Johnny Marvin

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John "Johnny" Senator Marvin (born July 11, 1897 in Butler , Oklahoma , † December 20, 1944 in North Hollywood , Los Angeles , California ) was an American musician , ukulele player and songwriter who in the 1920s one was the most famous ukulele artist and crooner and was once nominated as a songwriter for an Oscar for best song.

Life

Marvin rose to be one of the most celebrated ukulele players and crooners in the 1920s and was best known during this time under his stage names "Honey Duke and His Uke" and "Johnny Marvin, the Ukulele Ace". He released numerous records with songs such as Oh How She Could Play the Ukulele; Red Lips, Kiss My Blues Away; If You See Sally; There's Something Nice about Everyone (But There's Everything Nice about You); Tiptoe Through the Tulips as well as numerous other songs. Because of his popularity, one manufacturer even released a ukulele brand named after him that showed his face and had a unique shape. With the end of the ukulele boom in the late 1920s, he initially retired from the music business, but returned after losing his fortune as part of Black Thursday of October 24, 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. In the following years he appeared as a partner of Gene Autry , who began his long career as a country singer during this time .

Since the mid-1930s, Marvin was mainly active as a songwriter and wrote numerous well-known songs. At the Oscar ceremony in 1939 he was nominated for the Oscar for best song nominations, specifically for von Roy Rogers sung song Dust from the Western Under Western Stars (1938) by Joseph Kane Roy Rogers, Smiley Burnette and Carol Hughes in the lead roles.

Marvin, who was inducted into the Ukulele Hall of Fame in 2003, wrote song texts for more than forty films until his death, with numerous songs being used after his death, such as for The Gene Autry Show from 1950 to 1954. One of his best-known songs is the goodbye Little Darlin 'Goodbye, created in collaboration with Gene Autry , which Johnny Cash used for his album Greatest! (1959), All Aboard the Blue Train (1962) and I Walk the Line (1964).

His younger brother Frank "Frankie" James Marvin was also a musician and at times partner of Gene Autry in the wedding of the Blue Yodeling .

Filmography (selection )

  • 1937: Springtime in the Rockies (Songs There'll Be a Hayridin 'Wedding in June, Down in the Land of Zulu )
  • 1938: Under Western Stars
  • 1939: Home on the Prairie (Songs I'm Gonna Round Up My Blues, I'd Rather Be on the Outside )
  • 1940: Shooting High (Songs Shanty of Dreams, Only One Love in a Lifetime )
  • 1942: The Daredevil of Boston (In Old California ; Songs She Was a Heavenly Sight, California Joe)
  • 1943: Arizona Trail (Song Away From My Heart )
  • 1944: Song of the Range (Song Saddle Pals )

Background literature

  • Michael Pitts, Frank Hoffman: The Rise of the Crooners: Gene Austin, Russ Columbo, Bing Crosby, Nick Lucas, Johnny Marvin and Rudy Vallee , Lanham, Scarecrow Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8108-4081-2

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Marvin, Johnny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marvin, John Senator (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer, musician, and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH July 11, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Butler , Oklahoma
DATE OF DEATH December 20, 1944
Place of death North Hollywood, Hollywood , California