Bon Bon

Best remembered for his work with Jan Savitt’s orchestra, Bon Bon was among the first three African-American singers to tour with a white band.^[1] After a very successful career as a member of the Three Keys in the early 1930s, Bon Bon joined Savitt’s radio orchestra and proved popular as its featured vocalist when the band went out on its own in early 1938. Discrimination plagued his time with Savitt, however, and he eventually returned to his native Philadelphia. After making one more attempt to sing with a white orchestra in 1944 and facing the same problems, he settled back in Philadelphia permanently, where he worked locally before finally retiring from show business in 1951.

Born George Tunnell, Bon Bon grew up in the Philadelphia area and began singing as a child, making appearances on The Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour program on local station WCAU in the late 1920s.^[2] In the early 1930s, he teamed up with pianist Bob Pease and electric guitarist John “Slim” Furnell to form the Three Keys. Using no written arrangements, the trio featured harmony singing and a unique sound described as a “new mode of instrumentation.”

The Three Keys quickly became popular in the Philadelphia area. In 1932, they began appearing on local radio station KYW, an NBC affiliate, where they caught the ear of a network executive who brought them to New York for an audition. They launched their own fifteen-minute nationwide program in August, broadcast from Philadelphia four times a week, and in 1932 they recorded ten sides for Brunswick as well as appeared in the sixth Rambling 'Round Radio Row short. They recorded for Vocalion in 1933. The trio moved to New York in 1934 before heading to Europe, where they played London’s Palladium and gave a command performance for King Edward VIII. They also performed over British and French radio.

Early Band Career

Upon their return to Philadelphia, Bon Bon became a vocalist with the KYW studio orchestra, led by Jan Savitt, which was also broadcast on NBC but later moved to WCAU and CBS. When Savitt decided to take his band, the Top Hatters, on the road in 1938 and seek national recognition, Bon Bon went with him, making him one of the first African-American vocalists to regularly appear with a white orchestra. Able to sing both sweet and swing as well as scat, he proved a sensation during the band’s debut at the Lincoln Hotel in New York’s Times Square and quickly become one of the most well-known and popular vocalists in the nation. He placed fifth in Billboard magazine’s 1940 college poll for most popular male band singers and sixth in 1941. Bon Bon earned third place in Down Beat magazine’s poll for best band vocalist in 1939 and 1940.

As a black performer in an otherwise all-white band, Bon Bon faced much discrimination on the road. He often pretended to be the band manager’s valet in order to stay in the same hotel as the others. He refused to go much further, however, and didn’t tolerate the racism he came up against. During a performance in Kentucky, after he was refused service by the ballroom’s soda stand, he boycotted the show, only appearing on stage to sing during the thirty minutes of the band’s national radio broadcast.

Savitt was disliked by many of his musicians and vocalists, and the Top Hatters had a high turnover. Bon Bon became infamous for quitting and rejoining Savitt’s orchestra numerous times, often returning to Philadelphia to sing with the Three Keys again. In September 1940, he left Savitt, along with African-American arranger Eddie Durham. The two men initially joined Sonny James, an accordion-playing bandleader best known for his Atlantic City orchestras, but by December Durham had organized his own band in order to back Bon Bon. The outfit played the Howard Theater in Washington and then the Royal Theater in Baltimore before folding at the end of the year.

Early 1941 found Bon Bon solo on the same bill as Tony Pastor’s band at the Hotel Lincoln, which came with national airtime.^[3] During this period, ASCAP, the songwriter’s performing rights organization, instituted a boycott against radio stations, demanding increased royalties. Vocalists and musicians faced restrictions on performing ASCAP-controlled songs during broadcasts. A well-known scat singer, Bon Bon suddenly found himself unable to scat, improvise, or ad lib on any song he sang on the radio. He had to perform every number straight. “I don’t feel it,” he told Down Beat magazine, “but I’ll do the best I can until I can use my own style again.”

In July 1941, Bon Bon recorded for Decca with a studio band under the name Bon Bon and His Buddies.^[4] Both Bon Bon and Durham rejoined James again at some point in 1941, but by October Bon Bon had returned to Savitt, staying only a few months, however, before quitting for good in February 1942. He told Down Beat that he was taking the civil service exam in hopes of working at the post office. “I’m sick and tired of banging around the country, and I want to be near that youngster of mine all the time,” he said, referring to his new son, born that past November.

Post-Savitt Years

After returning home, Bon Bon began a solo act at the popular Philadelphia nightclub Lou’s Moravian Inn, which would become his home away from home for many years to come. Slated for an NBC Blue Network program, he returned to KYW, singing with their then current studio orchestra, led by Clarence Fuhrman. In January, he had cut more recordings on Decca under the band name Bon Bon and His Buddies, still using a studio crew. A four-piece band bearing that name made its live debut in April 1942 at Lou’s and later expanded to a six-piece combo. They appeared on local television station WPTZ as well.

In May 1942, Bon Bon moved to radio station WCAU, where that summer he hosted Dixiana, the first all-African-American variety program ever produced in the city. The show ran off and on over the next year. He also continued working with his band around the Philadelphia area, performing mostly at Lou’s. He remained popular in his home city but struggled to gain the same national following that he had earned with Savitt. His band signed with the Fredericks Bros. agency in March 1943 and made a New York appearance, but he was soon back in Philadelphia again.

In late 1943, Bon Bon began singing for WCAU’s studio orchestra, led by Johnny Warrington, a former Savitt musician. An exciting band, Warrington began to tour regionally, taking Bon Bon with him. In summer 1944, Bon Bon once again faced racism when he was denied the chance to sing at Atlantic City’s famous Steel Pier due to its policy of allowing only white performers on its stage. He quit Warrington soon after and returned to Philadelphia.

Post-Band Career

After leaving Warrington, Bon Bon began to work on and off with the Four Keys again, the current expanded version of his old group, also performing solo and with other area bands. In September 1944, he signed to a multi-year contract with Beacon Records, one of the small labels run by music publisher Joe Davis with the express purpose of plugging his songs. Bon Bon became one of Davis’ most used pluggers, making multiple recordings over the next four years on both Beacon and the Joe Davis label as well as Celebrity, another Davis imprint. His records were popular in Philadelphia but made no impact nationally. He also recorded on the local Melody and 20th Century label with the Four Keys. In 1947, he signed a solo contract to record on the local Savoy label.

Bon Bon made another attempt to front his own orchestra in mid-1945, partnering with Durham again, who had just scrapped his all-girl outfit. The sixteen-piece band played several one-nighters in Florida during October but failed to catch on. In mid-1949, Bon Bon and the Keys, as they were called by this time, worked a month in Las Vegas.

In August 1948, Bon Bon signed with Philadelphia radio station WDAS to star in his own program. The Bon Bon Show both featured musical performances and served as a community service show for the city’s African-American community. Bon Bon would often take a tape recorder out onto the street and ask passers-by their opinions. The show was popular enough that WDAS gave it a second weekly edition in April 1950. By the end of the year though, Bon Bon had moved to WPEN to work as a DJ before unsuccessfully attempting to launch a solo music career again. He finally retired from show business in April 1951, taking a job as assistant district manager for the Eastern Division of Schlitz breweries.

Bon Bon passed away in May 1975 at the age of 62.^[5]

Notes