Kitty Kallen

Photo of Kitty Kallen

The voice of Kitty Kallen helped sell millions of recordings during the big band era. Though she sang with three of the most popular orchestras in the business, she had a hard time parlaying that into success as a solo artist. When she finally managed to break out as a major star in the mid-1950s, the stress involved with that transition caused her psychological problems that effectively killed her career.

Born to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, Kallen grew up in a poor section of Philadelphia and got her start in show business at a young age on that city’s Horn & Hardart Children’s Hour radio show. While a teenager, she worked as a staff vocalist on local station WCAU and by late 1937 had become part of Gil Fitch’s hometown orchestra. She made her first appearance on the national stage in 1939 with Jack Teagarden’s band, which she had joined by August, initially sharing the female vocal duties with Dolores O’Neill, an arrangement that didn’t work out. O’Neill soon left, with Kallen remaining as Teagarden’s sole girl singer.[1]

Kallen married Teagarden clarinetist Clint Garvin and left the band in March 1940 to join him in Nashville, where he had gone to take care of his sick parents.[2] While in Nasvhille, Kallen joined radio station WSM as a staff vocalist. Among other duties she appeared on the nationally broadcast Sunday Down South with Beasley Smith’s orchestra and male vocalist Gene Howard. When Teagarden played Nashville in July 1941, she and Garvin arranged for their return to the band, starting in August. Down Beat featured Kallen and Teagarden on the cover of their January 1, 1942, issue. She remained with Teagarden until March 1942 when the bandleader fired Garvin during an economic purge. She and Garvin later divorced.

After leaving Teagarden, Kallen settled on the West Coast to try her hand at radio and pictures. She quickly lined up a sustaining program on NBC, Kitty Kallen Calling, where she sang accompanied by organist Bob Mitchell. In May 1942, she recorded one song with a studio orchestra put together by Bobby Sherwood on the Capitol label. She made several soundies for RCM that year as well.

In January 1943, Kallen joined Jimmy Dorsey, where she replaced the recently-departed Helen O’Connell.[3] Often singing duets with Bob Eberly, she stayed with Dorsey until December, when she took time off from the band due to the flu. She never returned, instead becoming part of Bing Crosby’s Kraft Music Hall show in Los Angeles during January 1944. In May, Kallen joined Harry James,[4] where she reached the height of her popularity. Fans voted her second best female band vocalist in Billboard magazine’s 1944 high school poll and seventh in the 1945 college poll. Kallen place second in Down Beat magazine’s 1945 poll for best female band singer.

Post-War Career

Kallen left James in November 1945 to go solo again, heading east for a series of night club and theater dates. Back on the West Coast, Kallen recorded on the Musicraft label in 1946, both as a solo artist and as a vocalist on an Artie Shaw album of Cole Porter songs. That year she also co-hosted the CBS radio program, Holiday for Music, with Curt Massey.

In early 1947, Kallen headed East for club work in New York. In April she was chosen to replace star Ella Logan in the Broadway hit Finian’s Rainbow. She pulled out of the deal, however, after Logan kept delaying her departure from the show, preferring to make other commitments.[5] She appeared with Doris Day on the cover of Down Beat magazine’s April 9, 1947, issue. When Day left Your Hit Parade later that year, NBC offered Kallen the job, but she refused, not wanting to set up permanent residence on the East Coast.

Late 1947 and early 1948 found Kallen doing club work in New York and Chicago. In February 1948, she married New York press agent Bud Granoff, temporarily retiring mid-year after becoming pregnant. The couple had a son in November, and Kallen resumed her career in January 1949, hitting the New York club circuit and signing with Mercury. RKO contracted her for a series of film shorts mid-year, and in late 1949 Paramount made a short musical film based on her life.

Kallen recorded on Mercury through 1951, and in March 1952 she reunited with Harry James to record four songs on Columbia. While she continued to find steady work, by the early 1950s she had mostly fallen out of the limelight. In late 1953, she signed with Decca but had to self-fund her first recording session because no producer was willing to take the financial risk. Her luck turned around in late 1954 when she unexpectedly scored a hit with the song “Little Things Mean a Lot.” The tune sold over a million copies, and Kallen suddenly found herself in high demand and earning three times the salary she’d earned before the song’s success. In early 1955, she signed a $100,000 deal with the Riviera night club in Las Vegas for a series of three-week appearances over the next three years. That same year, she also made her only motion picture appearance, a lead role in Universal’s musical western The Second Greatest Sex.

