers to an album which has been released at least once before and is released again, sometimes with alterations or additions....
on his former Victor label: the Weems Orchestra's 1933 recording of "Heartaches
Heartaches (song)
"Heartaches" is a popular song with music by Al Hoffman and lyrics by John Klenner. The song was published in 1931.-Ted Weems cover:The biggest recorded version of the song was by the Ted Weems Orchestra, with Elmo Tanner whistling...
" topped the national charts for 13 weeks.
For his April 4, 1933 session, Weems recorded 6 tunes, including "Heartaches". Since Victor wanted the recording made quickly, Weems and his band had time for only one rehearsal session prior to this. Weems did not like the song at first, and decided to have Elmo Tanner whistle rather than use a vocalist. While rehearsing, someone came up with an idea of trying the song at a faster tempo than it was written for. The recording attracted very little attention after its release. In 1947, a Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
overnight disc jockey named Kurt Webster found it in a box of old records he had recently received. He played it on the air and the radio station's phones never stopped ringing; the callers wanted to hear the song again. The calls continued, now joined by record stores wanting to know how to order copies of the record. Other radio markets began playing the song, while Victor searched for its old masters to press copies. Since the Weems orchestra had also recorded "Heartaches" when the band moved to Decca, the company decided to re-release its version of the song also. "Heartaches" topped the Hit Parade on April 19, 1947; 14 years after it was first recorded.
Decca Records seized the moment, and it also reissued "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" with vocals by Perry Como, which became another major chart hit. The new-found popularity of the 1933 recording came at a time when Weems was struggling to re-form his band; many former members had other music-related jobs, others were no longer interested in performing. Two of his band members were killed in World War II. Weems was then able to recruit new band members and was again being asked to play at the same venues as before the war. In a 1960 interview, band member Elmo Tanner related that he and Weems received nothing for the reissue as both men had let their contracts expire while they were in the Merchant Marine.
Despite this sudden surfeit of popularity, the hits dried up after 1947. Weems toured until 1953. At that time he accepted a disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
position in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, later moving on to a management position with the Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn is a brand of hotels, formally a economy motel chain, forming part of the British InterContinental Hotels Group . It is one of the world's largest hotel chains with 238,440 bedrooms and 1,301 hotels globally. There are currently 5 hotels in the pipeline...
hotel chain. Perry Como played host to his old boss, Elmo Tanner, and three other Weems band members on his Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall show of October 18, 1961.
Ted Weems died of emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
, in 1963. He had been operating a talent agency in Dallas with his son which also served as his band's headquarters. Weems was in Tulsa with his band for an engagement the day he was taken ill. His son Ted Jr. led a revival band at times during the 1960s and 1970s.
External links
Watch
- Ted Weems Orchestra with flappers on the beach
- Ted Weems Orchestra with Perry Como "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" 1939-YouTube
- Ted Weems Orchestra, Elmo Tanner, Perry Como "Mr. Meadowlark" YouTube