Ben Bernie

Biography

From WikipediaBen Bernie (May 30, 1891 – October 23, 1943), born BernardAnzelevitz, was an American jazz violinist and radio personality, oftenintroduced as The Old Maestro. He was noted for his showmanship and memorablebits of snappy dialogue.Bernie was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. By the age of 15 hewas teaching violin, but this experience apparently diminished his interest inthe violin for a time. He returned to music doing vaudeville, appearing withPhil Baker as Baker and Bernie, but he met with little success until 1922 whenhe joined his first orchestra. Later, he had his own band, "TheLads," seen in the early DeForest Phonofilm sound short, Ben Bernie andAll the Lads (1924–25), featuring pianist Oscar Levant. He toured with MauriceChevalier and also toured in Europe.Bernie's orchestra recorded throughout the 1920s and 1930s;Vocalion (1922–25), Brunswick (1925–33), Columbia (1933), Decca (1936), and ARC(Vocalion and OKeh) (1939–40). In 1923 Bernie and the Hotel Roosevelt Orchestrarecorded Who's Sorry Now. In 1925 Ben Bernie and his orchestra did the firstrecording of Sweet Georgia Brown. Bernie was the co-composer of this jazzstandard, which became the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters.Bernie was a freemason, member of Keystone Lodge № 235, NewYork City.He died from a pulmonary embolism in October 1943, aged 52.