NEWS
December 21, 1995
Don Anthony, 85, who wrote the song "Breaking My Heart," popularized by Perry Como. Anthony formed his own big band, the Don Anthony Orchestra, in 1933. When he wrote "Breaking My Heart," it was played widely by the more famous Sammy Kaye Orchestra and performed by Como. After his musical career waned, Anthony operated a bar and worked for 25 years in a manufacturing plant. On Thursday in Cleveland.
NEWS
February 27, 1994
Frank Strasek, 81, a musician and host of a World War II radio program credited with selling millions of dollars in war bonds. Strasek was a trumpet player in several well-known big bands, including the California Collegians band, which included saxophonist Fred MacMurray before MacMurray became a prominent actor. Later, Strasek played with Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights for five years in New York City, where actor-comedian Art Carney was a band member.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
August 29, 1985
Frank Wynne's touching eulogy of Kay Kyser (Letters, Aug. 2) brought a nostalgic tear to the myopic eyes of this unreconstructed big-band lover. It was fascinating to watch the gradual metamorphosis of the Kyser "ork" from a bland Sammy Kaye-Blue Barron type aggregation, replete with singing song titles, saccharine saxes and wa-wa trumpets--so syrupy-sweet that diabetics listened at their own risk--into a fine respectable swing band. And what illustrious Angeleno occupied a chair in Kay's reed section in the early 1940s?
ENTERTAINMENT
January 7, 1990
A number of readers have written to suggest additions to "Final Bow , " the Dec. 24 list of celebrities who died during the 1980s. Here are those names, plus the many that had been deleted from the list because of space limitation: Alvin Ailey, Fran Allison, Adele Astaire, Chet Baker, Brook Benton, Amanda Blake, John Bonham, Adolph Caesar, Graham Chapman, James Coco, Jackie Coogan, Dennis Day, Bob Eberly, Bill Evans, Marty Feldman,...
NEWS
May 18, 1996
Al Berkman, 82, producer, author, musician, arranger and vocal coach for such singers as Eddie Fisher, Vic Damone and Linda Ronstadt. During the 1930s, Berkman played clarinet and saxophone with big bands and then became an arranger for Sammy Kaye, Cab Calloway and others. During World War II, he produced variety shows for military personnel, earning public praise from Eleanor Roosevelt.
ENTERTAINMENT
December 25, 1988 | DENNIS BROWN
"It's a Wonderful Life" will be on TV several times this week: today at noon, the USA channel; 3 p.m. today and 1 a.m. Monday, the Disney Channel; 4 p.m. today, Cinemax; 9:30 p.m. today, WGN; 7 a.m. Monday, 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and 4:30 a.m. Thursday on Z Channel. What would the world be like if you'd never been born? That's the question posed in the beloved perennial, "It's a Wonderful Life."