BUDDY FEYNE

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30 - 38     39-41     WWII      Post-War

June 9, 1912
Born in Harlem, NYC
Parents: Sol and Sarah Feinstein
4th of 4 boys

 

Buddy at 1 year old
Buddy's first birthday - Buddy standing on stool with his mother, Sarah

All 6 shared a 2 bedroom tenement at 105th/Madison during the
time of horse drawn milk carts, ice deliveries, & subways being built.

Popular songs of 1912:
"Alexander's Ragtime Band" - w & m: Irving Berlin
"My Melancholy Baby" - w: Norton/ m: Burnett
"On Moonlight Bay" - w: Madden/ m: Weinrich
"When I Was Twenty-One and You Were Sweet Sixteen" by Henry Burr & Albert Campbell


1918
Flu pandemic hits NYC -
Buddy confined to bed for 2 years!


1930 - 38
Catskills
- actor/singer/dancer/tummeler

Brill Building - song plugger/writer
Lewis Music Co. & Popular Music Co.

Photo: Spectropop
The Brill Building - 1619 Broadway - in the heart of New York's
music district post-Tin Pan Alley.

After its completion in 1931, the owners were forced by a
deepening Depression to rent space to music publishers, since there
were few other takers. The first three were Southern Music,
Mills Music
(another publisher of Buddy's) and Famous-Music.

By 1962 the Brill Building contained 165 music businesses.
Residents included
Bacharach & David, Boyce & Hart, Don Kirshner,
Phil Spector, Goffin & King, Mann & Weil, Greenfield & Sedaka,
Barry & Greenwich, Pomus & Shuman, Leiber & Stoller,
etc. -
Today Paul Simon's office is located there.

Buddy sang live on CBS Radio -
First to sing "Stardust" on the air

He was a singer, dancer and vocalist with several
orchestras, and a soloist on radio. He wrote and
co-produced the radio show
"Rhythm School of the Air".

Wrote with Milton Berle, Lester Young,
Erskine Hawkins, Avery Parrish, Peter Tinturin,
etc.

Milton Berle changed Buddy's name to Feyne



1939-41
HITS - "Jersey Bounce," "Tuxedo Junction,"

 

both at the top of the Hit Parade,
"Monica," "The Shadow Knows," "Dolimite," and more


4 brothers
Feinstein boys post-war
Buddy, Jack
Irving, Al

WWII
Served in the 77th Infantry Division in the Pacific:
Leyte & Phillipines

Awarded 2 medals:

Bronze star
for bravery going behind enemy lines

Purple heart
for injury sustained in line of duty


Wrote for the Armed Forces Radio Service
and produced shows for servicemen

Composed "Soldier Boy" &
Performed it on Armed Forces Radio


While stationed in the Phillippines
(too close to the front for the USO)
Created shows for his unit:
Composed, led band and sang

Taught 200 service men ballroom dancing.

(The "Jersey Bounce" was being played by the band
onshore as he shipped out for duty.
No one on board knew he composed it.)

(Similarly, the final song played by
the US Army Band prior to the
1991 Gulf War was "Tuxedo Junction.")

WWII - Pilots name their craft
"Jersey Bounce"

Check out the
HELL'S ANGELS
303 Bombardment Unit

Based in England

 
Jersey Bounce - 303rd Bombardment Unit  
Jersey Bounce -3rd Air Commandos
 


Named their B-17 bombers "Jersey Bounce"



Post War - studied early TV

1947 Married Virginia Molin
Buddy & Ginny 1950s

Studied early TV at the
American Academy of Television in Los Angeles

He wrote "Preview Theatre" for KFWB in California
and "The Bill Harrington Show" for television in New York, which he also produced.

He also wrote special material for night club singers.


1950-55 - wrote songs and musicals
with Bill Harrington & Harry Revel
So This Is Brooklyn & Song of Texas

Wrote & hosted & sang on Radio:
After School Swing Special

& The Nursery Crime Detective

1956-98:

Formed
Publishing Company: ESSENJAY
&
Label: SEGUE Records
to promote original music.

Continued to write and compose with:
Milton Berle, Bill Harrington,
Stan Worth, Ken Carson, Harry Revel, Bill Baker,
Joe Williams, Al Sherman and many more.

Songs performed on television by:
Gene Autry on the Gene Autry Show
Lex Baxter on the Ernie Kovacs Show

Joe Williams on the Joey Bishop Show

1960s- 70s Created reviews and special material:
Lamb's Club Salute to Ed Sullivan
produced by Harry Delmar in NYC
Review: Up Your Alley

1964: Children's Album - Music and Lyrics
Romper Room: Time for Fun

Continued to write both Music and Lyrics
"I'll Remember the Good Things," "Joe's Notion,"
"Little Tommy Tumbleweed,"
etc.

1971 - 73 Film Scores:
Diary of a Stewardess & Dead End Dolls

1978 Developed 20 year friendship with
The Manhattan Transfer
Theme Song:
"Tuxedo Junction"

1984-98 Reworked So This Is Brooklyn
Contributed to several albums by Bill Baker
Composed "She Carries The Torch"
Sang at Barbata's in Los Angeles


Treasured friendships include:
PERFORMERS: Manhattan Transfer, Milton Berle,
Joe Williams, LA Jazz Choir, Frank Wayne,
Bob Grabeau, Gerry Eskelin
COMPOSERS: Peter Tinturin, Bill Baker,
Bill Harrington, Irving Miller, Al Sherman,
Stan Worth, Ken Carson

PUBLISHERS & PRODUCERS: Mort Browne, Harry Delmar

The Independent (London)
obit dated Jan 22, 1999

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