Word: successful
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Three years ago, Benny Goodman gave his dark-haired, blue-eyed trumpeter a friendly shove toward bandleadership. A semi-failure at first, Bandleader James began tasting success only when he laid away his ambitions as a "hot" man, and developed a simple sweet style that features the clear, cool James trumpet against a mass of soft strings (he added five strings to his band to give it the un-swing-like total of eight). Imperturbably, James alternated blues and boogie-woogie with Viennese waltzes and technical specialties out of his own trumpet. But it was his revival of Al Jolson...
James's own first choices, harking back to the days when his father taught him classic circus numbers, are probably his trumpet arrangements of music-master favorites (Flight of the Bumble Bee, Carnival of Venice, et al.) His biggest Success Secret is the astute James theory that wartime fans, tired of pure heat, now want their heartstrings twanged. Other heartthrob Success Secrets in James's band: Helen Forrest, throb-voiced torcheuse, who copes as smoothly with wacky songs as with moon-June lyrics; Johnny McAfee, vocalist, and Corky Corcoran, sax wizard...
...unqualified success, the "Three Greatest Guest Stars" were showered with proposals of marriage, offers of post-war jobs. Gunner's Mate Van Keuren was offered a movie contract. They had easily stolen the show from Ginny Simms and Dave Rose's 22-piece orchestra. But Ginny didn't mind any more than her sponsor. Still stroking her rabbit's foot, she guessed she had a sure-fire program as long as there is an Army, Navy and Marine Corps...
July 28-Left 1:30 p.m. on Beechcraft No. 2 and scouted jungle for three hours. No success...
...must be luck or the patronizing hand of an angel. Trail broke out under left wing of B-24 bomber. For the scouting planes that are checking on us we wrote a large three dots and one dash for victory and success...