Editing Rudy Vallée (section)

=== Music ===
[[File:Rudy Vallee - Screenland, Jan. 1930 01.jpg|thumb|upright|Rudy Vallée, {{circa}} 1929]]
After playing drums in his high school band, Vallée played clarinet and saxophone in bands around [[New England]] as a teenager. The popularity of the saxophone and an unexpected reply from his idol Rudy Wiedoeft prompted Vallée to perfect his technique. He paid [[Columbia Records]] to make four "personal records", which he used for audition purposes with a number of bands. From 1924 to 1925, he played with the [[Savoy Havana Band]] at the [[Savoy Hotel]] in London, where band members discouraged his attempts to become a vocalist.<ref>Rust, Brian, "The Savoy Havana at the Savoy Hotel, London", sleeve notes to disc 2 of World Record Club LP set SH165/6, issued 1971</ref> He returned to the United States, briefly attending the [[University of Maine]]. While at the University of Maine, he initiated into [[Sigma Alpha Epsilon]] fraternity on December 5, 1921. He transferred to [[Yale University]] in 1924, from which he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1927. As a Yale student he led the football band and was the lead saxophonist in the Yale Collegians with [[Peter Arno]], who became a cartoonist for ''[[The New Yorker]]'' magazine.<ref>"Cartoonist Peter Arno of the New Yorker Dies". ''The Milwaukee Journal''. February 23, 1968. Part 1, p. 20.</ref>

After graduation, he formed Rudy Vallée and the Connecticut Yankees, having named himself after saxophonist [[Rudy Wiedoeft]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v12p068y1989.pdf|title=How Rudy Wiedoeft's Saxophobia Launched the Saxual Revolution|website=Garfield.library.upenn.edu|access-date=September 29, 2019}}</ref> With this band (formed in 1928),<ref>''Walker'' p. 167</ref> which included two violins, two saxophones, a piano, a banjo, and drums, he began singing as a member of a trio and as a soloist. He had a thin, wavering [[tenor voice]] and seemed more at home singing sweet ballads than [[jazz]] songs. But his singing, saxophone playing, and the innovative arrangements he wrote for his band attracted attention from a rapidly increasing number of listeners, especially from young women.<ref name="Crooners">{{cite web|url=http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_fwh/book/roots_of_rock/support/crooner/EarlyCroonersIntro2.htm|title=The Coming of the Crooners|author=Whitcomb, Ian|publisher=Sam Houston University|access-date=June 24, 2010}}</ref> In 1928 he started performing on the radio, first at New York station WABC, leading his Yale Collegians Orchestra,<ref>"Tonight's Features from Nearby Stations," ''Bridgewater NJ Courier-News'', March 3, 1928, p. 4,</ref> and then on WEAF and the NBC Red Network beginning in February 1929.<ref>"Tomorrow's Radio Programs," ''St. Cloud MN Times'', February 26, 1929, p. 5.</ref>

[[File:Rudy Vallee Megaphone.JPG|thumb|left|Vallée megaphone crafted between shows at the New York Palace in May 1929]]

He became one of the first [[crooner]]s.<ref name="Crooners" /> Singers needed strong voices to fill theaters in the days before microphones. Crooners had soft voices that were suited to the intimacy of radio; the microphones, in this case, promoted direct access to "a vulnerable and sensuous interior," or in other words, "a conjured intimacy".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2014|isbn=978-0-393-06582-4|location=New York, NY|pages=400}}</ref> 
Vallée was one of the first celebrity radio vocalists.<ref name="Crooners" /> [[Flappers]] pursued him wherever he went.<ref name="Crooners" /> His live appearances were usually sold out. Contrary to popular belief, he did not have screaming girls at his appearances. However, his voice still failed to project in venues without microphones and amplification, so he often sang through a megaphone, a device he had used when leading the Yale football band. A caricature of him singing this way was depicted in the Betty Boop cartoon ''[[Poor Cinderella]]'' (1934).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/Betty_Boop_Poor_Cinderella_1934|title=Betty Boop: Poor Cinderella|date=September 29, 1934|website=Archive.org}}</ref> Another caricature is in ''[[Crosby, Columbo, and Vallee]]'', which parodies him, [[Bing Crosby]], and [[Russ Columbo]].

