Notebook Cover

  The Red Caps

By Marv Goldberg

Based on interviews with Romaine Brown,
Jay Price, Vance Wilson, and Gerald "Twig" Smith (by Marv Goldberg)
Jimmy Springs and Steve Gibson (by Ray Funk)

© 2001, 2009 by Marv Goldberg


The Red Caps were one of the most prolific and long-lived groups of the 1940s and 1950s. While they were primarily a group that fans flocked to see in person, they had releases on many labels, using many names. There was a basic core of five singers, but members came and went at a bewildering pace. I consider them one of the most important of all performing groups because their peers and audiences did. For years and years (from 1949 through 1982), many entertainers had "formerly with the Red Caps" in their advertisements; it Meant Something to be able to say that.

marquee In the music world of the late 30s and early 40s, there were many pioneer black vocal groups, all of whom owed a common debt to the Mills Brothers and Ink Spots. However, other influences were also apparent in their styles. Swing and big band jazz had a tremendous impact in the 30s, and myriad small combo jazz and jive groups resulted, often with members drawn from the larger orchestras. In parallel with this trend were the vocal groups that evolved from these combos in the 30s. In them, all members played (and vocally imitated) instruments besides singing - a combination that all but disappeared from R&B by the middle 50s. It was in this atmosphere that the group later known as the 5 Red Caps was born.

While there were vocal groups in all cities with large black populations, in the 1930s many of them flocked to the Los Angeles area because, in addition to niteclubs, theaters, and radio, there were also opportunities to work in films and cartoon soundtracks. Three of these groups had a hand in the formation of the Red Caps: the original Basin Street Boys, the 4 Blackbirds, and the 5 Jones Boys. In 1938, they would coalesce into the 4 Toppers, the predecessor to the Red Caps.




      THE BASIN STREET BOYS

Jean Calloway Steve Gibson, George Thompson, Perry Anderson, and Sam Hutcherson started as the 4 Dots in Lynchburg, Virginia, in the early 1930s. In the summer of 1935, they were added to bandleader Jean Calloway's very successful tour (she probably met them in June, when she was appearing in West Virginia).

Note that Jean clamed to be Cab Calloway's sister (sometimes cousin), but Cab was annoyed enough at his siblings, Elmer and Blanche, for capitalizing on his name; he named Jean (among others), who, he said, wasn't even related to him. An interview with Cab Calloway ran in several newspapers (such as the Minneapolis Star on February 17, 1933). The relevant part was this:

Cab Calloway, the colored jazzmaster, tells me that he never realized what a big family the Calloways were until fame and money came to him via the radio and theater stages.

He doesn't mean the old-fashioned touch. What this suddenly materialized clan borrows from Cab isn't money nearly so often as his name. With racial humor and a grin he itemized the rapid proliferation of Calloways.

"Boy, have I got a family these days! Of course, I knew my sister Blanche was an orchestra leader on her own and my brother Elmer has a band down in Washington. But the ones I know about are just the beginning.

I find I have a sister called Jean Calloway out west and a brother named Dick Calloway down south. There's a Walter Calloway and even a Cal Calloway. Every one of 'em plays 'Minnie The Moocher' as a signature! And to date I know of about 50 cousins."


In spite of this, she continued to advertise herself as his sister for several more years.

ad for the Calloway tour Calloway renamed the 4 Dots the "Basin Street Rhythm Boys", although they had never been anywhere near New Orleans (it was just a more salable name). They were mentioned in a September 20, 1935 newspaper article about Calloway in the Lubbock (Texas) Morning Avalanche. Strangely, the article said, "Their name is associated with the motion picture production 'Murder At The Vanities,' in which they were featured in a novelty 'spot'". However, this movie was released in May 1934, when the Basin Street Boys weren't within 3000 miles of Hollywood, and they aren't listed in the cast (nor is there even a routine in the film that they might have appeared in under any name).

[Note that, on August 29, 1934, Bing Crosby's brother, Bob, recorded his first record: "It's My Night To Howl (parts 1 and 2)". The Decca label credits "Bob Crosby and the Basin Street Boys". Since Gibson's group was still called the 4 Dots in 1934, this has nothing to do with them.]

The Basin Street Rhythm Boys at the Old Country Club Leaving Calloway after only a couple of months (when the tour was in the southwest), they first went to Phoenix, appearing at the Old Country Club on October 5, 1935 and the Shrine Auditorium on October 10 (they sang "What's The Reason", "Tiger Rag", "Rockin' Chair", and "Nagasaki"). Remaining in Phoenix, they had a radio show on KTAR from October 8 to at least January 12 and continued to appear there until May 1936.

After this, they headed for Los Angeles, where they became somewhat famous under their truncated name: "Basin Street Boys". They were so well known that there were reports of them in the Pittsburgh Courier. For example, it was reported in June 1938, that Samuel Hutchinson [sic] went back to Lynchburg to see his sick mother.

On June 13, 1936, they were on a radio show called "Gateway To Hollywood". The June 13 Los Angeles Times said: "Pay strict attention to the Basin Street Boys from New Orleans [which is fairly close to Lynchburg, Virginia]. Unless they try to fancy up their songs too much, they're colossal."

In August 1936, they, and 1500 other acts, entered a talent contest held, over a 10-day period, by a radio program called "California's Hour". The Basin Street Boys were one of the six winning acts and got to perform on the August 10 airing of the show. They were advertised as "the Basin Street Boys, Negro quartet from Virginia".

The original Basin Street Boys In January through March of 1937, the Basin Street Boys appeared on the Mutual Broadcasting System on Wednesdays and Fridays. Then, the July 10, 1937 Indianapolis Recorder reported that they "were signed up last week for a series of coast-to-coast broadcasts over the Mutual Broadcasting System [which don't seem to have happened]. The boys hail from Lynchburg, Va., and may be seen and heard currently in the new Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers picture, 'Shall We Dance'." A photo accompanied the blurb and the members were identified in it. Everything ties in perfectly. The only thing wrong? They claimed the group was the 4 Dots, not the Basin Street Boys. I have no explanation. November of that year found them at the Ten O One Club in Los Angeles and they were at the Tivoli Theater in February 1938.

The original Basin Street Boys Basin Street Boys ad The Indianapolis Recorder reported, on December 11, 1937, that the Basin Street Boys had been signed by Million Dollar Productions to be in a musical starring Ralph Cooper. This would turn out to be "The Duke Is Tops" (re-released years later as "Bronze Venus"). It also had Lena Horne and the Cats & The Fiddle. (And, if you've never seen it, "Duke" has nothing to do with Duke Ellington.) The article said "... they are considered close rivals of the famous Mills Brothers." It also said that they'd been in two 1937 movies: "New Faces" and "Top Of The Town". However, they're not listed in the cast of either film.

In April 1938, they filed a complaint against the Swing-Hi Club in Los Angeles due to non-payment of $100 owed to them. Since it wasn't the first complaint against the club, the labor commission closed it down.

I'm not sure what happened to them after this (Steve Gibson had joined the 4 Toppers [below] in the fall of 1938), but a similarly-named group (probably no relation) appeared at the Old Absinthe House at the New York World's Fair in August 1940. They were not the Basin Street Boys who recorded "I Sold My Heart To The Junkman", but we'll touch on that group a bit later.

There is a single known (and extremely raunchy) recording by this group, which also did radio shows (over KPMC in Bakersfield, California), voices for cartoons, and some films:

Shall We Dance Shall We Dance Basin Street Boys - in The Duke Is Tops ad for The Duke Is Tops ad for Bronze Venus Come John Come
Steve Gibson in
"Shall We Dance"
From "Shall
We Dance"
From "The
Duke Is Tops"
ad for "The
Duke Is Tops"
ad for "Bronze
Venus"
The Racy
Record

Films:

   Swing, Monkey, Swing - 1937 - Columbia cartoon - general scatting and instrument imitating; also part of the "St. Louis Blues" number
   Shall We Dance - 1937 - RKO - Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers - part of the ensemble (along with the Plantation Boys) singing "Slap That
            Bass" with Fred Astaire (however, the only one I can pick out is Steve Gibson; the main singer is Dudley Dickerson)
   The Duke Is Tops - 1938 - Million Dollar Productions (re-released as Bronze Venus) - with Lena Horne - "Thursday Evening Swing"
            (still being shown in black theaters in 1950)
   The Isle Of Pingo Pongo - 1938 - Warner Brothers cartoon - "Sweet Georgia Brown"

Recordings:

   RACY
      HS-422 Come John Come/ (same title on the flip) - 1937

      THE 4 BLACKBIRDS

The 4 Blackbirds A home-grown Los Angeles group, the members of the 4 Blackbirds were Geraldine Harris, first tenor; David Patillo, second tenor; Leroy Hurte baritone and guitar; and Richard Davis, bass. Supposedly they all attended Los Angeles' Jefferson High (from which many great 50s R&B groups would emerge), but it couldn't have been at the same time, since Richard was around six years older than the others.

From the fall of 1934 through January of 1937, the 4 Blackbirds were extremely popular on Los Angeles radio. They appeared on KFI and, later, on KECA. They were part of Irvin S. Cobb's "Paducah Plantation" radio show and were selected to appear on Bing Crosby's very first outing on the "Kraft Music Hall" (on January 2, 1936). Leroy Hurte later said that the group would make around $75 a week from their 15-minute radio shows. Their manager was War Perkins.

Cliff Edwards On February 15, 1935, they got to back up veteran singer Cliff Edwards ("Ukulele Ike") on a single song: "It's An Old Southern Custom". They were supposedly on three others ("Hunkadola", "I Got Shoes - You Got Shoesies", and "I Was Born Too Late"), but I've listened to the first two and there's no group on either. I've seen the movie sequence for "I Was Born Too Late" and I don't believe that it's suitable for a group (but I'd still like to hear it).

On April 23, 1935, David B. Patillo and Geraldine B. Harris were married in Los Angeles. It didn't work out and, on October 11, 1938, David married Odella B. Glass. (How come they all have a middle initial of "B"?) To keep things in the family, Geraldine subsequently married Richard Davis in either 1939 or early 1940. They appear in the 1940 census; he's a Los Angeles night club entertainer; she has no occupation.

In late June 1935 they ("The Mills Brothers Equals") appeared at the Beacon Theater in Vancouver, British Columbia. Their act was called "Modern Minstrels Of The Air".

The 4 Blackbirds On March 3, 1936, they were the featured entertainment at the annual meeting and membership banquet of the Los Angeles Urban League. In April, they were part of the floor show at Frank Sebastian's Cotton Club in Los Angeles. There was a 4 Blackbirds group that appeared at the Apollo Theater in March 1936, but that's clearly a different group.

On September 14, 1936, they ("3 boys, a girl and a guitar") began appearing on KECA, a new High Fidelity radio station. The show was broadcast from Barker Brothers, a store that was introducing the new line of Capehart radio/phonographs (which went for the astronomical price of $400 to $2600 - don't forget, this is in the middle of the Great Depression).

The Los Angeles Times of March 21, 1937 said "The Four Blackbirds are rapidly taking the place of the Mills Brothers for four-voice-and-guitar confections." According to a 1995 interview with Leroy Hurte, the group deliberately copied their songs and arrangements.

A newspaper article claimed that they'd be in Freshman Follies (renamed Start Cheering before release), a 1938 Jimmy Durante comedy/musical, but they don't show up in the credits. (The Internet Movie Database says that dancer Jeni LeGon and the 4 Blackbirds are in studio records/casting call lists as cast members, but I watched the whole film and there were no black acts in it at all; if they were filmed, they were cut.) Another article says that the 4 Blackbirds would be part of Harlem On The Prairie, a black western with Herb Jeffries and the 4 Tones. Unfortunately, there were two groups in Los Angeles called the 4 Blackbirds, and the one in that movie consisted of James Davis, Edward Brandon, Reginald Anderson, and Jack Williams.

By the fall of 1938, however, the 4 Blackbirds had ceased to exist. Richard Davis and David Patillo then joined the 4 Toppers [below] and Leroy Hurte started attending broadcasting school to learn to be a radio engineer. Note that Leroy Hurte would go on to purchase the Bronze label in Los Angeles in 1940.

The 4 Blackbirds made several films and several records.


Memories And Melodies The Music Goes 'Round Basin Street Blues
Memories And
Melodies"
The Music
Goes 'Round"
Basin Street
Blues"

Films:

   Memories And Melodies - 1935 - an M-G-M short featuring Stephen Foster tunes; uncredited. They sing a medley of "Old Uncle Ned",
            "Old Folks At Home", "Ring De Banjo", and "Massa's In The Cold, Cold Ground"
   The Music Goes 'Round - 1936 - Columbia - uncredited. They sing "Life Begins When You're In Love" and "Suzannah".
   Clean Pastures - 1937 - Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoon take-off on Green Pastures - they do "Half Of Me Wants To Be Good"
            and "Swing For Sale", as well as general background singing and imitations of Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, and Louis Armstrong
   Have You Got Any Castles - 1938 - Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoon - "Swing For Sale" was taken from Clean Pastures
   Mother Goose Goes Hollywood - 1938 - Walt Disney Silly Symphonies cartoon - general singing in the "Little Boy Blue" number

Recordings:

   VOCALION (subsidiary of Columbia)
      2895 Miss Otis Regrets/Dixie Rhythm - 3/35
      2943 Moonglow/Black Eyed Susan Brown - 5/35
      2981 Louisville Lady/Basin Street Blues - 7/35

   MELOTONE (subsidiary of Columbia -- backing Cliff Edwards - uncredited)
      13347 It's An Old Southern Custom/[Hunkadola - Cliff Edwards] - 4/35
                  Also released on Perfect 13126 and Rex 8574 (U.K.)
                     (Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards was the voice of Jiminy Cricket in "Pinoccio")

      THE 5 JONES BOYS

The Dixie Cotton Pickers, from Carbondale, Illinois, came west in the mid 30s. Lead tenor Jimmy Springs was joined by William Hartley, Herman Wood, Louis Wood, and Charles Hopkins. (At the same time, there was a more famous Dixie Cotton Pickers, a 12-member group that worked riverboats on the Mississippi River.)

The Dixie Cotton Pickers They first show up at the Sterling Theater in Greely, Colorado in September 1934. From October 1934 through early January 1935, they appeared in Salt Lake City and Idaho Falls, before making a series of appearances in Montana (Great Falls, Butte, and Billings) through February 9.

The 5 Jones Boys Right after that, they came to California and renamed themselves the 5 Jones Boys. The March 25, 1935 Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) said: "A modern, up-to-date vocal group known as the Jones Boys will make its radio debut over an NBC nationwide network and KPO during the Carefree Carnival broadcast this evening from 5:30 to 6. The Jones Boys are in reality a vocal band. Their work is considered to be so distinctively different that they were immediately placed under contract by NBC following a recent audition in San Francisco." The San Bernardino County Sun of the same date added: "The Jones boys, five colored singers, who have taken their cue from the Mills Brothers will be heard on 'Carefree Carnival' today (KFI 5:30 p,m.). They are described as a 'vocal band,' smacking of the instrumental imitations of the 'four boys and a guitar' [a reference to the Mills Brothers]." They ended up being added to the cast of Carefree Carnival, before getting their own show that lasted from August 1935 through April 1937. It was heard over many California stations, such as KFWB and KFRC. (Notice that all three groups I've talked about so far were compared favorably to the Mills Brothers.)

In Napa The 5 Jones Boys appeared at the East Napa Pavilion (Napa, California) on June 22, 1935. They were hailed as "N.B.C. Artists".


The 5 Jones Boys with Duke Ellington At some point, they hooked up with Gene Autry and were on his National Barn Dance radio show and some of his tours. In a January 1936 newspaper article, they were characterized as "real rivals (not imitators) of the Mills Brothers". Later that year, they toured with Duke Ellington (as they did in 1937, after a stint at Los Angeles' Cotton Club). There's a photo of the 5 Jones Boys and Ellington in the December 31, 1936 California Eagle, unfortunately of unprintable quality. It names the members as Wm. Bartley, Helmer Woods, Louis Woods, Charley Hopkins, and Jimmy Spring. I hope Charley was proud that his was the only name they got right!

The 5 Jones Boys The 5 Jones Boys were occasionally part of a syndicated radio program called The Laff Parade, hosted by Ken Niles. One reviewer of a 1936 performance thought that they were actually the Mills Brothers. They made several appearances from 1936 through 1938.

Some Los Angeles appearances: In late June 1936, they opened at the Famous Door, replacing Louis Prima. In December, they were with Duke Ellington, Ivie Anderson, and the 5 Hot Shots at the Paramount Theater. February 1937 found them at Frank Sebastian's Cotton Club (the blurb in the February 26, 1937 California Eagle said that they came from the "coal mines of Illinois"). By May, they'd been added to the cast of "Shuffle Along" at the Lincoln Theater. Others in the cast were Buck & Bubbles, the Earl Hines Band, Ernest "Bubbles" Whitman, Art Tatum, Ralph Cooper, and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.

By October 1938, Jimmy Springs had left to join the 4 Toppers [below]. Since the 5 Jones Boys were still being advertised as late as February 1940, they'd replaced him, but with whom remains unknown. In March 1939, they became regulars on the new "Hollywood Spotlight" radio show, starring comedian Bob Burns. (An October 8, 1939 blurb about the show even used an old photo of the group that included Springs.) Their last mention is being on "Hollywood Spotlight" on February 4, 1940.

The Plantation Boys They were in several films (those from 1936 were all released within three days of each other) and had a couple of records on Variety. In Ali Baba Comes To Town (an uncredited performance) they're part of a black cast that included the Plantation Boys, Richard Davis, David Patillo, guitarist Oscar Moore, Ormonde Wilson (a member of the Plantation Boys, whom we'll meet later on), and two future Delta Rhythm Boys: Clifford Holland, and Carl Jones. The chorus was directed by Leon René and Earl Dancer.

in Can This Be Dixie in Racing Blood The Big Show The Big Show in Hollywood Party in Ali Baba Comes To Town in Ali Baba Comes To Town in  The Canary Comes Across Doin' The Suzi-Q Nagasaki
"Can This Be Dixie" "Racing Blood" "The Big Show" "The Big Show" "Hollywood Party" "Ali Baba Comes To Town" "Ali Baba Comes To Town" "The Canary Comes Across" "Doin' The Suzi-Q" "Nagasaki"

Films:

   Can This Be Dixie -1936 - 20th Century-Fox - provide the "music" while Jane Withers dances -
            they sing "Uncle Tom's Cabin Is A Cabaret Now"
   Racing Blood - 1936 - Conn Pictures (as the Jones Quintette) - "You're So Appealing" and "Lucky Shoes"
   The Big Show - 1936 - Republic (as the Jones Boys) - with Gene Autry - "The Lady Known As Lulu"
   Hollywood Party - 1937 - M-G-M (as the Jones Boys) - "Chinatown, My Chinatown"
   Ali Baba Comes To Town - 1937 - 20th Century-Fox - with Eddie Cantor - part of the "Swing Is Here To Sway" number,
            along with the Plantation Boys, and dancer Jeni LeGon.
   The Canary Comes Across - 1938 - MGM - "Doin' The Atlanta"

Recordings:

   VARIETY
      522 Doin' The Suzi-Q/Mr. Ghost Goes To Town - 4/37
      579 Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch/My Gal Mezzanine - 6/37

   UNRELEASED VARIETY
      Ride Red Ride (recorded December 10, 1936)
      Ol' King Bongo (recorded April 22, 1937)
      Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat (recorded April 22, 1937)
      My Baby's Eyes (recorded April 22, 1937)
      Mammy's Little Angel Chile (recorded April 22, 1937)
      Gonna Pack My Grip & Take A Little Trip Back Home (recorded April 22, 1937)

   RAM RECORDINGS (transcription; as the Jones Boys)
      B-3048 Nagasaki - 1936

   STANDARD TRANSCRIPTIONS (as the Jones Boys; probably all from 1937)
      12th St. Rag
      Anytime, Anywhere, Anyplace
      Bugle Call Rag
      Chinatown, My Chinatown
      Down Home Rag
      Everything Stops For Tea
      Home
      Hors D'ouvres
      How Am I Doin'?
      I Heard
      It's Been So Long
      Love Is The Reason
      Melody From The Sky
      Moanin'
      Mood Indigo
      My Dear
      Rise And Shine
      Rose Room
      Rosetta
      S-H-I-N-E
      Shoeshine Boy
      The Day You Get Away (should be "The Day I Let You Get Away")
      Tiger Rag
      You're So Appealing

      THE JONES BOYS SING BAND

The Jones Boys Sing Band Oscar Moore Leon Rene Leon René, who would later own the Exclusive label (as well as write "When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano" and "Gloria"), put the 4 Blackbirds and 5 Jones Boys together to form a large chorus called the Jones Boys Sing Band. (A "sing band" is a group that uses voices to imitate instruments.) The only one missing from this aggregation was Blackbird Geraldine Harris, but added, at least in movies, is Steve Gibson, of the Basin Street Boys. The guitarist was Oscar Moore (who would later join the King Cole Trio). They not only imitated instruments, but since there were so many voices, they had "sections" of various horns.

75 Voices Supposedly the entire instrumental sound track to Double Or Nothing consists of the voices of the Jones Boys Sing Band, but the few clips I've seen mostly have Bing Crosby singing with a full orchestra. There is a sing band in the movie, used in "The Moon Got In My Eyes", but the voices could belong to anyone (and also included many female voices). There were many newspaper articles about the movie and they all said that around 75 voices were used for the sing band; plenty of room to get lost. Note that in movies they were credited (if at all) as the "Original Sing Band".

This is what the California Eagle of September 5, 1937 said of "Double Or Nothing":

But when Bing Crosby made "Double Or Nothing", they [the 5 Jones Boys] became so definite a fixture as orchestral background that they were engaged to do all the musical effects for the picture, augmented by an all-white chorus of 75 voices and Perkins' Blackbirds. And you can't tell, to save your life, that they are not really an orchestra.

Off-beat rhythms, the effects of muted brass and steel guitars, the richness of tonal quality of a well-formed band are all so perfectly achieved in this picture, Crosby requested that they be used thruout the length of the picture instead of a real orchestra.


I hate to ruin this, but I've heard six of the nine numbers in the film and only two of those ("The Moon Got In My Eyes" and "It's On, It's Off") have a sing band. The others ("Smarty", "It's The Natural Thing To Do", "After You", and "All You Want To Do Is Dance") have a real orchestra.

On November 18, 1937, they appeared on Rudy Vallee's radio show and on March 27, 1938, they (Leon René's "sing band") appeared as guests on George Jessel's radio show. Beginning on May 4, 1938, and for the following three weeks, they had a 15-minute show over station KHJ at 7:00 each Wednesday evening. (If you stuck around until 7:30, you could hear The Lone Ranger.)

