The Ray Anthony Show

Before its leader joined the Army Air Corps during WWII, The Glenn Miller Orchestra was one of the hottest outfits in Big Band Swing Music. The signature Glenn Miller Sound was built around a clarinet and tenor saxophone on the melody line with three other saxophones harmonizing, backed up by Miller's trombone and the other instruments. One of the voices driving that sound was the trumpet of Ray Anthony.

Born Raymond Antonini in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania, 1922, and growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, Ray's dad led a family orchestra. After his father got him started playing trumpet, he played with several school groups and led his own band while in junior high school. At the age of sixteen, he was ready to leave Cleveland and hit the road with Jack Crawford, "The Clown Prince of Jazz".

In 1940, Ray joined Al Donahue and His Orchestra in a regular gig at the Rainbow Roof on top of the NBC Building at Rockefeller Plaza. Beginning in November 1940, he was on Glenn Miller's payroll. Although excited to be playing with one of the biggest bands in the country at the age of 18, Ray found Miller to be a stern taskmaster. He left just after the band completed filming Sun Valley Serenade (1941).

After Pearl Harbor, Ray volunteered for the Navy (Glenn Miller tried to join the Navy before the Air Corps, but was turned down). While in Cleveland, awaiting his assignment to basic training, he was approached by Jimmy Dorsey who talked Ray into touring with his outfit until going into the service with the understanding that Dorsey would financially back Anthony's own band after the War.

In the service, Ray started out playing with several bands at the Naval Training Center at Great Lakes, Illinois, before transferring to the Pacific Theater where he led an orchestra for the Submarine Forces at Midway, Honolulu, and Okinawa. Although he felt he had the musical experience to lead a band, Ray credited his time in the Navy for teaching him how to communicate with an audience as a bandleader.

By the time Ray mustered out of the Navy in 1946, the Big Band Sound was waning in popularity, but the Ray Anthony Orchestra gained popularity into the Fifties. They had hits with the novelty number The Bunny Hop and Dancing in the Dark, but may be better known for recording the theme to Peter Gunn and the theme to Dragnet, charting at Number 3 in the 1953 Billboard Top 100.

The Ray Anthony Show was syndicated by the recruiting division of the Marine Corp Reserve. Featuring announcer George Fennemen and vocal support from Tommy Mercer and Peggy King, the program followed the basic format of other Recruiting music shows but was set apart by Ray Anthony's signature sound. Ray is the last surviving member of The Glenn Miller Orchestra.