One of America's truly musical
'greats' of the Jazz age and the Big Band Era was the Newark son of Italian
immigrants -- Ted Fiorito -- who through half a century of professional life
achieved success and fame across a broad spectrum of the entertainment world ...
as composer ... recording artist ... band leader ... actor ... and radio and
television entertainer.
His song compositions were sung by
the greatest stars of show business, and were featured in numerous Hollywood
films, starting with Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor.
He provided starts to young female
vocalists who later went on to stardom on the Hollywood screen, and he employed
many musicians who themselves became big names during the Big Band era.
His enduring fame is ensured by
his enshrinement in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was inducted with the
1970 Class of Inductees that also included such other music greats as Irving
Berlin, George M. Cohan, Stephen Foster, Ferde Grofe, Oscar Hammerstein II, W.
C. Handy, Victor Herbert, Scott Joplin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Billy Rose,
and John Phillip Souza.
His Newark Birth and Roots
Ted Fiorito was born on December
20, 1900 to a young Italian immigrant couple, Louis (Luigi) Fiorito and Eugenia
Cantalupo Fiorito, both 21 years old.
He was delivered by a midwife at
their residence at 293 15th Avenue.
In the 1900 Newark birth records,
his name was entered as Teodorico Salvatore Fiorito. His father's
occupation was listed in the 1900 City records as a tailor. He was the
first child of the marriage.
Prior to the birth of their son,
the Fioritos boarded with a brother of Eugenia, in the 14th Ward of Newark.
By the time Ted had reached high
school age in 1914, the family was living at 185 Bruce Street, and his ASCAP bio
shows that he was 'educated at Barringer High School'.
The Barringer High alumni records
do not go back to Fiorito's years at Barringer, so there is no indication of
whether he ever graduated.
Entrance Into and Life in World of Music
Somewhere during his early teens,
Fiorito became an accomplished piano player. In 1919, with the shellac
barely dried on the earliest recorded jazz, at the age of 18, he was already
employed in Tin Pan Alley. His first job was as a pianist in the recording
studios of Columbia records in New York city.
Fiorito worked with the bands of
Harry Yerkes--the Yerkes Novelty Five, Yerkes Jazarimba Orchestra, and The Happy
Six.
Within a year after his start, at
the age of 19, he had already begun to compose music and Fiorito's name began to
circulate in Tim Pan Alley as an up-and-coming composer with some of his early
works recorded by the several Yerkes bands and also the band of Art Highman.
Achieves Songwriting Fame in 1922
Still not old enough to vote in
1922, Fiorito achieved songwriting fame and acclaim when one of his compositions
"Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye" was recorded by Al Jolson, a leading star of the
era, and became one of the anthems of the 1920s.
That success would be followed
during Fiorito's long and successful career by more than 100 additional songs.
Among them were "Charley My Boy", popularized by Eddie Cantor, "Roll Along
Prairie Moon", "I Never Knew", "Rio Rita" and "When the Moon Hangs High."
He also co-wrote with Ted Lewis,
"the high-hatted tragedian of jazz," the song "King for a Day" which Lewis
favored in his vaudeville and nightclub routines. I still own, and
occasionally play, the Decca record which carries that song.
Joins Orchestra and Becomes Band Leader
Fiorito abandoned Tin Pan Alley in
1921 and moved to Chicago to join the Oriole Orchestra, then directed by Dan
Russo.
With his versatile keyboarding,
both on piano and Hammond Organ, he became the band co-leader and the band name
was changed to the Russo-Fiorito Band. When Russo left the band in 1928,
Fiorito took over as the sole leader.
The band then moved to the Mark
Hopkins in San Francisco and gained wide recognition from 'name' hotel
appearances and on syndicated and network radio programs broadcast from coast to
coast.
Provide Exposure to Future Stars
Fiorito enjoyed a long career as
musician, composer, band leader, and actor. His numerous film appearances
provided exposure for many future film stars and music 'greats' that included
Ted Lewis, Nick Lucas, Dick Powell, Russ Morgan, Louis Belson, Buddy DeFranco,
Doc Severson, Betty Grable, June Haver, Kay Swingle, Lucille Ball, Ruth Lee, and
Leif Erickson.
Last Years, Death, and Burial
In the 1950s and 1960s, as his
fame began to diminish, Fiorito led bands in Chicago and Arizona, with
occasional stints in Las Vegas. In the final decade of his life, he led a
small combo of five or six members at venues throughout California and Nevada
until the time of his death on July 22, 1971.
He died of a heart attack.
Fiorito is buried in the San
Fernando Mission Cemetery on Stranwood Avenue in the Mission Hills community of
Northern Los Angeles.
He is buried in the same cemetery
as such other entertainment world notables as Bob Hope, Chuck Connors, Walter
Brennan, George Gobel, William Frawley, Ed Begley, and Penny Singleton.
Ted Fiorito: Film Appearances
1933: Sweetheart of Sigma Chi
(as Ted
Fiorito, with his Orchestra)
1934: Young and Beautiful
(with his
Orchestra)
What Price
Jazz
Twenty
Million Sweethearts
(as Ted
Fiorito, himself: bandleader and pianist)
1935: Every Night at Eight
(as Ted
Fiorito, himself...and his Orchestra)
Broadway
Gondolier
(as Ted
Fiorito...and as Bandleader Ted Fiorito)
1939: Sea Melody
(as Ted
Fiorito himself, and as leader of Fiorito Band)
1941: Skyline Serenade
(as Ted
Fiorito himself, and as leader of Fiorito Orchestra)
1942: Rhythm Parade
(as Ted
Fiorito himself, and as leader of Fiorito Orchestra)
Chasing
the Blues
(as Ted
Fiorito himself, and as leader of Fiorito Orchestra)
1943: Melody Parade
(as Ted
Fiorito himself, and with his Orchestra)
Silver
Skates
(as Ted
Fiorito himself, and as leader of Fiorito Orchestra)
1945: Synco-Smooth Swing
(as Ted
Fiorito himself, and as leader of Fiorito Orchestra)
Out of
This World
(as Ted
Fiorito himself, and as Fiorito Band Leader)
1949: Ted Fiorito Orchestra (film)
(with Ted
Fiorito as himself)
Fiorito Songs/Music Used in Films