Aside from their films, they only made a single record, "Sleepy Time In Hawaii" and "Pickin' A Rib". There was an article in the Pittsburgh Courier on August 21, 1937 noting that "Sleepy Time In Hawaii" was "sweeping the West like wild-fire" (and, it was attributed to the 5 Jones Boys, not the Jones Boys Sing Band). I'm uncertain as to how that was possible, since the group didn't record it for Decca until September 7. However, since both songs also exist (in slightly different versions) as radio transcriptions, the group might have made the song popular on the radio (although I can find only a couple of radio listings for the Original Sing Band, and those from 1938). "Sleepy Time In Hawaii" was sung in the movie She's Got Everything (released in December 1937) by Ann Southern.

ad for Hollywood Handicap The Jones Boys Sing Band The Jones Boys Sing Band The Jones Boys Sing Band The Jones Boys Sing Band The Jones Boys Sing Band The Jones Boys Sing Band The Ram transcription Pickin' A Rib
"Hollywood Handicap" ad "Hollywood Handicap" "Hollywood Handicap" "Hollywood Handicap" "Streamlined Swing" "Streamlined Swing" "Streamlined Swing" Ram transcription Pickin'
A Rib

Films:

   Double Or Nothing -1937 - Paramount - with Bing Crosby and Martha Raye - they may be in the 75-voice sing band
            (they don't appear on-screen, but this is Hollywood and who knows if the people you see are actually doing the singing?)
   Going Places - 1938 - Warner Brothers - with Dick Powell and Louis Armstrong (who introduced "Jeepers Creepers"). The only ones
            I could honestly pick out were Jimmy Springs and Steve Gibson. (The Cats And The Fiddle were also in this film.)
   Streamlined Swing - 1938 - M-G-M - a 10-minute short, directed by Buster Keaton, with only the Original Sing Band - "Pack Your Grip
            And Take A Little Trip", "Swing As You Work", and "Dinah".
   Hollywood Handicap - 1938 - another Buster Keaton-directed M-G-M short, featuring the Original Sing Band - "Rosalie",
            "Pickin A Rib", and "Ride, Red, Ride".

Recordings:

   RAM RECORDINGS (transcriptions)
      B-5607/B-5529 Pickin' A Rib/Sleepy Time In Hawaii - 1937

   DECCA (re-sung)
      1439 Pickin' A Rib/Sleepy Time In Hawaii - 1937

      THE 4 TOPPERS

4 Toppers - 1940 By late 1938, a lot of the lucrative film work was coming to an end and the groups we've talked about were going through a rough patch. As a result, the Basin Street Boys and the 4 Blackbirds disbanded (the 5 Jones boys kept going for a little over a year longer). But four of them decided to keep going: Jimmy Springs (tenor and drums - from the 5 Jones Boys), David Patillo (second tenor and sometimes guitarist and bassist - from the 4 Blackbirds), Richard Davis (baritone and bassist - from the 4 Blackbirds), Steve Gibson (bass and guitarist - from the Basin Street Boys). Supposedly, they picked the "top" members from each group and called the result the "4 Toppers", but that's just another press agent story; it was a common enough group name. (For example, Joe Giordano & 4 Toppers had appeared with Johnny Maitland's Orchestra throughout 1936.)

The first time we encounter the 4 Toppers is in the cast of a Hollywood musical revue called "Shuffle Along Of 1939", which opened at the Criterion Theater on November 10, 1938. It was produced (quite badly according to reviews: the November 19, 1938 Pittsburgh Courier called it "a million dollars worth of talent and two bits worth of staging") by Quintard Miller, brother of the more famous Flournoy Miller (who had written the musical "Runnin' Wild", which had introduced the Charlston).

In December (presumably after the show had closed), they appeared at the Burbank Theater to a rave review in the January 7, 1939 Pittsburgh Courier: "The Four Toppers, a classy and clever singing act, which appeared recently at the Burbank Theatre. These four handsome lads with voices from heaven make a classic of any song. For example they sing Hoagy Carmichael's immortal 'Stardust' in a manner that brings tears to your eyes. They so dramatize their songs that you picture in your mind the exact scene of their song-story. These kids are great. Go and see them whenever they hit your town." (Okay, "voices from heaven" is really over the top, but at least the reviewer liked them.)

at the Trocadero By July 1939, they had wandered north and were appearing at the Trocadero Night Club, in Santa Cruz. Then, it was off to the Suwannee Inn in San Mateo. By October, they'd returned to Los Angeles and were appearing at the Dunbar Hotel.

The October 14, 1939 Pittsburgh Courier mentioned that: "The Four Toppers entertained Count Basie, James Rushing, Helen Humes later in the Baron Moorehead suite of rooms in the Dunbar Hotel." All well and good, but the next paragraph of that blurb will give you an idea of what I go through in researching these articles (it's all [sic]):

Hep! Hep! All you hip cats light up and sit tight while the ink slinging ink piano player weed out the righteous jive on a solid hip cat who beats out the fine mellow swing on his piano. Hip cats, gators, jitterbugs more than five century notes solidly fell into the righteous port of call of this fine City of Angels and glad-handed the Count and his boys as they stepped off the streamlined cross country subways. Chalk the chatter.


If you have the slightest idea what any of that means, I don't really want to know.

at the New Dog House November 1939 found the 4 Toppers at the New Dog House ("The Divorcees' Haven") in Reno, Nevada, before going on to San Francisco, Oakland, and Eureka.


A December 12, 1940 article in the California Eagle not only named the 4 Toppers, but actually got their names almost correct: Jimmie Spring, Steve Gibson, Dave Petillo, and Richy Davis. It even said that they'd come from the Jones Boys, the 4 Blackbirds, and the Basin Street Boys. The article claimed that the four decided to form a group on the set of "Double Or Nothing".

The 4 Toppers appeared in a few films around the same time that they began their recording career. NOTE: From here on, all recordings will be listed in the discography at the end.

From At The Circus From Son Of Ingagi ad for Son Of Ingagi 4 Toppers - in Mystery In Swing with Josephine Pearson Edwards 4 Toppers - in Toppers Take A Bow 4 Toppers - in Toppers Take A Bow ad for Toppers Take A Bow
4 Toppers
in "At The
Circus"
4 Toppers in
"Son Of
Ingagi"
"Son Of
Ingagi"
poster
4 Toppers in
"Mystery In
Swing"
Josephine
Pearson
Edwards
4 Toppers in
"The Toppers
Take A Bow"
4 Toppers in
"The Toppers
Take A Bow"
1950 ad for
"The Toppers
Take A Bow"

Films:

   At The Circus - 1939 - M-G-M with the Marx Brothers - they're included with 96 black voices used in the film. They didn't get credit,
            but their participation was mentioned in the California Eagle of September 14, 1939 as being part of the "Swingali" number
            (however, I can only pick out Steve Gibson).
Toppers Take A Bow    The Toppers Take A Bow - 1939 (in circulation through 1950) - Hollywood Pictures Corp short - "When Do We Eat?",
            "My Dreams Of You", "Great Moon God", "Go Find Somebody New", and "Jump, The Water's Fine". Along with their
            great singing were some waste-of-time sequences with Spencer Williams and War Perkins (which could have
            been used for more numbers). The film was shown in theaters through 1950 and on television in 1955. Note that
            the last three songs I named also have someone (not on screen or overdubbed) playing the vibes. Many
            advertisements called it "Topper Takes A Bow", probably confusing it with the 1937 "Topper" movie.
   Son Of Ingagi - 1940 - Hollywood Pictures Corp - an all black horror film - "So Long Pal" and "You Drove The Gloom Away" -
             the members have some minor speaking roles
   Mystery In Swing - 1940 - Aetna Film Corp - an all black mystery/musical - "Jump, The Water's Fine" and "Let's Go To A Party" -
            they also back up Josephine Pearson Edwards on "You Can't Fool Yourself About Love"

The Ammor records Otis Rene By early 1940 (around the time shooting started on Mystery In Swing), they'd hooked up with orchestra leader Larry Breese to record a couple of sides ("Carry Me Back To Old Virginia" and "Jumpin' Jive") for Otis René's AMMOR label (Otis was Leon's brother). Per Tony Fournier, "AMMOR" was an acronym for Automatic Music Machine Operators Recording, which means that the label's purpose was to sell to juke box operators. It's a very strange name: a nice acronym for a long and clumsy term that no one could possibly have guessed. "Operators" were those who actually owned jukeboxes (usually dozens of them, placed in bars, nightclubs, beauty salons, railway stations, and the like). They were constantly visiting the sites to replace worn out records and load new hits, potential hits, or just discs that they'd been bribed to include.

Steve Gibson's 1940 census record says that he's 25, living in Los Angeles, and is a "singer, musician, stage, screen, studio".

Jan Savitt's 4 Toppers the Miami 4 Toppers The 4 Toppers may have managed to hit the airwaves in the spring of 1940: for example, a WIP broadcast from 9:45 to 10:00 PM on March 12. However, I'm not sure this is them. There was another, white, aggregation calling itself the 4 Toppers (three girls and a guy), that was part of bandleader Jan Savitt's organization. there was another that played in Miami, a third appearing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and a fourth in Asbury Park, New Jersey. There were many, many radio broadcasts in the early 40s, but I'm not sure if any of them are the Los Angeles group.

4 Toppers In July 1940, the 4 Toppers completed a one-year engagement at Larry Potter's Jade Cabaret in Hollywood. This kept them busy when they weren't making all those films. (How they did this, however, is a mystery to me, since they had many other listed appearances in the second half of 1939, including Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and Reno. The actual wording, in the July 20 Pittsburgh Courier, said "The Four Toppers celebrated their first anniversary on Hollywood Boulevard at the Jade Cabaret." I guess exactly what that means is open to interpretation.) They were "soon to leave" for a cross-country tour, ending up on the East Coast. The blurb said that they were part of the cast of "Broken Strings", another all-black movie from 1940, but I've watched the film and they're not in it. (They're neither listed in the cast nor was there anything for them to have sung in the film. If they were filmed for it, their sequence was cut.) The August 17, 1940 Pittsburgh Courier said that they "did such a great six-month engagement at the Hollywood Jade Club that they have been signed for a year." Do you get the feeling these press releases contradict each other?

KBS 62 KBS 76 1941 found them making some transcriptions for the Keystone Broadcasting System, a network of small radio stations. On one of these KBS discs, they reprise two of the songs from their recent movies: "Jump, The Water's Fine" and "You Drove The Gloom Away" (neither is the version that appeared in the film). Other songs were "Jivin'" (the Cats & The Fiddle's "Killin' Jive), "Thursday Nite In Harlem" (the Basin Street Boys' "Thursday Evening Swing"), "Little Jackie Horner", "Great Moon God", "My Dreams Of You", and "Go Find Somebody New" (the latter three from The Toppers Take A Bow, although different versions).

4 Toppers at the El Rio In January 1941, they began a three-month engagement at the Club El Rio in El Cerrito, California. Then, they were at a May 4 picnic given by the Turlock Sportsman's Club at Owen Recreational Park in Turlock, California. One ad for the Club El Rio said that they'd been in the 1939 movie "Stanley And Livingstone". If so, it wasn't as a singing group, but as extras playing "African natives".

4 Toppers In August 1941, they celebrated their second anniversary at the Jade Cabaret. But then they were gone, opening at the Orpheum (Los Angeles) for the week beginning September 24.


Nazarro September 1941 also found the 4 Toppers turning to Nat Nazarro as their manager. Nat Nazarro, Sr. (who was actually a Lithuanian immigrant, originally named Notel Itziksohn) managed many acts in his time, including Pearl Bailey, Pigmeat Markham, Buck & Bubbles, Moke & Poke, and Stump & Stumpy. While he was famous in the trade for collecting a bigger share of the earnings than his acts received, it's also true that he got them excellent bookings (and therefore more money to begin with). He's also renowned for suing his acts and being sued by them. (He's not to be confused with his foster son, Nat Nazarro, Jr., who was a vaudeville entertainer.) Nazarro was the one who got them the booking at Irv Wolf's Rendezvous.

first time at the Apollo The first appearance of the 4 Toppers ("California's Ink Spots") at the Apollo Theater was during the week of October 17, 1941 (along with bandleader Horace Henderson). When the California Eagle (October 16, 1941) announced that the 4 Toppers were going to New York, their names had been amended to David Patello, Richard Davis, Steve Gibson, and James Sprangs. Although the write-up of the show the following week also mentioned them (which made me assume that they'd been held over), they weren't listed in the Apollo's weekly ad. In November, they opened at Irv Wolfe's Rendezvous, in Philadelphia.

Under the heading of "What Can They Do To Totally Confuse Me Now?", there's this from the October 30, 1941 California Eagle: "Beatrice Glass is sitting around looking sulky since her husband, one of the Four Toppers, left for a New York engagement." It took a lot of digging, but I found that David Patillo had married Odella Beatrice Glass in 1938. (Why, then, wasn't she called "Beatrice Patillo" in the blurb?) Presumably they were divorced in the early 1950s and he then married someone named Sarah. The June 18, 1959 Jet had this: "When Steve Gibson's Redcaps [sic] played a New York Cafe date, their bass player Dave Patillo, took a vacation. Reason: his estranged wife, Sarah, has a non-support warrant out for his arrest." Sarah Patillo had started divorce proceedings against David Bowers Patillo on February 5, 1957 in the Bronx. However, since Dave and Odella are buried together, they must have subsequently re-married.

4 Toppers 4 Toppers In January 1942, the 4 Toppers were part of a USO show ("Harlem On Parade") that also featured Ada Brown and Butterbeans & Susie; it was still going in early March. Sometime after that, sensing that the lush times in Los Angeles were over, they relocated to New York and started appearing in clubs. (I don't know when, but eventually they'd relocate again, this time to Philadelphia.) On June 2, 1942 they began an engagement at the just-opened Ship Deck (at the Breakers Hotel) on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, getting top billing by July.

The June 27, 1942 Detroit Tribune had this strange piece: "New York City reports a new twist in something different in acts ... There are four California lads called the Four Toppers who ladle out a mess of cowboy jive and who are receiving the praises from the critics down that way." Cowboy jive???

Billboard singled out Jimmy Springs in their September 12, 1942 issue: "Negro singer now part of the Four Toppers, cocktail combo at Flanders Grill, Philadelphia. He is an unusual singer of much warmth, giving songs feeling and using his whispering sweet tenor voice with good effect on blues melodies. Would be okay as a single in vaude or in night clubs."

In early October, they were at the Flanders Grill in Philadelphia (and, it was announced, they'd been signed by M-G-M to appear in Ethel Waters' next film; it never happened). After appearing at the Jungle Room in Harrison, New Jersey, they settled into the Enduro Club, on Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues in Brooklyn (opposite the Brooklyn Paramount Theater), on Thanksgiving eve.

Beryl Booker Beryl Booker in good comapny At the time they started at the Enduro, and although they still called themselves the "4 Toppers", they'd added a fifth member, a young Philadelphia pianist named Beryl Booker. Her name first appears in a November 27 ad. I can't find any references to her prior to joining the Toppers (she'd only graduated from high school in June 1939). For some reason, she always got separate billing: "the 4 Toppers, assisted by Beryl Booker" or "the 4 Toppers, featuring Beryl Booker". However, she was only with them for around a month before suffering a short illness. This was to have a long-lasting effect on the group.

A young Romaine Brown Romaine Brown follows in the footsteps of Mozart Beryl was replaced by pianist and baritone Romaine Brown, a musical prodigy who played many instruments (viola, violin, bass, tuba, trombone, drums), and had been written up many times, as a child, in the New York Age. Romaine was born in Philadelphia, but raised in New York City. Part of 1932's Music Week in Harlem, and member of the Colonial Park String Ensemble in 1936, he had been awarded a coveted scholarship to Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied the viola under the tutelage of world-famous violist William Primrose. After school, Brown played piano behind the Philadelphia-based Bon Bon Trio, which included vocalist George "Bon Bon" Tunnell, Harry Polk (guitar), and Truman Gibson (bassist). (I don't know exactly when that was, but the May 9, 1942 Billboard said: "Romaine Brown takes over on piano with Bon Bon at Lou's Moravian, Philadelphia.") Home in New York for the school's 1942 Christmas break, he ran into Jimmy Springs, whom he knew somehow. Springs asked him to take Beryl Booker's place on piano "for a few days". Brown accepted, and found the work so much to his liking (and the pay so alluring) that he never returned to the Curtis Institute. (I would assume that there was a tremendous difference between the stage presence of the Bon Bon Trio and the Toppers.) Brown's frenetic acrobatics while tickling the ivories soon became one of the trademarks of the Toppers.

at the Enduro Beryl Booker returned in early January 1943 and her name starts to appear in ads again. In early February 1943, they were still at the Enduro Club (the ads for them stopped in June). Fortunately, the show was reviewed (in the February 13 Billboard) and the members of the group listed: Steve Gibson (electric steel and Hawaiian guitars), Richard Davis (bassist), Jimmy Springs (drums), David Patillo (maracas), and Beryl Booker (piano). The article went on to say that Miss Booker had been ill, but was now back with the group. However, they had decided to keep her unnamed ("unbilled" was the way the article put it) replacement also. Therefore, the "4 Toppers" now had six members. While the reviewer liked Beryl's piano work, he was less than thrilled with her voice. Brown, on the other hand was called a "competent" pianist, but was "more valuable at vocals". The most important thing about the group however, was that "Two boys sport goatees".

Probably not long after this, Richard Davis left and was replaced by bassist Doles Dickens, who had led his own band (the Aces Of Swing), and who, until recently, had been a member of the Eddie South Trio. Beryl Booker didn't remain much longer either, subsequently pursuing a successful career with the Slam Stewart Trio, the Austin Powell Quintet, and her own small groups. Richard Davis would turn up in the mid-50s as part of Sarah Vaughan's back-up trio (and we'll run into him once more in a few years).

The 4 Toppers were now down to a quintet: Steve Gibson, Romaine Brown, Doles Dickens, Jimmy Springs, and David Patillo. Possibly because of turnover, by late February they were only refereed to as the "Toppers" in the Enduro's ads.

      ENTER JOE DAVIS

Joe Davis In July 1943, the 4 Toppers signed with Joe Davis, who would make them a nationally-known group. The legendary Davis started out as a manager, publisher, and vocalist in the 1920s. His few vocal endeavors, for Harmony, Okeh, and Vocalion, were nothing to get excited over, but he soon made a name for himself as one of the first independent producers of what were then called "race" records. He wrote songs, published them himself, and then produced recordings of those songs (by various singers) for such labels as Edison, Ajax, and Perfect.

His first venture into a label of his own was Beacon, started in 1942. Later, in September 1944, Davis entered into an arrangement with Gennett Records of Richmond, Indiana (nearly dormant for the past eight years). Davis got Gennett's allotment of scarce, wartime rationed shellac in return for a sum of money to be used to refurbish the antiquated Gennett pressing plant. (This same obsolete equipment was reportedly purchased by National Records in 1947.) Davis actually got into the record business in order to service juke box operators (those who owned the juke boxes in bars and other public places), who were suffering mightily from the scarcity of new recordings. He reserved 75% of his output for them, up until 1945. National records was started for the same purpose.

However, whatever his purpose, the physical quality of his records tends to be really poor. This is because there was a problem with shellac. Shellac, a binding material used in the production of 78 RPM records, comes from an insect that lives in Southeast Asia. It was mostly processed by India and, because of World War 2, supply channels weren't what they had been. The government never called it a strategic war material, but ended up rationing it to record companies anyway. Thus, although there was plenty of it in the companies' warehouses, the government only let them use a measured amount at a time. This led to companies buying up old records and recycling them. Sadly, records made from recycled materials didn't have the same fidelity or durability as regular production disks. This is what Jay Bruder had to say on the quality of these recordings:

Remember he [Davis] was doing this during WWII and in the immediate post-war years. Because he was a start-up he had no allocation of shellac, so he had to make do with regrind and filler to make his records. Manor, King, Southern and many others used the regrind from the WWII scrap drives which had been stockpiled - because the majors refused to use it. In retrospect the entire effort was terribly misguided. Good thing the scrap drives only lasted for a few years. The material managed to contaminate the pressing stock from approximately 1943 on up until the early 1950s. [As an example,] the first record on King was so noisy that it was impossible to hear the music.

Joe's labels Besides the Beacon label, Davis also used the Gennett, Joe Davis, and Davis logos interchangeably, for what purpose we may never know. Some of the material issued came from old Gennett masters dating to the late 1920s, but most was newly-recorded. Some masters were purchased from other sources, and the Davis labels were able to boast an artist line-up that included Harry James, Maxine Sullivan, Coleman Hawkins, Wingy Manone, and Savannah Churchill.

Joe Davis found the 4 Toppers while they were appearing at the Enduro Club, and invited the group to record for him. Of course, you couldn't just relate something as banal as that in the publicity stories given out to the trade papers. This is how it was reported in the August 2, 1943 edition of the New York Enquirer: "While he [Davis] was rushing for a train recently he heard a bunch of Red Caps harmonizing on the station platform. [This was after the group had changed its name to the 5 Red Caps.] Joe fancied their work and asked them to drop into his office some day. They did, gave another audition and left the place with a five-year contract to record exclusively for Beacon Records." It's quite possible that Davis himself wrote this silliness, but it's the typical type of garbage given out to news media.

It's also possible, however, that the first encounter between the group and Joe Davis wasn't an accident. In 1939, Steve Gibson wrote a song (along with Mickey Castle) called "It's Harlem's Music". That tune was published by Joe Davis. Had they ever met before? Did Gibson contact Davis and ask him to come and see the group? We'll probably never know.

Over the years, the group would record many songs that Joe Davis had written. These included: "After I've Spent My Best Years On You", "Boogie Woogie Ball", "I Learned A Lesson I'll Never Forget", "I'm To Blame", "I Made A Great Mistake", "I Was A Fool To Let You Go", "If You Can't Get Five Take Two", "Just For You", "Mary Had A Little Jam", "Never Give Up Hope", "No One Else Will Do", "There's A Light On The Hill", "Truthfully", and "Words Can't Explain". Davis would issue and re-issue the group's recordings on all his labels: Beacon, Joe Davis, Davis, Gennett, and Celebrity. The tunes from the Joe Davis years had a spontaneity and exuberance that the group's later recordings lacked, even though that excitement would always be present in their live performances.

      FINALLY, THE RED CAPS

dressed as red caps With their new recording contract in hand, the 4 Toppers changed their name to the 5 Red Caps. Jimmy Springs said that the reason was to get around the recording ban imposed at that time by the American Federation Of Musicians (the first Petrillo Ban). No union musician was permitted to make records between August 1, 1942 and November of 1943. The Red Caps name was intended as a cover-up, since all the members belonged to the union and shouldn't have been recording. According to Romaine Brown, they chose the name because it had a catchy sound and it "sounded black", like the "Ink Spots". (Both of these stories are probably true. There was a reason why they needed to change their name and a reason why they chose that one.) The name also reflected the fact that there were now five of them (although that changed almost as soon as they adopted the name). Red caps (the traditional headgear of baggage handlers on trains and planes) were rarely worn by the group (possibly only for some photo sessions, during a show at Loew's State Theater, and in a 1949 movie). However, although it took a while, the ruse was eventually discovered by the union, and the group was fined.

In spite of what I just said, this was in the November 14, 1953 Valley Times (North Hollywood, California): "Steve Gibson, head of the Red Caps, currently starring at the Tiffany Club, adopted their name from the porters' caps and suitcases they used in their now famous introduction number." This seems to indicate that they start their act by wearing red caps (although I'm confused by the word "used", instead of "use").

[In a January 1945 article, Steve Gibson said that they'd adopted the Red Caps name because "Toppers" sounded too high-class and white promoters in the south wouldn't book them. However, several years later, Gibson changed his story: it was to avoid confusion with a group called the "Tophatters".]

at the Enduro - 4/43 at the Enduro - 3/43 The April 9, 1943 Enduro ad claimed that the Toppers ("direct from Hollywood") were in their "23rd Record Breaking Week" at the club.


