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Big Band Library: Shep Fields "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles"
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <!-- <hs:metatags> --> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> <meta name="description" content="A fresh biographical sketch of Shep Fields by Music Librarian Christopher Popa. The big bands are back in a new and exciting way!"> <meta name="keywords" content="Shep Fields Big Band Library Christopher Popa "> <meta name="generator" content="Homestead SiteBuilder"> <meta http-equiv="imagetoolbar" content="no"> <meta http-equiv="imagetoolbar" content="false"> <!-- </hs:metatags> --> <!-- <hs:title> --> <title>Big Band Library: Shep Fields "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles"</title> <!-- </hs:title> --> <script type="text/javascript"> <!-- function reDo() { top.location.reload(); } if (navigator.appName == 'Netscape' && parseInt(navigator.appVersion) < 5) { top.onresize = reDo; } dom=document.getElementById //--> </script> <link type="text/css" href="http://www.homestead.com/~media/elements/Text/font_styles_ns4.css" rel="stylesheet"> <style type="text/css"> @import url(http://www.homestead.com/~media/elements/Text/font_styles.css); div.lpxcenterpageouter { text-align: center; position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100% } div.lpxcenterpageinner { position: 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name</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">   Shep Feldman<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size10 Arial10" color="#000000">birth </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">  Sept. 12, 1910, Brooklyn, NY<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size10 Arial10" color="#000000">death </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">  Feb. 26, 1981, Los Angeles, CA, heart attack<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size10 Arial10" color="#000000">father   </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">Jack, ran Queen Mountain House resort in Catskills, d.1929<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size10 Arial10" color="#000000">education</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">   Erasmus High School, Brooklyn, NY; attended St. John's University (Law School),<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     Brooklyn, NY, for a year<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size10 Arial10" color="#000000">first wife   </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">Evy Ryerson?<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size10 Arial10" color="#000000">second wife   </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">Zook Kline<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size10 Arial10" color="#000000">children   </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">two<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size10 Arial10" color="#000000">brother</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">   Freddie, agent-producer, d.Dec. 11, 2007, lung cancer<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size10 Arial10" color="#000000">brother   </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">Elliot<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size10 Arial10" color="#000000">sister<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size10 Arial10" color="#000000">memberships   </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">American Federation of Musicians Local 802 (New York City)<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     Actually, Fields' first big break came around 1932, when he was invited to become conductor for the Veloz and Yolanda dance team.  They toured "many of the smart hotels and dine and dance spots" along the eastern seaboard, including Boston, New York, Atlantic City, and Miami.  They even traveled to Canada and Argentina.  <br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     Fields' first coast-to-coast radio broadcast was said to have taken place over WGN on May 30, 1935, when he opened with Veloz and Yolanda at the Empire Room of the Palmer House in Chicago.<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     On his own and signed to Bluebird Records in 1936, Fields' band was in the company's recording studios nearly every month for the first two years of his contract.<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     "We were lucky from the very beginning," he once commented.<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     Members of his band included, at various times, trumpeters Lou Halmy, Bernie Privin, and Larry Orenstein [Neill]; trombonist Jack Jenney (on an April 1, 1940 record date); saxophonists Romeo Penque, Babe Fresk, and (future comedian) Sid Caesar; guitarist-vocalist Hal Derwin; and vocalists Bob Goday and (future actor) Ken Curtis.  <br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     He abandoned the "Rippling Rhythm" in 1941, in favor of an all-reed band, praised by critics for being novel and intriguing.  The group, billed as "Shep Fields and His New Music," continued to record for Bluebird and made a USO trip to Europe in the summer of 1945, but not long afterwards reverted to its original music policy.  <br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     In 1955, he settled in Houston, TX, working as a disc jockey and occasionally leading a band at, for instance, the Shamrock Hotel in town.<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     More recordings took place, for MGM, Golden Crest, Jubilee, and Dot.<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     He officially retired from bandleading in August 1963, and became an agent alongside his brother, Freddie, who had three years earlier formed with David Begelman one of the industry's most influential talent agencies, Creative Management Associates (Freddie even said that its initials, C.M.A., were purposefully an anagram of their competitor, the Music Corporation of America, or M.C.A.).  <br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     Shep Fields did make a brief return to music in 1977, lending his name for some new records commissioned by Reader's Digest.  Of course, they opened with the "Rippling Rhythm" effect.<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     <br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size14 Arial14" color="#406AB0"><b>sources:</b><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">"Big-band leader Shep Fields dies," </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><u>Chicago Tribune</u></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">, Feb. 24, 1981, p.A7.<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">"Fields to Open On WGN From Palmer House: Batoneer Plays with Veloz-Yolanda,"<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><u>Chicago Daily Tribune</u></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">, May 26, 1935.<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">Margalit Fox, "Freddie Fields, Hollywood Talent Agent, Dies at 84," </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><u>New York Times</u></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">,<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     Dec. 13, 2007.<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">Charles Garrod, </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><u>Shep Fields and His Orchestra</u></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"> (Zephyrhills, FL: Joyce Record Club, 1987).<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">Richard Lamparski, "Shep Fields" in </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><u>Whatever Became of ... ?: Third Series</u></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"> (New York<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     City: Crown Publishers, 1970), pp.96-97.<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">"On This Day in History: September 12: His Rippling Rhythm Was Unique," </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><u>Brooklyn [ NY ]</u><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><u>Daily Eagle</u></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">, Sept. 12, 2007.<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">"'Rippling Rhythm' Orchestra Leader Shep Fields Dies at 70," </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><u>Los Angeles Times</u></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">,<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     Feb. 24, 1981, p.C6.<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">Brian Rust, The American Dance Band Discography 1917-1942 (New Rochelle, NY:<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     Arlington House Publishers, 1975), pp.514-520. <br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">"Shep Fields Retires as Bandleader," </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><u>Los Angeles Times</u></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">, Aug. 9, 1963, p.11.<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">"Shep Fields' Rippling Rhythm Will Return to W-G-N-MBS Dec. 14," </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><u>Chicago Daily</u><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">   </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><u>Tribune</u></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">, Dec. 5, 1937, p.W8.<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">Leo Walker, "Shep Fields" in </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><u>The Big Band Almanac</u></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"> (Pasadena, CA: Ward Ritchie Press,<br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     1978), pp.126-127.<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     I would like to expand this tribute with, if possible, a new interview of someone who was important to Shep Fields' life or career.  Are you an alumnus of his band, a member of his family, or a collector who is knowledgeable about his accomplishments?  