Up for auction "Big Band Leader" Vaughn Monroe Hand Signed 3X5 Card.
ES-5853E
Vaughn
Wilton Monroe (October 7, 1911
– May 21, 1973) was an American baritone singer, trumpeter, big band leader, actor, and businessman, who was most
popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,
one for recording and another for radio performance. Monroe was born in Akron, Ohio, United States, on October 7, 1911.[1] He graduated from Jeannette High School
in Pennsylvania in 1929,[2] where he was senior class president and voted
"Most Likely to Succeed". After graduation, he attended Carnegie Institute of
Technology, where he was an active member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. Monroe attended New England Conservatory for
one semester in 1935, studying voice with Clarence B. Shirley. Monroe formed
his first orchestra in Boston in 1940 and became its
principal vocalist. He began recording for RCA Victor's subsidiary Bluebird label. That same year, Monroe built The
Meadows, a restaurant and nightclub to the west of Boston on Massachusetts Route 9 in Framingham, Massachusetts.
After he ceased performing, he continued running the club until his death in
1973. The summer of 1942 brought a 13-week engagement on radio, as
Monroe and his orchestra had a summer replacement program for Blondie on CBS.
Monroe hosted the Camel Caravan radio program from The Meadows,
starting in 1946 and, during this time, was featured in a Camel cigarettes commercial. In 1952, Monroe and his orchestra had a weekly
program on Saturday nights on NBC radio. Those programs originated
on location from wherever the band happened to be touring. Each program
featured a focus on a college in the United States. The Meadows burned to the
ground in December 1980 after sitting shuttered and vacant for a number of
years. Monroe was tall and handsome, which helped him as a band leader and
singer, as well as in Hollywood. He was sometimes called
"the Baritone with Muscles", "the Voice with Hair on its Chest",
"Ol' Leather Tonsils", or "Leather Lungs".[ Monroe
recorded extensively for RCA Victor until 1956, and his signature tune was
"Racing With the Moon" (1941). It sold more than one million copies by 1952,
becoming Monroe's first million-seller, and was awarded a gold disc by
the RIAA.
Among his other hits were "In the Still
of the Night" (1939), "There I Go"
(1941), "There I've Said It Again"
(1945), "Let It Snow,
Let It Snow, Let It Snow" (1946), "Ballerina" (1947),
"Melody Time" (1948), "Riders in
the Sky" (1949), "Someday
(You'll Want Me To Want You)" (1949), "Sound Off" (1951), and "In the Middle of the House"
(1956). He also turned down the chance to record "Rudolph the
Red-Nosed Reindeer".Monroe's orchestra had a number of
excellent musicians including future jazz guitar great Bucky Pizzarelli. While their musical focus was largely
romantic ballads, in person, the band had a fiercely swinging side only
occasionally captured on record. In ballrooms, Monroe often reserved the final
set of the evening for unrestrained, swinging music. Movies also beckoned, although he did not pursue it with
vigor. Monroe appeared in Meet the People (1944), Carnegie Hall (1947), Singing Guns (1950), and Toughest Man in Arizona (1952).
He co-authored The Adventures of Mr. Putt Putt (1949), a
children's book about airplanes and flying, a personal interest of his. He hosted The Vaughn Monroe Show on CBS Television (1950–51, 1954–55) and appeared on Bonanza, The Mike Douglas Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, Texaco Star Theatre, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Tonight
Show Starring Johnny Carson, and American Bandstand. He
was a major stockholder in RCA and appeared in print ads and television
commercials for the company's television and audio products. After leaving the
performing end of show business, he remained with RCA for many years as a
television spokesperson, executive, and talent scout. In the latter capacity,
he helped give Neil Sedaka, among others,
his first major exposure.[ He was awarded two stars on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame,
one for recording at 1600 Vine Street and one for radio at 1755 Vine Street in
Hollywood, California. On June 25,
2019, The New York Times
Magazine listed Vaughn Monroe among hundreds of artists
whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.