Their first record The 5 Red Caps first recorded in July 1943, in a four-song session that produced "I'm The One", "I Made A Great Mistake", "There's A Light On The Hill", and "Tuscaloosa". Davis immediately began issuing these, on his Beacon label, in August. Later that month, they recorded: "No Fish Today", "Just For You", "Grand Central Station", "I'm Going To Live My Life Alone", "Don't Fool With Me", and "Mama Put Your Britches On".

The 5 Red Caps' recordings for Davis featured both lively jump tunes and beautiful ballads. (Contrast the frenetic beginning of "Tuscaloosa", complete with barnyard noises, with the ethereal "In The Quiet Of The Dawn".) Ballads were usually led by high tenor Jimmy Springs (a definite influence on future Ravens' lead Maithe Marshall), and up-tempo leads were usually taken by Romaine Brown or Steve Gibson.

Emmett Mathews The Red Caps - 1944 By the time of that first session, or very soon afterward, Emmett "Snake" Mathews ("Harlem's King Of Jazz" as he was called in a 1931 review of a show at the Regal Theater in Chicago) had been added as a sixth member. A second tenor and soprano sax player, he was very well known and lionized on the New York theater circuit throughout the 1930s. He had been the conductor of Charlie Turner's Arcadians, led his own big band (Emmett Mathews and His Orchestra had had four records on Vocalion in 1936), been an MC and singer, and a sideman with Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong. He'd also been in a couple of Broadway musicals (1938's "Sing Out The News" and 1939's "Swingin' The Dream"). Because the soprano saxophone was not a common instrument, his addition gave the Red Caps a unique sound (at least in person; it's rarely heard on recordings). Certainly that rare sax wouldn't be used in the studio as long as the group was trying to fool the union.

Six Toppers They were still hiding out from the union at this point, since they appeared at the Apollo Theater the week of August 27, 1943 as the "Six Toppers" (even though the ad's photo showed a quartet). Only Romaine Brown and Emmett Mathews were mentioned (and Emmett was referred to as a "clarinetist"). The review compared them favorably to the Ink Spots and the Charioteers. If Emmett was, in fact, part of the group at their first session, I suppose it's possible that the six of them called themselves the 5 Red Caps in order to further throw the union off their trail.

Billboard confusion But it's tough juggling multiple identities. The Billboard 1943 Music Year Book (published in September of that year) contained the following:

1. A large ad for Beacon Records. The label they picked to go with the ad was that of "Mama Put Your Britches On" by the 5 Red Caps.

2. A Nat Nazarro ad for the Toppers, showing the foursome of Steve Gibson, Jimmy Springs, Dave Patillo, and Richard Davis.

3. A small biography of the Toppers, listing their members as Steven A. Gibson, James Springs, Dave Patillo, Romaine Brown, Doles Dickens, and Emmett Mathews.

There were six more tunes recorded in September: "I Learned A Lesson I'll Never Forget", "Words Can't Explain", "Boogie Woogie Ball", "Lenox Avenue Jump", "Don't You Know", and "Strictly On The Safety Side". With 16 recordings under their collective belt, they didn't record again for six months.

Still avoiding the union, the Toppers returned to the Enduro in late October 1943. The October 22 Brooklyn Eagle said: "The big news in the borough's night club life is that the Toppers will return to the Cafe Enduro this evening and cut loose with their capers in music and song. This quintet, after a six-month stay at the Enduro, headed for Hollywood, made a picture and now is back to Brooklyn." This was echoed by the New York Age: the Toppers had been to Hollywood to make a movie. But what movie? I'm stumped; there's nothing listed for them in 1943 at all.

at the Enduro - 10/43 The November 5, 1943 Brooklyn Eagle had this about the Toppers at the Enduro: "The Toppers sepian ensemble, are as good as any the city has to offer. Each member of the quintet sings, jokes, jiggles and is gay. You'll like their rendition of 'Pistol Packin' Mama' and 'Yes, Yes, Yes' will give you a good laugh. Romaine, the piano player, is mighty good - so much so that it looks like Maurice Rocco has a heavy competitor." [Boogie-woogie pianist Rocco was famous for standing while playing.] An October 1943 Enduro ad gave at least part of their repertoire: "12th Street Rag", "Pistol Packin' Mama", "Paper Doll", "Cow Cow Boogie", "Brother Bill", and "Jump, The Water's Fine".

Nazarro's ad In late 1943, Billboard published its fifth annual Music Year Book. There were two mentions each of the "Five Red Caps" and the "Toppers" (not the "Four Toppers"). Both of the August releases by the 5 Red Caps were listed, as well as the fact that they recorded for Beacon. The Toppers were the subject of a quarter page Nat Nazarro ad, which showed the quartet with Richard Davis (a photo probably taken in 1941) and called them "bizarre and extraordinary". On the other hand, a (very) short bio listed all the Toppers' current members: Steve Gibson, Jimmy Springs, David Patillo, Romaine Brown, Emmett Mathews, and Doles Dickens. There was, of course, no hint that the groups were the same (and the old photo was probably another ploy to throw the union off the trail). Strangely, the bio claimed that, in addition to "A Day At The Races" (the wrong Marx Brothers movie; they meant "At The Circus") and "Mystery In Swing", the Toppers had been in "Poor Little Rich Girl", a 1936 film starring Shirley Temple. However, the only group song in the film was "Buy A Bar Of Barry's" (a fictitious soap), which is heard as a "radio ad". The unseen group isn't named in the film credits, but they sound nothing like the Toppers (and are almost certainly white; I won't even mention that the Toppers didn't come into existence until two years later).

at the Enduro - 1/44 "I Learned A Lesson I'll Never Forget", released in January 1944, was a big hit for the guys.(it peaked at #3, entering the Harlem Hit Parade chart in February 1944 and not leaving until September). In its review, the reviewer first chides the group for copying the Ink Spots (mostly because the Ink Spots were there first) and then goes on to hint that the Red Caps are just as good. There were three other visits to the national R&B charts that year: "Boogie Woogie Ball", "Just For You", and "No One Else Will Do" (each of which made #10). Their only other hit in that decade was 1948's "Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine" (#21 on the Pop charts). Strangely, as popular as they were as a performing group, they never did particularly well on record. During this time, they were still at the Enduro.

In March 1944, Nat Nazarro had all six of the 5 Red Caps (Steve Gibson, Romaine Brown, Doles Dickens, Jimmy Springs, Emmett Mathews, and David Patillo) sign a new two-year contract with Davis. One of the stipulations of the contract was that Davis owned the name "5 Red Caps".

During the week of March 10, 1944, the group once again appeared at the Apollo as the "Six Toppers" (along with Fletcher Henderson and Gatemouth Moore). The review said "This splendid aggregation of musicians and vocalists is the outgrowth of the former four Toppers of Hollywood fame. Emmet Matthews [sic], the former band leader is a member of this group." It looks like the union still hadn't discovered that the Red Caps and the Toppers were the same group.

That same month, they had four sessions, for a total of 14 songs: "Somebody's Lyin'", "Was It You", "Red Caps Ball", "I Didn't Mean To Be Mean To You", "The Tables Have Turned On Me", "Never Give Up Hope", "Sugar Lips", "Gabriel's Band", "If I Can't Have You", "After I've Spent My Best Years On You", "It's So Good Good Good", "Spellbound", "I'm Crazy 'Bout You", and "I Was A Fool To Let You Go". This frenzy of recording was followed by three more sides in April ("No One Else Will Do", "Thinking", and "Mary Had A Little Jam").

Also in April, the Toppers went into the Atlantis in Brooklyn's Coney Island.

Bon Bon Nat Nazarro, with one eye on the rapid growth in popularity of trios such as Johnny Moore's Three Blazers and the King Cole Trio (which contained Johnny Moore's brother, Oscar, former guitarist of the Jones Boys Sing Band), formed a Red Caps Trio. This consisted of Romaine Brown (piano), Steve Gibson (guitar), and Doles Dickens (bass). The Red Caps Trio would record four songs in October, but would most often be used to instrumentally back up Romaine's old friend Bon Bon Tunnell, who was now also recording for Davis. In April 1944, they kicked it off by recording "Don't Be Angry With Me" and "Can't You See" behind Bon Bon.

In May, the 5 Red Caps recorded a further four tunes: "In The Quiet Of The Dawn", "Thru Thick And Thin", "I'm To Blame", and "Boogie Woogie On A Saturday Night". There would be no further recordings as the 5 Red Caps for a year.

In August, Joe Davis reported that 75% of his output was being sold to juke box operators. He claimed to be giving serious thought to only selling to them. That same month, it was reported that he sought to end his five-month old contract with Nat Nazarro and the Toppers. (The use of the name "Toppers" strengthens the argument that the union still hadn't discovered the subterfuge, and that the group was planning to resume its use someday.) I don't know what this was about, but in spite of some background legal activity, he kept recording the group.

The Red Caps - 1944 ad for Truthfully In October 1944, the Red Caps Trio (Gibson, Brown, and Dickens) recorded "Get Off Of That Kick", "It's Got A Hole In It", "That's The Stuff", and "Monkey And The Baboon". All four, led by Romaine Brown (and the only Red Caps Trio numbers that weren't done as backups), were released on the Joe Davis label in February 1945. They also backed up Bon Bon on "Apple Honey", "Were You Lyin'", "Truthfully", and "Better Stop Playing Around".

The earliest appearance of the 'Red Caps' in October 1944? All six were present when the group played the Apollo Theater the week of October 6, 1944. Presumably the union had caught up with them by this time because they were finally billed as the "Red Caps"; this is the earliest appearance I can find under that name. They were on the bill along with trumpeter Roy Eldridge.

The Red Caps - 1944 The Red Caps, less Doles Dickens The Red Caps appeared at the Loew's State Theater in New York City for a week in mid-November. Around this time, Doles Dickens left the group. I'm not sure if he was at that engagement or not, but the review mentioned that they were a sextet. (There's a chance that, if he wasn't there, bassist Israel Crosby was hurriedly brought in.) Since he was standing at the far side of some of the group's photos, his picture was crudely and unceremoniously cut out of those. When he left, the bass playing chores were taken over by David Patillo.

Phil Moore Four Doles Dickens Quintet Doles Dickens had obviously intended to leave for a while, since he immediately joined the Phil Moore Four in time for their November 24, 1944 RCA session. He remained with them at least throughout 1945, before forming the Doles Dickens Quartet, with releases on Continental and Super Disc in 1947. This became the basis for the Doles Dickens Quintet that recorded for Gotham and Decca in 1949 and 1951 and for Apollo (as the Whispers) in 1950.

Sometime in November, the 5 Red Caps appeared at the Metropolitan Theater in Cleveland. Other acts on the bill were Butterbeans & Susie and Freddie & Flo. A little blurb in the December 2, 1944 Cleveland Call And Post has Jimmy Springs lamenting that, because of show schedules, he was unable to finish watching a movie. However, their press agent screwed up the whole thing so badly that it's actually hilarious:


Jimmy Springs, one of the Red Caps, tried to take in a local movie, but failed after three efforts to see how the picture ended.

The picture was "Three Hours [Over] Tokyo" and "it was good," said Jimmy, but "every time the guy got ready to kill Hitler, I felt a tap on the shoulder and it was time to go back to the show." "I never did see Hitler die," complained the opine Jimmy.

Okay, there was a 1944 film called "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo", but I'm reasonably sure that the press agent never saw it, because I have a whole lot of trouble figuring out how anyone was going to kill Hitler in Tokyo. (And, who but a press agent could use "opine" like that?)

Then the problems started. It was reported on December 2 that Joe Davis had sued the 5 Red Caps. He claimed that he was the sole owner of the name and that they'd agreed not to use it in recording for others. He also sought to legally enjoin them from singing any of the songs that he'd written. The Red Caps, in turn, sued Davis for royalties and an accounting of profits.

Herman Lubinsky at the Savoy session The Red Caps immediately rushed to record for Herman Lubinsky's Savoy label. On December 8, they waxed four sides: "I'm Living For You", "Palace Of Stone", "Nat's Boogie Woogie", and "If Money Grew On Trees". In early December, they appeared in Du Mond's (in Philadelphia), as the Toppers.

The Savoy session sheet has the notation: "Label to be changed to Red Caps if and when litigation over name is terminated in favor of Toppers." There was also a fairly reasonable letter (still in the Savoy files in the 80s) from Joe Davis to Herman Lubinsky, saying that he (Davis) invested a lot of money in promoting a group called the "5 Red Caps" and he doesn't want it to go for nothing. There was no hint in the letter that the group was still under contract to him or even that he owned the name. Since the musicians' strike had ended in November, they were free to record as the Toppers, but Savoy wouldn't want that, as they'd already become known as the Red Caps.

The Red Caps - mid-40s The Red Caps' counter-claim was dismissed by the court in mid-January. Davis's suit was to be heard on January 30 (delayed until February 9), but, as with so many of these suits, no outcome was reported in the trades. As a blow to Davis, someone named Harrison Smith contacted him in December 1944 and claimed that he (Davis) couldn't own the right to the 5 Red Caps name because Smith had written a song for the "Original 5 Red Caps" in 1930 and it had been recorded for Columbia. (While they may have appeared on radio under this name, Smith was wrong. The record was actually released by the "Grand Central Red Caps Quartet".)

at the Howard Theater, Jan 12, 1945 January 26, 1945 found the Red Caps back at the Apollo for a week. This time, they appeared with the Frank Humphries Orchestra and comedian Spo-Dee-O-Dee. Notice that they're bouncing back and forth between the "Red Caps" and "Toppers" names. Not only did they call themselves the Red Caps, but they sang "Boogie Woogie Ball", a song written by Joe Davis. A few days later, he sent a telegram to Steve Gibson (which Gibson refused) to the effect that the group couldn't perform that song (and Davis actually sued the Apollo).

When they'd just closed at Detroit's Paradise Theater, the February 24, 1945 Detroit Tribune had an article titled "Red Caps Still Fighting To Keep Name, Independence". It was pretty much a rehash of the court battle until this point. After closing at the Paradise, they had to fly to New York to appear in court, but the case was adjourned for an indefinite time (as it had been three times already). Strangely, the exact same article was reprinted in that paper's March 31 edition.

at the Club Plantation autographs In February 1945, the 5 Red Caps played the Club Plantation in St. Louis. From there, they went to the Regal Theater in Chicago, for the week beginning February 16 (however, more people went to see the International Sweethearts of Rhythm - an all-girl orchestra - at the competing Downtown Theater). On March 17, they were back at the Club Plantation.

In early 1945, Joe Davis renamed the Beacon label in his own honor. Red Caps releases were now on the "Joe Davis" label, but none achieved the success of "I Learned A Lesson I'll Never Forget". In mid-1945, he started releasing tunes on the "Davis" label. Soon, this had pretty much replaced the "Joe Davis" imprint.

And then, they all made up; the Red Caps signed a new contract with Joe Davis on April 2, 1945.

advertising the Red Caps at the Stable Irish House The 5 Red Caps had a session in May 1945 that gave us "You Thrill Me", "The Boogie Beat'll Getcha If You Don't Watch Out", "My Everlasting Love For You", and "I'll Remind You". Although no longer part of the group, Doles Dickens was present as the bassist. Also in May, they began a long-term engagement at the Stable Irish House in Coney Island. Once again, and for unknown reasons, an ad prior to their opening billed them as the "Toppers", although the May 4 Brooklyn Daily Eagle had a partial photo of the group (David, Jimmy, and Steve) with the caption "The Red Caps, formerly the Toppers, entertain each night at the Stable Irish House in Coney Island".

Seeing that the group had made up with Davis and that he was issuing more Red Caps records, Savoy gave up and released two tunes in May under the "Toppers" name: "If Money Grew On Trees" and "Palace Of Stone." Somewhere along the way, Joe Jackson had been added as a drummer (his name is on the Savoy label along with Steve Gibson, Emmet Mathews, Romaine Brown, David Patillo, and "Jimmy Spring"). Since he's not associated with the group anywhere else, I can't find out anything about him, including how long he was with the group.

There was more recording in June 1945, when the Red Caps Trio (Steve Gibson, Romaine Brown, and Doles Dickens, who seemed to have continued recording with the trio even though he was a part of the Phil Moore Four) backed Bon Bon on "If You Cared For Me", "Again And Again And Again", "Please Think Of Me Sometime", and "Don't Go Back On Your Word".

In July, Bon Bon and the trio waxed ten tunes. Four of them ("I Drove You Into Some Else's Arms", "Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome", "Building A Dream", and "I Just Had To See You Dear") were issued as Bon Bon and the Red Caps Trio. The other six ("Playin' The Field", "Riffin' With The Riff-Raff", "Must We Say Goodbye?", "Heaven Happens Tonight", "Too Bad", and "It Was So Nice Knowing You") were released as Bon Bon and the Park Avenue Trio.

Israel Crosby In August 1945, Bon Bon and the Red Caps Trio recorded "My Dreams Are Getting Me Nowhere" and "You'd Better Stop Playing With Fire". This time, the Red Caps Trio consisted of Steve Gibson, Romaine Brown, and bassist Israel Crosby (who had been with Fletcher Henderson's orchestra and had briefly been a member of the 3 Sharps And A Flat). There's a possibility that Crosby had been the initial replacement for Doles Dickens at their November 1944 Loew's State appearance, but that can't be verified.

With Austin Johnson in St. Louis The October 12, 1945 St. Louis Argus had a photo of the group, taken at the dedication ceremony for the Carr Square Village Y on October 7. They named the members, but got the identification all wrong. The surprise was Clyde Austin, whom I didn't have appearing until early 1947.

After playing the Club Plantation, in St. Louis, on October 26, the Red Caps were booked for another week at the Apollo Theater, this time with the orchestra of Georgie Auld. According to the small blurb, the Red Caps were a sextet, with Emmett Mathews rejoining after a brief illness. They would have been Steve Gibson, Emmett Mathews, Jimmy Springs, Dave Patillo, Romaine Brown, and Clyde Austin..

Walter 'Foots' Thomas November 1945 saw two records by the "Magnolia Five" (all four songs, led by Romaine Brown, had been recorded in September: "It Hurts Me, But I Like It", "Don't Come Cryin' To Me", "If You Can't Get Five, Take Two", and "Ouch!"). This was actually the Red Caps Trio (Steve Gibson, Romaine Brown, and Israel Crosby), augmented by musicians Walter "Foots" Thomas and Reginald Merrill (both sax and clarinet players). At that same session, they did the last Bon Bon and the Red Caps Trio recordings: "I Admit" and "Two Can Play That Game".

Also in November, they were voted the "Best Novelty Possibility For 1946" by the New York Recorded Radio Programs Council. The story about that honor ("one of the most coveted of all awards of its type", which ran in the November 10, 1945 Pittsburgh Courier, had a photo of the group (all five of them) captioned "The Four Red Caps"; so much for fame. (Note that, except for that one article, there's not a single reference anywhere to the "Recorded Radio Programs Council.) On December 7, the Red Caps were off on a cross-country tour with trumpeter Frank "Fat Man" Humphries.

At the Cove Lounge ad for Seems Like Old Times In January 1946, the 5 Red Caps recorded "Seems Like Old Times", "I'm Glad I Waited For You", "I Love An Old-Fashioned Song", and "Atlanta, Ga". In February, they were booked into The Cove (Philadelphia); they were still there in June. Then, at the end of June, they began a 10-week stay at the Martinique Cafe in Wildwood, New Jersey. This was to become an almost-annual booking for them.

the Red Caps Off to St. Louis Extensive travel continued for the group, now sporting a popular stage routine combining singing, playing, dancing, and clowning around. The 5 Red Caps played the national theater circuit, in addition to supper clubs in Miami, Washington, Buffalo, Las Vegas, and Hollywood.


The results of a poll taken by the Chicago Defender (published on April 20, 1946) had the Red Caps as the ninth most popular "specialty artists" (behind the King Cole Trio, the Ink Spots, the Mills Brothers, the 4 Vagabonds, the Charioteers, the Golden Gate Quartet, the Brown Dots, and Lionel Hampton's dance team, "Red & Curley"). Over 100,000 readers had sent in ballots.

The last recordings by Bon Bon and the Red Caps Trio were waxed in March 1946: "There's No One But You", "Without Any Strings", and "Foolishly". These were all released as by the Park Avenue Trio.

[NOTE: Research by Ferdie Gonzalez shows that three other sides credited to Bon Bon and the Park Avenue Trio ("I Didn't Mean A Word I Said", "Regretting", and "Do Anything But Cry, Sweetheart") were actually by Bon Bon Tunnell, backed up by the Park Lane Trio, a white group consisting of Frank Signorelli (piano), Andy Sanella (guitar), and Robert Michelson (bass).]

The 5 Red Caps' final session for Joe Davis was held on March 20, 1946 and only resulted in two songs: "Confused" and "Have A Heart For Someone Who Has A Heart For You". Their contract with Davis was up that same month. If Israel Crosby was still with them at this point, he was soon to leave. Since photos in 1946 Davis ads generally show five members, I don't think that Crosby was looked on as a "real" member of the group. For a long while, David Patillo would assume the function of bassist. While singers and musicians would come and go over the years, the "core group" would be Gibson, Brown, Mathews, Springs, and Patillo.

The Davis album at the Club Plantation In spite of the end of their contract with him, Davis released a 4-disc album in April (on the Davis label). Six of the titles were from 1944 ("I Didn't Mean To Be Mean To You", "Spellbound", "If I Can't Have You", "After I've Spent My Best Years On You", "Red Cap's Ball", and It's So Good Good Good"). The other two were from 1945 ("Thru Thick And Thin" and "In The Quiet Of The Dawn"). April was a busy month: aside from the album, Davis separately issued the two songs from their final session and the Red Caps were back at the Club Plantation in St. Louis.

There are four Davis masters for which I have no recording dates; I mention them here just to account for all the sides: "Don't Say We're Through", "Destination Unknown", and "Pleasant Dreams" (all as the 5 Red Caps) and "I'm Thinking Twice" (Bon Bon and the Red Caps Trio).

It was reported in August of 1946 that the group had invested in a Los Angeles celery farm (of course, the odds are that this is a press agent's fabrication).

At the Martinique While their contract with Davis had expired, ads from May through June (when they were at the Cove, in Philadelphia) and July (when they had started at the Martinique, in Wildwood, New Jersey) still said that they were "exclusive recording artists for Davis Record Co". One reason for this seems to be that, behind the scenes, Davis didn't want to let them go. It got to a point where the Red Caps went to the AFM (the musicians union) to arbitrate. That would take several months.

Murray Weinger Jolly Joyce Jolly Joyce After shedding Joe Davis, they also left Nazarro (in September 1946) and acquired a new manager, Murray Weinger, a New York City businessman and nightclub owner. He began by landing them a lucrative contract with Mercury Records, where they underwent another name change, this time to "Steve Gibson and the Red Caps". At the same time, the Red Caps hooked up with the booking agency run by ex-vaudevillian Samuel "Jolly Joyce" Jacobs (once billed as "The Fat Boy Of Joy") and their quality bookings increased. Joe Davis kept 5 Red Caps' re-releases coming on Davis, Beacon and Celebrity through 1948 (including masters that he would sell to MGM).

The management of the Red Caps now becomes somewhat confusing. A small blurb in the September 28, 1946 Pittsburgh Courier said "The 'Red Caps' opened an engagement at the Ciro Club in Philly as the battle for who's managing them goes on between Nat Nazarro and Jolly Joyce." Murray Weinger is occasionally mentioned as their manager (up to at least 1955), but Jolly Joyce is referred to as "manager-agent" in 1947, and in June 1951, a blurb said that they had a "reunion" with Weinger, who "started them on their way to stardom". While it's possible that Weinger worked for Joyce, I can't find anything to support that. Also, they may have left Weinger and then come back to him.

at Chin's Pagoda at Indian Echo Cave Park On September 14, as the "5 Red Caps", they appeared at Indian Echo Cave Park in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The week of September 23, 1946 found them at Ciro's in Philadelphia, followed by three weeks at the Copacabana (also in Philly). After that, it was Chin's Pagoda, in Buffalo, New York.

