HAL KEMP - PICTURE POST CARD SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: BOB ALLEN, DEANE JANIS, ROBERT "SKINNAY" ENNIS - HFSID 207994

HAL KEMP and his VOCALISTS: BOB ALLEN, DEANE JANIS and SKINNAY ENNIS
All four sign on verso of a postcard photo of the orchestra performing at the Blackhawk in Chicago.
Postcard Photograph signed on verso: "Hal Kemp", "Skinnay Ennis", "Deane Janis" and "Bob Allen". Color,5½x3½. Reproduced photo of "Hal Kemp and his International Orchestra ... at the Blackhawk Restaurant, 139 N. Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill." Typed note on verso, above Kemp's signature: "With kind personal regards and best wishes and thanking you for your interest I am, cordially". Printed text on verso promotes the Blackhawk as "the most popular place in the loop" and touts Kemp's orchestra "broadcasting over WGN radio." HAL KEMP (1904-1940) played saxophone and clarinet, while leading a popular Depression era dance band. He was also a composer and arranger. His band's best years were 1936 and 1937, when the scored four #1 hits: "There's a Small Hotel," "When I'm with You," "This Year's Kisses" and "Three Little Fishes." Kemp died following a head-on auto collision in 1940. BOB ALLEN (1913-1989) was a baritone ballad singer during the big band era. He's best known as the "power" vocalist for Hal Kemp's orchestra (1933-1940). He took over the band after Kemp's death in 1940; the band played for several years at the Rosemont Ballroom in Brooklyn, New York City, but eventually broke up in 1942. Allen joined Tommy Dorsey in 1944 before serving in the U. S. Army for a year. He freelanced after World War II with the bands of Carmen Cavallaro, Isham Jones and Hoagy Carmichael. JANIS DEANE was Kemp's redheaded female vocalist. She appeared in 3 films in the mid-1930s, including Rooftops of Manhattan (1935). Robert "SKINNAY" ENNIS (1909-1963) was the drummer and sometime vocalist with Kemp's orchestra. He was later featured for many years on Bob Hope's radio program, playing the straight man for Hope's jokes. Lightly worn at corners. Mounting remnants at upper right corner. Otherwise, fine condition.