Ted Lewis

Ted Lewis

Source: Preston Lauterbach

Born Theodore Leopold Friedman on 6 June 1890 in Circleville, Ohio, clarinetist and vocalist, Ted Lewis, studied piccolo as a child until his fingers grew long enough to handle a clarinet. He then joined his school's Circleville Cadet Band until discovering jazz as an adolescent. His first professional job was singing between silent films at the Circleville Electric Nickelodeon in 1906. Preferring to work at Goldsmith's Music Store to attending college as a business major, he acquired his first employment on the vaudeville circuit from Gus Sun and landed in NYC to sing at a cabaret called the El Dorado. Though never officially legalizing it, he eventually changed his name to Ted Lewis so that it would fit marquees better, having seen one in the Carolinas for 'Lewis and Lewis'. Lewis formed his first band in NYC called the Ted Lewis Nut Band in 1916 where they performed at Coney Island.

Lewis first recorded in 1917, playing clarinet with the Earl Fuller Jazz Band. The clarinet was his axe throughout his career, beginning to add vocals as a bandleader in the twenties. His first releases with Fuller were 'Slippery Hank' and 'Yah-De-Dah' from a session on June 4 in New York City.

'Slippery Hank'   Ted Lewis w Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band

Recorded 4 June 1917 in NYC   Victor 18321 A

Composition: F. H. Losey

'Old Grey Mare'   Ted Lewis w Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band

Recorded 13 Aug 1917 in NYC   Victor 18369 A

Arrangement: Frank Panella

Composition: Thomas Francis McNulty for Ferdinand Latrobe   1897

'Coon Band Contest'   Ted Lewis w Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band

Recorded 10 Sep 1917 in NYC   Victor 18394 B

Composition: Arthur Pryor

'Li'l Liza Jane'   Ted Lewis w Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band

Recorded 10 Sep 1917 in NYC   Victor 18394 A

Arrangement: JL Burbeck

Composition: Countess Ada De Lachau

By 1919 Lewis had his own band and a recording contract with Columbia, largely to take on the enormously popular Original Dixieland Jazz Band recording for Victor. By the latter twenties Lewis' band had come to rival Paul Whiteman's claim to audience. His first issues with his own band were 'Wond'ring' (Columbia A2857) and 'Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me' (Columbia A2798) from a session on 5 September 1919.

'Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me'   The Ted Lewis Jazz Band

