Al Donahue

Bandleader Al Donahue spent the 1930s leading a successful society orchestra before giving it all up in late 1939 to play swing. Donahue kept swinging away throughout the war years, but his new style ultimately failed to capture the public’s attention, and in 1946 he returned to sweet music. His band is best remembered today for vocalists Phil Brito and Paula Kelly.

A native of Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, Donahue studied violin at the New England Conservatory of Music and began working locally as a musician in the early 1920s. At some point around 1930 he formed a society orchestra which quickly proved popular on the East Coast as well as in Bermuda, where he traveled regularly by steamship to play the island’s hotels. By early 1931, he had begun to contract with Bermuda hotels and Atlantic steamship lines to provide them with orchestras and musicians, and by the mid-1930s he had become the leading provider of such services, supplying small orchestras to as many as 35 ships.

Donahue became wealthy from his contracting business, allowing him to invest heavily in his own orchestra, which in 1935 finally began to attract attention outside of the hotel circuit. Donahue signed to Decca late that year, recording a small number of sides for the label. He again entered the studio in late 1936. The band spent much of its time at the Rainbow Room Radio City in New York, which served as a de facto home base and gave them NBC air time. Dick Robertson was male vocalist in October 1935, but by November Barry McKinley had taken his place. Donahue also sang. Mary McKim was female vocalist in 1936. Durelle Alexander sang in 1937. The band signed to Vocalion in 1938, releasing a large number of recordings over the next few years, moving to Okeh in July 1940 when Columbia, the owner of both labels, discontinued the Vocalion name.

Transition to Swing

In the late 1930s, Donahue grew tired of playing society music, and by 1937 he had begun working swing arrangements into his repertoire. A review of the band at a Cincinnati hotel early that year reported that it played sweet music during lunch and dinner but at other moments it was “on the swing side.” By the time of that review, Donahue had hired drummer Charlie Carroll, a student of Gene Krupa. Carroll became an integral part of Donahue’s band over the next four years and sometimes sang specialty numbers. Paula Kelly joined as female vocalist in March 1938. Barry McKinley left in mid-1938, and Donahue appears not to have hired a replacement, taking male vocals himself, until July 1939, when Phil Brito had joined the band. Kelly temporarily left in September 1939, for unknown reasons, but soon returned. Peggy Nolan took her place while she was gone.

Kelly, Brito, and Carroll became the keystones of Donahue’s band as he continued to transition away from society music. By mid-1939, advertisements for the orchestra billed it as “the band that ‘civilized’ swing,” and in November he finally cut the chord completely. Instead of returning to the Rainbow Room as he usually did for the winter season, he went into the Meadowbrook Country Club, one of the top swing ballrooms in the country. Billboard magazine declared that Donahue’s orchestra was “thoroly [sic] rid of the enervating rhythmic vestments which cloaked it thru so many seasons at the ultra Rainbow Room.”

While Donahue’s new style was initially well-received, swing bands faced a challenging market. The society circuit could be lucrative, while many jazz bandleaders went bankrupt. Donahue felt secure making the leap from one world to the other due to his contracting business. He could afford to lose money if his swing band didn’t catch on. He’d chosen the wrong time to make the transition however. War had just broken out in Europe, and steamship lines were forced to suspend trans-Atlantic operations, which meant less contract business for Donahue. By April 1940, Donahue’s number of client ships had dropped from over 30 to just 11, severely cutting into his income, and his band was struggling financially. A report in April 1940 showed that Donahue commanded a guarantee of only $500 for a one-nighter in Washington D.C., an amount which was on the low end. The theater hosting Donahue’s band that night grossed just under $850. In comparison, Bob Chester drew over $1,500 worth of business on that same night in Akron, Ohio.

Despite the financial stress, Donahue carried on, saying that he enjoyed playing swing in a way that he never did with sweet music. “I now get a ‘bang’ out of listening and watching the boys in the band,” he told Down Beat magazine. He lost Kelly at the end of April 1940 when she left to give birth to her first child. Margie Stuart initially replaced her, followed shortly by Kay Allen, who herself was followed shortly by Dee Keating, who had joined by mid-July. Keating earned the job by going to Donahue’s house and requesting an audition. Donahue liked her approach and hired her.

