Category Archives: Hawaii Videos

Hawaii Videos

Count Every Star – Dick Haymes- Artie Shaw Orch – 1950

Count Every Star by Dick Haymes with the Artie Shaw Orch recordded in 1950. He was born Richard Benjamin Haymes in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1918 His Irish-born mother, Marguerite Haymes (1894–1987), was a well-known vocal coach and instructor. He became the vocalist in a number of big bands, worked in Hollywood, on radio, and in many films throughout the 1940s and 1950s. He never became a United States citizen and avoided military service during World War II by asserting his non-belligerent status as a citizen of Argentina, which was neutral. Hollywood-based columnists Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper seized upon this at the time, questioning Haymes’ patriotism; but the story had little effect on Haymes’ career. About that time, he was classified 4-F by the draft board because of hypertension. As part of his draft examination, he was confined for a short period to a hospital at Ellis Island, which confirmed his hypertension.[2] However, Haymes’ decision would come back to haunt him in 1953 when he went to Hawaii (then a territory and, technically, not part of the United States) without first notifying immigration authorities. Haymes was nearly deported back to Argentina. Haymes experienced serious financial problems later in life and at one point was forced into bankruptcy.[3] Haymes was married six times; but drinking, debts, and abuse led to the dissolution of all but his sixth marriage. His more notable marriages were to film actresses Joanne Dru (1941–1949), Rita …

Hawaii Videos

Ted Fiorito and his Edgewater Beach Orchestra, Dusty Rhodes vocal – On Candle Light 1929

Theodore Salvatore Fiorito (Dec.20,1900 – July 22,1971), known professionally as Ted Fio Rito, was an American composer, orchestra leader and keyboardist who was popular on national radio broadcasts in the 1920s and 30s. His name is sometimes given as Ted Fiorito or Ted FioRito. He was still in his teens when he landed a job in 1919 as a pianist at Columbia’s New York City recording studio, working with the Harry Yerkes bands – the Yerkes Novelty Five, Yerkes’ Jazarimba Orchestra and the Happy Six. His earliest compositions were recorded by the Yerkes groups and Art Highman’s band. Fio Rito had numerous hit recordings, notably his two number one hits, “My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii” (1934) and “I’ll String Along with You” (1934). He composed more than 100 songs. He moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1921 to join Dan Russo’s band, and the following year he was the co-leader of Russo and Fio Rito’s Oriole Orchestra. When Russo and Fio Rito opened at Detroit, Michigan’s Oriole Terrace, their band was renamed the Oriole Terrace Orchestra. Their first recordings included Fio Rito’s “Soothing.” he band returned to Chicago for a booking at the Edgewater Beach Hotel, where they did their first radio remote broadcast on March 29, 1924. In August 1925, the Russo-Fio Rito orchestra opened Chicago’s new Uptown Theatre. They opened the famous Aragon Ballroom in July 1926, doing radio remotes nationally from both the Aragon and the Trianon ballrooms. Dan Russo left the band in …