The sudden success experienced by Kallen took its toll on her mentally. Late in 1955, she stopped singing in public due to a paralyzing fear that caused her to lose her voice every time she faced an audience. She remained out of the public eye for four years, though she recorded four sides for Decca in 1956. She finally overcame her psychological affliction and resumed her career in 1963. She continued to sing through the mid-1960s.

In 1978, reports of Kallen’s death circulated prematurely after a woman who died in a Los Angeles hospital told staff that her stage name was Kitty Kallen. The real Kitty Kallen passed away in 2016 at age 94.

Notes

  1. Kallen billed herself as 16 years old when she joined Teagarden, though she was actually 18. ↩︎

  2. According to one newspaper article, Kallen’s marriage and departure upset Teagarden, and he enacted a new rule that girl singers could not date members of the band. ↩︎

  3. Kallen continued to sing solo on the radio during her time with Dorsey. ↩︎

  4. James was rebuilding at the time. He had recently disbanded after receiving his draft notice but was unexpectedly reclassified 4-F. ↩︎

  5. Dorothy Claire ended up with the role instead. ↩︎

Sources

  1. Simon, George T. The Big Bands. 4th ed. New York: Schirmer, 1981.
  2. Walker, Leo. The Wonderful Era of the Great Dance Bands. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1972.
  3. “Kitty Kallen.” OTRRpedia. Accessed 8 Jan. 2016.
  4. “Daughters of Beth Israel.” The Philadelphia Jewish Exponent 14 May 1937: 29.
  5. Advertisement. “Dance and Floor Show.” The Philadelphia Jewish Exponent 19 Nov. 1937: 11.
  6. “Radio Programs.” Chester Times [Chester, Pennsylvania] 11 Apr. 1939: 14.
  7. “Dr. Holmes To Address Federation of Jewish Juniors.” The Philadelphia Jewish Exponent 21 Apr. 1939: 6.
  8. Advertisement. “Orpheum.” The Wisconsin State Journal [Madison, Wisconsin] 1 Aug. 1939: 10.
  9. “Orchestra Notes.” Billboard 2 Sep. 1939: 10.
  10. “Sweet 16.” Down Beat 1 Oct. 1939: 21.
  11. “Tied Notes.” Down Beat 15 Apr. 1940: 10.
  12. “Orchestra Notes.” Billboard 20 Apr. 1940: 10.
  13. “Barron.” The Washington, D.C., Sunday Star 19 May 1940: F-3.
  14. “Special Events.” The Daily Messenger [Canandaigua, New York] 1 Sep. 1940: 1.
  15. “Kallen and Garvin Back With Big Tea.” Down Beat 15 Aug. 1941: 5.
  16. “Vaudeville Reviews: Central, Passaic, N.J.” Billboard 25 Oct. 1941: 22.
  17. “On the Stand: Jack Teagarden.” Billboard 15 Nov. 1941: 14.
  18. “On the Cover.” Down Beat 1 Jan. 1942: 1.
  19. “Kallen Set for Screen.” Down Beat 15 Apr. 1942: 12.
  20. Abbott, Sam. “Radio Talent: Hollywood.” Billboard 2 May 1942: 7.
  21. “Program Reviews.” Billboard 23 May 1942: 8.
  22. “Movie Machine Reviews.” Billboard 22 Aug. 1942: 63.
  23. “Movie Machine Reviews.” Billboard 12 Sep. 1942: 63.
  24. “Movie Machine Reviews.” Billboard 10 Oct. 1942: 67.
  25. “On the Records.” Billboard 14 Nov. 1942: 66.
  26. “Miss O'Connell Leaves Dorsey To Become Mrs.” Down Beat 15 Jan. 1943: 1.
  27. “Vaudeville Reviews: RKO-Boston, Boston.” Billboard 6 Feb. 1943: 17.
  28. “Orchestra Notes.” Billboard 6 Feb. 1943: 23.
  29. “Radio Time Table.” The Salisbury Times [Salisbury, Maryland] 15 Apr. 1943: 9.
  30. “Kitty Visits Alma Mater.” Down Beat 15 May 1943: 9.
  31. “Talent and Tunes on Music Machines.” Billboard 4 Dec. 1943: 67.
