27 August 2024

Ted Weems 1920s-30s Band Leader – Phantom Dancer

Greg Poppleton's Phantom Dancer swing jazz radio show

Wilfred Theodore Wemyes, known professionally as Ted Weems, was an American bandleader, songwriter and musician popular in the 1920s – 1930s who had a sleeper hit with ‘Heartaches’. Weems’s work in music was recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He’s your Phantom Dancer feature artist this week.

The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 27 August) and weeks of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

TED

Ted Weems’ musical life began when he entered a contest to win a pony. Instead he won a violin. His parents sent him to music lessons.

In high school, Weems organized a band and provided some of the instruments.

The band was paid a penny per member to play when the fire drill alarm sounded. Weems kept the money and in turn charged each band member a penny for membership. He used that money to purchase better instruments.

At the University of Pennsylvania, he and his brother Art organized a small dance band that became the “All American Band”. The brothers sought the most talented college musicians for the group.

The All American Band soon started getting offers to perform in well-known hotels throughout the United States.

Weems, who had originally intended to become a civil engineer, found himself with a musical career.

PRESIDENT

The All American Band was one of the bands that played at the inaugural ball of President Warren G Harding in March, 1921.

Ted Weems went professional in 1923, touring for the MCA Corporation and recording for the Victor.

“Somebody Stole My Gal” was the band’s first #1 hit in early 1924, selling over one million discs.

Weems recorded for Victor/RCA Victor until 1933. His final three sessions were released on RCA Victor’s new Bluebird label.

He then signed with Columbia for two sessions in 1934. then with Decca in 1936.

Ted Weems co-wrote the pop songs: “The Martins and the McCoys”, “Jig Time”, “The One-Man Band”, “Three Shif’less Skonks”, and “Oh, Monah!”.

In 1928, the Ted Weems Orchestra based themselves in Chicago.

In 1929 he had a second million plus seller with “Piccolo Pete”. Another hit that year was “The Man fron the South”. You’ll hear both on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

Radio increased the orchestra’s popularity in the 1930s. They played for Jack Benny’s Canada Dry program on CBS and NBC in the early 1930s, and the Fibber McGee & Molly program in the late 1930s.

Singer Perry Como joined the Ted Weems Orchestra in 1936.

Other Ted Weems talent discoveries were whistler-singer Elmo Tanner, sax player and singer Red Ingle, Marilyn Maxwell, who left the band for an acting career; and arranger Joe Haymes, who created the band’s unique jazz-novelty style.

Weems also signed 14-year-old ventriloquist Paul Winchell to a contract, after seeing him with one of the Major Bowes touring companies.

In 1940-41, the orchestra and Perry Como were on the first season of the Beat the Band radio show on the NBC-Red radio network.

In November 1942, Ted Weems and his entire band enlisted in the United States Merchant Marine, directing the Merchant Marine Band.

Reorganizing his big band in 1945, he made records for Mercury, including the hits “Peg O’ My Heart” and “Mickey”.

HEARTACHES

The biggest hit of Weems’s career was a reissue on his former Decca label: the Weems Orchestra’s 1938 recording of “Heartaches”, which topped the national charts for 13 weeks.

He had first recorded Heartaches in 1933, at a fast tempo and with Elmo Tanner whistling, but the recording didn’t sell.

In 1938, Weems recorded a new “rhumba fox trot” version of “Heartaches” for Decca Records, with featured Elmo Tanner’s whistling, and at a slower tempo.

In 1947, an overnight disc jockey named Kurt Webster, at station WBT in Charlotte, North Carolina, found the 1938 version in a box of old records he had recently received.

He played it on the air and the radio station’s phones never stopped ringing; the callers wanted to hear the song again. The calls continued, now joined by record stores wanting to know how to order copies of the record. Other radio markets began playing the song, prompting Decca to press new copies.

Since the Weems orchestra had also recorded “Heartaches” for Victor, that company decided to re-release its own version of the song. Both labels shared credit on the charts. “Heartaches” topped the Hit Parade on 19 April 1947; nine years after it was recorded.

In a 1960 interview, band member Elmo Tanner related that he and Weems received nothing for the reissue as both men had let their contracts expire while they were in the Merchant Marine.

The new-found popularity of the 1938 “Heartaches” came at a time when Weems was struggling to re-form his band; many former members had other music-related jobs, others were no longer interested in performing. Two of his band members were killed in World War II. Weems was then able to recruit new band members and was again being asked to play at the same venues as before the war.

Ted Weems made front-page news in 1947 when he publicly repaid his debt to disc jockey Kurt Webster, who had revived “Heartaches” and thus Weems’s career. Weems staged a benefit performance by his band on 6 June, with all proceeds going to war veteran Webster.

Decca cashed in on Weems’s new popularity by reissuing another oldie, “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now” with vocals by Perry Como, which became another major chart hit.

Despite this sudden surge of popularity for Weems, the hits dried up after 1947. Weems continued touring until 1953. At that time, he accepted a disc jockey position in Memphis, Tennessee, later moving on to a management position with the Holiday Inn hotel chain.

Perry Como played host to his old boss, Elmo Tanner, and three other Weems band members on his Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall show of October 18, 1961…

Ted Weems Jr. led a Ted Weems band sporadically during the 1960s and 1970s.