Guy Lombardo Interview (January 25, 1977)

Описание: Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo (June 19, 1902 – November 5, 1977)[2] was an Italian-Canadian-American bandleader, violinist, and hydroplane racer.

Lombardo formed the Royal Canadians in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert and Victor, and other musicians from his hometown. They billed themselves as creating "the sweetest music this side of Heaven." The Lombardos are believed to have sold between 100 and 300 million records during their lifetimes,[3] many featuring the band's lead singer from 1940 onward, Kenny Gardner.[4]

Early life[edit]
Lombardo was born in London, Ontario, Canada,[5] to Italian immigrants Gaetano Alberto and Angelina Lombardo. His father, who had worked as a tailor, was an amateur singer with a baritone voice and had four of his five sons learn to play instruments so they could accompany him. Lombardo and his brothers formed their first orchestra while still in grammar school and rehearsed in the back of their father's tailor shop.[6] Lombardo first performed in public with his brother Carmen at a church lawn party in London in 1914.[7] His first recording session took place where cornetist Bix Beiderbecke made his recordings—in Richmond, Indiana, at the Gennett Studios—both during early 1924.[citation needed]

Royal Canadians[edit]
After that solitary Gennett session, they recorded two sessions for Brunswick; a rejected session in Cleveland in late 1926, and an issued session for Vocalion in early 1927. The band then signed to Columbia and recorded prolifically between 1927 and 1931. In early 1932, they signed to Brunswick and continued their success through 1934 when they signed to Decca (1934–35). They then signed to Victor in later 1935 and stayed until the middle of 1938 when again they signed to Decca. In 1938, Lombardo became a naturalized citizen of the United States.[8] Between 1941 and 1948, their sister Rose Marie, the youngest of seven siblings, joined the Royal Canadians as the band's first and possibly only female vocalist.[9]


The Lombardo brothers: Lebert, Carmen, Guy, and Victor, circa 1931
Although Lombardo's "sweet" big-band music was viewed by some in the jazz and big-band community of the day as "boring, mainstream pap," trumpeter Louis Armstrong regularly named Lombardo's band his favorite orchestra.[10][11]

After Guy Lombardo's death in 1977, his surviving brothers Victor and Lebert took over the Royal Canadians, though Victor left the band early in 1978 over creative differences.[12] From 1980 the name was franchised out to various band leaders. Lebert died in 1993, passing rights to the band name to three of his six children.[13] The band was revived in 1989 by Al Pierson and remained active as of 2021.[14][15]

New Year's Eve radio and TV programs[edit]

Lombardo his brothers and sister Rose Marie, 1954
Lombardo is remembered for almost a half-century of New Year's Eve big band remotes, first on radio, then on television. His orchestra played at the Roosevelt Grill in the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City from 1929 ("radio's first nationwide New Year's Eve broadcast" which popularized Auld Lang Syne)[5] to 1959, and from then until 1976 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Other television[edit]
In 1954, Lombardo briefly hosted a half-hour syndicated series called The Guy Lombardo Show, and in 1956 Lombardo hosted a show on CBS for three months called Guy Lombardo's Diamond Jubilee.

Guy Lombardo played himself in the hit series Route 66 in the 1963 episode “But What Do You Do in March?” In 1975, Lombardo played himself again, in the first regular episode of Ellery Queen, "The Adventure of Auld Lang Syne," which was set at a Dec. 31, 1946 New Year's Eve gathering.

Film[edit]
Lombardo and his orchestra were part of the 1934 film Many Happy Returns.[18] and he also made a cameo appearance in the 1970 film The Phynx. Clips of his own show appeared in the 1977 film Looking for Mr. Goodbar starring Diane Keaton.


In his later years, Lombardo lived in Freeport, Long Island, New York, where he kept Tempo, Tempo VI, and Tempo VII (built in 1955). He invested in a nearby seafood restaurant called "Liota's East Point House" that eventually became "Guy Lombardo's East Point House". Lombardo became a promoter and musical director of Jones Beach Marine Theater. The venue was built with him in mind by Robert Moses, a fan of Lombardo. One of Lombardo's productions at Jones Beach was Paradise Island in 1961. His final production there was the 1977 staging of Finian's Rainbow with Christopher Hewett in the title role.

Life[edit]
While playing at the Music Box in Cleveland, Lombardo met Lillibeth Glenn.[21] They married in 1926.

Death[edit]
On November 5, 1977, Lombardo died of a heart attack. Another source says he died "of a lung ailment."[1] His wife, who died in 1982, was at his bedside when he died in Houston Methodist Hospital.[1] He's interred at the Pinelawn Memorial Park in East Farmingdale, NY.