Editing Louis Prima (section)

==Career==
After finishing high school in New Orleans, Prima had a few unsuccessful gigs, including when he joined the Ellis Stratako Orchestra in 1929.<ref name="Prima"/> Prima, Federico and saxophonist Dave Winstein drove to Florida for a gig but no one showed up. They made it to a relative's house, where they were given money for gas and a meal. Prima did not give up. He joined [[Joseph Cherniavsky]]'s Orchestra in 1929 at Jefferson Parish. He got a temporary job playing on the steamship ''Capital'' that docked on [[Canal Street, New Orleans|Canal Street]].<ref name="Prima"/>

Although the ''Capital'' did not provide him with a big break for his career, he did meet his first wife Louise Polizzi there. They married on June 25, 1929.<ref name="Prima"/> From 1931 to 1932, Prima occupied his time by performing in the Avalon Club owned by his brother Leon. His first break was when Lou Forbes hired him for daily afternoon and early evening shows at The Saenger.<ref name="Prima"/>

===New York City===
New York was an attraction for hungry musicians during the [[Great Depression]].  [[Guy Lombardo]] met Prima while he was performing at club [[Shim Sham]] during the [[Mardi Gras]] season of 1934.<ref name="Prima"/>

===Prima and his New Orleans Gang===
In September 1934, Prima began recording for the Brunswick label.<ref name="Prima"/> He recorded "That's Where the South Begins", "Long About Midnight", "Jamaica Shout", and "Star Dust".<ref name="Prima"/>

Prima and his New Orleans Gang featured Frank Pinero playing piano, Jack Ryan on bass, Garrett McAdams on guitar, and [[Pee Wee Russell]] on clarinet.<ref name="Prima"/> The band had their first performance at a club called the [[Famous Door]], owned and operated by Jack Colt. Prima's recordings from 1935 were a combination of [[Dixieland]] and [[swing (jazz performance style)|swing]].<ref name="Prima"/> In May 1935, Prima and Russell recorded "The Lady in Red", a national jukebox hit. They also recorded "Chinatown", "Chasing Shadows" and "Gypsy Tea Room".<ref name="Prima"/>

[[Martha Raye]] played a role in Prima's professional and personal life. She was a comedian with potential to become a singer. The two featured a show at the club that granted Prima his first national debut on "The Fleischman Hour".<ref name="Prima"/> In March 1936, Prima recorded "[[Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)|Sing Sing Sing]]", which subsequently became a hit for [[Benny Goodman]].

===California===
Prima moved to California to expand his music. During this time there was a movement for big bands and orchestras. Prima hired Louis Masinter on the string bass, a New Orleans native. He fired McAdams so that he could have Frank Federico, his childhood friend, play the guitar.<ref name="Prima"/> With all of his success, his marriage back in New Orleans had already failed. He and Louise were divorced in 1936, following infidelities going back at least to the French Quarter in 1933. A few months later, he was involved in a new fling with Alma Ross, an actress.<ref name="Prima"/>

Prima and Ross were quite serious and after only a few months together he asked her to marry him while he started his tour out in the Midwest. The couple faced problems in [[Wisconsin]] and [[Chicago]] because they did not meet the marital requirements. Guy Lombardo helped them out by arranging a place in [[South Bend, Indiana]]. They wed on July 25, 1936.<ref name="Prima"/> The couple had a few problems; one of the worst was that Louis denied much about his past. He never confessed to Alma that he had a daughter until she found out from a tax return.<ref name="Prima"/> Prima also pushed Ross into signing with [[Paramount Records|Paramount]] in 1937.

He continued to travel along the East Coast with his band.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} Prima struggled to upgrade to big band style. It was not supported by his mentors in New York or Los Angeles. With the help of Guy Lombardo he traveled to [[Chicago]] to promote his new format at the Blackhawk in October 1936. The new format was unsuccessful.<ref name="Prima"/>

===Reinvented in New York===
In 1937, Prima and his smaller gang (Federico, Masinter, Pinero, and Meyer Weinberg on clarinet) returned to the Famous Door in New York to perform. He also appeared at [[Billy Rose]]'s Casa Mañana club in May 1938.<ref name="Prima"/> He earned nearly a quarter million dollars throughout seven weeks at Casa Mañana.

