Judd Conlon

Judd "Jud" Conlon (1910 - July 28, 1966) was famed in the music trade for almost a generation as a vocal arranger and conductor.

Early life

He was born in 1910 in Cuba City, Wisconsin as Justin N. Conlon. He relocated to Dubuque, Iowa where he attended Columbia Academy and Columbia College. Conlon played the accordion and was active in musical groups including the Vested Choir directed by Father Alphonse Dress. This may have led to his mastery of vocal arranging. He played accordion at the Hilltop Casino until 4:00 a.m., sleep, and then had to get up for his college classes. In high school he formed the Justin Conlon Orchestra. By the time he was in college, the group toured the Midwest and was often featured on WMT-Cedar Rapids, WHO-Des Moines, and WOC-Davenport. Conlon's first major arranging work was with the famous Kay Kyser Orchestra.

Main career

In 1945, the Kay Kyser band was still at its peak. One of its main attractions was The Campus Kids, which Jud Conlon joined that July. His debut recording with them was ‘Choo Choo Polka’ and ‘That’s for Me’. The other Kids were Diane Pendleton, Donna Wood, Loulie Jean Norman, and Charlie Parlato. The Campus Kids were identified with many Kyser classics such as ‘The Old Lamplighter’ and the number one hit ‘Ol’ Buttermilk Sky’ (both with Mike Douglas). When Donna Wood suddenly died in 1947 from a heart ailment, her sister Gloria replaced her. She fronted The Campus Kids on the number one hit ‘The Woody Woodpecker Song’, ‘Managua, Nicaragua’, and ‘There Ought to Be a Society’. Conlon, trained on the accordion and as a vocal arranger and conductor, had always dreamed of a mixed-gender jazz choir which could serve as a rhythm section in dialogue with the instruments; sort of an orchestral alter ego. He felt that this goal could be achieved in part by the incorporation of a glossary of intricate wordless accents. This was in vogue in many singing groups, but in The Campus Kids, Conlon was exposed to two singers who, with their four octave range and perfect pitch, could considerably advance his concept: Loulie Jean Norman and Gloria Wood. With gifts from the Gods such as these, and his basso profundo, Conlon felt that he could achieve unprecedented sonorities and hair trigger harmonies; sounds that could be either codeine flavored or adrenalin rushing. With their elasticity of vocal ranges, the five singers could sometimes sound double that size. They agreed to join him in a new vocal group. He would assign to himself the baritone part, Norman first or lead soprano, and Wood second soprano. Charlie Parlato accepted first tenor. He needed one more ingredient: a second tenor and he recruited Mack McLean from the Six Hits and a Miss singing group.

The Rhythmaires

It is unknown if the formation of the team was hastened by a specific event; namely the sudden departure of The Charioteers as Bing Crosby’s weekly vocalists toward the end of the first Philco season in March, 1947. Several of the first season’s final shows featured an unknown chorus which may have been formed by elements from the still unnamed group. Jud Conlon’s Rhythmaires was christened and ready to fill the void as transcriptions for the second season commenced in August 1947. Conlon, Parlato, McLean and Norman bade farewell to The Campus Kids in December. (Gloria Wood remained with Kyser into 1948.) The Rhythmaires launched an association with Crosby which would continue for almost a decade in over 230 broadcasts, over forty recordings (including one million-seller, ‘Dear Hearts and Gentle People’), and a motion picture classic. They even helped sell Minute Maid. The Rhythmaires settled into their broadcast groove, and Crosby was so impressed, he asked them to join him on record. On December 3rd, 1947 they joined him at the Decca studios in Los Angeles for a romping beguine entitled ‘Ballerina’. This would be the first of over forty songs waxed with Crosby, heading a remarkably varied list: ‘How it Lies’, ‘Home Cookin’, ‘Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo’, ‘Teddy Bears' Picnic', ‘It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas’, ‘Zing a Little Zong’, ‘Road to Bali’, to name just a few. Specialty numbers were offset by more austere selections and for some of these The Rhythmaires would be expanded into either The Jud Conlon Singers (i.e. ‘Stay Well’, ‘Sorry’) or The Jud Conlon Choir (i.e. ‘The Loneliness of Evening’, ‘More I Cannot Wish You’, ‘We Meet Again’.) The Rhythmaires’ final recordings with Crosby were made in April, 1956, for the Decca LP ‘Songs I Wish I Had Sung’. The Rhythmaires also furnished background vocals for Crosby in Walt Disney’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow, released in 1949. The eerie sounds generated in ‘The Headless Horseman’ have been tingling the spines of children ever since. The Rhythmaires continued with Crosby throughout his Chesterfield series (each week they would sing the cigarette’s ‘Sound Off’ jingle). Additionally, the group sang on Bing’s ‘Welcome Back to Baseball’ show, aired April 19th, 1950.

Other Work

Bing Crosby had used Conlon to make arrangements and vocal backgrounds for his radio series and Conlon went on to work for Andy Williams and Guy Lombardo. In the mid-1950s, Conlon began collaborating with satirist, Stan Freberg. Conlon's arrangements appeared on nearly all Freberg's comedy records as well as on his "Stan Freberg Radio Show." He also worked on the television program "Frankie Laine Time." Judd also served as a musical arranger for Walt Disney. Among his credits are the Disney movies Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953), and Babes in Toyland (1961).

Personal life

He married Charlotte Manley and together they had one son, Michael Conlon. Jud Conlon died on July 28, 1966 in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 56. He was found dead in his Chicago hotel room of an apparent heart attack. He had been there as a delegate to the recent convention of American Federation of TV and Radio Artists. A requiem mass was held a few days later at St. Victor's Roman Catholic Church in West Hollywood.

Filmography

Music Department:

• The Judy Garland Show (1963-64) (CBS TV) (Choral Arrangements) Credited as The Jud Conlon Singers.
• Bobby Darin and Friends (1961) (TV) (music arranger: vocal arrangements)
• Screen Directors Playhouse (music arranger: vocal arrangements) (1 episode, 1956)
• Prima Donna (1956) TV episode (music arranger: vocal arrangements)
• Peter Pan (1953) (vocal arranger) "You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!" (04:03)
• Alice in Wonderland (1951) (music arranger: vocal arrangements)

Soundtrack:

• It's Always Fair Weather (1955) ("March, March" (uncredited), "The Time for Parting" (uncredited),
• "Once Upon a Time" (1944) (uncredited), "Why Are We Here?" (uncredited)
• Here Comes Elmer (1943) (writer: "Hitch Old Dobbin to the Shay Again")

Self:

• Cha-Cha-Cha Boom! (1956) (as The Judd Conlon Group) .... Himself
• The Scene Of the Crime (1956) (as the Jud Conlon Singers with Bob Thompson's Orch.)

Live Duets:

• "If You Stub Your Toe on the Moon" (1947-1949) Bing Crosby with Judd Conlon's Rhythmaires
• "The Court Jester" (21 – 22 September 1955, Los Angeles) Sylvia Fine – Sammy Cahn With the Judd Conlon Singers

External links

• Judd Conlon at IMDB

Disney Work:

• [1]
• [2]

Radio Work:

• [3]