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Since 1946 literally millions of Frankie Laine records have found their way into popular collections.
By BOB POOLE
The Bob Poole Show is heard M-F at 11:15 A.M. and again at 3:00 P.M. EST over MBS stations.
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Being a barber or barber's son seems to be good for the voice. Whether that's scientifically correct makes little difference, because Frankie Laine and Perry Como can prove it! Everyone knows Perry used to wield a scissors and comb, but few remember that Frankie's dad was a barber. The lather and larynx combination has certainly worked for two top singers.
Frankie, a Chicago boy, had most modest beginnings as an ordinary "little Italy" youngster who went to school but wanted to be a singer. Hanging around local ballrooms was a decided thrill in those days. Getting a good singing engagement, though, was a decided rarity — until he, the barber's son, met the barber. It was Perry Como who, in 1937, met Frankie and helped him get a job with Fred Croloyes band. Perry was leaving that group for a job with Ted Weems.
Even the band job didn't satisfy Mr. Laine, who started again to work as a vocal single in Cleveland — and eventually in New York. He finally got a sustaining job on NBC in New York and was set to start the day that Germany and England went to war in 1939. Of course, all sustaining programs were cancelled.
As a master of ceremonies on a South American cruise, Frankie found himself well-fed but not quite happy — and this was already 1940. The next year wasn't much better either. At the end of 1941, he was ready
to give up all his vocal ambitions. Fact is he started working in a machine shop. A trip to California started the wheels of music turning again, but it was only in the form of song-writing that Frankie made any headway. Finally, in 1946, came an engagement in Billy Berg's night club in Hollywood. Frankie was a sensation— locally. He did, however, get the opportunity of making a record for Mercury. The first disc under his name was "sneaked in" as the back of something called "Pickle In The Middle." Frankie's second record was of an old-time tune called "That's My Desire."
From that time on, however, Frankie Laine was on top of the vocal heap. Personal appearances in theaters, clubs and hotels as well as radio and record engagements have been successes for Frankie ever since. Literally millions of his records have found their way into disc collections. It'll be a long time before anyone forgets "Lucky Old Sun," or "Mule Train."
And it all started when the son of barber Lo Vecchio
(that's Frankie's real name) met barber Como.
* * *
And speaking of singers, when Betty Clark, ABC's thirteen-year-old blind singing star went to live in the country she was given a Gordon setter puppy. No one intended the dog to become anything but a pet, but after several months with Betty, the dog seemed to sense her