European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 6, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 12 the stars and stripes sunday july 6,1986 Singer Rudy Vollee Dies while watching to los Angeles a Rudy Vallec. Who became a singing sensation in the 1920s with his rendition of the whiff Nanof song and went on to Star in mov ies and on a Roadway and radio has died at his Home in the Hollywood Hills me was 8-4. Vallec. Who had sult Rcd a slight stroke after being hospitalized in february for Ira Linen of Throat can cer was watching television when he Dicj thursday night his wife. Elcanor. Said. Rudy was watching the unveiling of the statue of Liberty and he remarked. I wish we could he there Vou know him i love a Paris " she said. Then he look a big breath. And he died. He s at peace she said. Me always said. When they take me. I have no regrets. I be lived a full life " the baritone Wuh the nasal voice Hurst onto the music scene in the l 2 s. Playing saxophone in front of a Banj of fellow Vale i Niver Sily students. In the i1 .10s. He was one of radio s biggest stars and his Fleischmann sponsored by the yeast com Pany was the medium s first variety show. In the 1960s, he appeared in the Puli or prize winning Broadway musical. How to succeed in business without Keally and then played the same role when i he musical was made into a movie. I never had much of a he once said and it was All in my nose. Hut i think one reason for the Success was i was the first articulate Singer peo ple could understand the words As i Sang. And at least i had he was born Hubert prior Vallec on july 28. 1901.in Island Pond. I. And grew up in Westbrook. Maine where his father owned a drugstore. He joined the Navy at the age of 15. Only of fac sent Home a few weeks later. He became an usher in a port land. Maine theater where a co worker gave him a Saxo phone. He largely taught himself to play developing his characteristic singing saxophone technique. His Admi ration for the records of saxophonist Rudy Wiedoeft pro mop cd friends to dub him Vallec began playing in a theater orchestra in 1920 and continued playing to earn tuition and Board when he transferred in 1922 to Vale after a year at the University of Maine. He took a year s leave from Yale in the fall of 1924 to play at the Savoy hotel in London where he found the song that became his theme my time is he graduated from Yale in 1927 after spending Summers on the nightclub and vaudeville circuit. Fame came in 1928. When his eight piece band the Yale collegians signed on in a new York City night club. He used a megaphone to project his voice Over the noise of the patrons. Actually. I Only used the megaphone for a few months in 1928. But people still remember me for it he once said in an interview. Vallec s band attracted radio listeners because of its unusual composition to i the size of the Small club two violins two saxophones and a piano. The band also played Only choruses of each song grouping them in different tempos. By 1929. With an expanded band dubbed the con the megaphone became Rudy Vallice s trademark although he said he used one Only a few months in 1928. Acct Cut Yankees Vallice was the Star of the hour Tong Fleischmann show. For a decade it was one of radio s top shows and introduced audiences to such stars to be As Bob Hope and Edgar Bergen. His hits included springtime in the the University of Maine s Stein song and Yale s whip his Early Fame led to vaudeville Tours at the then unheard of salary of $12,500 a week and to headline when a Harvard Man threw a Grapefruit at him during a 1931 appearance in Boston. His i m just a Vagabond Lover led to his screen debut in the Vagabond Lover in 1929, and other roles followed including pans in Gold diggers in Paris too Many blondes and 1942 s Palm Beach his later him credits included the Bachelor and the Bobby so scr and i remember during world War ii he joined the coast guard and toured the country with a service band thai per at hospitals Camps and War Bond rallies. Vallec s popularity declined after world War ii. Buthe Rose to new Fame As corporate Boss . Biggley in How to Sucic cd in business without really try ing which ran on Broadway from 1961 through 1964. He continued making Public appearances Well past his 80th birthday. Vallec was married four times to Leonie Cauchois in 1928. A Union annulled the same year to Fay Webb from 1931 to 1936 to actress Jane Greer from 19-13 to 1944 and to Eleanor Norn s in 1949. He had no children. Travel Sale savings of 25%off or More att Besl regular Price $9.95our pm ice $7.45 Bookstore today
