Died On This Date (October 27, 1999) Frank De Vol / Played Happy Kyne on “Fernwood 2Night”
themusicsover Frank De Vol
September 20, 1911 – October 27, 1999
Frank De Vol was a musician, composer, band leader, arranger, and actor who is perhaps best remembered as the ironically named Happy Kyne, who, with his Myrthmakers, were the house band for fictional talk show parodies Fernwood 2Night and later, America 2-Night. The television shows, which had sizable cult followings during the late’70s, were spin-offs of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and co-starred Martin Mull and Fred Willard as host and co-host. De Vol began playing music as a child, and had performed with a few different travelling orchestras before going off to become a recording artist. He also worked as an arranger during his early career, collaborating on records by the likes of Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, as well as on the # 1 hit, “Nature Boy” for Nat King Cole. Soon after, De Vol was signed to Columbia Records where he recorded several easy-listening albums that did quite well. He also created the scores or smaller pieces for numerous popular movies and television programs of the ’60s and ’70s. That list includes such films as Pillow Talk, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, and Cat Ballou, and TV shows, The Love Boat, The Brady Bunch, and My Three Sons. During the ’70s, De Vol acted in several television programs including Fernwood 2Night and America 2-Night, where his deadpan delivery as the mopey band leader who performed schmaltzy versions of pop hits of the day brought him many a new legion of fans. Frank De Vol was 88 when he passed away on October 27, 1999.
What You Should Own
Xavier Cugat was a musician, singer, songwriter, band leader, cartoonist, and actor whose various careers ran some 65 years. Born in Spain, he moved with his family to Cuba where he was trained on the violin. In 1915, his family moved again, this time settling in New York City. His first band of note, the Gigolos, was a popular Tango band in New York. During the ’30s, Cugat became the leader of the house band at New York’s fames Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It was around this time he got into acting, so he spent much of the next three decades flying back and forth between New York and Los Angeles to work at th hotel and make movies. He also did some time as the cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times. Cugat made several hit records during the ’40s, most of them popular Latin dance tunes of the day. Xavier Cugat died of heart failure at the age of 90.
The great Richard Harris was an actor’s actor who was famous for his roles in such films as Camelot, A Man Called Horse, and more recently, Unforgiven and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Harris also had a recording career that included the 1968 album, A Tramp Shining, which yielded a #2 pop single, Jimmy Webb’s “MacArthur Park.” Richard Harris was 72 years old when he died of Hodgkin’s Disease on October 25, 2002.
Although Julie London was a successful torch singer during the ’50s, she is perhaps best remembered for her role as nurse Dixie McCall alongside her husband, 