Editing Louis Prima (section)

===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" />