Allan Jones

Allan Jones (October 14, 1907 – June 27, 1992) was an American tenor and actor born in Old Forge, Pennsylvania, who built a career spanning Broadway, Hollywood films, radio, and concert performance. Raised in nearby Scranton, he graduated from Central High School before working in coal mines, a trade his father and grandfather — both Welsh immigrants — had practiced before him. Jones recalled in a 1973 interview that both men possessed natural musical gifts: his grandfather taught violin, voice, and piano, while his father sang whenever the opportunity arose and saw his own ambitions realized through his son. Jones eventually left mining to study voice at New York University, a decision that set the course of his professional life.

His Broadway career extended from 1929 to 1972 and encompassed productions including Roberta (1933), a short-lived 1934 revival of Bitter Sweet, and the musical Jackpot, among others. Later stage work brought him to Man of La Mancha and Guys and Dolls. In 1979 he performed Man of La Mancha at the Elitch Theatre in Denver, Colorado, and during the 1980s he appeared in additional stage productions of that show as well as Paint Your Wagon and Carousel.

Jones became widely recognized through his film work in the 1930s, particularly as the romantic lead in the first two Marx Brothers films produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In A Night at the Opera (1935), he appeared opposite Kitty Carlisle, and in A Day at the Races (1937), opposite Maureen O'Sullivan, stepping into the straight-man role that had been vacated by Zeppo Marx's departure from the team. That same period produced two other notable film musicals: Show Boat (1936) and The Firefly (1937), the latter of which featured his first performance of "The Donkey Serenade," a song that became permanently associated with him. His 1938 recording of the number ranks third among all-time best-selling singles released by RCA Victor, the label for which he recorded throughout much of his career.

Jones also made a brief appearance in the 1936 Nelson Eddy–Jeanette MacDonald film Rose Marie, performing operatic material including music from Gounod's Romeo et Juliette and Puccini's Tosca. According to Charles Higham's biography of Louis B. Mayer, Merchant of Dreams, Eddy viewed Jones as a rival and requested that MGM cut most of his footage from the film, including his rendition of the aria E lucevan le stelle — a request the studio granted. In his final MGM film, Everybody Sing (1938), Jones introduced the pop standard "The One I Love," appearing alongside Judy Garland and Fanny Brice.

In 1940, Jones starred in two musicals for Universal Pictures: The Boys from Syracuse, based on the Rodgers and Hart stage score, and One Night in the Tropics, with music by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, which also marked the screen debut of Abbott and Costello. He subsequently took leading roles in a series of lower-budget musicals at Paramount and Universal, including Larceny with Music (1943), which reunited him with his A Night at the Opera co-star Kitty Carlisle. That same year he made a guest appearance as himself in Crazy House, the Olsen and Johnson musical, again performing "The Donkey Serenade."

In the mid-1940s, Jones co-starred with pianist Frankie Carle on the Old Gold Show, broadcast on CBS radio. His final screen appearance came in December 1980 on an episode of the ABC television series The Love Boat, which also featured his son, pop singer Jack Jones, and Dorothy Lamour. Jones had been married to actress Irene Hervey from 1936 to 1957; Jack Jones was their son. His three other marriages were to Marjorie Annette Bull, Esther Marie Villavincie, and Mary Florsheim, granddaughter of Milton S. Florsheim. Away from performing, Jones bred and raised racehorses on his California ranch. He continued making concert appearances until shortly before his death from lung cancer at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City on June 27, 1992, at the age of 84.