The old gang While their contract with Mercury Records was announced on November 16, it wasn't until December 7 (when they were in the middle of a 4-week engagement at the Dubonnet Club in Newark) that the American Federation of Musicians declared their contract with Joe Davis to no longer be in effect. The 3-year Mercury contract guaranteed them minimum sales of 200,000 the first year, 300,000 the second year, and 400,000 the third year (sounds overly optimistic to me).

I'm not sure when he left, but by this point Jimmy Springs was gone (I don't believe that he would be on any Mercury sides at all). His initial replacement was Gordon McKay. Their first Mercury session was held on December 12, 1946, at which they recorded "Bless You" (led by Steve), "You Can't See The Sun When You're Crying" (Gordon McKay and Steve), "Jack! You're Dead" (Romaine), and "San Antonio Rose" (Steve).

at the Twin Bar On December 23, 1946, they began another 4-week stint at Philadelphia's Copacabana; they'd just come from the Dubonnet Club in Newark, New Jersey. From there, they went into the Twin Bar in Gloucester, New Jersey in January. The photo that was used in the ad (and used every time they played the Twin Bar) showed Steve Gibson, David Patillo, Arthur Davy, Romaine Brown, and Gordon McKay. This was probably reasonable at the time, but not in return engagements.

Red Caps - 1947 Ad for Bless You Their first Mercury record, released in January 1947, was "You Can't See The Sun When You're Crying", backed with "Bless You" (which had been a smash hit for the Ink Spots' a few months previously). An ad for the record says that the voices on "You Can't See The Sun When You're Crying" are Steve Gibson and Gordon McKay. This is the only time McKay is mentioned as a member, but it's a portent of things to come in the 50s, when the Red Caps became more of a revolving door than a stable group. By May of that year, McKay, "formerly of the Red Caps", was the vocalist with the Snub Mosley Band. (As far as I can tell, this is the first time anyone used that phrase. It would become extremely common down through the years.)

In February, it was reported that the Red Caps were due to make their television debut on Al Berkman's "Talent Showcase", broadcast over radio station WPTZ (Philadelphia). I'm not quite sure how appearing on a radio station constitutes a television appearance, but it might have been something like a simulcast for the majority of listeners who didn't own television sets.

On February 10, 1947, Romaine Brown's car was demolished near Joplin, Missouri while they were on their way to appear at the Last Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. The accident was caused by a skid on some ice. Fortunately no one was hurt, but touring did take its toll. Fortunately, Steve Gibson was driving alone in a separate car and they all managed to cram into it in order to make the engagement.

Also on the bill at the Frontier was Rudy Vallee. He was so impressed with their act that he wanted them to appear with him at his April engagement at the Copacabana in Chicago. However, they'd already been booked into the Nomad Club, in Atlantic City, for nine weeks. Vallee contacted the Nomad and offered to appear there, at no charge, for a couple of days if they'd let the Red Caps out of the contract. But the Nomad had already begun an advertising campaign, so they couldn't accommodate Vallee. The blurb seemed a little tame for a press agent's flight of fancy, but it probably was.

Part of Joe's ad On March 22, 1947, Joe Davis placed an ad in Billboard that said: "In View of the Fact That I Intend To Confine Most Of My Efforts to My New Latin-American Music Publishing Enterprise, CARIBBEAN MUSIC, I Am Offering for Sale AS ONE UNIT All the Masters Listed Below:". This was followed by a list of a few hundred masters, broken out by artist. From this, we learn that there were at least ten masters by the 5 Red Caps that were never released: "I May Forgive, But How Can I Forget", "If I'm In The Way", "Nothing Is Too Good For You" (7140), "How Can I Forget We're Not Together" (7140), "Lord, Forgive Me!" (7139), "A Rose To Remember" (7139), "Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow" (7138), "My Life Is Empty Without You" (7138), "Why Should The Two Of Us Be Lonesome" (7137), and "You Always Think Of Everything" (7137). Since Davis continued re-releasing tunes that were on this list, presumably there were no buyers. [NOTE: The numbers in parentheses are what I believe the release numbers were intended to be (based on the way they were listed in the Joe Davis advertisement), except that the 5 Red Caps contract lapsed and the releases were cancelled. "I May Forgive, But How Can I Forget" and "If I'm In The Way" don't seem to have been scheduled for release.]

Jimmy Springs' Toppers Jimmy Springs' Toppers Jimmy Springs' Toppers In February or March 1947, Emmett Mathews left the Red Caps to join Jimmy Springs in a new group called the "Toppers". The baritone/guitarist was Napoleon "Snaggs" Allen, who'd been in the Harlem Highlanders and would go on to the Blenders. Long-lost Richard Davis is also there, as well as Austin Johnson (aka Clyde Austin), who had been with the Red Caps for a while in October 1945. The sixth member is pianist Stan Facey. A photo of the same members minus Emmett Mathews, indicates that Emmett was the first to leave (presumably returning to the Red Caps). Of course, personnel in this group probably turned over as fast as that of the Red Caps.

Billy Maples Arthur Davy Earl Plummer In March 1947, the Red Caps (or "Original Red Caps" as they were being billed in many of the ads of the time) were at the Club Plantation in St. Louis. By this time, Gordon McKay had been replaced by Billy Maples and Emmett Mathews by saxophonist Arthur Davy. There's only a single mention of Billy Maples in conjunction with the Red Caps: The September 23, 1947 Pittsburgh Courier said "The Oasis has brought in Billy Maples, formerly leading vocalist with the Red Caps, and his Blue Chips for a run at the Tropical Bar." Maples, a singer, dancer, and MC, had been around for years. At least he was famous enough to not have to put "formerly with the Red Caps" in his ads. However, he was only there for a very short while before being replaced by Earl Plummer.

In April, they began a two-month stay at the Nomad Club in Atlantic City. The personnel were listed as: Steve Gibson, Dave Patillo, Romaine Brown, Arthur Davy, and Earl Plummer (OK, so it was "Roumaine Brown", but they meant well). It was reported that they broke all opening night attendance records.

Red Caps - 1947 Red Caps ad - 1947 Also in April, it was reported that the Red Caps had purchased a "music shop" in Los Angeles. It would, of course, feature all their Mercury recordings. Ho-hum, once again, the press agents had nothing meaningful to do.

Red Caps - 1947 Red Caps - 1947 In May, Mercury released "Jack You're Dead"/"San Antonio Rose". That same month, the Red Caps were selected "Best Musical Group Of The Year" by the senior class of the City College Of New York (several years before I attended that institution of higher musical appreciation). In June, Steve Gibson and "His Original Red Caps" appeared at the Lebanon County Firemen's 25 Annual Convention (held in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania). However, I'm sure the crowd was more interested in the other announced act: The Tumbleweed Caravan.

After that, it was back to the Martinique Cafe in Wildwood for the summer. By this time, Emmett had returned to the Red Caps, although Arthur Davy was kept on for a while. September found them at the Twin Bars in Gloucester, New Jersey. I imagine that they started calling themselves the "Original Red Caps" because of a fear that Joe Davis, who claimed to have the rights to the 5 Red Caps name, would get another group to record using it; however, he never did.

In July, they held their next Mercury session: "You Never Miss The Water Till The Well Runs Dry" (led by Earl and Steve), "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire" (Steve), "Walkin' Through Heaven" (Steve), and "You're Driving Me Crazy" (Romaine).

at the Twin Bar In September 1947, they were back at the Twin Bar in Gloucester, New Jersey. Amazingly, the ad named the members: Steve Gibson, Romaine Brown, Dave Patillo, Arthur Davy, Earl Plummer, and Emmett Mathews. However, the photo showed Gordon McKay, not Earl, and didn't have Emmett.

The next Mercury release was September's "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire", backed with "You Never Miss The Water Till The Well Runs Dry". November saw the release of "Walkin' Through Heaven", coupled with "You're Driving Me Crazy". Also in September, the Red Caps appeared at the Sleepy Hollow Ranch in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.

I'm All Alone For some reason, Savoy released another "Toppers" record in October 1947: "I'm All Alone" (the retitled "Palace Of Stone"), backed with "I'm Living For You". I imagine that the existence of Jimmy Springs' Toppers had something to do with it.

There was another Mercury session in October 1947: "Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine" (led by Steve), "I've Lived A Lifetime For You (Earl and Steve; note that the 78 is mistitled "I'd Love To Live A Lifetime For You" and the 45 had "I'd Like To Live A Lifetime For You"), "Danny Boy" (Steve), and "You Made Me Love You" (Steve and Earl).

In November 1947, it was reported that the Red Caps had been signed to appear in several musical television programs that were being produced by Jolly Joyce and would originate from Philadelphia. The first show was supposed to be televised on December 1, but I don't know if these ever took place. In mid-November, they opened at the Twin Bar in Gloucester, New Jersey. After that, it was the Club Hi-Top in Chester, Pennsylvania. The photo used for that ad was the one with Gordon McKay from early 1947.

One more 1947 Mercury session, this one in November: "I Learned A Lesson I'll Never Forget" (led by Earl), "Little White Lies" (Earl), "Turnip Greens" (Romaine), and "Scratch! And You'll Find It" (Romaine).

ad for Wedding Bells Bourne Label - Courtesy of Paul Ressler On Mercury, the Red Caps scored with the January 1948 release of "Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine", which reached #21 on the Pop charts. It's flip was "I'd Like To Live A Lifetime For You" (whose title should have been "I've Lived A Lifetime For You"). What's important here is that it didn't make the R&B charts at all. The Red Caps were now attracting more of a white audience than a black one. About a year later, Mercury pressed up a promo record for the Bourne Music Company (owners of the publishing rights to "I've Lived A Lifetime For You"). One side featured the Red Caps' version of the song (this time with the correct title) and the other had Eddy Howard's. Each side had the same record and master number as its original.

Red Caps - 1947 ad for Larry Potter's Also in January, the Red Caps began a 4-week stint at Larry Potter's Supper Club in Hollywood. They must have really been appreciated - they were held over for six more weeks. After that, they appeared at Gloucester, New Jersey's Twin Bar, followed by the Nomad Club in Atlantic City.

Toppers at the Hollywood Restaurant Jimmy Springs' Toppers Toppers at the Glass Bar Jimmy Springs' Toppers appeared at the Hollywood Restaurant in Pittsburgh in April 1948; the ad says that the group contains Jimmy Springs and Austin Johnson, "formerly with Gibson's Red Caps". The New York Age of May 29, 1948 said "That group....THE TOPPERS are real show stoppers wherever they appear....and why not?" [dots are theirs]. The Age's June 5, 1948 issue said: "Back at the entertainment fore are the 'Toppers' headed by James Springer [sic]; and 'tis said that they will go places with their style, material and finesse. Watch, and then we will know." On November 15, 1948, they opened at Philadelphia's Club 421. A photo of that group shows a quintet, but I can only recognize Austin Johnson and Jimmy Springs. January 1949 found "Jimmy Springs and his New Toppers" at the Glass Bar in Edwardsville, Pennsylvania (near Wilkes-Barre). (A blurb from January 1954 says that the Toppers are appearing at Gamby's in Baltimore; it's probably not them.)

at the Twin Bar March 15 found them back at the Twin Bar in Gloucester, New Jersey (this time there was no photo accompanying the ad).


The next Mercury release was in April 1948: "Little White Lies"/"Turnip Greens". There were two additional records issued on Mercury in June. One was "Scratch! And You'll Find It"/"Danny Boy", and the other was "Money Is Honey"/"Give Me Time". Note that during the Mercury years, Red Caps Trio recordings were still being released on Davis, Beacon, and Celebrity.

at the Twin Bar The Red Caps started another appearance at Gloucester's Twin Bar on May 24, 1948. They followed Dusty Brooks and his 5 Tones (first time I ever saw "5" in that name). (Think that Dusty's Tones were famous on their own? Think again. The ads for them said "Personally recommended by Steve Gibson of Red Caps fame".) After a stint at the Club Nomad in Atlantic City, they were back at the Twin Bar in June.

The next Mercury session, held in June 1948, produced two tunes led by Steve: "Money Is Honey" and "Give Me Time".

July 1948 found the Red Caps appearing at both Palumbo's and Ciro's in Philadelphia. It was fairly common in those days to have acts double at two clubs.

An item in the August 17, 1948 Miami News actually named their publicity agents: Arthur and Martin Pine of New York.

The Jolly Joyce Agency kept the Red Caps busy. Unlike most of the R&B acts of the day, they rarely played one-nighters. In the late summer of 1948, the agency reported that the Red Caps were booked solid for most of the next 12 months. Their schedule looked like this:

       9/8/48 - Chubby's (North Collingswood, New Jersey) for 4 weeks
      10/8/48 - Larry Potter's Supper Club (Hollywood) for 6 weeks
      11/19/48 - Last Frontier (Las Vegas) for 4 weeks
      12/17/48 - Larry Potter's Supper Club (Hollywood) for 8 weeks
      2/16/49 - Beige Room (San Francisco) for 3 weeks
      3/21/49 - Chubby's (North Collingswood, New Jersey) for 6 weeks
      7/1/49 - Martinique Cafe (Wildwood, New Jersey) for 10 weeks
      9/7/49 - Chubby's (North Collingswood, New Jersey) for 6 weeks

at the Apollo Compare this to the bookings that the Orioles and Ravens were getting during the same period: a week here and there at Chittlin' Circuit theaters (like the Apollo, Howard, Royal, Uptown, Regal), as well as grueling one-nighters all over the country. Not to feel left out, thhe Red Caps did a little of that too; for example, they spent the week of May 13, 1949 headlining at the Apollo, along with Little Miss Cornshucks, the Joe Thomas Orchestra, and Dottie & Sonny.

In 1948, as a result of a recession in the record industry, Joe Davis decided to close down his recording companies. As a result, he both sold and leased masters to MGM, which had been pressing up his records for a couple of years. (MGM bought up old masters because, as of January 1, 1948, the American Federation of Musicians had gone out on strike, not allowing their members to record. Since these were pre-strike masters, MGM could issue them with impunity.) MGM thus released three 5 Red Caps records in the last few months of 1948. One of these was "I Learned A Lesson I'll Never Forget", which Davis specifically requested MGM to issue, in order to compete with the group's re-sung version on Mercury, released in November. (Interestingly, Davis also suggested that "Sugar Lips" be put on the other side, as it had never before been released. This is a rare case of Davis not keeping track of what he'd done in the past, since "Sugar Lips" had been released, on Beacon, in October 1944.)

The Red Caps (along with the Ravens) played the Martinique, in Wildwood, starting on August 1 for five weeks. These acts followed Louis Armstrong at the venue.

Because old masters were fair game to be released during the musicians' strike, Savoy re-issued the Toppers' 1944 "I'm Living For You" (which had first seen the light of day in October of the prior year) in August 1948. This time, it was on Savoy's Regent subsidiary and had the previously-unreleased "Nat's Boogie Woogie" as the flip. The tunes were credited to "Steve Gibson and the Toppers".

In September, when it was slow in the press agent department, the trades reported that the Red Caps were taking dancing lessons to be ready for television and Broadway appearances. They opened at Larry Potter's again on October 8. The ad called them "Mercury Records Musicomedians".

In November 1948, Mercury released the re-sung "I Learned A Lesson I'll Never Forget", backed with "You Made Me Love You".

at Larry Potter's ad from December 1948 at Larry Potter's In late 1948, the group made a film called Excess Baggage, a Rudy Vallee production that featured them as red caps (baggage handlers). Filming took place when they were at Larry Potter's Supper Club in Hollywood. (The November 5 Variety said: "Rudy Vallee shot a television film with the Red Caps at Larry Potter's Supper Club (1)." It's possible that the "(1)" means that it was shot on November 1.) Although it was filmed in color, it was made for television, not for commercial distribution. Press releases always had them making other shorts for Vallee, as well as shorts for a host of others, and movies every time they played the West Coast. There were also countless reports of television programs starring the group. As far as I can tell, none of those ever materialized.

Excess Baggage Excess Baggage was done with Steve Gibson, Romaine Brown, Emmett Mathews, Dave Patillo, Earl Plummer, and Arthur Davy. It begins with a sequence in which they're actually baggage handlers (wearing the customary red caps). They're waiting for a train to come in (and have to wake up Romaine when it finally does). The arriving passengers are a band and the red caps, unloading their instruments, start playing them and imagining what it would be like to be a performing group. The scene dissolves to Larry Potter's Supper Club (the exterior of which is seen during the dissolve). Now dressed in performance uniforms, they do two tunes. "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" is a frenetic rendition led by Earl (with Arthur switching between alto sax and clarinet and "dueling" with Emmett's soprano sax). "Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine" is led by Steve, with assist from Earl. In it, Emmett stands over a cocktail drum and beats brushes together (neither ever touching the drum).

Of course, you couldn't make a film like that without press agents getting involved. This appeared in the April 22, 1949 Philadelphia Inquirer: "When the Red Caps, now at Chubby's across the river, were making their TV movie 'Excess Baggage' for Rudy Vallee they filmed part of it actually meeting a genuine Union Pacific train. They were dressed as porters and must have looked genuine too. At least, a passenger gave Steve Gibson two genuine suitcases to carry, rewarded him with a genuine dime tip." I'm really trying to avoid masochistically looking forward to these ridiculous blurbs. Note that, in spite of all the publicity given the Red Caps for this venture, I can't find a single advertisement for it actually being shown on television.

The January 4, 1949 Film Daily said "Joe Parker, production chief for Vallee, starts second in a series of 12-minute musical shorts starring Steve Gibson and his Red Caps today." This seems to indicate that there's at least one other television short.

On February 22, 1949, the Red Caps began a 4-week engagement at Eddie Leonard's Spa Club in Baltimore (something must have happened to their projected 3-week stay at the Beige Room, in San Francisco, scheduled for February 16). A blurb from that month said that they were making two more movies for Rudy Vallee, but no other titles have ever surfaced. In late March they were at Chubby's (North Collingswood, New Jersey).

At their May 1949 Mercury session, they recorded four songs, all led by Steve: "Blueberry Hill", "I Love You", "Petunia", and "I've Been Living For You" (this was mistitled; it should have been "I'm Living For You"). In late May, they opened at the Martinique in Wildwood. This was probably a short-term engagement; they'd be back to spend the summer there.

June found them at the Blue Mirror (Washington, DC), then the Fawn Club in Philadelphia for two weeks. This was just prior to their summer stay at the Martinique Cafe in Wildwood, New Jersey (along with Eddie Cole's Three Loose Nuts And A Bolt).

June 1949 saw Mercury release "Blueberry Hill", backed with "I Love You". In August, Savoy issued the Toppers' "I'm Living For You" for the third time (on its Regent subsidiary). The flip was "Nat's Boogie Woogie", now renamed "Steve's Boogie Woogie". Aside from the title change, this was the same pairing as they'd released the year before. It was still credited to "Steve Gibson and the Toppers".

Earl and the 4 Blues Also in August, Earl Plummer left to do a solo act; in October, he was billed as "former vocalist with the Red Caps". He'd rejoin the group many times over the years and also be some part of the 4 Blues (I really doubt that he was an actual member). I don't know who replaced him in the Red Caps. The last Mercury release of 1949 was October's "Petunia", backed with the re-sung "I'm Living For You" (mistitled as "I've Been Living For You"). Was it a coincidence that both Mercury and Regent had released different versions of the same song? I really don't know. "Petunia"'s copyright entry shows that it was written by Roller Landis, Mary Barkley, Steve Gibson, and Jolly Joyce; all names, other than Gibson's were pseudonyms.

at the Flamingo ad for Larry Potter's After spending a couple of months at Chubby's (North Collingswood, New Jersey), the "Four Red Caps" appeared, for two weeks, at the Flamingo Club in Las Vegas in November. From there, it was on to Larry Potter's Supper Club, opening on December 1. Considering that the Joyce Agency probably had a full-time press agent working on the Red Caps, the "Four" is interesting. I wouldn't expect it to be a misprint, so it's possible that they were a quartet for a while (their membership was constantly changing anyway). It's possible that Earl Plummer hadn't been immediately replaced.

On December 20, 1949, the Red Caps were one of the guest acts on the "Don Otis Show" (on Los Angeles' KLAC at 7:00 PM). The Trenier Twins were there too, as were Peggy Lee, Skitch Henderson, and Art Lund. The program was broadcast from the Boyd H. Gibbons Company Christmas party. (Gibbons was one of the owners of an L.A. Ford dealership and is credited with helping to launch the political career of Richard Nixon.)

Red Caps - 1950 By the time New Year's Eve 1949 rolled around, they were in the middle of a 9-week stay at Larry Potter's Supper Club in Hollywood. From there, they went to the Blue Room (in Washington, D.C.), followed by six weeks at Chubby's (owned by former boxer Chubby Stafford). Late April found them at The Click (Philadelphia). Then, it was back to the Blue Room in late May.

In early January 1950, they'd had another session for Mercury. "They Ain't Gonna Tell It Right", "Second Hand Romance", "I Wake Up Every Morning (With A Heartache)", "Dirt Dishin' Daisy", "Steve's Blues", and "Let The Rest Of The World Go By". All were led by Steve except that he shares the lead with a tenor (possibly Andre D'Orsay) on "Let The Rest Of The World Go By". Note that "Let The Rest Of The World Go By" is the only Mercury song that wasn't released on a single, although it was part of a 1951 Mercury LP; it's actually a jazzed-up version of "I'm Going To Live My Life Alone" with an altered title.

There were also Mercury sessions in February ("I Want A Roof Over My Head" and "I'll Never Love Anyone Else") and March ("Are You Lonesome Tonight" and "Sentimental Me"). On "Sentimental Me", they're desperately trying to sound like the Ames Brothers. These were all led by Steve.

There was a Mercury record released in each of the first three months of 1950: "I Wake Up Every Morning (With A Heartache)"/"They Ain't Gonna Tell It Right" in January; "I'll Never Love Anyone Else"/"I Want A Roof Over My Head" in February; and "Are You Lonesome Tonight"/"Sentimental Me" in March. At some point in early 1950, Jimmy Springs returned to the Red Caps, but I don't know if he was on any of that year's Mercury recordings.

the Red Caps on stage Red Caps - 1950 A review of their appearance at Chubby's (reported April 15, 1950) gives the personnel as Steve Gibson, Romaine Brown, David Patillo, Jimmy Springs, Emmett Mathews, and Andre D'Orsay. D'Orsay, a lead tenor, whose real name seems to have been William Andre D'Orsay and who also went by the names "Billy Andre" and "Billy Young" (he was mentioned by that name in a 1958 blurb). According to later member Jay Price, Andre would be used if neither Jimmy Springs or Earl Plummer was available (although sometimes Steve Gibson used all three!). After that, they were at the Click, in Philadelphia, before heading to the Sleepy Hollow Ranch in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. I don't know when he left, but by October 1950, Andre was using "Formerly with Red Caps" in ads.

in Destination Murder Andre D'Orsay The Red Caps appeared in the RKO film Destination Murder (released in June 1950), singing "Let's Go To A Party" and "Palace Of Stone" (as "Steve Gibson's Redcaps"). The group in the film was the sextet of Gibson, Brown, Patillo, Springs, Mathews, and Andre D'Orsay (playing the maracas, but not singing). While Emmett's soprano saxophone isn't usually prominent on the group's recordings, in the movie, you hear a lot of it.

