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Sherwood, Bobby (30 May 1914-23 January 1981)

Actor, composer, guitarist, orchestra leader, pianist, trumpeter, and trombonist who is best remembered for his million-selling hit “The Elks Parade”.  He went on tour to support the single but an industry-wide recording ban prevented him for following it up with anything for another year.

In 1946, he was bitten by the acting bug in the short-lived Broadway run of Hear That Trumpet.  A year later, he was back in L.A. for a three-month stint at Casion Gardens.  None of his subsequent records approached the success of “The Elks Parade”, however.  Bobby Sherwood and His Orchestra (a.k.a. Babe Russin, Hymie Shertzer, Bobby Sherwood, and Kai Winding) released a pair of singles in 1950 on the Mercury label.

Bobby shed his “orchestra” and recorded four tracks in 1954 as “Bobby Sherwood – The One Man Band”.  Three years later, he attempted acting again as Ned Galvin in Pal Joey.  (His wife Phyllis Dorne had appeared in the Broadway play.)  Bobby made regular appearances on The Milton Berle Show and The Red Buttons Show in the ’50s.  He also composed the soundtrack for 1948’s Campus Sleuth.

He and Phyllis had a successful Las Vegas lounge act in the 1970s.  They later divorced and he married Vivian Coleman, but their marriage was short-lived.

He died of cancer on 23rd January 1981 in Auburn, Massachusetts.

Bobby Sherwood and His Orchestra recordings
Las Vegas (Ed Kotlar)
Phyllis Dorne – Vocals

Sources:

  1. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0792797/bio
  2. http://nfo.net/usa/s2.html