Ben Bernie (1891-1943) was an American jazz violinist and radio personality. He was born Bernard Anzelevitz in Bayonne, New Jersey. By the age of 15 he was teaching violin, but this experience apparently diminished his interest in the violin for a time. He returned to music doing vaudeville, appearing with Phil Baker as "Baker and Bernie", but met with little success until 1922. In that year, he joined his first orchestra and would later have his own band called "The Lads." Bernie appeared with his band in the early DeForest Phonofilm sound short Ben Bernie and All the Lads (1923), featuring pianist Oscar Levant. He toured with Maurice Chevalier and also toured in Europe. Bernie's orchestra recorded prolifically during the 1920s and 1930s, mainly for Vocalion and Brunswick 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Jazz is an original American musical art form that originated around the start of the 20th century in New Orleans, rooted in African American musical styles blended with Western music technique and theory. ... A violinist is an instrumentalist who plays the violin. ... a Radio Personality is the modern incarnation of the disk jockey, or DJ. In the 1990s, successful radio stations began to focus less on the musical expertise of their hosts and more on the individual hosts personalities. ... Seal of Bayonne Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... Poster for a vaudeville act OBrien & Havel Vaudeville is a style of variety entertainment predominant in America in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century. ... Phil Baker (born August 26, 1896; died November 30, 1963) is best known as a popular American comedian and emcee on radio. ... In 1919, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patent on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofilm, which recorded sound directly onto film as parallel lines. ... Ben Bernie and All the Lads is a short film made by Lee De Forest in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process. ... Oscar Levant (December 27, 1906 - August 14, 1972) was an American pianist, composer, author, comedian, and an actor, better known for his mordant character and witticisms, on the radio and in movies and television, than his music. ... French singer Maurice Chevalier with stars of Helizapoppin at Expo 67, in Montreal, Quebec. ... 1921 Vocalion label Vocalion Records was a record label historically active in the United States and in the United Kingdom. ... The Brunswick Records logo Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. ...

In 1925 Ben Bernie and his orchestra did the first recording of Sweet Georgia Brown, a tune of which Bernie was co-composer, and which became a jazz standard. Today it is also known as the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters. 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Sweet Georgia Brown is the theme of the Harlem Globetrotters. ... Eugene Sucker Edgerson of the Harlem Globetrotters goes up for a layup The Harlem Globetrotters are a basketball team that combines athleticism and comedy to create one of the best-known sports entertainment franchises in the world. ...

By 1929 things had declined. He became destitute during the Great Depression. A few years later he became a radio personality noted for using the word "yowsah" (also spelled "yowsa" or "yowza"). He is generally credited with originating the term, often used in quick succession.[1] [2] The term was revived by CHIC (band) in 1977 with their hit Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah).[3] 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Great Depression an economic downturn which started in 1929 (although its effects were not fully felt until late 1930) and lasted through most of the 1930s. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

His successful network radio career included two weekly radio programs, under the titles Ben Bernie, the Old Maestro and The Ben Bernie War Worker's Program, from 1931 through 1943, in addition to numerous other appearances as a guest on other shows. 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ...

This period also started his "rivalry" with Walter Winchell. Winchell was a major radio personality, as well as one of the most powerful newspaper columnists in the country specializing in gossip and entertainment news. He and Bernie, good friends, staged a long-running "feud" as part of the "schtick" of their radio programs to help build ratings (this was similar to the radio "feud" between Jack Benny and Fred Allen, best of friends in real life, of about the same period). This mutually beneficial "conflict" was not only a running gag on their radio appearances, but also in two films they made together in which both played themselves: Wake Up and Live (1937) and Love and Hisses (1937) . Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972), an American newspaper and radio commentator, invented the gossip column at the New York Evening Graphic. ... Jack Benny (February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974), born Benjamin Kubelsky, was an American comedian, vaudeville performer, and radio, television, and film actor. ... He has eyes like Venetian blinds and a tongue like an adder — radio/television critic John Crosby about humourist Fred Allen, portrayed here by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. ...

Ben Bernie was noted for always having a cigar in hand and some speculate this hastened his death in 1943. Four cigars of different brands (from top: H. Upmann, Montecristo, Macanudo, Romeo y Julieta) An airtight cigar storage tube and a double guillotine-style cutter A cigar is a tightly rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco, one end of which is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn...

Songs

• Sweet Georgia Brown
• Who's Your Little Whozis
• I Can't Believe It's True
• Holding My Honey's Hand
• A Bowl Of Chop Suey And Yooey
• After The Dance Was Over
• Was Last Night The Last Night?
• Ain't That Marvelous (My Baby Loves Me)

Sweet Georgia Brown is the theme of the Harlem Globetrotters. ...

References

• Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-507678-8

External links

• IMDB bio
• Find a grave bio
• Bio