While the Red Caps were only in two films, times had changed and this kind of work was becoming rarer. However they had television exposure in the 50s, on the Jackie Gleason Show, Arthur Godfrey And Friends, and The Toast Of The Town (the Ed Sullivan show).

While they were at their annual 10-week summer engagement at the Martinique, there was another Mercury release (July 1950): the really nice "Steve's Blues", coupled with "Dirt Dishin' Daisy". This was to be their last Mercury single.

The Red Caps Peppy Prince The Mercury recordings are a marked departure from their Joe Davis sides. They're more polished, but more restrained and less spontaneous. This was more in line with the bookings they were getting at prestigious white nightclubs (although it seems that their shows were anything but restrained). Most vocals are done by Steve Gibson, Romaine Brown, and Earl Plummer. Their material is a pleasant variety of ballads and jump tunes. During this period, alto sax man Arthur Davy was in the group for a time, as was drummer Preston "Peppy" Prince (who later headed the Peppy Prince Orchestra on the Million Dollar label).

Jolly Joyce ad It was announced in September 1950 that Earl Plummer was joining the Red Caps for one of their engagements at Chubby's, in North Collingswood, New Jersey. Jolly Joyce took out a full-page ad in the September 23 Billboard spotlighting all his best acts. First among them was the Red Caps. However, the photo showed Jimmy Springs, not Earl Plummer.

Red Caps - 1951 Presumably there had been a one-year extension on their Mercury contract, because it didn't run out until November 11, 1950 (when they were playing the Flamingo in Las Vegas). That same month saw them switch to RCA. This move, to the biggest record company of them all, shows the continuing popularity of the group and its potential (sadly unfulfilled) for selling records. Six of their 13 RCA records were released as by "Steve Gibson and the Original Red Caps" (as they'd occasionally been known since 1946); the rest were by "Steve Gibson and the Red Caps".

Red Caps - 1951 Red Caps - 1951 Present at the November 10, 1950 RCA session in Hollywood were: Steve Gibson (vocal and guitar), Jimmy Springs (vocal), Dave Patillo (vocal), Ormonde Wilson (vocal), Romaine Brown (piano), Emmett Mathews (saxophone), George "Red" Callender (bass), Willard McDaniel (a pianist who's credited with being a drummer on this session), and Herman "Tiny" Mitchell (guitar); presumably Callender, McDaniel, and Mitchell were just there as studio musicians (but with the Red Caps, you can never be sure). The songs recorded were "Am I To Blame" and a cover of Phil Harris' "The Thing." These were released in December. One reviewer called "The Thing" an "atrocity" (that's the song itself, not particularly the Red Caps' version.) On the 16th, they opened at Harry Potter's again.

The Basin Street Boys Ormonde Wilson in 1938 Ormonde Wilson, when a high school student in the late 30s, had been part of a popular Hollywood chorus called Ben Carter's Plantation Boys (they appeared with the 5 Jones Boys in Ali Baba Goes To Town and Steve Gibson's Basin Street Boys in Shall We Dance). Later, he was with a group called the 4 Dreamers (including General White, Leonard Bluett, and Carl Jones, all of whom had been members of the Plantation Boys). In 1939, they'd been in the Marx Brothers' At The Circus as part of the "Swingali" number. In 1946, Wilson joined a group called the Mellow Tones (with Gene Price, Rueben Sanders, and Artie Waters). However, to avoid confusion with another Mellow Tones group, they changed the name to "Basin Street Boys", probably as a homage to Gibson's original group. Wilson's was the group that recorded "I Sold My Heart To The Junkman" for Exclusive in 1947 (as well as more than half a dozen other records). They then switched over to Mercury (two records) and were there at the same time as the Red Caps. After having done one final record for Leda in 1950, the group broke up. Note that Wilson was occasionally called Steve Gibson's step brother. That, of course, was something else dreamed up by a press agent (probably somehow playing off the Basin Street Boys name), since Gibson was from Lynchburg, Virginia and Wilson was born in California, growing up in Los Angeles.

On December 22, 1950 (while they were playing Larry Potter's Supper Club), the Red Caps were part of the lineup in a benefit show for the Los Angeles County X-Ray Service Foundation. Broadcast over KFI, DJ Joe Adams also had Louis Armstrong and Roy Milton.

ad for the Chi Chi On February 4, 1951, after Larry Potter's, they were off to the Chi Chi Club in Palm Springs for a month (along with Yvette Dare and her Sarong-Stealing Parrot), followed by two weeks at Chubby's and then four weeks at the Blue Mirror Club in Washington, D.C., beginning March 26.

Peppy Prince The February 1, 1951 session (done in Hollywood while they were at Larry Potter's; the rest of their RCA sessions were done in New York) had the core group of Gibson, Springs, Patillo, Brown, and Mathews. Ormonde Wilson and Earl Plummer were there too, as was drummer Peppy Prince. On that day they recorded: "Three Dollars And Ninety-Eight Cents", "D'Ya Eat Yet, Joe", and "Shame". The first two of those songs were issued in March.

Damita Jo - 1952 Damita Jo and Steve Gibson - 1952 Shortly after this, Damita Jo enters the picture. The diminutive (4'11") Damita Jo DeBlanc (usually misspelled as "DuBlanc" or "LeBlanc") was born in Austin, Texas in 1930. Probably in 1940 (when she and her mother were enumerated twice in the census, both at their home and living with her mother's family), her parents split up and her father (a Creole chef) moved to California. Damita Jo followed him there, attending junior high school in San Bernardino (she was already there in early 1943). and high school in Santa Barbara. In August 1950, she married Thomas H. Smith, whom she would divorce in 1952.

By the time Steve Gibson saw Damita Jo in Los Angeles, she'd already had two records on Discovery in 1950, followed by two more on Recorded In Hollywood. She first appeared at Eddie's Oasis in March of 1950 (along with Nat "King" Cole). She next played the Cougar Club in Spokane, Washington, and then returned to the Oasis in August (this time along with the newly-formed Count Basie Sextet). As her tryout with the Red Caps, she appeared with them for their two weeks at Chubby's in March 1951.

Gloria Smith Kenny [A Jet article from November 27, 1952 claimed that Gloria Smith Kenny, estranged wife of former Ink Spot Herb Kenny, was Damita Jo's sister; however Damita Jo was an only child. (There was an older brother, but he had died sometime before the 1940 census.) It turns out that Gloria was a traveling companion for Damita Jo. When Gloria died, on May 16, 1957, they were still traveling together.]

the Red Caps - early 50s Damita Jo became the Red Caps' featured singer for several years. She and Gibson (who towered over her at 6'4") were married in Miami, probably in November 1953 (it was mentioned in a November 28 article that they were newly-weds). Although she appeared with the Red Caps all over the country, she also both appeared and recorded as a soloist during that time.

On the Red Caps' April 16, 1951 session, Jimmy Springs, Dave Patillo and Ormonde Wilson were gone. "Sidewalk Shuffle" and "I'm To Blame" have Damita Jo, Earl Plummer, Romaine Brown, Emmett Mathews, Steve Gibson, and the mysterious "A. Hawkins" doing vocals. RCA issued the tunes in May. At the time, they were finishing up a stay at Sciolla's Cafe, in Philadelphia.

Vamito? The week of May 15, 1951, the Red Caps ("America's most versatile group") appeared at the Lyric Club in Hanover, Pennsylvania. The ad proudly trumpeted their new singer: "Vamito Jo". After this, it was back to Chubby's. On June 8, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle said: "It's a long way to December 21, but Steve Gibson and his Red Caps, who began their vocal careers at the Coney Island Atlantic Club, will have a reunion with Murray Weinger at Miami Beach, Fla. Weinger started them on their way to stardom." No comment.

There was a June 18, 1951 session, at which the group (Damita Jo, David Patillo, Steve Gibson, Romaine Brown, and Emmett Mathews) recorded "Would I Mind", "Boogie Woogie On A Saturday Night" (a much less frenetic version of a song that the 5 Red Caps had originally done back in 1945), and "When You Come Back To Me". After this, there was their annual summer-long appearance at the Martinique Cafe in Wildwood, New Jersey. "Would I Mind" and "When You Come Back To Me" were paired for a July release. In September, RCA released "Boogie Woogie On A Saturday Night", coupled with "Shame".

Jolly Joyce ad "I'm To Blame" and "Sidewalk Shuffle" received Cash Box's Award O' The Week in their June 2, 1951 edition. Jolly Joyce stuck the whole review into a Red Caps ad that appeared in the June 16 issue.

In the summer of 1951, Steve Gibson made headlines when he rode a bicycle from Fitchburg, Massachusetts to Los Angeles in 45 days. However, this was a country singer by that name who financed his trip by entertaining in cities along the way. Meanwhile, our Steve Gibson was appearing, for the summer, at the Martinique, before heading back to Chubby's the second week in September. In November, they were at Sciolla's in Philadelphia, and then the Lyric Club in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

There were rumors, in the fall of 1951, that the Red Caps were planning to leave Jolly Joyce as their contract with him was nearly up (although Gibson had signed appearance contracts, negotiated by Joyce, for most of 1952).

at Copa City ad for Copa City Copa City On December 21, they began a 2-week stint at the Black Magic Room of Copa City in Miami Beach (which just happened to be owned by their manager [if he was their manager], Murray Weinger). Also appearing was Billy Daniels and the Mary Kaye Trio. They went over so well that their engagement was expanded to 16 weeks and they (along with Daniels) were switched to the Copa's main room (but switched back on February 1). By late February 1952, the other acts at Copa City were Sophie Tucker, Jack Carter, and Tony Bennett.

In spite of the Red Caps having been gone for a year, Mercury issued a 10-inch LP in December 1951 and another in January 1952. These releases are as confusing as most of what goes on with the Red Caps. To begin with, the LP covers have different titles from the labels. The first one has You're Driving Me Crazy in large letters on the cover, but is called Harmony Time With Steve Gibson And The Red Caps on the label. The second has Blueberry Hill in large letters, but Singing And Swinging With Steve Gibson And The Red Caps on the label. Wait, it gets better. There were also two 45 albums (that is, albums containing three 45s each). They have the same titles on the covers that were on the LP labels, but the songs in each don't match the ones on the corresponding LP (and there were only six songs per 45 album compared to eight in each of the LPs). I've listed them in the discography.

On February 28, 1952, they were one of the acts at the Mount Sinai Hospital Jubilee, held at the Miami Beach Auditorium, with Ed Sullivan as MC. Some of the other talent was Tony Bennett, Thelma Carpenter, Jack Carter, Myron Cohen, Gloria DeHaven, Jack Dempsy, Charlie Farrell, Helen Forrest, the 4 Step Brothers, Frankie Laine, Joe E. Lewis, Tony Martin, Tito Puente, Maurice Rocco, Señor Wences, and Henny Youngman.

On March 3, Steve Gibson got to present an award to night club star Sophie Tucker (who was also appearing at Copa City). It was an award of merit and an honorary fellowship given by the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute. She received it for her "outstanding contribution to the betterment of race relations and human welfare". By this time, the Red Caps were, once again, appearing in the Copa's main room. The Miami News of March 8 talked about the Red Caps: "[their] near-show stopping songs are a Copa mainstay". But the end of the Miami "season" was coming and it looks like their last performances were on March 22.

the Red Caps on Ed Sullivan ad for Ed Sullivan the Red Caps on Ed Sullivan Sullivan must have been impressed with the Red Caps' performance, because they appeared on his Toast Of The Town TV show twice within a month. The first time was on March 30, 1952, when they shared the stage with Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, Tony Bennett, and Señor Wences (whom I would probably have liked a lot more than the Red Caps back then). On this show, they sang two songs (titles unknown), one behind Damita Jo, the "little lady of song". The other appearance was on April 27, with opera singer Jan Peerce and, once again, Jackie Gleason. I'm sure there were also bears on unicycles juggling flaming chainsaws, but those weren't listed. As far as I can tell, the Red Caps never again appeared with Sullivan. A clip from the second of these shows has Gibson leading an incredibly frenetic version of "Cow Cow Boogie" (with Jimmy Springs and Emmett Mathews dancing the twist, years before Hank Ballard "invented" it). Romaine Brown (leaping at the piano) and David Patillo are there too. The sixth member is Earl Plummer, who's playing a cocktail drum, but not singing. Unlike their staid performance in Destination Murder, this visual record shows a glimpse of what their night club act must have been like. The song itself is irrelevant (and isn't even particularly well done), but you can't take your eyes off their antics. Without the constraints of the movies or television, they must really have been a dynamite act.

Paul Forrest When he died in April 1992, the obituary for Francis Paul Selvaggio III said that he'd been a member of the Red Caps (under his stage name "Paul Forrest") and had appeared with them on the Sullivan show. Since he was white and played the guitar and vibes, it's pretty easy to tell that he wasn't with them on their March 30 appearance. Since I haven't seen the April 27 show, I can't say if he was there or not.

The Miami "season" was over by the end of March and the Red Caps went back north, appearing at Philadelphia's Club Harlem in early April.

the Treniers, with Henry Tucker Green the Red Caps on stage At the April 1, 1952 session ("I May Hate Myself In The Morning" and "Two Little Kisses"), only Damita Jo, David Patillo, and Steve Gibson are familiar names; Bill Doggett and a studio group full of famous musicians (including Abie Baker, Jimmy Cannady, Buddy Tate, Budd Johnson, Taft Jordan, and Tyree Glenn) did backup. Possibly not on any recordings, but part of the live group at this time was drummer Henry Tucker Green, who had been with the Treniers in the late 40s, and was in and out of them, the Red Caps, and, later, the Romaines. The two songs were issued later that month.

After that, Damita Jo recorded a duet with Big John Greer ("Lonesome And Blue"), released on RCA in May 1952. She'd have many releases on RCA, under her own name, from November 1952 through late 1955. She'd also appear as a soloist on many occasions (such as September 1952's engagement at La Vie En Rose in New York).

In May, it was reported that Steve Gibson and Eartha Kitt were having an affair. Eartha was A Big Deal at this time and the gossip columns were full of reports of all the men she was seeing. Most of them were just plain silly. In May, the Red Caps and Jane Froman were at Bill Miller's Riviera in Fort Lee, New Jersey. From there, it was back to Chubby's, followed by the Blue Mirror, in Washington, DC, before checking into the Martinique from June 30 through September 4.

Billboard's April 26, 1952 edition said: "Group now has three managers, Murray Weinger, Jolly Joyce and Jack Diamond. MCA, however does the booking." Confused?

More interestingly, the May 10 Billboard reported more managerial problems. Jack Diamond, who operated the Martinique (although the club was in his wife's name), sued the group for $7500 in back commissions that were "accumulated over the last three years". Diamond had recently sold the Martinique to the Baker Brothers (who operated a local hardware store and real estate office - you know I can't be making this stuff up, right?). Diamond had opened another Wildwood venue, the Diamond Musical Bar, that would also be booked by Jolly Joyce. The article concluded with "Murray Weinger, owner of Copa City, Joyce stated, is not identified with the management of the unit in any way."

Red Caps - 1952 ad for the Alhambra At a June 2, 1952 RCA session, the old gang is back again: "Wait", "Big Game Hunter", "I Went To Your Wedding", and "Sleepy Little Cowboy" feature vocals by Gibson, Damita Jo, Mathews, Brown, and Patillo. At a session at the end of the month (June 27), Jimmy Springs has also returned. He, Patillo, Gibson, Brown, Mathews, and Damita Jo recorded "Do I, Do I, I Do"; "Why Don't You Love Me"; "Truthfully"; and "A'Fussin' And A'Fightin". In early June, they all appeared at the Alhambra, in Cleveland.

In July, old friend Doles Dickens and his band, the Whispers, were playing at Mother Kelly's in Miami Beach. He was interviewed for an article in the Miami News (July 11), in which he reminded people that he was once part of the famous Red Caps.

On the road Then it was back to the Martinique for the 1952 summer season. During this time (in August), their contract with Jolly Joyce expired and they switched to MCA to handle their bookings. Joyce had $175,000 in advance contracts for the Red Caps, taking them through April 1953 (although, with options, it could extend well into 1954); he'd be collecting agent fees for some time to come. In 1952, Steve Gibson claimed that the group received $3500 per week for appearances ($3000 for a television spot).

Jessie Mae Robinson "I Went To Your Wedding", featuring Damita Jo, was released in July 1952 (backed with "Wait") and was a sizeable hit for the Red Caps (one of only two in the 50s), reaching #20 on the Pop charts (until Patti Page's version trumped them by rising to #1). The song was written by Jessie Mae Robinson, who wrote a few other tunes you might have heard: "Black Night" (Charles Brown), "Blue Light Boogie" (Louis Jordan), "Double Crossing Blues" (Little Esther & Robins), "Ice" (Penguins), "Keep It A Secret" (Jo Stafford), "Once There Lived A Fool" (Savannah Churchill & Striders), "Old Maid Boogie" (Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson), "Rooming House Boogie" (Amos Milburn), "Seven Long Days" (Dinah Shore), and "Sneakin' Around" (B.B. King).

An item in the trades in July 1952 talked about Clyde Austin, "formerly of the Red Caps and Toppers". He was appearing as a single in a Coney Island club. Another act on the bill was Billy Bowen's Butterball Four, which Austin ended up joining that same month. "Clyde Austin" had been with the Red Caps, under his real name of Austin Johnson, back in 1945.

A trade paper blurb in August has drummer Jerry Potter joining the Red Caps. Potter had been with the Tiny Grimes Quintet in 1948 and Bull Moose Jackson in 1950. However, nothing more was ever heard from him in relation to the Red Caps, nor does he turn up in any photos. He'd go on to a long association with Willis "Gator Tail" Jackson.

In October 1952, RCA released "Truthfully" (which the Red Caps Trio had recorded behind Bon Bon many years previously), backed with "Why Don't You Love Me". In November, the Red Caps settled into New York's La Vie En Rose.

ad for Ciro's In December 1952, saxophonist Arthur Davy returned (after a stint with Plink, Plank And Plunk). He was just in time to join Damita Jo and the Red Caps at Ciro's in Miami Beach. On the same bill were Joni James and Jack Carter. The Miami News reported that their stage version of "Cry" "put Johnnie Ray to shame." (According to Jay Price [coming up in a minute], Johnnie Ray actually joined them onstage in Las Vegas to do the song.)

Earl Plummer, who'd been in and out for years, left the Red Caps in October 1952, to go out as a single (he opened at Spider Kelly's, in Philadelphia, in December). That didn't last too long, because by April 1953, he'd formed the Earl Pummer Quartet, also playing Spider Kelly's (and, as we'll soon see, that didn't last long either). That same month found the Red Caps appearing at the Rendezvous in Philadelphia. After that, they played Sciolla's Cafe, also in Philly.

Jay Price and Steve Gibson at the Flame Show Bar A new addition in late 1952 was white baritone, comedian, and dancer James "Jay" Price, who says, "I had been working around Philly for a few years: the 2-4 Club, the Celebrity Room, and any other saloon that would hire me. A friend of mine that owned a record store and also acted as my manager, named Nick Pertrillo, said 'Why don't you go and see Steve Gibson. He's always looking for something new.' I sang, did comedy, and impressions. I went to Lee Guber's joint on Walnut Street in Philadelphia and auditioned. That was on a Saturday night in October 1952. That Monday, I opened with the group at Harry Altman's Town Casino in Buffalo, New York and stayed with the group until 1958." Interestingly, Jay says, "In the early years, Steve may have had a black following, but when I joined the group in 52, I can only think of one black club that we worked with the group, and that was the Flame Show Bar in Detroit around 56 or 57. The rest of the time we worked Vegas, Miami, New Jersey."

Sal Reyes (Note that Jay's cousin, Sal Reyes, was the bus driver for the Red Caps, and ended up marrying Joan Proctor, a later female lead of the group.)

at La Vie En Rose Many papers from early November 1952 have a notice that Steve Gibson's Red Caps are due to open at La Vie Wedz. Not one of them bothered to say where it was. (Actually, it was the best the press agent could do with "La Vie En Rose", which was in New York. They opened there on November 4 for two weeks.) After this, they went back to Miami, to appear at Ciro's. They, Joni James and Jack Carter, opened on December 24. By mid-January 1953, the Treniers had been added to the show. Considering that the Treniers were a madcap show band in the same style as the Red Caps, I can't even imagine how frenetic an evening at Copa City must have been.

In January 1953, RCA released "Big Game Hunter", backed with "Do I, Do I, I Do". In mid-January, the Treniers joined the Red Caps at Ciro's in Miami. Danny Thomas, Dolores Hawkins, and Joel Gray were also on the bill. Nat "King" Cole was added in mid-February.

Steve serenades Damita Jo On March 5, 1953, they were once again part of the Mount Sinai Hospital Jubilee, held at the Miami Beach Auditorium, with Ed Sullivan as MC. This time, some of the other talent was the Barry Sisters, Sid Caesar, Myron Cohen, the DeCastro Sisters, Charlie Farrell, Peter Lind Hayes & Mary Healy, Joe E. Lewis, Robert Q. Lewis, the Will Mastin Trio (with Sammy Davis, Jr.), Jan Murray, Edith Piaf, and Paul Winchell. The Red Caps certainly traveled in good company.

at the Town Casino After the Miami season was over for another year, the Red Caps opened at the Town Casino, in Buffalo, New York, on April 20.

      THE ROMAINES (a digression)

The Romaines - 1953 The Romaines - 1953 In the Spring of 1953, Romaine Brown, tired of the constraints placed on his arranging ambitions, formed his own group, the Romaines. (Although, according to the July 2 Jet, they were originally to be named the "Musical Sky Caps".) They initially included Romaine Brown (bass voice and piano), Bobby Bushnell (a baritone and bassist who had been with the Ben Smith Quartet), Roy Hayes (tenor and guitar), and Henry Tucker Green (drums). By June, Earl Plummer had joined as lead tenor.

While I don't know what their act was like visually (compared to the Red Caps), both groups played the same types of venues.

Jolly Joyce ad Booked by the Jolly Joyce Agency, they spent the summer of 1953 at the Riptide in Wildwood, New Jersey, along with the Treniers. (There was no competition from the Red Caps; their summer-long Martinique gig went to the Four Tunes in 1953.) In September, they checked into the Rendezvous in Philadelphia. In early October, they were at the Lyric Club in Hanover, Pennsylvania, then DuMond's Show Bar in Philadelphia. December found them at the Cafe Society, Downtown, in Greenwich Village, and then back to the Rendezvous.

at the Beachcomber at the Carousel at Andy's at Chubby's In January 1954, when the Romaines were playing the Beachcomber Club in Miami (along with Sophie Tucker and Betty Hutton), booking agent Jolly Joyce wrote to the Miami Daily News to point out that Romaine Brown, Earl Plummer, and Henry Tucker Green had all been members of the Red Caps. (This shows how well-known and regarded the Red Caps were.) The other members were Roy Hayes (guitar) and Jimmy Johnson (bassist, who had replaced Bobby Bushnell by then). In March, they were at the Lyric Club, then the Carousel (Pittsburgh) in April, Andy's Log Cabin in Gloucester Heights, New Jersey in May, followed by Chubby's, in North Collingswood, New Jersey. It was back to the Lyric Club in June and another summer in Wildwood. By August, the bassist was Johnny Eaton, the drummer was Johnny Walker, and tenor sax (and baritone singer) was Earl Edwards, who'd joined around May. The others were still Romaine Brown, Earl Plummer, and Roy Hayes on guitar.

