A very popular ’40s group, the Modernaires had their biggest success as part of Glenn Miller’s Orchestra. The original members were a trio of Hal Dickinson (lead and second tenor), Bill Conway (baritone), and Chuck Goldstein (first tenor). The 17- and 18-year-olds began harmonizing at Lafayette High School in Buffalo, New York, during 1935. They called themselves Three Weary Willies, and their early influences included Paul Whiteman and the Rhythm Boys with Bing Crosby. The Willies became popular on Buffalo radio WGR, earning the enormous sum of $10 a month.
The group headed for New York in the mid-’30s after one member hocked his watch to finance the trip. Performing as Don Juan and Two and Three, they managed to land a 26-week stint on CBS radio. First tenor Ralph Brewster joined the group; Chuck shifted to baritone while Bill moved to bass. The new quartet joined up with Ray Noble’s band but left in 1939 to sing with a new organization formed by a young trombonist named Glenn Miller, who had also been with Noble.
Hal spotted a billboard that advertised a new cleaning process called modernizing; the Modemaires became the name of the group.
Meanwhile, a singer named Paula Kelly was singing with Artie Shaw’s and Dick Stabile’s bands before joining Glenn Miller in 1940 as a soloist. Though she had never recorded with Shaw on Columbia’s Bluebird label, Paula wound up there anyway with Miller.
The Modernaires had performed with Miller for two years before they and Paula issued their first record, “Perfidia” (the group’s personal favorite) with Dorothy Claire. “Perfidia” charted on April 19, 1941, moving up to number 11. It was the first of an incredible string of 10 chart records in 1941, including “The Booglie Wooglie Piggy” (#7) with Tex Beneke, UI Guess I’ll Have to Dream the Rest” (#4) and “Elmer’s Tune” (#1) (both with Ray Eberle), “I Know Why” (#18), and “Jingle Bells” (#5), with Tex and Ernie Caceras. The biggest record they issued with Miller in 1941 (the productive bandleader had 14 charting singles without the Modemaires) was “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” the first record officially certified as a million seller.
1942 was another smash year (Miller and company had now moved over to Victor Records), yielding a number of hits like “Serenade in Blue” (#2) from the film Orchestra Wives, “Sweet Eloise” (#7), and three number one records, “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” from the film Private Buccaroo, and “(I’ve Got A Gal in) Kalamazoo” (both with Marion Hutton), and Miller’s second biggest hit of all time, “Moonlight Cocktails” (10 weeks at number one; only “In the Mood” stayed longer at the top spot—12 weeks). Though not their biggest hit, one of their most memorable records was “Jukebox Saturday Night” (#7, with Marion Hutton). NINO AND THE EBB TIDES updated it some 19 years later.
By September of 1942 Miller had enlisted in the air force. The shortage of materials to make records slowed the whole market system during the war years, so that only the group’s early recordings were released. Still, the Modernaires, with Miller’s Orchestra, managed a number one hit in 1943, “That Old Black Magic” (with Skip Nelson) from the film Star Spangled Rhythm.
Miller’s plane was lost on a trip from England to the Continent on December 15, 1944. The band never recovered, although Jerry Gray and Ray McKinley took over to keep Glenns memory alive.
After World War II, the Modernaires moved over to Columbia for their first recordings without an orchestra. Their initial charter was “There! I’ve Said It Again” (#11, 1945). One of their first singles was “Salute to Glenn Miller,” featuring a medley of “Elmer’s Tune” and “Chattanooga Choo Choo” (#18) in July 1946. The group’s most popular records were the ballad “To Each His Own” (#3, 1946) and “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” (#11, January, 1947) from the Disney film Song of the South.
During the ’40s, Paula and Hal Dickinson were married, and a few personnel changes occurred, including the addition of Alan Copeland, Vernon Polk, and Tommy Tray nor (the latter formerly a vocalist with the Jerry Grey Orchestra). In early 1950 Paula and the boys backed up Frank Sinatra on two releases, “The Old Master Painter” (#13) and “Sorry” (#28).
In 1953 the group, now on Coral, charted with their own updating of “Jukebox Saturday Night” (#23). Their last charting single was “April in Paris” (#97) on March 31, 1956. The group released over 20 singles on Coral from 1951 to ’58.
Paula and Hal’s three daughters sang for a spell as the Kelly Girls. By the early ’60s Paula Kelly, Jr. had become the newest female member of the Modemaires, eventually replacing her mother.
In 1967 they were joined by former Ray Charles Singers and Fred Waring Chorale member Rich Maxwell. Paula Kelly, Jr. left the Modernaires in 1970 to marry TV actor Michael Polster (“The Mod Squad”) but returned later. Steve Johnson joined in 1973; he was replaced in 1975 by Bill Tracy, once half of the Curtis and Tracy comedy team.
Today the only living original member is Paula Kelly, who lives in Laguna Beach, California. More than 35 years after the Modernaires’ last chart record, their tradition of big-band vocal styling is carried on by a second generation of Modemaires (Traynor, Maxwell, Tracy, and Paula Kelly, Jr.) in clubs around the world.
I’m a huge 50s, 60s 70s music fan!
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Click here for commentsSadly, Paula Kelly, Jr. passed away on April 26, 2012 at age 68. She was a very sweet lady.
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