  32. “Vaudeville Reviews: Chicago, Chicago.” Billboard 18 Dec. 1943: 21.
  33. “Kitty Kallen As Crosby's Chirp.” Down Beat 1 Feb. 1944: 1.
  34. “Music Popularity Chart.” Billboard 5 Feb. 1944: 21.
  35. “James Shuffles Band Personnel, Kitty Kallen In.” Down Beat 15 May 1944: 16.
  36. “Spivak Tops TD.” Down Beat 1 Jan. 1945: 13.
  37. “Hi-Schoolers Say James Best.” Billboard 3 Jun. 1944: 12.
  38. “They've Done It Again.” Billboard 21 Jul. 1945: 15.
  39. “James Vacations 7 Weeks.” Billboard 6 Oct. 1945: 17.
  40. “Kitty Kallen to Leave James.” Down Beat 15 Oct. 1945: 1.
  41. “Kitty Kallen Goes East As A Single.” Down Beat 1 Nov. 1945: 1.
  42. “Anita Boyer Now H. James' Thrush.” Billboard 3 Nov. 1945: 17.
  43. “Kitty Kallen Starts as Single at S.F. Golden Gate Dec. 19.” Billboard 24 Nov. 1945: 18.
  44. “Musicraft Gets Kitty, 3 Fontaine Sisters.” Billboard 9 Feb. 1946: 34.
  45. “Kit Kallen Stock Hits New High.” Down Beat 25 Feb. 1946: 18.
  46. “6000 Sunset Gets 3 More Shows.” Billboard 6 Apr. 1946: 14.
  47. “Shaw Delights Salesmen With Coming Album.” Down Beat 1 Jul. 1946: 7.
  48. “Music As Written.” Billboard 17 Aug. 1946: 22.
  49. “Album Reviews: Artie Shaw Plays Cole Porter.” Billboard 7 Sep. 1946: 34.
  50. “Open NY Season For Thrushes.” Down Beat 28 Feb. 1947: 4.
  51. “Spring Maids On The Cover.” Down Beat 9 Apr. 1947: 1.
  52. “Logan In Or Out of 'Rainbow.'” Down Beat 7 May 1947: 12.
  53. “'Hit Parade' Seeks New Gal Warbler.” Billboard 29 Nov. 1947: 7.
  54. “This Harem Holds One.” Down Beat 3 Dec. 1947: 1.
  55. Hallock, Ted. “Chicago Band Briefs.” Down Beat 14 Jan. 1948: 4.
  56. “Strictly Ad Lib.” Down Beat 28 Jan. 1948: 13.
  57. “Marriages.” Billboard 21 Feb. 1948: 48.
  58. “Tied Notes.” Down Beat 10 Mar. 1948: 10.
  59. “Births.” Billboard 20 Nov. 1948: 53.
  60. “New Numbers.” Down Beat 1 Dec. 1948: 10.
  61. “Music As Written.” Billboard 25 Dec. 1948: 33.
  62. “Kitty Returns.” Down Beat 28 Jan. 1949: 5.
  63. “Mercury Pacts Talent, Readies LP Releases.” Billboard 29 Jan. 1949: 19.
  64. “Strictly Ad Lib.” Down Beat 12 Aug. 1949: 5.
  65. “St. Regis Signs Kitty.” Down Beat 9 Sep. 1949: 1.
  66. “Film Kallen Career.” Down Beat 18 Nov. 1949: 3.
  67. “1st Kallen Coast Date.” Down Beat 24 Mar. 1950: 7.
  68. Herndon, Booton. “Charm Can Be Acquired.” The American Weekly 8 Oct. 1950: 11.
  69. “James-Kallen Cut New Wax.” Billboard 22 Mar. 1952: 39.
  70. “Kitty Kallen Records With The Horn.” Down Beat 18 Apr. 1952: 4.
  71. “Caught In The Act: Kitty Kallen, Sharkey Bonano, The Empire Room, Chicago.” Down Beat 3 Jun. 1953: 4.
  72. “Decca Expects Heavy Volume in December.” Billboard 12 Dec. 1953: 16.
  73. “Busy Month For Kitty.” Down Beat 6 Oct. 1954: 28.
  74. “Kitty Kallen Tour Set.” Down Beat 20 Oct. 1954: 1.
  75. Powers, Clare. “One Little Record Meant A Lot To Success-Hungry Kitty Kallen.” Down Beat 23 Feb. 1955: 3.
  76. “Kitty Kallen OK Now, Just Lost Her Voice.” Sarasota Herald-Tribune 26 May 1956: 3.
  77. “Kitty Kallen Comes Back.” Evening Independent [St. Petersburg, Florida] 22 Feb. 1963: 9A.
  78. “I Am Not Dead.” The Milwaukee Journal 21 Apr. 1978: 3.
  79. “United States Census, 1930,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHWB-52Z : Thu Mar 07 19:31:33 UTC 2024), Entry for Samuel Kallen and Fannie Kallen, 1930.