Baby Dee' The May 1, 1954 Billboard, speaking of the Romaines at the Carousel, said that Jolly Joyce had added Baby Dee as a permanent member of the group. "Permanent" was a relative term, however, she was gone by mid-July, when she appeared at the Cotton Club in Atlantic City. Dolores "Baby Dee" Spriggs had been the singer for the Bill Campbell combo, recording for Harlem, Apollo, and Sonora in the 1940s. When she left the Romaines (if she ever really appeared with them), she started recording for MGM Records, having three releases. There were some later records on Amber and Zebra.

The Romaines' first recording session was for RCA's Groove subsidiary, on June 30 1954, although only a single record was released ("Your Kind Of Love" and "Till The Wee Wee Morning"). Therefore, the personnel on these was Romaine Brown (vocals and piano), Roy Hayes (vocals and guitar), Earl Plummer (vocals), Johnny Eaton (bassist), Johnny Walker (drums), and Earl Edwards (tenor sax). Interestingly, RCA released no records by the Red Caps that year.

at Larry Potters' In October 1954, they were at the Chez Paree in Montreal. This was followed by the 31 Club in Wilmington, Delaware and the Columbus Center in Chester, Pennsylvania. Then, it was out to Larry Potter's Supper Club, in Hollywood, in mid-November and the Gold Room of the Hotel Golden Bank Casino in Reno, Nevada (along with that new comedy team, Rowan & Martin). As long as they were out west, they checked into the El Cortez Hotel (Las Vegas) in January 1955.

at the White Elephant at the Rainbow Room On February 20, 1955, they played the Amvets Shobar in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, followed by Andy's Log Cabin in Gloucester, New Jersey for a couple of weeks. In April, they were at the Club Zel-Mar in Philly. It was the White Elephant (Pittsburgh) in June, and back to the Gold Room (Reno) in September, followed by another two weeks at the El Cortez in Las Vegas. In November, they followed the Ink Spots into the Rainbow Room (York, Pennsylvania) and then went to Pep's, in Philadelphia. By this time, Earl Plummer had been replaced by Jimmy Thomas and drummer Johnny walker had been replaced by Frank Shea.

at the Rainbow Room at the Embassy Room They started off 1956 at Andy's Log Cabin, then the Starlight Lounge of the Hotel Riviera (Las Vegas), Pep's (in March), the Rainbow Room (April; followed the next week by the Red Caps), the Zanzibar Lounge in Buffalo, New York (May), the Flame Show Bar (June), and the Club Harlem, in Atlantic City, over the summer. They closed out the year at the Embassy Room in Wilmington, Delaware.

In 1956, they got a contract with Decca, with the help of Harry Mills of the Mills Brothers. Their first session, held on August 9, produced "Soft Summer Breeze" and "Autumn Leaves". A couple of weeks later, on August 21, they recorded "Hold 'Em Joe" and "Ooba Dabba Dabba Da" (a song that borrowed many of its instrumental riffs from other tunes).

at the Zanzibar Lounge at the Town Casino September 1956 found them at the Town Casino in Buffalo, and then at that city's Zanzibar Lounge in November.

The Romaines - 1957 In March 1957, the sextet was at the Mardi Gras Show Lounge of the Golden Hotel in Reno, Nevada. On May 13, the group had its final session for Decca, at which they recorded "When Your Lover Has Gone" and "Satin Doll".

at the Zanzibar Lounge at Tunick's Show Bar In September 1957, the Romaines were appearing at Tunick's Show Bar in Philadelphia. The last appearance I can find for the group was at Buffalo's Zanzibar Lounge in November of that year.

The output of the Romaines was:

   GROOVE
      0035 Your Kind Of Love/Till The Wee Wee Morning - 8/54

   UNRELEASED GROOVE
      Weight Broke The Wagon Down
      Long Time Dead

   DECCA
      30054 Soft Summer Breeze/Autumn Leaves - 9/56
      30122 Ooba Dabba Dabba Da/Hold 'Em Joe - 10/56
      30399 When Your Lover Has Gone/Satin Doll - 7/57

      BACK TO THE RED CAPS

It was reported, in May 1953, that Steve Gibson had written "Struttin' With My Baby", which the group, with Damita Jo in the lead, was about to record for RCA; no such tune was ever waxed. June 1953 found Damita Jo and the Red Caps at the Hotel El Rancho Vegas in Las Vegas. They would return there for most of the month of December.

1954 However, by 1953, a definite trend was visible in R&B and the Red Caps were not following it: the golden age of vocal groups was under way. Still plugging away in the same old style of the 40s, the Red Caps soon found themselves with a dwindling record-buying audience (not that it was ever that large to begin with). Never having achieved the same popularity among white record purchasers as the Mills Brothers and the Ink Spots, the group had seemingly also lost its black audience back in the 40s. Sadly, RCA didn't quite know where the Red Caps belonged. Consequently, through poor material and poor management, the group never succeeded in earning a stable place on the recording scene. However, in person, it was a different story: they were a show band, and, even though you'd be hard-pressed to see the same cast of characters from one gig to the next, they were one of the best at their trade. The Red Caps would remain a hot live act, mostly at white clubs, for many years to come.

Relaxing My own opinion is that the Red Caps made a big mistake abandoning Jolly Joyce for MCA. While MCA was a huge company, they certainly didn't spend a lot of time or money promoting the Red Caps in the trade publications. Jolly Joyce had taken out ads for the Red Caps at least every two weeks to let readers know where they were appearing. There was none of that with MCA. Without Jolly Joyce to book them, the Red Caps didn't play the Martinique during the 1953 summer season; the honor went to the Four Tunes, who just happened to be booked by Jolly Joyce. Since the Red Caps were back there the following year, it's reasonable to conclude that the 4 Tunes just didn't put on the frenetic show that the Martinique audience expected.

at the Sky Harbor Casino In late June and July 1953, the Red Caps, along with Damita Jo (or "Damith Jo" in a June 26 ad) appeared at the Sky Harbor Casino in Lake Tahoe. Also on the bill was pianist/thrush Hadda Brooks.

Andre D'Orsay as Billy Young Remember Andre D'Orsay from the 1950 session? He pops up again in a January 1952 ad for Detroit's Flame Show Bar (as "dramatic tenor, formerly with Steve Gibson's 5 Red Caps") and again in a November 1953 Jolly Joyce ad (although misspelled as "Andrea D'Orsay") which touted him as a single, appearing at Fogarty's Nightclub in Lucerne, Pennsylvania. He was still with Jolly Joyce in 1957, when an ad billed him as "The voice with a heart". D'Orsay had at least two record releases: "Little Fool"/"There's Gotta Be A Reason" (Spotlite 801 - 1953) and "Without You"/"Doomed" (Zoom 102 - 1956). He also called himself "Billy Andre" and "Billy Young", but I'm not sure if any of the Billy Young recordings from the 60s are by him.

Ellis Bartee A November 1953 article talked about the sudden death of drummer Ellis Bartee, 34, who had been with Lionel Hampton and "most recently with Steve Gibson's Red Caps". This is another musician I've never seen associated with the group anywhere else. Also in November, the Red Caps opened at the Tiffany Club in Los Angeles (on the 6th) and were guests on the Jack Wagner show (over KHJ; on the 10th). A November show at the Singapore Lounge in Miami Beach had Jimmy Thomas, "formerly with Red Caps", another performer I can't place in the group. He's probably the Jimmy Thomas who was in the Romaines (close enough to say you were in the Red Caps).

Damita Jo and Danny Trenier ad for Ciro's The Red Caps returned to Miami, starting at Ciro's Cub Room on December 24, 1953 (they and the Treniers alternated from 9:30 PM to 5:00 AM).


On February 17, 1954, the Red Caps were a part of the "Show Of Shows" at the Miami Beach Auditorium. This was a benefit performance for the Variety Children's Hospital. They shared the stage with Georgie Jessel, Carmen Cavallaro, Harry Richman, Frances Faye, and the Treniers. A few days later, on February 21, the Red Caps were part of the Miami Beach Police And Firemen's Benevolent Association's fifth annual all-star show, along with Nat "King" Cole, Christine Jorgenson, Dick Shawn, Larry Storch, Sophie Tucker, Joe E. Lewis, the Ritz Brothers, and the Treniers.

Then, on February 21, there was the Miami Police and Firemen's "Greatest All-Star Show On Earth", with Sophie Tucker, Harry Richman, Charlie Farrell, Joe E. Lewis, the Ritz Brothers, Larry Storch, the Red Caps, and the Treniers.

Once again, Ed Sullivan hosted the Mount Sinai Hospital benefit, this time held on March 4, 1954. The stars were: Dorothy Dandridge, Phil Foster, Jack E. Leonard, Joe E. Lewis, Tony Martin, Al Martino, the Will Mastin Trio, Jane Morgan, the Nicholas Brothers, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Sophie Tucker, the Treniers, and the Red Caps. Named in a March 24 Pittsburgh Courier blurb about how great the show at Ciro's was, were Steve Gibson, Damita Jo, Emmett Mathews, David Patillo, Jimmy Springs, Jay Price, and Ginger Smock (who'll be along in a moment).

ad for the Lake Club In early April, they were at the El Rancho Club in Ridley Township, Pennsylvania. From April 17 through April 24, 1954, the Red Caps were at the Lake Club in Decatur, Illinois. On May 6, they opened at Sciolla's in Philadelphia.

In May 1954, Mercury re-issued "Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine" (to compete with the 4 Aces hit version), this time pairing it with the previously-unreleased "Second Hand Romance". Note that RCA didn't release any Red Caps records in all of 1954 (actually, other than the one in January 1953, there were none in that year either).

Ginger Smock Ginger Smock postcard The July 17, 1954 Pittsburgh Courier gave the members as: Steve Gibson, Jay Price, Ginger Smock, Damita Jo, Emmett Mathews ("Emmett The Snake"), Dave Patillo, Andre D'Orsay (recently returned), and Jimmy Springs. Emma "Ginger" Smock ("The Lovely Lady With The Violin", although Steve Gibson called her "Miss Sweet Strings") had been recently added to the Red Caps roster, along with her electric violin. She seems to have only been with them for a few months (she was reported to have left in July 1954 because "she couldn't get together with Steve Gibson on her length of tenure with the organization"). However, she was then reported to be preparing to re-join them at the El Rancho Vegas in September 1954. Also, since there was a small blurb in the January 20, 1955 issue of Jet that mentioned Ginger Smock with the Red Caps, I guess that she was another one who returned from time to time. (Ginger was one of the few musicians Gibson hired who wasn't also a singer.)

Tom Collier Tom Collier, a pianist, organist, and arranger, was listed as their organist when they played the Martinique in the summer of 1954. He seemingly joined around February and subsequently became their road manager. He was with them at least through December, but by May 1955, he was referred to as their ex-road manager and working for a Washington beer company.

The group was supposed to appear at Chicago's Chez Paree in mid June, but failed to show up since they were held over at the Rancho Vegas. The Chez Paree filed a breach of contract suit and also a complaint with the American Federation Of Musicians. As is usual in cases like this, the outcome is never revealed.

Leon Rene Stan Pat In September 1954, it was reported that Leon René, who had owned the Exclusive label, had been hired as the Red Caps' musical director; Gibson, Springs, and Patillo had known him since the days of the Jones Boys Sing Band. The following month, Gibson retained DJ Stan Pat (WTTM, Trenton), manager of Gloria Lynne, to handle their publicity and promotion (MCA sure wasn't doing it). This was a necessary step: at this point, there weren't many mentions of them in the trade papers. However, they held on to their live-performance popularity: they'd been booked into the Hotel El Rancho Vegas for four weeks, beginning September 8, 1954; they ended up staying for eleven (although I bet more people came to see famous stripper Lili St. Cyr than to see the Red Caps).

Steve & Damita Jo Steve & Damita Jo It took over two years for the Red Caps to get back into the RCA studios. Their next session was on December 17, 1954, when they recorded "Feelin' Kinda Happy", "My Tzatskele (My Little Darling)", "Nuff Of That Stuff", and "Win Or Lose". The session sheet only lists Steve Gibson and Damita Jo, but by this time RCA had generally stopped listing vocalists, so anyone could be present. However, the studio orchestra on this session consisted of Connie Kay, Mickey Baker, Jonah Jones, Taft Jordan, Kai Winding, and Budd Johnson.

ad for Copa City On December 22, the Red Caps opened in the Little Copa room of Copa City in Miami.


Vivian Cervantes Amanda Thigpen In January 1955, Vivian Cervantes, who had been with Phil Moore, temporarily replaced Damita Jo as the group's femme vocalist; Damita Jo was pregnant and due to deliver soon. Jay Price remembers two other performers being with the group for a while during the fifties: singer Amanda Thigpen and drummer/pianist Gerald "Sonny" Brown. A March 1955 blurb mentioned a pianist named Mark Young.

February 6, 1955 saw that year's edition of the Miami Beach Police & Firemen's All Star Show, this year hosted by Red Buttons. Aside from the Red Caps and the Treniers, the cast included George Raft, Patti Page, the Barry Sisters, Joyce Bryant, Louis Armstrong, the Ritz Brothers, the DeMarco Sisters, Jack Carter, Henny Youngman, the Will Mastin Trio, Myron Cohen, Billy Daniels, Joe E. Lewis, and Phil Foster. Do you get the idea that the same people played in Miami every year?

In January 1955, RCA released "My Tzatskele (My Little Darling)" backed with "Win Or Lose". (However, "My Tzatskele" doesn't really translate from the Yiddish as "my little darling"; it's more like "my cute little girl". And that translation, I'm assured by my Yiddish expert, only pertains to someone who is a little girl. If it's an adult, as in the song, it turns somewhat darker: a woman who's spoiled or overly needy. Yes, I know; I read too much into these things and need to get out more.) A January blurb said that Gibson, appearing in Miami, was looking for a replacement for Jimmy Springs ("they say he goofed something like four days in a row"). Make of that what you will.

Leaving Miami for New York, the Red Caps opened at the Cafe Society (Greenwich Village) on March 16. In April, RCA released "Feelin' Kinda Happy"/"Nuff Of That Stuff". However, their RCA releases stubbornly refused to chart.

Steve is arrested In late April 1955, Steve Gibson was arrested after being found in a Baltimore hotel room with a married white woman (they were both charged with adultery). This, for a change, but sadly, wasn't a press agent's invention and even made the lead headline on the front page of the May 7 Pittsburgh Courier. The group was appearing at Sciolla's Cafe in Baltimore at the time. Presumably because of this, Gibson missed an April 27 appearance on the Arthur Godfrey And His Friends TV show, although the rest of the group was present. In spite of this, a blurb in June, when Damita Jo returned to the Red Caps, claimed that she wasn't going to divorce him. (The woman in question, Doris Bowen, got a divorce and ended up marrying Jimmy Johnson, a bass player for the Red Caps.) There was also a Red Caps appearance on the Arthur Murray Party on April 25, but I can't find the exact date when Gibson was arrested.

The day after the Godfrey show, this appeared in the April 28, 1955 Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Illinois): "Ex-Colp Man On Arthur Godfrey Show" (Colp is a small village in Illinois). The single-sentence paragraph read: "Jimmy Springs, adopted son of the late Dr. Andrew W. Springs of Colp, appeared Wednesday night on the Arthur Godgrey [sic] and His Friends television show as a member of the Redcaps [sic], a singing and dancing group."

Damita Jo Red Caps A June 30, 1955 article in Jet magazine said that Gibson had recently increased the Red Caps to 12 members. This gives some indication of how successful the group was, even if their recording career was going nowhere: you can't support that many people if you're not getting big-time work. (However, if you've gained nothing else from this article, you should realize that the "Red Caps" was more of a concept than a consistent bunch of performers; their personnel was constantly shifting.) According to Jay Price, most of the instrumentalists with the Red Caps were also singers, who occasionally would lead a featured song. Jay says that, even though Steve was very strict about whose name would appear in ads (generally only his and Damita Jo's), he always let members take solos.

On America's Greatest Bands On America's Greatest Bands On June 25, while they were at the Cafe Society in Greenwich Village, the Red Caps appeared on the first installment of America's Greatest Bands. Hosted by Paul Whiteman, this CBS-TV program was the summer replacement for the Jackie Gleason Show. Aside from Whiteman's band, the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra was also there. They were back on that show on September 17, along with Les Elgart, Russ Morgan, and Tito Rodriguez. This time, there were 10 Red Caps on stage for "Cow Cow Boogie": Steve Gibson (doing the vocal), Dave Patillo, Emmett Mathews, and Jay Price were the main performers. Behind them were four others in dark suits: saxophonists Frank Heppinstall and Walkin' Willie Smith, trumpet player Gene Redd, Sr., and one other (behind those three), whom Jay couldn't identify, although he remembered that "When he sang he sounded like Billy Eckstine. He worked with us for a short time when we were at Cafe Society in the Village. He was Caucasian." Whoever he was, he added nothing to the performance, just clapping occasionally, jumping occasionally, and looking uncomfortable all the time; he didn't sing. Finally, all the way in the rear, there were two drummers, Bobby Gregg (also white) and the returning Henry Tucker Green, who'd left the Romaines. (According to Jay Price, there was also an occasional drummer named Jerry Rosen.) They then sang "Ain't That A Shame", led by Emmett. Strangely, for that number, there were only 9 on stage; the unknown member didn't appear.

On July 1, 1955 the group opened their usual summer season at Wildwood's Martinique. The Altoona Tribune of July 14 informed us that "Stewart Gibson and his Red Caps" were playing their ninth season there.

In August 1955, old friend Andre D'Orsay ("the voice with a heart") was appearing at the 3 Rivers Inn in Syracuse, New York, along with Johnnie Ray and Guy Marks. As you'll soon see, it's amazing that they didn't include "formerly with Steve Gibson and the Red Caps" in the ad.

Ca. 1955 Frank Heppinstall Ca. 1955 Walkin' Willie Their last RCA session was held on September 23, 1955. On that day, they recorded "How I Cry" and "Bobbin", as well as the Damita Jo solos "Freehearted" and "Always". Present were Ormonde Wilson, David Patillo, Emmett Mathews, Steve Gibson, and Jay Price (in five years with the group, this is the only time he recorded with them). Trumpeter and sax man, Gene Redd, Sr. had been added (he was also an occasional vocalist). As we've seen, there were two drummers: Bobby Gregg (the stage name of Robert Grego), who was white, and Henry Tucker Green. (Jay Price says that Henry Tucker Green and Bobby Gregg would have 15 minute drum "battles" that some patrons loved and others found really annoying.) There was also a second bassist, Jimmy Johnson (a veteran of Chris Powell & the Blue Flames, as well as the Treniers and the Romaines), in addition to Dave Patillo. Two other sax men (who were in and out of the group during this period) were also present: Frank Heppinstall and Walkin' Willie Smith. That means that there were at least 12 members on that session. (Other musicians present, but not part of the group, were: Gene Gilbeaux, piano; Bobby Green, tenor sax; Anthony Ortega, tenor sax; John Grimes, trumpet; and Henderson C. Chambers, trombone.)

The group's last RCA record was November's "How I Cry"/"Bobbin'". Their contract was up that month and RCA didn't renew it.

Another press agent triumph, from October 1955: Jay Price was supposedly chosen "favorite crooner" by the WAC detachment at Fort Dix, in New Jersey. That month, the group lost an engagement at La Vie en Rose, when it was padlocked by the IRS for failure to pay taxes. Fortunately, they were able to slide into Sciolla's, in Philadelphia.

with Sammy Davis, Junior At Lenny Litman's Copa at Sciolla's Sometime in the fall, they played Copa City in Miami Beach. Sammy Davis, Jr. was around and decided to join them on stage. With them was Jeruth "Jeri" Gray, a dancer and husky-voiced singer, ex-wife of saxophonist Wardell Gray. Once part of an act billed as "Jerri Gray, the Satan Doll, and Her Five Devils", she'd recently returned from Paris, where she'd been a night club hostess. (As Jeruth Persson, she'd go on to play the annoying old lady, "Ms Geri" on the TV show Martin.) The Red Caps were back at the Hotel El Rancho Vegas for a few weeks in November 1955, before opening at Sciolla's (Philadelphia) on November 21. January 1956 found them at Lenny Litman's Copa, in Pittsburgh. The blurb said there were nine of them, including Damita Jo and Steve Gibson, but no other names were given.

on Bandstand On January 20, the Red Caps were guests on Bob Horn's Bandstand on Philadelphia's WFIL-TV. (You remember Bob Horn. He hosted Bandstand before it went totally downhill.)


at the Gatineau March 1956 found them at the Gatineau Club in Ottawa. The March 21 Ottawa Journal had this review of their show: "Old fuddy-duddies like myself who prefer the waltz or fox trot to rock and roll may block the ears when Steve Gibson and his lads let loose, but the younger crowd scream with delight. Quite honestly, the Red Caps are a torrid lot, and put on a bang-up show. They have mellow numbers like Great Pretender and Blueberry Hill, but the highspots remain Dig You Later Alligator [sic], Ain't That A Shame, and Four Or Five Times. A drum interlude by Bobby Greggs [sic] socks you right between the teens and twenties. Damita Jo, RCA Victor recording artist, is cute and dark-haired. Her best number is the too-good-for-the-hit-parade Cry Me A River. In dazzling white bouffant gown she makes a pretty picture on stage. Music for dancing is supplied by the Red Caps too. In more restrained fashion, they supply delightfully danceable rhythms."

In mid-April, Romaine Brown and the Romaines played the Rainbow Room in York, Pennsylvania. They'd be followed, the next week, by the Red Caps. After that, the Red Caps hit the Copa in Pittsburgh.

At the New Frontier The Red Caps - ca. 1955 Within six months of leaving RCA, the group had hooked up with ABC Paramount. On April 3, 1956, they recorded "Love Me Tenderly" (led by Damita Jo with barely a group behind her) and "Rock And Roll Stomp" (led by Dave Patillo). "Stomp" is embarrassing; it's possibly something that their supper club audiences would accept as Rock 'N Roll, but no self-respecting teenager would. Those two songs were released in May, just as the group was appearing at the Melody Room in Hollywood. On May 11, Steve and Damita Jo appeared on Zeke Manners' "Rhythm & Happies" show on WCOP.

At Wildwood - 1956 Kenny Mitchell At Wildwood - 1956 At Wildwood - 1956 When the group settled into the Martinique in Wildwood for the 1956 summer season, there were at least nine of them: Steve Gibson, Damita Jo, David Patillo, Emmett Mathews, Bobby Gregg, Jay Price, Earl Plummer, and baritone and bassist Kenny Mitchell. (Jay thinks that the ninth member at the time was Andre D'Orsay.) If you look closely at the accompanying photo with Emmett at the microphone, you'll see that there are Red Caps behind him, Earl, and Steve.

Damita Jo and Jay Price ad for the Platter Party Dance Club A blurb in the trades in June claimed that the Red Caps, along with Damita Jo, were booked solid well into 1957. September 7, 1956 saw them wax "Write To Me" (led by Damita Jo) and "The Gaucho Serenade" (a frenetic offering, in which everyone got a turn at lead). These became a November release on ABC. Also, on September 29, Damita Jo and the Red Caps, along with Gloria Mann, were guests on Clyde Jay's Platter Party, broadcast over WCAM from the Platter Party Dance Club Ballroom in Mt. Ephraim, New Jersey.

ad for Town & Country On November 26, 1956, the Red Caps opened at the Town & Country, in the Congress Hotel, St. Louis. Damita Jo was characterized as the "little spit-fire of song". They spent New Year's Eve at the Copa, in Pittsburgh.