In the words of a magazine writer in 1929,
<blockquote>
At the microphone he is truly a romantic figure. Faultlessly attired in evening dress, he pours softly into the radio's delicate ear a stream of mellifluous melody. He appears to be coaxing, pleading and at the same time adoring the invisible one to whom his song is attuned.<ref>{{cite journal |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=What is the Secret of Rudy Vallee's Success? |url=https://archive.org/stream/radiorevue01unse#page/n11/mode/2up |journal=Radio Revue |location=New York |date=December 1929 |access-date=November 7, 2015 }}</ref>
</blockquote>

Vallée had his share of detractors as well as fans when his popularity was at its height. ''Radio Revue'', a radio [[fan magazine]], held a contest in which people wrote letters explaining his success. The winning letter, written by a man who disliked Vallée's music, said, "Rudy Vallee is reaping the harvest of a seed that is seldom sown this day and age: LOVE. The good-looking little son-of-a-gun really and honestly LOVES his audience and his art. He LOVES to please listeners—LOVES it more than he does his name in the big lights, his mug in the papers. He loved all those unseen women as passionately as a voice can love, long before they began to purr and to caress him with two-cent stamps."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hansen |first=Martin |date=January 1930 |title=Mere Man Wins First Prize in Rudy Vallee Contest |url=https://archive.org/stream/radiorevue01unse#page/n85/mode/2up |journal=Radio Revue |location=New York |access-date=November 7, 2015 }}</ref>

Vallée made his first commercial recordings in 1928 for [[Columbia Records|Columbia]]'s low-priced labels [[Harmony Records|Harmony]], [[Velvet Tone]], and [[Diva Records|Diva]]. He signed with [[RCA Victor]] in February 1929 and remained with the company through 1931, leaving after a heated dispute with executives over song selections. He then recorded for the short-lived [[Hit of the Week Records|Hit of the Week]] label which sold rather poor quality records laminated onto a cardboard base. In August 1932, he signed with Columbia and remained with the label through 1933. Vallée returned to RCA Victor in June 1933; his records were initially issued on Victor's low-priced [[Bluebird Records|Bluebird]] label until November 1933, when he was back on the standard Victor label. He remained with RCA Victor until signing with [[American Record Corporation|ARC]] in 1936. ARC issued his records on the [[Perfect Records|Perfect]], [[Melotone Records (US)|Melotone]], [[Conqueror Records|Conqueror]] and [[Romeo Records|Romeo]] labels until 1937, when he again returned to RCA Victor.

With his group the Connecticut Yankees, Vallée's best-known recordings include "[[The Maine Stein Song|The Stein Song]]" (a.k.a. University of Maine school song) in 1929<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.songfacts.com/facts/rudy-vallee/the-maine-stein-song|title=The Maine Stein Song by Rudy Vallée - Songfacts|website=Songfacts.com}}</ref> and "Vieni, Vieni" in the latter 1930s.

His last hit record was a reissue of "[[As Time Goes By (song)|As Time Goes By]]", popularized in the 1942 film ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]''. Due to the [[1942–44 musicians' strike|1942-44 AFM recording ban]], RCA Victor reissued the version he had recorded in 1931.<ref name=pc1a>{{Pop Chronicles 40s|1|A}}</ref> During World War II, he enlisted in the [[United States Coast Guard]] to help direct the 11th district Coast Guard band as a [[chief petty officer]]. He was promoted to lieutenant and led the 40-piece band to great success. In 1944, he was placed on the inactive list and returned to radio.<ref>[http://www.uscg.mil/history/faqs/rudyvallee.asp USCG: Frequently Asked Questions]. Uscg.mil. Retrieved on 2012-01-30.</ref>

According to [[George P. Oslin]], Vallée on July 28, 1933, was the recipient of the first [[singing telegram]]. A fan telegraphed birthday greetings, and Oslin had the operator sing "[[Happy Birthday to You]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/10/business/the-singing-telegram-at-50.html |title=The Singing Telegram At 50 |date=1983 |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 13, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-07-07/168.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108220256/http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-07-07/168.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 8, 2006 |title=Special delivery: The singing telegram endures |author=Liz Sadler |work=Columbia News Service |publisher=Columbia School of Journalism |access-date=September 13, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://soundbeat.org/episode/the-first-singing-telegram/ |title=The First Singing Telegram |work=Sound Beat |publisher=Syracuse University Libraries |access-date=September 13, 2018 }}</ref>