Gray Gordon

Saxophone player and bandleader Gray Gordon spent the 1930s and early 1940s fronting a popular hotel dance orchestra which featured a clock-like “tic toc” rhythm. Often kidded for this gimmick, Gordon finally grew tired of it and scrapped his mickey mouse outfit in early 1941, forming a jump band in its place. Though his new sound proved exciting, Gordon’s financial situation was precarious, and the group lasted less than six months.

A native of Freeport, Illinois, Gordon first made a name for himself as a bandleader at Chicago’s Merry Garden Ballroom in 1934, and his orchestra soon became a staple on the hotel circuit. It wasn’t until late 1938, however, when Gordon signed to the Bluebird label, that he began to gain wider attention. In 1939, sax player Cliff Grass handled male vocals, with Grass and three other musicians out of the band also singing as the Gordon Goons. Grass remained with Gordon through at least January 1940. Art Perry had become male vocalist by July 1940, remaining into 1941. Chet Bruce also sang from at least October to at least December 1940.

Betty Bradley joined as the band’s female vocalist in early 1939. She remained with the orchestra until July when it went into the Westchester Country Club in Harrison, New York. The club didn’t allow female vocalists, and Gordon let her go, but not before finding her work with Sonny James. When the orchestra left the country club, Gordon signed Latin singer Victoria Cordova, who in August recorded with the band on the song “Mexiconga.” Rita Ray had become female vocalist by December, remaining through at least early January. Meredith Blake had taken over by April 1940.

Promotional Activities

Gordon was a master of self-promotion. Among his many schemes, he sent matchbooks to promoters with his picture on one side, leaving the other side blank for local information. He also put his songs on a location’s music machines during the week before his opening and made sure that they were played. During engagements, he would sell his recordings at the hotel lobby news stand, placing cards on ballroom tables with song titles and checkboxes so that patrons could order and have their purchases delivered by a bell-hop. Gordon also kept a bottle of white ink on hand at all times so that he could autograph his platters.

In 1939, Gordon sent cuckoo clocks as gifts to hotel operators, advertising his tic toc sound. In mid-1940, he began to script his live network radio show, with men from the band taking on comedy roles. Reaction was, according to Billboard magazine, “sensational,” and people would come to the hotel just to watch the program in person, making hotel owners very happy for the added business.

Gordon was quite patriotic. In the May 1939 issue of Down Beat magazine, he wrote an article titled “Don’t Sell America Short!!!” urging musicians to celebrate the country’s economic greatness. In 1940, after the military draft had been established, a wave of patriotism swept the nation as Americans faced the growing reality that they would be swept into World War II. Gordon joined in this phenomenon by recording “I Am an American,” which became the closest thing to a hit that he ever had.

Gordon heavily promoted “I Am an American,” printing posters that advertised the song and sending them to future booking locations with a blank space for the promoter to print information about the band’s upcoming appearance. He also included stickers promoting the song in all his correspondence, fan mail, and publicity releases, and he made a sticker for car windshields that read “Shout Wherever You May Be—I Am an American.” During shows, he did lucky number giveaways with the prize being an autographed copy of the recording, and he arranged for the Loew’s theater chain to play the song daily at opening and after each complete performance and at closing time in each of its 500 theaters across the country. He also created buttons with the song’s title on them to hand out to patrons. The song’s success put Gordon on the cover of Billboard magazine’s December 21, 1940, issue and led to the band making several soundies in early 1941. Gordon also worked with the tune’s composers to create a stage musical based on the song, but the project never got off the ground.

Tic Toc No More

Gordon eventually got fed up with playing his tic toc rhythm, and in early 1941 he junked his orchestra, forming a jump band in its place.^[1] Gordon’s new outfit featured a mix of swing and sweet similar to other popular bands at the time, such as those of Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller. “I’ll Castigate the Next Guy Who Says ‘Tic Toc,’” he told Down Beat. “No one will ever know what a bore the other band was. It was so monotonous I got so I couldn’t stand it. I got tired of everyone kidding me about it, and getting bad press.” He even co-wrote a song about it, with Roy Jacobs, “Don’t You Mention Tic Toc to Me.”

For the new band, Gordon doubled the number of brass from three to six and added a fourth sax. He intended to make it fives saxes by picking up his own instrument again after having not been able to play sax for the past year-and-a-half due to dental issues. Blake stayed on as vocalist, handling the jazzier tunes, with Perry as crooner. Tony Russell replaced Perry in June when Perry left for a radio job. The new group proved exciting and broke attendance records in its early engagements. Gordon, however, was deeply in debt even before reorganizing, and in July, after the orchestra had completed an engagement in Atlantic City, he suddenly disbanded and went home to Illinois, leaving his musicians and singers stranded without pay or transportation back to New York.^[2]

Gordon was quickly suspended by the musicians’ union and sued by his agency, Consolidated Radio Artists, to which he owed as much as $10,000 in order to buy out his contract.^[3] His lawyer announced that he was attempting to put together enough money to pay off the agency and his band members. Gordon blamed his indebtedness on CRA. CRA had filed a claim with the American Federation of Musicians in March for $3,500 back commission, and the union ordered Gordon to pay $50 a week. Gordon quickly fell behind in payments, however, after CRA booked him into the long Atlantic City job, which didn’t pay enough to cover his costs. He lost $600 a week. The operators of Chicago’s Merry Garden Ballroom, friendly to Gordon, helped him raise the needed funds to pay off CRA in October, and Gordon put together a new orchestra composed mostly of Chicago musicians. The new band debuted at the Merry Garden that same month and remained there while Gordon worked to secure a booking agency.

Later Career

With his reorganized orchestra, Gordon continued to insist that he was shunning his former tic toc style. “I even feel low at heart now when someone asks me to play a rhumba,” he said. “I want to get as far away from sickening commercial Mickey Mouse music as I can.” The new band was less jazz oriented than his previous group, however, and reviews hinted that it played a mix of tic toc and popular jazz tunes, even using the tic toc tagline. Dottie Reid served as female vocalist for the band’s first week, with Don Gordini as the male singer.

Gordon soon found a new agency and began to tour.^[4] Though the orchestra initially attracted attention, it quickly faded into the background. Gordon constantly lost musicians to the draft, making it hard to maintain a consistent sound. He also switched agencies several times over the next few years, indicating that he wasn’t happy with his bookings. Barbara Moffett and Kurt Whitney were vocalists in June 1942.^[5] Dell Parker sang with the band in April and May 1943 during a stateside USO camp tour. Shirley Lane and Vic Carlton were vocalists in fall 1945. Other vocalists at unknown times included Marilyn Paul, Lana Lane, and Tom Patton.

In spring 1947, Gordon reorganized, dropping four men and reverting to a pure tic toc style again. He ultimately disbanded in July, however, switching careers to become a successful booking agent. He only occasionally stepped in front of a band again.

Gray Gordon passed away in 1976 at the age of 72.

Notes