In January 1957, their manager (if he ever was their manager), Murray Weinger, died suddenly from a heart attack; he was only 39. However bad that news may seem, things started looking up when they abandoned MCA and returned to Jolly Joyce as both their booking agency and manager.

ad for the Kresson Manor January 8, 1957 found the Red Caps at the Kresson Manor in Haddonfield, New Jersey to replace the outgoing Dave Appell & his Applejacks. They'd return there on March 20.

On January 22, 1957, they had another session for ABC-Paramount, recording "Story Tellin' Baby" (led by Damita Jo) and the old standby, "Flamingo" (led by Steve Gibson). Then, on February 6, there were "You May Not Love Me" (led by Damita Jo), "Time Out For Tears" (Damita Jo again), and "You've Got Me Dizzy" (with Steve Gibson out in front). "You May Not Love Me" and "You've Got Me Dizzy" were issued in March.

ad for the Sans Souci In February 1957 all the Red Caps (nine musicians plus Damita Jo) appeared at the El Morocco in Montreal. On March 5, they opened at the Blue Sails Room of the Sans Souci in Miami Beach.


In March, it was reported that Jolly Joyce had done so well booking Bill Haley and the Comets into European venues that he was setting up tours for other acts that he handled (including Alan Freed and the Red Caps). The Red Caps were scheduled for three weeks in Paris in September, followed by another three weeks in London. Alas, neither Freed nor the Red Caps ever made it to Europe.

Finally, someone who didn't like the Red Caps. Columnist Herb Rau, writing in the March 7, 1957 Miami News, said: "There was a time when the Red Caps were an outstanding musical aggregation. They still may be - except they've discarded most of their musicianship for unfunny comedianship. It's the old story about everyone wanting to be a comedian - and when five of 'em do it badly (and blue-ly) it can be a horrible experience."

The Red Cats at the Preview On April 11, they recorded four more numbers for ABC: "Disillusioned Lovers", How Will I Know", "I'll Never Cry", and "My Heart Is Home (Crying For You)". These resulted in two records, although only Damita Jo was credited on them. That same month found them at Milt Schwartz' Preview, in Chicago (advertised as the "Red Cats"). On May 25, 1957, the Red Caps appeared on the Jackie Gleason Show on CBS-TV. They were back at Pittsburgh's Copa in June.

Jolly Joyce ad 9/9/57 That summer, Jolly Joyce booked them back into the Martinique Cafe. Then it was on to gigs at Sciolla's (Philadelphia), the Copa Club (Pittsburgh), and the Rainbow Club (York, Pennsylvania). The Joyce agency took out a nice ad advertising all those engagements, but spelled her name "Damito Joe".

ad for Silhouettes Nate Nelson ad for the Martinique There was no further recording until September 13, 1957, when they did a cover of the Rays' "Silhouettes". The lead on this song was Nate Nelson (current lead of the Decca Flamingos), whom Steve Gibson brought in specifically for the session. This was done, according to Jay Price, to have a "teenage sound", which no one else in the group at the time was capable of. (The Flamingos had been appearing with the Red Caps at the Martinique that summer, so Gibson had a chance to assess Nate Nelson's voice.) Nelson never appeared with them and newly-added high tenor George Tindley (former lead of the Dreams on Savoy) sang the tune at appearances. The song was issued that same month, with (fittingly) "Flamingo" as the flip. "Silhouettes", although a national Pop chart hit (#63), would be the last song recorded for ABC.

Also in September, the Red Caps, with Damita Jo, appeared at Pittsburgh's Copa for a week. They did three shows nightly, four on Saturday and Sunday. In November, they played the Surf Club in Baltimore.

On December 20, 1957, the Red Caps, with Damita Jo, began a 10-week engagement at the Casanova Room of the new Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach. It was their sixth winter season in Miami. A January 23, 1958 blurb in the Miami News had the interesting headline "Red Cap [sic] Toppers At Deauville". It actually had nothing to do with their 4 Toppers history, just meaning that they were the featured act there.

In January 1958, the Red Caps were part of the United Cerebral Palsy telethon at the Miami Beach Municipal Auditorium. They appeared along with Sammy Kaye, Lord Flea, Tito Puente, the Bell Boys, the Treniers, Connie Boswell, Georgia Gibbs, Don Rickels, Rip Taylor, Jerry Lester, and Dick Shawn.

But all wasn't happiness: Damita Jo filed for divorce from Steve Gibson in March 1958 (it wouldn't become final until April 1961). However, she remained with the group until sometime in 1959, since there were contractual obligations for appearances. For example, she and the group were at New York's Basin Street East in late May.

ad for the Celebrity Room A March 1958 ad for the Celebrity Room in Philadelphia listed all the members of the Red Caps: Steve Gibson, Romaine Brown, Dave Padillo [sic], Emmet [sic] Mathews, Jay Price, Earl Plummer, Bobby Gregg, and Van Horn. (Jay Price says that this was Steve Gibson's nickname for Frank Heppinstall.) Also appearing with the group was singer/comedian Lillian Fitzgerald (nicknamed the "Sepia Betty Hutton"), who had once been with Duke Ellington. While she was only there for a few weeks, it was long enough for her to be able to append "formerly with the Red Caps" to her name from then on.

At the Northern Lounge In April 1958, the Red Caps appeared at the Northern Lounge at Northern Lights Shoppers City, in Baden, Pennsylvania. It's possible that Steve wasn't with them, because the April 7 New York Daily News said "Steve Gibson, leader of the Red Caps music group, in a Philadelphia hospital for surgery." Nothing else was specified. In June, they were at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City.

Lillian and Barbara Randolph Barbara Randolph at Andy's Around April 1958, the Red Caps added two female singers, but this time with a twist. One of them was Lillian Randolph, who had played "Madam Queen" on Amos N Andy, "Birdie", the maid, on The Great Gildersleeve, and Beulah. (She was the younger sister of actress Amanda Randolph.) According to Jay Price, Lillian sang somewhat risqué Sophie Tucker-type songs. The other singer was 15-year-old Barbara Ann Sanders, who had been in the movie Bright Road with Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte. The twist is that Barbara was Lillian's adopted daughter. While they only remained with the Red Caps for a couple of months (Lillian's name only appears in two Red Caps ads - for Andy's Log Cabin - on May 28 and 29, 1958), Barbara went on to greater fame as "Barbara Randolph". In 1964, she replaced Zola Taylor in the Platters (and led "Hard Hearted Hannah", the last song the Platters ever recorded for Mercury). After that, she became a Motown soloist, although she would periodically return to the Red Caps.

Note that it's common to read that Steve Gibson and Lillian Randolph were siblings and that Steve is Barbara's uncle. However, Steve and Lillian weren't related at all. Jay Price says that they always joked around and referred to each other as "brother" and "sister". (And, affectionately, Barbara would call Steve "uncle".) Presumably this all started with a little blurb in Major Robinson's gossip column in Jet magazine (December 31, 1953) that said Lillian Randolph received a gift of a Jaguar automobile from her brother, Steve Gibson. The most important thing to remember here is that Major Robinson would print anything that was given to him (or even hinted at) without any verification whatsoever. (Steven Argusta Gibson's death record shows that he was born October 12, 1914. In 1910, Lillian's mother was around 50, far too old to have given birth to Steve in 1914.) In late 1940, both the 4 Toppers and Lillian Randolph appeared at the Jade Cabaret in Hollywood; it's possible that's where they met. Actually, Steve did have a sister: Maude Gibson. According to Jay, Maude, who was unmarried, traveled around with the Red Caps.

ad for Andy's Log Cabin At the Elwood Moose Lodge Kenny Mitchell Duo The Allegros When Jay Price left the Red Caps in May 1958 (after a gig at Andy's Log Cabin in Gloucester Heights, New Jersey), the vocalists were Steve Gibson, Damita Jo, Dave Patillo, George Tindley, and Emmett Mathews. The musicians included drummers Bobby Gregg and Henry Tucker Green; the sax men were Frank Heppinstall ("formerly a member of Steve Gibson's Red Caps", who would have his own combo, the Allegros, by August) and Gene Redd. There was also baritone and bassist Kenny Mitchell, who would soon leave to form the Kenny Mitchell Duo with pianist Kenny Kyle ("formerly with Steve Gibson's Red Caps" read his December ads). While Tindley had been brought on board to replace Jimmy Springs, Springs would soon return as an addition to the group.

At the Crescendo Jay Price appears Jay Price says that Steve Gibson "was a good boss". However, he didn't pay his performers a lot of money (except for the core: Patillo, Springs, Mathews, and Brown) and the only names that people were supposed to know were "Steve Gibson", "Damita Jo", and the "Red Caps". This might account for the huge turnover in the group over the years. Sometimes, however, club owners slipped up and, in an ad for the Crescendo, Jay's name was set in type as large as that of the Red Caps. Gibson was not amused. Jay went on to say that Steve was "a likeable, nice guy; everybody knew him". And, he was "one of the smartest guys I've ever seen. He wasn't that great a guitarist or singer, but he knew how to surround himself with people who were terrific." Speaking of the turnover, Jay said that "A lot wouldn't stay because of the money." While he was young and having a good time, the older performers were "there for the money". And the money was hard-earned: while they didn't do the one-nighters that most groups had to endure, they would play seven days a week, possibly six shows a night (alternating between a venue's large room and smaller room), for weeks (if not months) on end (and, in some places, matinee shows on the weekends). "I used to beg for time off", said Jay. By late June 1968, the Frank Brent Quartet, featuring Jay Price, "former main attraction with Steve Gibson's Red Caps", was playing at the Cove in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

Vance Wilson Vance Wilson (who had been with Chris Powell's Blue Flames – he's the sax "lead voice" heard on the Johnny Echo records) was playing with an 18-piece band when the Red Caps rolled into Philadelphia to play at the Uptown Theater. It turned out that they needed a saxophone player at the time (to replace Frank Heppinstall) and someone suggested Vance. After giving his two-week notice to the band, Vance joined the Red Caps, who were: Steve Gibson, Emmett Mathews, Dave Patillo, Jimmy Springs, Bobby Gregg, and George Tindley.

The Red Caps were slated to appear at the Flamingo Room, Hazleton, Pennsylvania on June 5. Also appearing with them, was their singer, "Damiti Joe". Fame is so fickle! Later that month, Hazleton was home to the Kel Trio, featuring Earl Plummer, "former vocalist with Steve Gibson's Red Caps". When I started this article, decades ago, I never guessed how well-known and influential the Red Caps were.

The Red Caps' bus They spent what was touted as their "twelfth consecutive summer season" at the Martinique. I guess someone forgot that they hadn't been there in 1953. However, their stay was cut short by a fire, on July 31, that did an estimated $80,000 worth of damage, and destroyed $7,000 of musicians' instruments (possibly some belonging to the Red Caps).

those red suits According to Jay Price, the Red Caps, along with Bill Haley & the Comets and Dave Appell & the Applejacks were chosen for the filming of the color pilot of American Bandstand (with the Red Caps wearing their red suits). [This was actually a failed attempt to have the show broadcast in color. Color equipment was very large, so only a single camera would fit in the studio, instead of the three black and white ones they'd been using. Also, the ABC network refused to carry the signal, so the whole project was abandoned after two weeks. The show wouldn't be broadcast in color until 1967.] Earl Plummer was back with the group for this engagement; this is the last time I can find his name associated with the Red Caps.

Presumably their ABC-Paramount contract had been up in April 1958 and not renewed, because later that year, the Red Caps hooked up with Al Browne's Rose Records. They recorded four tunes for Rose on August 29: "Itty-Bitty" (led by George Tindley), a pretty version of the venerable Savannah Churchill tune "I Want To Be Loved" (led by the mysterious June Henry, who wasn't a member of the group and about whom I can't find a single other reference), "It's Love" (led by George Tindley and featuring a harmonica), and "Forever 'N' A Day" (George again). These were all released on Rose's Hi Lo subsidiary that year.

Gloria Smythe at Ciro's with an ancient photo at Ciro's in Miami The Red Caps played Lenny Littman's Copa (Pittsburgh) on September 5 and 6. The accompanying blurb said "Gibson will feature his new vocalist, Gloria Smith, who replaces Damita Jo in the act." This is not the Gloria Smith who was Damita Jo's former traveling companion (who had died in May 1957), but a singer named Gloria Smythe (misspelled in the blurb). She'd go on to be a West Coast jazz singer, having releases on World Pacific (as both "Gloria Smythe" and "Gloria Smyth") in 1959 and 1960. From there, they went to the Riverside Hotel in Las Vegas through early October, then into the Sands, also in Las Vegas. Another blurb, dreamed up by a press agent with far too much time on his hands, appeared in November 1958: "Steve Gibson and the Red Caps have applied for permission to visit Moscow because they want to introduce a new song they are writing called 'The Russian Rock 'n' Roll'". More mundanely, the Red Caps went into Larry Potter's Supper Club in late November 1958, and then Ciro's (Miami Beach) in December; in January 1959, it was announced that they were held over. It's interesting that an ad for Ciro's used an ancient photo of the group.

ad for Bless You The Red Caps recorded "Bless You" and "I Miss You So" (both led by Steve Gibson) on January 29, 1959. These were released on Al Browne's Rose Records in February. Although ABC-Paramount hadn't renewed the group's contract, they began a practice of purchasing Red Caps masters from Rose. "Bless You" and "Cheryl Lee" (another song from the January 29 session, probably led by George Tindley) were released on ABC's Hunt subsidiary in March, just a month after "Bless You" had appeared on Rose. (The Hunt ad for "Bless You" used the same ancient photo that had been in the Ciro's ad a couple of months before.)

In a March 28, 1959 article in the Baltimore Afro-American, someone named William Spann Joseph is named as having been the pianist with the Red Caps. He'd just written the score for the movie "Thanks For Girls", starring Lorie Vickers and Kim Argus. However, I couldn't find a single mention of the movie title, Joseph, Vickers, or Argus in the Internet Movie Database.

In April, when they appeared at the Starlight Musical Lounge in York, Pennsylvania, their vocalist was "Raina Shine". Her real name was Raynetta Yvonne Clay and she usually spelled it "Rayna Schyne". She wasn't there very long this time around, but she'd be back by the end of the year. In May, the Red Caps were at Basin Street East in Manhattan.

Romaine Brown in 1975 With the Romaines dissolved, Romaine Brown returned to the Red Caps sometime in 1959; he would stay for about a year, at which time he went out as a single. July 1959 found the Red Caps at Basin Street East, on East 48th Street in Manhattan, inside the Shelton Towers Hotel.

A small entry in a write-up of Ampeg, manufacturers of amplifiers, specifically mentioned that Steve Gibson's was custom-covered in red vinyl.

On August 27, they waxed "Where Are You" (an outmoded, but pretty sound, fronted by George Tindley) and "San Antone Rose" (with Steve Gibson out front). These were released on another Rose subsidiary (Casa Blanca), as "Steve Gibson and the Original Red Caps") in September. Once again, ABC-Paramount purchased them and released them, on Hunt, in October.

Over the years, Damita Jo had been in and out of the Red Caps, as she both recorded and appeared as a solo artist, as well as a member of the group. If she wasn't available (and, of course, after she'd left for good in 1959), she was replaced by a succession of female singers (sometimes multiple ones). Here's a list of the ones I know about (there were probably others). Note that we haven't met some of them yet (and, in truth, I have nothing to say about some), and they're in no particular order.



The Ladies Of The Red Caps

      Damita Jo      
      Damita Jo      
 
 
Beryl Booker Wynona Carr Vivian Cervantes Jeri Gray Dottie Joye Pepi Mitchell Tammy Montgomery
Beryl
Booker
Wynona
Carr
Vivian
Cervantes
Jeri
Gray
Dottie
Joye
Pepi
Mitchell
Tammy
Montgomery
 
 
Joan Proctor Barbara Randolph Lillian Randolph Rayna Schyne Joya Sherrill Ginger Smock Gloria Smythe
Joan
Proctor
Barbara
Randolph
Lillian
Randolph
Rayna
Schyne
Joya
Sherrill
Ginger
Smock
Gloria
Smythe
 
 
Roberta Sweed Amanda Thigpen Lillian Fitzgerald Juliette Oliver Betty Carroll    
Roberta
Sweed
Amanda
Thigpen
Lillian
Fitzgerald
Juliette
Oliver
Betty
Carroll
   

Damita Jo It's worth mentioning that, unlike most other singers who are with a band and then go out on their own, Damita Jo had also been appearing as a soloist almost from the beginning of her tenure with the Red Caps. This gave her a tremendous advantage: she emerged as a polished entertainer. While it's true that most of her records didn't do well, she was a highly-regarded performer who always commanded top billings. In spite of this, as late as October 1962, she was being advertised as "formerly with Steve Gibson and the Red Caps".

at the Key Club On September 9, 1959, the Red Caps opened at the Key Club in St. Paul, Minnesota.


George Guy An October 1959 ad for a stage show at the State Theater in Hartford, starring Bill Haley and the Three Bells, said "Also appearing will be George Guy of Steve Gibson's Redcaps [sic], popular musical star and master of ceremonies." That kind of wording usually means that he has been with them, rather than that he still is. I can track appearances he made in the 1960s, and I found out that he was a singer, an impressionist, a comedian, and an MC. A short blurb in June 1965 talked about George Guy, "The Man With A Thousand Voices". It claimed that he'd toured in Europe with Steve Gibson's Red Caps. However, I can't find anything else saying that the Red Caps had been to or were going to Europe. One blurb from 1972 said George Guy had once been a vocalist with Duke Ellington, but I can't find any proof of that. However, Jay Price says that George Guy was definitely a part of the Red Caps after he'd left.

The Red Caps The Red Caps at the Roxy I was surprised to learn that in late 1959, the Roxy Theater in New York (one of the big Vaudeville houses of days gone by) still had stage shows. However, I found a review for a movie called "The Man Who Understood Women" that opened at the Roxy on October 2. The review mentioned that Steve Gibson and the Red Caps were the featured act on the stage show; the singers were Joan Proctor and Rayna Schyne. Joan was the "rhythm and blues singer" and Rayna was the "swing singer". A photo that ran with the Roxy engagement shows the Red Caps to be composed of Steve Gibson, Emmett Mathews, Dave Patillo, Jimmy Springs, George Tindley, Vance Wilson, Kenny Mitchell, Bobby Gregg, Joan Proctor, and Rayna Schyne. From there, they were booked into the New Frontier in Las Vegas.

at the Northern Lounge In November 1959, the Red Caps appeared at the Northern Lounge at Northern Lights Shoppers City in Baden, Pennsylvania. The vocalist at the time was Joan Proctor, who seems to have been with them in late 1959 and most of 1960.

The Red Caps recorded "Poor, Poor Me" (led by George Tindley, with a Drifters-type Latin beat) for Rose on October 26 and "Blueberry Hill" (with a solo by Steve Gibson and some nice sax work by Emmett Mathews) on November 14. These were paired for an early 1960 release on Rose's Stage subsidiary.

at Larry Potter's When they returned to Larry Potter's Supper Club (in Hollywood) on December 18, 1959, Joan Proctor was mentioned as the featured singer. Sometime in 1960, drummer Bobby Gregg left, to be replaced by Peter "Chippy" Brancato.

It's been a while since I reported on the Miami Beach Police & Firemen's All Star Show. The February 21, 1960 edition was hosted by Joey Adams and featured Tony Martin, Milton Berle, Joe E. Lewis, and Billy Daniels, as well as the Red Caps (plus loads of acts I never heard of). Strangely, there were no ads saying where the Red Caps were appearing.

ABC-Paramount purchased another two Rose masters that had been recorded in late 1959: "I Went To Your Wedding" and "Together" (both led by Steve Gibson). These were released on ABC itself (as the last Red Caps single) in April 1960. According to Jay Price, most of the songs that the Red Caps recorded for Rose were big favorites in their act.

On May 20, 1960, the Red Caps (with Joan Proctor) began a week at the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C. Also on the bill were the 5 Satins, Dave "Baby" Cortez, Fay Simmons, Bobby Lewis, and the Clickettes.

ad for the Lindenwold Inn The first two weekends in June 1960, the Red Caps were at the Lindenwold Inn in Lindenwold, New Jersey. From there, they went into Sciolla's Cafe in Philadelphia. From July 1 through September 5, they were back at the Riptide in Wildwood.

On July 31, 1960, the Red Caps appeared on NBC TV as part of the Music On Ice show, with June Valli and Johnny Desmond; Joan Proctor was the femme singer. In September, they played the Michigan State Fair with the Brothers Four, Brian Hyland, and Brenda Lee. Also in July, there's an ad for Romaine Brown, "formerly with the Red Caps". As far as I can tell, he never appeared with them after that.

The ABC LP Even though they were all long gone, ABC-Paramount released an album in November 1960: Damita Jo: The Big 15 - With Steve Gibson And The Red Caps. This contained 15 ABC and Rose numbers, nine of which feature Damita Jo's lead. The LP was probably put together to capitalize on her current hit, "I'll Save The Last Dance For You". ABC released two of the album cuts ("How Will I Know" and "Disillusioned Lover") as a single in January 1961 (they'd both been on separate singles in 1957).

at the Key Club On September 12, 1960, the Red Caps opened at the Champagne Room in Washington, D.C. for two weeks. (Free admission and no cover; what are you waiting for?)

In October 1960, Billy Ford and the Thunderbirds "featuring Billie and Lillie of record fame" were appearing at the El Rancho Club in Chester, Pennsylvania. They were touted as "a fabulous vocal and instrumental group similar to the Red Caps".

ad for the Holiday House Early November 1960 found the Red Caps at the Holiday House in Pittsburgh. The ad used photos of the core group that were over 10 years old. Later in November, the Red Caps returned to Larry Potter's Supper Club in Hollywood.

Danny Martin at Basin Street East In December 1960, there was a little advert for Danny Martin "formerly with Steve Gibson's Red Caps," who was appearing at the Club Sofia. I have no idea who he might have been, but there were so many singers and musicians in and out of the Red Caps, what's one more? However, a July 30, 1959 ad might give us part of the answer: it says he "just completed a successful engagement with Steve Gibson's Red Caps, at Basin Street East in New York City." However, it doesn't say if he's a singer, musician, or other kind of entertainer, nor did the Basin Street East ad mention him. A September 1960 ad for a New York City dance club has the Danny Martin Orchestra, but that still doesn't answer the question. It looks like he was from Pittsburgh; the first mention of Danny Martin is in 1957, when Danny Martin "Latin American song and dance star" is appearing at the Chez Dee. After that, he's variously called a "singing star", "comedy - M.C.", "singer and emcee", and "singing M.C." in ads through 1960.

