Editing Red Nichols (section)

=== Later career ===
Nichols survived the Great Depression by playing in show bands and pit orchestras. He led [[Bob Hope]]'s orchestra for a while, moving to California. Nichols married Willa Stutsman, a "stunning" ''[[George White's Scandals]]'' dancer, and they had a daughter. In 1942, their daughter contracted polio, which was misdiagnosed at first as spinal meningitis, and Nichols left [[Glen Gray]] and the [[Casa Loma Orchestra]] to work in the wartime shipyards. On May 2, 1942, Nichols left his band to take an army commission after completing an engagement at Lantz's Merry-Go-Round in Dayton, Ohio.<ref>''Billboard'', May 9, 1942</ref>

Drawn back to music after the war, Nichols formed another Five Pennies band and began playing in small clubs in Los Angeles. Club dates turned into performances at bigger venues, such as the Zebra Room, the Tudor Room of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, and the Huntington-Sheraton Hotel in Pasadena, California. He toured Europe as a goodwill ambassador for the State Department. Nichols and his band performed in the 1950 film ''[[Quicksand (1950 film)|Quicksand]]'' starring [[Mickey Rooney]]. In 1956, he was the subject of an episode of the television program ''[[This Is Your Life (American franchise)|This Is Your Life]]'' in which he reunited with Miff Mole, [[Phil Harris]], and Jimmy Dorsey, who praised Nichols as a bandleader who ensured everyone was paid.