HORACE HEIDT - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 10/12/1949 - HFSID 27042

HORACE HEIDT
Big band leader Horace Heidt signed this typed letter on his personalized stationery to a fan in 1949.
Typed letter signed "Horace Heidt". 1 page, 8½x11, on Heidt's personalized stationery. Oct. 12, 1949. Addressed to Mr. Carleton Lloyd, Yorkville, New York. In full: "Dear Carleton: Thanks for your swell letter, and I'm de-lighted to send the attached autographed, photograph [not included] to you. I'm very pleased that you wish to display this in your Store, and will be looking forward to meeting you, personally, the next time we pass your way. Keep up the Good Work, and Thanks Again, for your loyal support. Sincerely, HORACE HEIDT H/t enc.". Heidt (1901-1986), who had a childhood stammer and a seeming lack of interest in music, seemed an unlikely candidate for one of the most successful big band leaders of the late 1930s and early 1940s. He preferred football, but a back injury in college ended any football dreams that he might have had. To make a living, Heidt organized his first band, Horace Heidt and the Californians, in 1923. The band got bigger, went through some name changes and finally hit it big in 1936, when they got their first radio broadcast from the Drake Hotel in Chicago, Illinois as Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights. The show, Heidt's Pot O' Gold, ran for nine years and included an on-air cash giveaway that helped the show retain its popularity. Heidt's hits include Gone with the Wind(1937), Little Heaven of the Seven Seas(1937) Ti-Pi-Tin(1938), The Man with the Mandolin(1939) and The Hut-Hut Song(1941). A number of important musicians and singers got their start with Heidt's band, including singers the King Sisters, Gordon MacRae and Art Carney, composer Frank DeVol, guitarist Alvino Rey, pianist Frankie Carle and Jess Stacy and trumpeter Bobby Hackett. Heidt turned his attention from big band music as musical tastes changed and started investing in hotels and other property, making him one of the wealthiest men in the entertainment business by the 1950s. Lightly toned, foxed, soiled and creased. Staple holes at top edge. Small piece missing from lower left corner. Small tear and pinhole in letter near bottom edge. Folded once and unfolded. Otherwise in fine condition.