Recorded 5 Sep 1919 in NYC   Columbia A2798

Composition: Arthur Swanstone / Carey Morgan / Charles McCarron

'The Hula Blues'   The Ted Lewis Jazz Band

Recorded 25 Aug 1920 in Chicago   Columbia A3306

Composition: Johnny Noble

'June Night'   The Ted Lewis Jazz Band

Recorded 24 May 1824 in NYC   Columbia 157-D

Composition: Abel Baer / Cliff Friend

'O, Katharina!'   Ted Lewis & His Band

Recorded 29 Jan 1925 in NYC   Columbia 295-D

Composition: Richard Fall / L. Wolfe Gilbert

'New Saint Louis Blues'   Ted Lewis & His Band

Recorded 3 June 1926 in NYC   Columbia 697-D

Composition: W. C. Handy

'When My Baby Smiles at Me'   Ted Lewis & His Band   Vocal by Lewis

Recorded 22 Nov 1926 in Chicago   Columbia 922-D

Music: Bill Munro  Lyrics: Andrew Sterling / Ted Lewis

'The Darktown Strutter's Ball'   Ted Lewis & His Band   Vocal by Lewis

Recorded 23 March 1927 in NYC   Columbia 1084-D

Composition: Shelton Brooks   1917

'King for a Day'   Ted Lewis & His Band   Vocal by Lewis

Recorded 19 July 1928 in NYC   Columbia 1485-D

Music: Ted Fiorito  Lyrics: Sam Lewis / Joe Young

'Farewell Blues'   Ted Lewis & His Band

Recorded 21 Aug 1929 in Chicago   Okeh 41580

Composition: Elmer Schoebel / Leon Roppolo / Paul Mares

Lewis began to appear in films in 1929 in the first film production of 'Is Everybody Happy?'. I guess he didn't get a satisfactory answer because he featured in a couple of later films with the same question in their titles in 1941 and 1943. Not like he couldn't have just picked up a newspaper. Lewis had begun to adopt his trademark top hat about the time that he first inquired if everyone was happy on film. That hat saw a lot of wear along with his signature song, 'Me and My Shadow', a vaudeville tune composed in 1927 by Billy Rose and Dave Dreyer, perhaps for soft-shoe, first recorded by Whispering Jack Smith that year. Though famously finishing performances with 'Me and My Shadow', the only known recording of that by Lewis was 'The Cop On the Beat - Me and My Shadow Medley' for an album issued in July 1956 [ArtDecoMelodies]. See Unique Records LP 108 and RKO Records ULP-143 (UniqueLP). Lewis and his band performed well into the sixties, including Las Vegas.

Ted Lewis in the film 'Is Everybody Happy?'   Released 28 Oct 1943

Compositions: Harry Akst / Grant Clarke

'Aunt Hagar's Blues'   Ted Lewis & His Band

Recorded 20 Jan 1930 in NYC   Columbia 3169-D

Composition: W. C. Handy

'On the Sunny Side of the Street'   Ted Lewis & His Band   Vocal by Lewis

Recorded 28 Feb 1930 in NYC   Columbia 2144-D

Music: Jimmy McHugh  Lyrics: Dorothy Fields

'Just a Gigolo   Ted Lewis & His Band   Vocal by Lewis

Recorded 13 Jan 1931 in NYC   Columbia 2378 -D

Music: Leonello Casucci 1928   Lyrics: Julius Brammer   1924 German 1929 English

Ted Lewis & His Orchestra in the film 'The Happiness Remedy'   Released 14 Feb 1931

'Tiger Rag' composed by Harry De Costa / Edwin  Edwards / Nick La Rocca / Tony Spargo / Larry Shields   1917

'Homemade Sunshine' composed by Pierre Norman / Irving Kahal / Sammy Fain

'Laugh It Down'

Trumpet: Red Nichols   Trombone: Jack Teagarden

'Egyptian Ella'   Ted Lewis & His Band   Vocal by Lewis

Recorded 5 March 1931 in NYC   Matrix W151395   Columbia 2428-D

Composition: Walter Doyle

'I'm Crazy Bout My Baby'   Ted Lewis & His Band

Piano & vocal: Fats Waller

Recorded 5 March 1931 in NYC   Matrix W151396   Columbia 2428-D

Composition: Fats Waller / Alexander Hill

'Royal Garden Blues'   Ted Lewis & His Band

Piano & vocal: Fats Waller

Recorded 6 March 1931 in NYC   Columbia 2727-D

Composition: Clarence & Spencer Williams

'Dip Your Brush in Sunshine'   Ted Lewis & His Band   Vocal by Lewis

Recorded 13 April 1931 in NYC   Columbia 2467-D

Music: J. C. Johnson   Lyrics: Andy Razaf

'Lazybones'   Ted Lewis & His Band   Vocal by Lewis

Recorded 22 June 1933 in NYC   Columbia 2786-D

Music: Hoagy Carmichael   Lyrics: Johnny Mercer

'The Cop On the Beat - Me and My Shadow Medley'   Ted Lewis & His Orchestra

Vocal by Lewis

Recorded in Hollywood toward RKO Records ULP–108/ULP-143 in 1956

Composition 'Cop On the Beat': Murray / Goodhart / Hoffman

Composition 'Me and My Shadow': Dave Dreyer / Billy Rose   1927

Ted Lewis on 'Hollywood Palace' 21 January 1967

'I've Got a Million Wonderful Memories'   Composition: Harry Harris

'Me and My Shadow Rock and Roll'

Despite his insistence that everybody be happy everywhere that he and his darker companion went, he made some people otherwise when a shade he became on 25 August 1971, dying of lung failure in New York City.