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RUSS COLUMBO
started as a violinist Played classics, too
TODAY they call Russ Columbo the “Valentino of Song.” It is his voice that has put him over, that has won him more pounds of fan mail than he can count. And everyone is pleased about his success except the old German violin teacher of his childhood days in Calistoga, California.
Russ was the talented member of the Columbo clan. There were eleven brothers and sisters and the German master singled out black-haired, bright-eyed Russ for a rigorous course in the classics. The father, who had been a musician in his native Naples before he migrated to America, was delighted. But Russ developed a voice and abandoned the classics for what he calls the “hot fiddle.”
Russ’ ideal of a great man was Rudolph Valentino. As a kid, he saw every Valentino show. People now com¬ ment on how much he himself looks like the former screen idol.
He was fourteen when a woman came into his life — the first person to divert his attention from his movie idol. She was a blonde, a dancer at a theatre. He sat in the first row and adored her — and he still wonders who she was.
His progress with the violin was good enough to enable him to play solos on the stage of the Imperial Theatre in San Francisco when he was not many months older. When his family moved to Los Angeles he promptly be¬ came first violinist of the Belmont High School orchestra.
And then his mellow baritone began to attract attention. The manager of the Los Angeles Mayfair sought out Russ, heard his gentle baritoning . . . and offered $75.00 a week for his voice. The job lead to subsequent spotting at the Roosevelt Hotel and the Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador.
Talking pictures attracted his eager interest. He does look like a movie hero, you know. He appeared with Betty Compson, Lupe Velez, and Gary Cooper but some¬ how fortune didn’t favor him. Then he opened his own night club in Los Angeles, the Club Pyramid.
Those months of singing had built up a tremendous Columbo following on the West Coast. Eastern studio executives heard of his popularity and invited him to New York for a nationwide broadcast. The day was Sept. 5, 1931 — and the next day’s mail brought the evidences of success.
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