Wilbur Hall (musician): Difference between revisions

'''Wilbur Francis Hall''', sometimes billed as '''Willie Hall''' (November 18, 1894 – June 30, 1983), was a [[United States]] [[trombone|trombonist]], [[violin|violinist]], and [[entertainer]].▼

Hall was born in [[Shawnee Mound, Missouri]]. He was working in [[vaudeville]] when in 1924 he was hired by [[Paul Whiteman]]. Hall stayed with Whiteman's orchestra until 1930, mainly featured as a trombone player (his speciality on this instrument was a lightning-fast rendition of [[Felix Arndt]]'s ''Nola'', which he also recorded in 1929). However, Hall was apt a playing several other instruments - conventional as well as unconventional. Amongst the latter was his ability to play melodies on a [[bicycle pump]]. Whiteman's main [[arranger]] [[Ferde Grofé]] even wrote a special feature number for Hall on this "instrument" called ''Free Air: Based on Noises from a Garage''. Hall can also be seen playing his pump as well as some tricky novelty violin playing in the early color film ''[[The King of Jazz]]''. This routine, a frantically athletic rendition of "Pop Goes the Weasel", played while wearing "slapshoes", a common comedy prop from the days of Vaudeville, partly resembles the earlier work by vaudevillian [[Little Tich]].<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpoGy_WIcCY</ref>▼

After leaving Whiteman Hall toured as a solo act with the Publix circuit and then joined the Ken Murray Blackouts in [[Los Angeles]]. Later he toured USA as well as the world together with his wife, mixing music with comedy, He also appeared on [[television]] where he would reprise his violin bit from ''The King of Jazz'' on the [[Ken Murray (entertainer)|Ken Murray]] and [[Spike Jones]] shows in the 1950s and on [[The Gong Show]] in the 1970s. He died in [[Newbury Park, California]].▼

An act called Wilbur Hall and Renée Fields appeared in the [[variety show|variety program]] ''[[Eastern Cabaret]]'' on [[BBC Television]] December 12 and 17, 1938.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.radiotimesarchive.co.uk/pdf/RT-TV-1938.pdf |journal=[[Radio Times]] |date=December 9, 1938 |title=TELEVISION: Sunday, December 11, to Saturday, December 17 |accessdate=February 22, 2016 }}</ref> The same month, an advertisement by Fred Collins' Agency in British newspaper ''[[The Era (newspaper)|The Era]]'', known for its theatrical content, announced a forthcoming appearance in [[Dundee]], Scotland by the same act, who may have been Wilbur and his wife.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/searchbna/results?memberlastsubclass=none&searchhistorykey=0&keywords=claire%20collins&from=1900&to=1949 |journal=The Era |title=Fred Collins' Agency |date=December 15, 1938 |accessdate=February 22, 2016 }}</ref>▼