Leo Reisman

Society dance band leader of the 1920's and 30's, who started as a 12-year old teenager playing the violin with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He put together his own band in 1919 and began a prolific recording career with Columbia two years later. Reisman was able to secure residency at the Egyptian Room of the Hotel Brunswick until 1929, when he moved the organisation from Boston to New York's Central Park Casino. There the band made frequent national radio broadcasts and achieved considerable commercial success without ever playing particularly 'hot' jazz. His sponsored radio shows included 'The Lucky Strike Hit Parade' and 'RKO Theatre of the Air', heralded by his theme song "What Is This Thing Called Love?". Reisman was noticeably canny in recognising talent, both in performance and in composition. He featured hits by the great composers of the day, including Cole Porter , Con Conrad ("The Continental") and Irving Berlin. He discovered future stars Eddy Duchin, Max Kaminsky and Nat Brandwynne. His vocalists included Lee Wiley, Fred Astaire and Anita Boyer. He gave another unknown, Dinah Shore a head start in 1939, letting her perform in front of the band at the Strand Theatre in 1939. At the peak of his popularity, the Reisman Orchestra performed regularly at the Waldorf-Astoria and other swank venues frequented by the New York elite. They toured Europe in 1937, featuring at the Paris International Exposition. Reisman had various recording contracts during the 1930's with Vocalion, Brunswick and Victor and claimed in later years to have made more records than any other contemporary bandleader.