He was booked by [[William Morris Agency]] in late 1938,<ref name="Prima"/> which sent him to Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Miami Beach, New Orleans, and St. Louis.<ref name="Prima"/> The band traveled by car, since it was the cheapest option.<ref name="Prima"/>

===World War II===
In 1939, Prima was under contract to appear in Black theatres in New York, Baltimore, Boston and Washington D.C. First Lady [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] attended his performance in Washington D.C., and formally invited him to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's birthday celebration.<ref name="Prima"/> He appeared in photographs with the President, which ultimately boosted his publicity. Deemed unfit for military service in [[World War II]] because of a knee injury, Prima continued performing.<ref name="Prima"/>
[[File:Louis Prima c. 1947.jpg|thumb|Prima and his trumpet, {{Circa|1947}}]]
By the mid-1940s, Prima was experiencing great success. People were purchasing tickets early in the morning for shows later on that evening. Despite the anti-Italian sentiment during the war, Prima continued to record Italian songs, the most famous being "Angelina", named after his mother. Others included "Please No Squeeza Da Banana", "Baciagaloop (Makes Love on the Stoop)", and "Felicia No Capicia."<ref name="Prima"/>

He performed the Italian songs at the Strand Theatre in New York. He brought in $440,000 in six weeks.<ref name="Prima"/> In Detroit he could bring in about $38,000 for an afternoon performance. With all of this success, he decided to go back to Chicago to prove himself; he sold out the "Panther Room" in that city.<ref name="Prima"/>

Prima had several big hits in the summer of 1945, including "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" and "Bell-Bottom Trousers".<ref name="Prima"/> As his career grew, however, his marriage with Alma simultaneously failed. They got a divorce when she discovered he had been cheating on her with another actress. Alma was supposed to receive $15,000 a year or 7.5% of his earnings. Prima ignored the payments until they piled up to about $60,000, which forced him to write a settlement check of $45,000 plus $250 per week. Later he married his secretary, Tracelene Barrett.<ref name="Prima"/>

By the end of the war years, the popularity of big band music was diminishing, and by 1947 Prima was playing more jazzy versions of his music. Under a new contract with [[RCA Victor]], he recorded "Civilization"; "You Can't Tell the Depth of the Well"; "Say it with a Slap"; "Valencia"; "My Flame Went Out Last Night"; "Thousand Islands"; "Mean To Me"; and "Tutti Tutti Pizzicato".<ref name="Prima"/>

In 1948, Prima and Barrett had a baby girl.<ref name="Prima" />

===Personality===
Fans knew Prima as a genial and patient celebrity: he always signed autographs or posed for pictures with a smile.<ref name="Prima"/> To the record companies and big corporations, however, Prima showed little deference, and he was uncompromising in seeking maximum compensation for his work.<ref name="Prima"/>

[[Warner Brothers]] offered him $60,000 to be in a movie based on the life of [[Helen Morgan (singer)|Helen Morgan]], but he rejected it; when the studio increased the offer to $75,000, it was still not enough. Prima wanted $100,000 and creative control of his role, which was rejected by Warner Brothers.<ref name="Prima"/> He had protracted disputes with the Strand Theatre in New York City and [[Majestic Records]], and he flatly refused to allow a former songwriter to advertise herself as "formerly featured with Louis Prima's orchestra".<ref name="Prima"/>

Prima had expensive tastes: he shopped at luxury clothing stores and always wore top-brand suits. He spent great sums on [[horse racing]] and his own private stable of horses. He said he enjoyed gambling because it relaxed him;<ref name="Prima"/> riding was another one of the things that relaxed him the most outside of his busy performing life. He knew each of his horses well and read about training. Another hobby was boating. He purchased a boat for his third wife Tracelene Barrett for their honeymoon on the [[Hudson River]].<ref name="Prima"/>

===Keely Smith===
[[Keely Smith]] was twenty when she met Prima in August 1948. Born in [[Norfolk, Virginia]], she made a point to stop by the Surf Club in [[Virginia Beach, Virginia|Virginia Beach]] to visit him. To her surprise, Prima was looking for a new female vocalist to replace [[Lily Ann Carol]]. Smith was wearing a bathing suit and was not allowed into the club until she put on proper attire. Luckily, someone was able to lend her some acceptable clothing and she auditioned. She landed the part and was soon traveling with his band.<ref name="Prima"/>

Prima signed with [[Columbia Records]] in the fall of 1951 to keep up with the rapid changes in the marketing industry. Throughout his sixteen-month contract, his top hits consisted of "Chop Suey, Chow Mein", "Ooh-Dahdily-Dah", and "Chili Sauce".<ref name="Prima"/> To support his horses and manage his expenses, he chose to drop his big band and play in lesser clubs. On top of it all, he divorced his third wife Tracelene on June 18, 1953.<ref name="Prima"/> Less than a month later he married Keely. She was open to criticism, and he wanted to make her a star.<ref name="Prima"/> He tried to find the style that fit her correctly, especially since [[rock and roll]] was emerging. Prima was not against rock 'n' roll like some other artists, such as [[Frank Sinatra]] and [[Jackie Gleason]]. He accepted that "the kids had an instinct for the kind of music that's fun to listen to and dance to."<ref name="Prima"/>