Please contact me via </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><a target="_self" href="mailto:e-mail@bigbandlibrary.com">e-mail</a><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><b></b><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">return to "Biographical Sketches" </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><a target="_self" href="biographicalsketches.html">directory</a><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">go to Big Band Library </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><a target="_self" href="Index.html">homepage</a><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size16 Arial16" color="#000066"><b></b><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000"><br></font></div></div><!-- </hs:element7> --><!-- <hs:element10> --><div style="position: absolute; top: 59px; left: 4px; width: 189px; height: 44px; z-index: 2;" id="element10"><div align="center"><font face="'Arial Narrow', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size14 ArialNarrow14" color="#000000">The big bands are </font><font face="'Arial Narrow', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size14 ArialNarrow14" color="#000000"><u>back</u><br></font></div><div align="center"><font face="'Arial Narrow', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size14 ArialNarrow14" color="#000000">in a new and exciting way!<br></font></div></div><!-- </hs:element10> --><!-- <hs:element11> --><div style="position: absolute; top: 9px; left: 12px; width: 39px; height: 44px; z-index: 3;" id="element11"><SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript"> var message="Protected image can not be saved."; function click(e) { if (document.all) { if (event.button == 2) { alert(message); return false; } } if (document.layers) { if (e.which == 3) { alert(message); return false; } } } if (document.layers) { document.captureEvents(Event.MOUSEDOWN); } document.onmousedown=click; </SCRIPT></div><!-- </hs:element11> --><!-- <hs:element23> --><div style="position: absolute; top: 259px; left: 4px; width: 253px; height: 547px; z-index: 4;" id="element23"><div align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size28 Arial28" color="#406AB0"><b>SHEP FIELDS</b><br></font></div><div align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size16 Arial16" color="#406AB0"><b>"I'M FOREVER</b><br></font></div><div align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size16 Arial16" color="#406AB0"><b>BLOWING BUBBLES"</b><br></font></div><div align="center"><font face="'Arial Narrow', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size10 ArialNarrow10" color="#000000">by Music Librarian </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size11 Arial11" color="#000000"><b>CHRISTOPHER POPA</b><br></font></div><div align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size8 Arial8" color="#000000">August 2008<br></font></div><div align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size8 Arial8" color="#000000"><br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     He was a part-time law student who played the saxophone and clarinet, but became a popular bandleader for almost thirty years.  <br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">    The idea for his group's distinctive sound, known as "Rippling Rhythm," came when, while taking a break in an Illinois drugstore, he heard and watched his wife blowing on a straw into a soda.<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     Not long after that, he began blowing into a straw in a glass filled with water - over the radio, on most of the hundreds of recordings which his band made, and in-person at ballrooms and hotels.<br></font></div><div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="size12 Arial12" color="#000000">     Among the highlights of his career were being featured in the film "The Big Broadcast of 1938," which starred W.C. Fields and Bob Hope, and conducting his orchestra at the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles in 1939.<br></font></div></div><!-- </hs:element23> --><!-- <hs:element30> --><div style="position: absolute; top: 247px; left: 262px; width: 403px; height: 560px; z-index: 5;" id="element30"><img alt="" src="shepfieldsatnbcmicrophone.jpg" height="560" width="403"></div><!-- </hs:element30> --></div></div> <!-- <hs:realtracker> --> <script type="text/javascript"> <!-- var id='';var res='';var partnerid=90006; var user='1750635790'; var pp='shepfields'; function f(s){f2(s)}; function f2(s){document.write('<img alt="" src="'+s+'" height="1" width="1" border="0"/>')}; //--> </script> <script src="/~site/Scripts_ExternalRedirect/ExternalRedirect.dll?CMD=CMDGetJavaScript&H_SITEID=RTK1&H_AltURL=%2F%7Esite%2Frealtracker%2Frt_s90022.js&HSGOTOURL=http%3A%2F%2Flayout1.realtracker.com%2Fincludes%2Frt_s90022a.js" type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> <!-- f('/~site/Scripts_ExternalRedirect/ExternalRedirect.dll?CMD=CMDGotoURL&H_SITEID=RTK1&H_AltURL=%2f%7esite%2ftp.gif&H_HSGOTOURL=http%3a%2f%2fweb4.realtracker.com%2fnetpoll%2fimulti.asp&user='+escape(user)+'&pn='+escape(partnerid)+'&pp='+escape(pp)+'&js=1&to=-360&userurl='+escape(location.href)+res); //--> </script> <noscript> <img alt="" src="/~site/Scripts_ExternalRedirect/ExternalRedirect.dll?CMD=CMDGetGif&H_SITEID=RTK2&H_AltURL=%2F%7Esite%2Ftp.gif&H_HSGOTOURL=http%3A%2F%2Fweb4.realtracker.com%2Fnetpoll%2Fimulti.asp%3Fuser%3D1750635790%26pn%3D90006%26pp%3Dshepfields%26js%3D0%26b%3D0%26to%3D-360" height="1" border="0" width="1"> </noscript> <!-- </hs:realtracker> --> </body> </html>