Frank Crumit

Frank Crumit (sometimes misspelled "Crummit") (September 26, 1889 – September 7, 1943) was a popular American singer and songwriter. Crumit was born in Jackson, Ohio, the son of Frank and Mary Poore Crumit, and he died of a heart attack in New York City at the age of 53.

Biography

Frank Crumit

Attending local schools, Crumit graduated from high school in 1907. After briefly attending an Indiana military academy, he entered Ohio University and later Ohio State. His primary purpose for entering Ohio University was to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, Dr. C. K. Crumit, who had been a medical doctor. However, he instead graduated Ohio University with a degree in electrical engineering. This career did not last long, as his passion seemed to be music and the old ballads of the 19th century; his love of music and theater dated back to his early years in the Methodist Church choir, and led him to pursue a musical career. He studied voice in Cincinnati and then tried out unsuccessfully for opera in New York City.

By 1913, he performed on the vaudeville stage, first with a trio and then a year later on his own, playing ukulele (and his work with the ukulele apparently inspired George Formby) and singing his favorite songs; he was referred to as "the one-man glee club" in New York City's night spots. He moved up to Broadway in 1918 to appear in the musical Betty Be Good. He was a big success there and went on to Greenwich Village Follies of 1920, which featured his hit song, "Sweet Lady."

Crumit began making records for American Columbia in 1919, using the acoustic, or "horn," method of recording (he also occasionally added vocals and banjo to recordings by the Paul Biese Trio on the same label). Unfortunately, the broad and pleasant overtones of his voice were not suited to this technology. This changed after 1925, with the industry's introduction of the microphone. By this time, Crumit was singing at Victor Talking Machine. The new recording method was able to capture the rich tenor sound of his voice and Crumit produced a series of the traditional ballads he loved, as well as a number of his own compositions, which he wrote in the style of his old-time favorites.

He met Julia Sanderson in 1921 and began working with her on stage and radio. Crumit was known for his humorous material, particularly his puns. The pair married in 1927 and moved to Longmeadow, Massachusetts. They intended to leave show business, but by 1928 they were performing together on radio as the "Singing Sweethearts of the Air." From Massachusetts, Crumit and Sanderson drove to New York City, a four-hour trip, twice a week to do their radio show. Their nationally-produced radio broadcast was aired over WLW in Cincinnati.

In 1930, they continued with a popular quiz show, The Battle of the Sexes, which ran 13 years, until Crumit's death in 1943. During his last years, Crumit still made records, but they were often different in style from his earlier ballads.

Hit songs

His biggest hits were made during the 1920s and early 1930s, including popular phonograph records of "Frankie and Johnnie", "Abdul Abulbul Amir", "A Gay Caballero" (he even recorded a sequel, "The Return of A Gay Caballero"), "The Prune Song", "There's No-one With Endurance Like The Man Who Sells Insurance", "Down In De Canebrake", "I Wish That I'd Been Born in Borneo", "What Kind of a Noise Annoys an Oyster?", and "I Learned About Women From Her". Crumit is credited with composing at least 50 songs in his career, including his most famous, the Ohio fight song, "Buckeye Battle Cry" in 1919 for a song contest. He composed and published "Hills of Ohio" in 1941. His song "Donald the Dub" was used as the theme music to the BBC radio adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's The Oldest Member.

External links

• Frank Crumit biography by Tim Gracyk