===A new act===
In 1954, Prima was offered a stay at [[Sahara Hotel and Casino|The Sahara]] in [[Las Vegas]] to open his new act with Keely Smith. He enlisted New Orleans saxophonist [[Sam Butera]] and his backing musicians, The Witnesses. The act was a hit, and ultimately led Prima to sign with [[Capitol Records]] in 1955.<ref name="Prima"/> The act performed regularly in Las Vegas for the rest of the decade.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lentz |first1=Harris M. III |title=Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2017 |date=2018 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-3318-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HMpZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT380 |access-date=September 16, 2018 |page=366|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.pleasekillme.com/sam-butera/|title=The Lost Testament of Sam Butera |date=16 February 2021 }}</ref>

He released his first album with Capitol Records, ''[[The Wildest!]]'', in September 1956. Some of the popular songs include his medley of [[Just a Gigolo (song)#"Just a Gigolo"/"I Ain't Got Nobody" medley|"Just a Gigolo"]] and "I Ain't Got Nobody".<ref name="Prima"/> In 1957, the couple released ''The Call of the Wildest''. Keely worked with other artists to release the album ''I Wish You Love'', and received a Grammy for it in 1958.<ref name="Prima"/>

She earned ''Billboard'' and ''Variety's'' number one female vocalist award in 1958–59, and the Playboy Jazz Award in 1959.<ref name="Prima"/> The duo also redid "[[That Old Black Magic]]", which was a Top 40 hit for two months. It earned the duo a Grammy. The couple also had two daughters together, one of whom, Toni, became an actress and singer in her own right.<ref>{{IMDb name|0697516|Toni Prima}}</ref> Prima decided to relocate his acts to the [[Desert Inn]] because he would take in $3 million for producing twelve weeks' worth of acts a year for five years.<ref name="Prima"/>

Prima signed with [[Dot Records]] in 1959 and produced eight albums,<ref name="Prima"/> headlined by ''Wonderland By Night'' and ''On Stage'' in 1961. The couple was constantly performing and it affected their marriage. An attempted vacation boating down the Atlantic coast ended up grounded in the [[Intracoastal Waterway]] until rescued by the Coast Guard.<ref name="Prima"/>

In January 1961, Prima was invited by Frank Sinatra to perform at the inaugural gala for President [[John F. Kennedy]]; the two played "Old Black Magic" together. The constant performances and Prima's infidelities were too much for Smith. That noted, Smith also had an affair with Frank Sinatra, prior to her divorce from Prima in 1961. After finishing up their contract at the Desert Inn, she filed for divorce at the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court of Nevada in Las Vegas.<ref name="Prima"/>

After Smith was out of his life and his performances, Prima tried to prove that he did not need her. In the ''New York Post'', there was a suggestion that Smith should rejoin for an act in New York's Basin Street East nightclub. Prima said, "I have no desire whatsoever to have any dealings with Keely Smith under any conditions…There is nothing in the world or no one that could ever make me accept this woman in our act."<ref name="Prima"/>

Prima's father died in 1961, the same year as the divorce from Smith. His mother died in the winter of 1965.<ref name="Prima"/>

In 1962, he tried to form his own recording company called Prima One Records.<ref name="Prima"/> He filled Smith's spot with [[Gia Maione]], a waitress who was 21 years old. He did his best to make her famous by producing her first album "This Is … Gia." It was funded entirely by him, and it was unsuccessful. They married and had a daughter, [[Lena Prima|Lena]], later a New Orleans–based singer and recording artist with [[Basin Street Records]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lena-prima-mn0001975710/biography|title=Lena Prima &#124; Biography & History|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref> and his only son, [[Louis Prima Jr.]], the last of his six children.{{Citation needed|date= October 2012}} He was also in the middle of making appearances in Las Vegas and promoting the film ''[[Twist All Night]]''.<ref name="Prima"/>

In 1967, Prima landed a role in [[Walt Disney]]'s animated feature ''[[The Jungle Book (1967 film)|The Jungle Book]]'', as the raucous [[orangutan]] [[King Louie]]. He performed the hit song "[[I Wan'na Be like You (The Monkey Song)|I Wan'na Be like You]]" on the soundtrack, leading to the recording of two albums with [[Phil Harris]]: ''The Jungle Book'' and ''More Jungle Book'', and covering MC duties and singing the theme song "Winnie the Pooh", for the 1967 album entitled ''Happy Birthday Winnie the Pooh'', all of these on [[Disneyland Records]]. He can be heard on the soundtrack of another cartoon feature, ''[[The Man Called Flintstone]]''.