Jack Lathrop

John Marcus Lathrop, known professionally as Jack Lathrop, was born on May 11, 1913, in Sherburne, New York, and died on January 9, 1987, in Stonington, Connecticut, at the age of 73. His parents, Margaret Lowell and John Marcos Lathrop, married in Manhattan in May 1912. According to the 1920 U.S. Census, his mother was divorced at that time, and Lathrop, along with his sister Kathryn, lived with their maternal grandmother, Kittie Isabel Lowell, who operated a private boarding house in White Plains, New York.

Lathrop built his early career as a guitarist and vocalist, becoming one of the founding members of the Tune Twisters in the mid-1930s. The group was a swing jazz vocal trio originally consisting of Lathrop, Andy Love, and Robert Wacker. During their audition period, the trio performed under the name the Savoy Club Boys. The Tune Twisters appeared on radio broadcasts and recorded and performed alongside a number of prominent jazz figures, including Ray Noble in 1935, when they were initially billed as The Freshmen, Bob Crosby in 1935, Glenn Miller in 1937, and Adrian Rollini in 1938. The trio also appeared in two 1935 films, Sweet Surrender and Melody Magic, both directed by Fred Waller.

Lathrop's Broadway credit came in 1937, when the Tune Twisters performed in the musical Between the Devil. The production opened on December 22, 1937, and ran for 93 performances, closing on March 12, 1938. The group sang the song "Triplets" during the show. In 1938, while still a member of the Tune Twisters, Lathrop participated in the recording of what has been identified as the first radio jingle of its kind for Pepsi, known as "Pepsi-Cola Hits the Spot," also referred to as "Nickel, Nickel." Lathrop left the Tune Twisters around 1940 and was replaced by Gene Lanham.

In 1939, Lathrop co-wrote the song "It's Anybody's Moon" with Jimmy Dorsey and Eddie DeLange. The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, with Bob Eberly on vocals, recorded the track on February 21, 1939, in New York, and Decca released it as a 78 rpm B-side single. From 1940 to 1942, Lathrop served as guitarist and vocalist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. During that period he composed two songs released as 78 rpm singles on RCA: "Helpless," featuring vocals by Ray Eberle, and "Long Time No See, Baby," featuring vocals by Marion Hutton. A jazz discography database lists 135 recordings of Lathrop as guitarist and vocalist with Glenn Miller and Hal McIntyre between April 28, 1940, and July 22, 1942. Lathrop also appeared on screen during this period, performing as a guitarist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra in the 1941 20th Century Fox musical film Sun Valley Serenade.

Beginning around 1947, Lathrop led the Drug Store Cowboys. His first release on RCA Victor as a solo artist, catalog number 20-3109, was "Hair of Gold," issued in 1948 and written by Sunny Skylar. The track reached a peak position of No. 19 on the charts, making it his highest-charting single. The B-side of that record, "You Call Everybody Darlin'," with words and music by Sam Martin, Ben L. Trace, Clem Watts, and Albert J. Trace, also charted, reaching No. 27. Both sides were recorded under the constraints of the James Petrillo-led Musicians' Union recording ban of 1948, which limited instrumentation to harmonicas, jug-blowers, and ukuleles. Billboard reviewed both sides as excellent. A second RCA release, catalog number 20-3199, paired "Dainty Brenda Lee," which Billboard also rated excellent, with "Corn Belt Symphony," a track cited as both an Operators Pick, peaking at No. 2, and a Retailers Pick, peaking at No. 6, for several weeks in late 1948, though the disc had limited commercial impact despite strong marketing support from RCA.

Lathrop's next RCA release was a duet with Eve Young on "My Darling, My Darling," a song from the 1948 Broadway musical Where's Charley?. While Billboard and the New York Times gave the recording negative reviews, it reached No. 26 on the Juke Box charts, and Billboard ranked it No. 5 in its Honor Roll of Hits for the week ending January 21, 1949. The commercial momentum from his RCA recordings led Lathrop to hire Frank Hanshaw as a manager and to tour with a trio of guitar, accordion, and bass. He recorded two additional sides before the tour, "Don't Hang Around" and "One Has My Name," released as RCA Victor 20-3327, both of which Billboard reviewed as good. RCA also engaged Lathrop for a series of children's records.

On November 10, 1940, Lathrop married Barbara Jane Mitchell in Manhattan. The couple had three sons, John III, James, and Jeffrey, and a daughter, Betty Jo.