1941 through 1945

In January 1941, the continuing decline of his contract business and the poor financial showing of his band forced Donahue to release all but two of his musicians and reorganize with less expensive sidemen. Brito and Keating remained as vocalists, but Carroll was gone. Donahue’s new band featured a similar style, though he retooled to appeal more to hotel ballrooms, which meant also playing congas and rhumbas. Reviews of the band in this period were mixed. At some locations they went over well, while at others patrons disliked them. Common complaints centered on the band’s preference to jam and indulge itself rather than cater to dancers.

Keating abruptly left the orchestra in mid-June 1941, giving only one day’s notice. According to Donahue, she had caused significant disruption with her love life, recently having eloped with a musician (who was not part of Donahue’s band) and then a few days later seeking a divorce. Her husband was then drafted, prompting her to quit while the band was on the road, which left them unable to quickly find a replacement. Pat Kaye initially took Keating’s place, with Jean Gordon replacing her by mid-October. Trombone player Tex Mulcahy sang specialty numbers in late 1941.

1942 proved a tough year for Donahue. When the United States finally entered the war in December 1941, Donahue’s steamship business almost completely disappeared. In January 1942, he had only one client ship left, who had requested only one musician. The band also made its last recording on Okeh in January 1942, and the label declined to renew their contract. Confounding that, Brito, his most valuable star, left the band for a radio job at the first of February. Donahue didn’t immediately name a replacement and instead decided to reorganize. Gordon remained as female vocalist in the new band, with Jerry Summers coming in as male singer. Summers was gone by May, with Ray Noble singer Snooky Lanson taking his place. Gordon left in September, with Patti Farnsworth replacing her.

In July, Donahue went into the hospital for an appendectomy, which took him out of action for a few weeks, though the band played on without him. In October, still having health issues, he temporarily disbanded to rest at his home on the West Coast. He ended up back in the hospital in November for another unspecified operation and remained out of action until early 1943.

By April 1943, Donahue had put together a new West Coast band with Penny Piper as vocalist. He disbanded and headed east mid-year, taking Piper and tenor sax man Dave Cavanaugh with him. Landing in Boston, he assembled an orchestra of local musicians. While east, Donahue made five Soundies in late 1943 before embarking on a tour which took him back west. Piper left in November when the band was in New Orleans.

Donahue had settled again on the West Coast with another band by April 1944. In September 1944, vocalists were Lynne Stevens, Dick Vance, and the Rhythmaires, a vocal quartet. In October, the band went into the Aragon in Ocean Park, California, where it spent the next seven months. It then toured the Northwest before returning to the Aragon in summer 1945. Jo Ann Ryan and Suzan Carol were vocalists at some point in mid-1945. Ray Robbins was male vocalist in late 1945 and January 1946 when the band made a handful of recordings on the small University Records label. Piper also returned for the University sessions.

Later Career

As 1945 progressed, Donahue’s booking agency, MCA, found it harder and harder to book the band, and they started pushing him to drop his swing outfit and form a society orchestra again. In January 1946, Donahue finally gave in, debuting a new sweet band the following month. Betty Parry was vocalist in March, with Penny Piper returning mid-year. The new band recorded two sides on the 4 Star label.

By early 1947, Donahue had disbanded and opened a record shop near Los Angeles Junior College. During that same period, he also worked as a DJ on radio station KFVD and made a brief foray onto the silver screen in Columbia’s Sweet Genevieve, playing himself as a bandleader. Though he announced that he planned to continue fronting bands only for one-nighters and week-end dates, in April he was back on the road again touring the Southwest and Mexican border cities. He continued working with sweet bands for the rest of his career, remaining active until at least the early 1960s.

Al Donahue passed away in 1983 at the age of 79.^[1]

Notes