Editing Louis Prima (section)

===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"/>