Ben Bernie

Benjamin Anzelevitz was born on May 30, 1891, in Bayonne, New Jersey, and built a career in American entertainment under the professional name Ben Bernie. He attended Columbia University and the New York College of Music, and by the age of fifteen was already teaching violin, though the experience temporarily dampened his enthusiasm for the instrument. Bernie went on to become a jazz violinist, bandleader, and radio personality widely known by the nickname "The Old Maestro," and was regarded as part of the first generation of stars in American popular music, a cohort that included Paul Whiteman, Ted Lewis, and Al Jolson.

Bernie's early professional work took place in vaudeville. In 1912 he performed alongside Charles Klass as The Fiddle Up Boys, and he later teamed with Phil Baker under the billing Baker and Bernie. Sustained success eluded him until 1922, when he joined his first orchestra and began recording for Vocalion. He subsequently led his own ensemble, The Lads, who appeared in the early DeForest Phonofilm sound short Ben Bernie and All the Lads, produced between 1924 and 1925, with pianist Oscar Levant among the featured musicians. Bernie also toured Europe with Maurice Chevalier during this period.

His Broadway career brought him to the stage in 1928, when he starred in the musical Here's Howe, playing the role of Dan Danny. That same year his orchestra was already well established on radio, having participated in the first NBC broadcast on November 15, 1926, via a remote transmission from the Hotel Roosevelt in New York City. Bernie had been heard on radio as early as 1923, broadcasting on WJZ, and his musical variety programs through the 1930s consistently ranked among radio's top ten. He aired on the NBC Blue Network in 1930–31 with Mennen as sponsor, moved to CBS from 1931 to 1932 under Blue Ribbon Malt sponsorship, and returned to NBC from 1932 to 1935 with Pabst Beer. The American Can Company sponsored his Blue Network broadcasts from 1935 to 1937, followed by U.S. Rubber when he returned to CBS in 1938. From 1938 to 1940 he hosted a musical quiz program sponsored by Half-&-Half Tobacco, then aired on the Blue Network with Bromo-Seltzer from 1940 to 1941. Wrigley's Gum sponsored his final program, The Ben Bernie War Workers' Program, which ran from 1941 to 1943. Announcers across his various programs included Jimmy Wallington, Harlow Wilcox, Harry von Zell, and Bob Brown, while vocalists featured on his shows included Buddy Clark, Dinah Shore, Jane Pickens, and Mary Small, with comedy contributions from Lew Lehr and Fuzzy Knight.

Bernie's signature catchphrase, "yowsah, yowsah, yowsah," became a national expression, and his theme song was "It's a Lonesome Old Town." To generate publicity, he and Walter Winchell, who were close friends, staged a mock rivalry modeled on similar comedic feuds popular in radio entertainment. The manufactured conflict carried over into two films in which both men appeared as themselves: Wake Up and Live and Love and Hisses, both released in 1937. Bernie appeared in two additional feature films: Shoot the Works in 1934 and Stolen Harmony in 1935. Warner Bros. caricatured Bernie as "Ben Birdie" in the animated shorts The Coo-Coo Nut Grove in 1936 and The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos in 1937.

As a recording artist, Bernie's orchestra worked with Vocalion from 1922 to 1925, Brunswick from 1925 to 1933, Columbia in 1933, Decca in 1936, and ARC from 1939 to 1940. Among his most significant recordings was "Sweet Georgia Brown," cut in July 1925, which reached number one for five weeks. Bernie was a co-composer of the song, which later became the theme of the Harlem Globetrotters. Earlier recordings included "Who's Sorry Now?" in 1923 with the Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra. Additional chart-topping records included "Sleepy Time Gal" in March 1926 and "Ain't She Sweet" in May 1927, each holding the number one position for four weeks.

In his personal life, Bernie married Rose Harris on December 24, 1915, in Manhattan. The couple had a son, Jason H. Bernie, born in 1918. Ben and Rose separated in September 1931 and divorced in September 1935. Bernie remarried in October 1935, wedding Dorothy P. Wesley in Miami, Florida. He died on October 20, 1943, from a pulmonary embolism at the age of 52, and was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Queens, New York. On February 8, 1960, Bernie received a star in the Radio section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6280 Hollywood Boulevard.