Ca. 1961, with Dottie Joye and Joan Proctor The December 31, 1960 Cleveland Call And Post talked about a lost opportunity: "West Coast talk is that the Hi Lo's were such a flop at a San Francisco club that the place was forced to close - canceling out holiday dates scheduled for the Treniers and Steve Gibson." However, I'm always suspicious when no specific venue is mentioned.

ad for the Dunes ad for the Latin Casino at the El Rancho Club In February 1961, the Red Caps appeared at the Orbit Room of the Dunes Hotel in Neptune, New Jersey. Also on the bill was the Chink Hines Trio. (Maurice "Chink" Hines, Sr. was the father of Maurice and Gregory Hines. I remember seeing them, in the early 1960s, as "Hines, Hines & Dad".) In March, they were at the El Rancho Club, in Chester Pennsylvania and the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. In early May, they were at the Calabria Club, in Reading, Pennsylvania ("direct from Latin Casino, world's largest night club") and then the Chatterbox in Seaside Hights, New Jersey, before returning to the Latin Casino, along with Pearl Bailey. From there, it was back to the El Rancho and, once again, the Latin Casino in September. In early November it was the Club Bcara [that actually seems to be its name] in Altoona, Pennsylvania. They appeared at the Fiesta Cocktail Lounge, in Cornwells Heights, Pennsylvania in mid-November 1961 (the first day's advertisement had them as "Steve Gibson & The Redcoats"). Early December found them back at the Fiesta; then it was on to the 21 Key Club in Philadelphia. The interesting one here (which will make more sense in a couple of minutes) is the May appearance at the El Rancho, because the other act on the bill was the Furness Brothers. Stay tuned.

Girls! Looking for some extra cash? Here's your opportunity (in an ad that appeared in the November 17, 1961 News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware): "Need extra money for Christmas? The Crescendo Lounge, Pennsville, N.J.... needs good COCKTAIL WAITRESSES for the coming attraction of STEVE GIBSON and THE RED CAPS. Apply now at the above address after 6 p.m." Good luck!

at the 2-4 the Dave Patillo Quartet Another new club, the 2-4 in Philadelphia. The Red Caps played there on December 10, 1961. At the same time, the Dave Patillo Quartet was playing at the Juniata Club, also in Philly. Its other members were Jay Price, Art Romano (guitar), and Mickey O'Donnell (drums), but there was only a single ad for the group.

      THE MODERN RED CAPS

In early 1962 (although late 1961 is probably more reasonable), the Red Caps split into two groups due to what Vance Wilson described as "tax problems". (There was a "rumor" of the group's disbanding reported in the February 8, 1962 issue of Jet, but the split had already occurred by that date.)

Here's part of what happened: James M. Scanlon, a former Internal Revenue Service officer whose function was to collect unpaid taxes, was indicted on April 16, 1962 for keeping tax money he'd collected. The taxes in question had been assessed against Steve Gibson, Damita Jo, and the Red Caps.

Scanlon had collected, but failed to turn over to the IRS, $11,620 of taxes for the period April 1956 through July 1958. He filed fraudulent reports saying that he'd been unable to collect those taxes and had then resigned. I don't know what the outcome of the case was, but Scanlon could have received a sentence of up to 275 years. I also don't know why this had anything to do with the group splitting into two units.

Bert Payne Stanley Gaines George Tindley, Vance Wilson, Chippy Brancato, and Dave Patillo, formed the "Modern Red Caps". According to Vance, even manager Hymie Diamond went with the new group. (I could find out nothing about him; this is the only mention of him in conjunction with the Red Caps. Possibly it's the Jack Diamond who once owned the Martinique.) The fifth member was guitarist Bert Payne (who had been with Louis Jordan).

The first mentions of the group are some ads for Pushnik's Cocktail Lounge (Lebanon, Pennsylvania) on January 5 and 8, 1962, saying that the "Blue Caps" ("originally with Steve Gibson and the Red Caps") would be appearing the following week. On January 12, there was a Pushnik's ad saying that the Blue Caps would be starting their engagement that night. The very next night, however, the ad was amended to say the "Modern Red Caps". It looks like they originally decided on Blue Caps as a name. It gets even crazier: the January 13 ad says that the Modern Red Caps will be held over for an additional week "by popular demand" - they'd only been there one night, under the advertised name of the Blue Caps.

Dave Patillo didn't last too long, however, and was replaced by bass player Stanley Gaines, formerly of the Cats And The Fiddle. Note that Tindley was the only male member of this Modern Red Caps who routinely sang. Per a mid-1962 blurb, Dottie Joye was the female singer with the Modern Red Caps and Joan Proctor fronted Steve Gibson's aggregation. In April 1962, the Modern Red Caps were at Roxy's, in Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania. October found them at the Carnival Room of the Broomall in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Jay Price Sextette Dave Patillo then joined up with Jay Price in the Jay Price Revue by May of 1962. The other members at the time were Patti Malone (singer), Dicky Yuzon (singer), Tommy Wray (drums), and Art Romano (guitar). In time, they became the "Jay Price Sextette", with Patillo and Romano as the only other holdovers. The new members were Fred Back (tenor sax), Johnny Walker (trombone), and Francis Mickey O'Donnell (drums). They lasted for a couple of years.

Note that, as Damita Jo had done, George Tindley had recorded some solos while still a member of the Red Caps. There were releases on Ember (1960), Herald (1961), and Parkway (1962).

There were records by the Modern Red Caps on Mercury's Smash subsidiary ("I Couldn't Care Less"/"Done Being Lonely") in June 1962, and Rowax ("Don't You Hear Them Laughing"/"They Can Dream") in June 1963. The Smash sides are basically Tindley solos (with a little screaming from the band); those on Rowax sound like they have a studio group backing Tindley. Note that a blurb in Billboard (June 23, 1962) said that Smash had purchased "Done Being Lonely" from Cotton Records of Philadelphia (for whom old friend Bobby Gregg was now recording).

a confusing booking To thoroughly bewilder fans, here's an advertisement for the Modern Red Caps at the Carnival Room in Broomall, Pennsylvania, in October 1962. The very next week, the same establishment had booked Steve Gibson's Red Caps. The September 22, 1962 Pittsburgh Courier pointed this out: "The way the Red Caps' name, first made famous by Steve Gibson and the Red Caps, is heading for the same oblivious confusion as the Ink Spots and the Flamingos in a sort of 'Who's Who' booking scramble. Example: Since the group split, Steve Gibson and the Red Caps were at one club in Atlantic City, N.J., while the Modern Red Caps were at another in a nearby town." I don't really think they meant "oblivious confusion".

I don't want to go too crazy documenting them. Here are all the known appearances of the first group of Modern Red Caps:

            Pushnik's, Lebanon, Pennsylvania (1/62)
            Fiesta Cocktail Lounge, Philadelphia (1/62 - every Tuesday is Polka Night!)
            La Maina's, Camden, New Jersey (2/62)
            Roxy's, Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania (4/62)
            Crescendo, Wilmington, Delaware (4/62 - their singer was Dottie Joye)
            Northern Lounge, Baden, Pennsylvania (4/62)
            La Maina's, Camden, New Jersey (5/62 - 8/62)
            Carnival Room of the Broomall, Holmes, Pennsylvania (9/62)
            La Maina's, Camden, New Jersey (9/62)
            Carnival Room of the Broomall, Holmes, Pennsylvania (10/62)
            Crescendo, Wilmington, Delaware (10/62 - last mention of Dottie Joye)
            Esquire Show Bar, Montreal (11/62 - their singer was Tammy Montgomery; she'll be back)
            Tony's Fish Market, Miami (2/63 - 4/63 - along with the Treniers)
            Cameo Cocktail Lounge, Allentown, Pennsylvania (4/63)
            Rainbow Club, Wildwood, New Jersey (9/63)
            Haddington Athletic Club, Philadelphia (11/63)
            Erlton Lounge, Cherry Hill, New Jersey (2/64)

The Sapphires By early 1964, George Tindley had disbanded his Modern Red Caps and was in the process of re-forming them. In the meantime, he was appearing at the State Theater in Philadelphia, as a soloist. Also on the bill was Gerald "Twig" Smith, who was entered in the talent part of the show. At the time, Twig was also a member of the Sapphires, a local group that recorded for Swan (the other members were Carolyn Jackson, George Garner, and Joe Livingston).

The Modern Red Caps - ca. 1965 The next incarnation of the Modern Red Caps was almost ready to go. Tindley had his old friend, tenor George "Pepi" Grant (from the Castelles), along with Kirk Manuel (tenor and drummer), and Sherman "Slim" Marshall (tenor and bassist) ready to rehearse. What he was looking for was a tenor who also played the guitar; Twig fit the bill perfectly.

Tindley approached Twig and "asked if I had any interest in traveling." Twig did, and "I stayed with the Sapphires for another month or so, and then left to travel with the Modern Redcaps" (of course, there were lots of rehearsals during that time). Twig also became their musical director.

The Modern Red Caps Proofreader Wanted They played Pushnik's Cocktail Lounge (in Lebanon, Pennsylvania) the week beginning June 15, 1964. When they left, the next act to appear was the Roof Toppers, but whoever laid out the ad didn't remove the part that said "Featuring George Tindley, Vocalist - formerly with Steve Gibson's Red Caps". It ran that way for the full length of the Roof Toppers appearance. (Pushnik really needed a good proofreader. The Modern Treniers came out as "Modern Traineers".) When they played Davey's Pub, also in Lebanon, during August, they were billed as the "Original" Modern Red Caps. In September, when they returned to Pushnik's, it was just as the Modern Red Caps.

The second Modern Red Caps Penntowne ad The first recordings by this group ("Free"/"Never Kiss A Good Man Good-bye") were released on Penntowne, in January 1965. In July 1965, they issued "Our Love Will Never Be The Same"/"Empty World" on Lawn (a subsidiary of Swan). A few months later, in January 1966, the group had "Golden Teardrops"/"Never Too Young (To Fall In Love)" on the parent Swan label. George Grant sang lead on "Golden Teardrops"; all other Modern Red Caps' leads were by George Tindley. Actually, there were only three singers on all the Modern Red Caps' songs released between 1965 and 1967: George Tindley, George Grant, and Twig Smith (all tenors). The only exception to this was that Billy Taylor (second tenor and baritone), a former member of the Castelles, was overdubbed onto "Golden Teardrops".

The Sensations Stump Lewis and Ray Smith The group played the 3 Rivers Inn (Syracuse, New York) in July 1966. Also on the bill was Vincent Edwards (whose "Ben Casey" series had just ended) "in his new singing act." A reviewer who caught their act at the El Rancho in December 1966 was impressed with the professionalism of the group ("they have a choreography routine with every number"), even though there were only about 10 patrons who gave scant applause. By this time, there were seven of them: George "Fatty" Tindley (tenor), Tommy Cooke (baritone), George "Pepi" Grant (tenor), Gerald "Twig" Smith (tenor and guitar), Sherman "Slim" Marshall (tenor and bassist), Ray Smith (aka Ray Garcia; tenor sax), and Aaron "Stump" Lewis (drums). Note that Tommy Cooke had been with the Sensations, as well as his own Philadelphia groups, the Fantastics and the Preludes.

The last known recordings of the Modern Red Caps were for United Artists, on July 14, 1967, but none of the half-dozen songs they waxed were ever issued.

There's a release on Doo-Wopp ("Since I Met Cindy"/"Ain't Gonna Worry About You"), but it resists all attempts at dating. The tunes were recorded prior to the 1967 United Artists session (and have George, George, and Twig), and were produced by George Tindley. It's possible that he even owned the label, although his name is constantly misspelled as "Tinley". Since the first known use of the term "doo-wopp" (especially with that spelling) was from the Bagdads' "Bring Back Those Doo-Wopps", released in the fall of 1968, it's reasonable to suspect that this record was issued in the 70s, when the term gained popularity.

Soon after the United Artists session, the Modern Red Caps were history. "I'm sorry I can't recall why there were individual departures," says Twig. "I just know that we argued a lot." Only George Tindley and Twig Smith remained.

Here's a listing of the known appearances of the second Modern Red Caps:

            Pushnik's, Lebanon, Pennsylvania (6/64)
            Diamond Show Bar, Philadelphia (6/64)
            Davey's Pub, Lebanon, Pennsylvania (8/64)
            New Concord Motor Inn, Mt. Holly, New Jersey (9/64)
            Erlton Lounge, Cherry Hill, New Jersey (10/64)
            Pushnik's, Lebanon, Pennsylvania (12/64)
            Erlton Lounge, Cherry Hill, New Jersey (3/65)
            Pushnik's, Lebanon, Pennsylvania (6/65)
            Cafe Continental, Wilmington, Delaware (8/65)
            Flamingo Room, Hazleton, Pennsylvania (12/65)
            Erlton Lounge, Cherry Hill, New Jersey (1/66)
            Flamingo Room, Hazleton, Pennsylvania (2/66)
            Erlton Lounge, Cherry Hill, New Jersey (3/66)
            3 Rivers Inn, Syracuse, New York (7/66)
            400 Lounge, Philadelphia (9/66)
            La Guitar Blu, Wilmington, Delaware (10/66)
            Twilight Lounge, Plains, Pennsylvania (10/66)
            El Rancho, Woodlyn, Pennsylvania (12/66)
            La Maina's, Cherry Hill, New Jersey (1/67)
            Hip-Bone, Hazleton, Pennsylvania (3/67)
            Living Room, Philadelphia (4/67)
            Dick Lee's, Philadelphia (6/67)

George had a cousin named Henry Seaward, who called himself Henry Trenier and pretended to be related to the Treniers). "He wasn't!" says Twig. "He was somehow able to get away with this farce. He worked some of the best hotels in Miami, including the Fontainebleu."

As Twig tells it:

George and Henry decided to start a group as co-leaders (right now I can't recall the group's name; I think it was something like the 'Modern Treniers'), but there was trouble from the very beginning. Henry thought we should rehearse Broadway songs like "Maria" and "Tonight" from West Side Story. George's opinion was that we should rehearse dance music like Wilson Pickett's music, or Jackie Wilson's.

The other singers were James "Sonny" Ross and Henry's girlfriend, Gina. Additionally, there was Ray Smith on tenor sax and someone named Raggs on bass.

This could have been a good group, but there was all this resentment between the singers. The group really sucked. We drove all the way to Miami, only to be fired the first night. After we recovered from that, we went to "Rockhead's Paradise Lounge" in Montreal, Canada. The two leaders were making advances on the band's pay and not telling each other what they were doing. At the end of the week the money was not right. I kid you not: the fight that broke out between the two leaders looked just like a Hopalong Cassidy or a Roy Rogers bar brawl. Needless to say we were instantly fired from that gig also.

Later in 1967, after the Modern Treniers fell apart, George, Twig, Sonny, and Ray created another group called "By George and Company", mostly using former members of the Modern Red Caps.

The members were Ray Smith (tenor sax, no vocals) James "Sonny" Ross on trumpet (sang tenor lead and background vocals), Phaon Hughes on bass (no vocals), Tommy Cooke (baritone lead and background vocals [he'd been in the Modern Red Caps towards the end]), Aaron "Stump" Lewis (drums), George, of course, and myself.

This was probably the most versatile group of all. In 1967 we were sent to the El San Juan Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We were scheduled to do eight weeks there, but were pulled out by the Jolly Joyce Agency after just five. It seems George had signed with a gentleman named Herb Paloff, but was still under contract to the Jolly Joyce agency. When Norman Joyce got wind of what had happened, he pulled us out of San Juan so fast it made our heads swim. Man,...what a letdown.

After we were pulled out of Puerto Rico, I was more than ready to try some other things, which I did. In 1968 I wound up in a vocal group called the Dells. [Twig became one of the three back-up musicians for the Dells.] That was an experience I will never forget. I didn't stay long. I did a few more sideman things with some fly-by-night groups that George had assembled, but it was basically over. George fell on hard times financially, and that changed everything. In the early 70's we tried some song writing but the attempts were feeble to say the least. We saw each other sparsely over the years until his death.

ad for Ain't That Peculiar After it was all over, George Tindley had some really good solo releases on Wand. "Ain't That Peculiar" rose to #37 on the Soul charts in 1969 and "Wan-Tu-Wah-Zuree" was #50 in March 1970. After that, he seems to have become an independent producer. The last musical mention I can find of him was as lead of the "Sound Of The Flamingos", a group that played Essington, Pennsylvania in December 1977.

In September 1970, Tindley was in a club, when he was involved in a fight over the use of a telephone. When the fight was over, he'd been shot in the chest and left leg, but he survived. George Tindley died in May 1996.

      THE LAST DAYS OF THE RED CAPS

the Furness Brothers in the Red Caps The 4 Keys/Furness Brothers After the splitting up of the Red Caps, Steve Gibson and Emmett Mathews constructed a new Red Caps group around the Furness Brothers: Bill on piano, Joe on drums, and Arthur ("Peck") on bass. A fourth brother, John ("Slim") Furness, had passed away in mid-1955. Once again Bon Bon Tunnell is part of the history: he, Slim Furness, and Bob Pease had recorded for Columbia, Brunswick, and Vocalion as the 3 Keys. Around 1942, Slim Furness (guitar), Bill Furness (piano), Arthur Furness (bass), and Ernie Hatfield (vocalist) were the 4 Keys, who backed Ella Fitzgerald on Decca and toured with her (when Slim was drafted, he was replaced by James Shirley). By 1950, brother Slim was back on guitar and another brother, Joe, was on drums, making the 4 Keys a true "family affair". (When the 5 Keys burst upon the music scene in 1951, the 4 Keys tried to enjoin them from using the name, but lost; instead they changed their own group name to the Furness Brothers: "The Entertainment World's Handsomest Quartet".)

The March 7, 1962 Philadelphia Daily News had this item: "Steve Gibson's Red Caps will exit the ABC-Paramount label to sign with Mercury. Initial release for the new firm will be 'Blueberry Hill,' recorded live at Hollywood's New Faces Club." As far as I know, this never happened.

ad for the Latin Casino at New Faces In February 1962, Steve Gibson & the Red Caps were back at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. In late February, they were at the opening of the New Faces Club in Santa Monica, California. The members were listed in the ad: Steve Gibson, "Snake" Mathews [Emmett], Furness Bros. [otherwise unnamed], Rene Sands, James Johnson, Jimmy Springs, Milton McLaurin. Sands and McLaurin are new names (and I don't know what either one did), but certainly weren't there all that long.

In May, when they appeared at the El Morocco in Montreal, their female singer was Joan Proctor. The review said "…. They even manage to make the deadly dull slam slam of the twist rhythm sound interesting once in a while. To make this pitiful excuse for music sound good all the time is impossible. To do it once in a while is remarkable…." Note that Joan Proctor, like Damita Jo, bounced back and forth between the Red Caps and solo appearances.

the Furness Brothers in the Red Caps The last known original release by Steve Gibson and the Red Caps was on Band Box in late 1962: "No More" and "Peppermint Baby" (both probably led by one of the Furness Brothers). Trying to keep up with the times, these songs were part of the twist craze (and, although light years from "Tuscaloosa", weren't really all that bad). By that time, guitarist Bert Payne had switched from the Modern Red Caps to the Steve Gibson unit.

A plethora of Red Caps To really confuse their fans, both Steve Gibson and the Red Caps and the Modern Red Caps were at nearby venues in Atlantic City in the summer of 1962. Joan Proctor was the singer for Steve's group and Dottie Joye fronted the Modern Red Caps. In October, the Modern Red Caps played the Carnival Room in Broomall, Pennsylvania. The advertisement has Steve Gibson's Red Caps coming in the following week!

Tammi Terrell When the Red Caps played the Riptide, in Wildwood, during the summer of 1962, their female singer was one Thomasina "Tammy" Montgomery, who'd had some releases on Scepter and Wand in 1961-2 (she'd have more on Try Me in 1963, and on Checker in 1964). In November of 1962, she'd switch to the Modern Red Caps and appear with them in Montreal. With her name changed to "Tammi Terrell", she was paired with Marvin Gaye in 1967, and had a string of Motown hits.

ad for Kenkels ad for Thruway Motor Inn Steve's Red Caps opened at Kenkels Supper Club (Dayton, Ohio) on December 10, 1962. They'd be there for two weeks. After that, they'd be at the New Guard Room Lounge of the Thruway Motor Inn in Albany, New York. Their singer for that one was advertised as Jean Parker. I was all set to look up still another femme singer until I realized that they'd just mangled Joan Proctor's name (they got it right in the Thruway ad that was run three days later).

The Flamingo Room (Hazelton, Pennsylvania), in February 1963, boasted "The Swinging Sounds of Frank Heppinstall and Sen-sational Dottie Joye - Recently starred with Steve Gibson's Red Caps". That same month, the Romaine Brown Trio appeared at the Embers, in Camden, New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Gibson's Red Caps played the Crescendo (Wilmington, Delaware) in February 1963, followed by the 400 Lounge (Philadelphia), the El Rancho Club (Philadelphia), the Fiesta Cocktail Lounge (Cornwells Heights, Pennsylvania), the El Rancho Club again, the Glen Casino (Buffalo), and the Latin Casino (Cherry Hill) in June. They were back there in September, and in November, they were at the Carnival Room of the Broomall, in Holmes, Pennsylvania.

They did the New Year's Eve bit at the Carnival Room of the Broomall. However, that appearance wasn't in December 1963, but in May 1964. (The room advertised "New Year's Eve party every Thursday Nite! Novelties, hats, dance contest.") At least it was different.

Just to keep a tradition going, when the Modern Red Caps played Pushnik's Cocktail Lounge in June 1964, the ads read: "Featuring George Tindley, Vocalist - formerly with Steve Gibson & The Red Caps". I fully expect to find an ad that says "Steve Gibson & The Red Caps - formerly with Steve Gibson & the Red Caps". The Red Caps were back at the Latin Casino in June.

In the fall of 1964, Joan Proctor, who'd been doing a single, re-joined the Red Caps for their engagement at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill.

Wynona Carr ad for the Chateau Renaissance ad for the Eden Roc When Jay Price returned from a tour of the Far East in 1965, he rejoined Gibson, Mathews, and the Furness brothers for a while. After they played the Q Lounge in Wildwood, the Furness Brothers left (by April 1967, with Joan Proctor as their femme singer, the "Furness Brothers" were appearing in Philadelphia). Then, on April 9, the Red Caps started three weeks at Harry's American Bar in the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach with the returning Chippy Brancato as drummer, Wynona Carr (50s gospel and R&B singer for Specialty Records) as pianist, and Vince Brando as the bassist. They followed that with a couple of weeks at the Chateau Renaissance in Hackensack, New Jersey, and then four weeks at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, starting May 31. November 1965 found them at the Crescendo, in Wilmington, Delaware, and they were back at Pushnik's in December.

Filmotheque-Discotheque machine An interesting trade paper article from December 1965 claimed that the Red Caps were one of the acts that had recorded music videos that would play on coin-operated music movie machines. Filmed in Philadelphia, they were produced by the David Rosen Organization for a company called Filmotheque-Discotheque. Other acts that had filmed videos were Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, Petula Clark, Bill Doggett, Neil Sedaka, and Paul Anka.

Barbara Randolph at the Weldwood Lounge at Harry's Next for the Red Caps was an appearance at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico in March 1966, with Barbara Randolph as the vocalist. April found them back at Pushnik's, and it was the Latin Casino in May. They returned to Harry's American Bar (at the Eden Roc Hotel) in Miami from September 19 through October 2 of that year, followed by the Weldwood Lounge (Eynon, Pennsylvania) in November (both Jay Price and Wynona Carr were named in the ad).

A little blurb in the September 20, 1966 Philadelphia Daily News said "Jay Price, who just returned from the Far East, has left for Cleveland to rejoin Steve Gibson and the Red Caps, along with local vocalist Betty Carroll. The Red Caps have been augmented to a 10-member revue unit." So now we have Betty Carroll, another short-timer. I can't find out anything about her; in fact, I believe that there were two performers by that name: an exotic dancer who was around in the 40s and early 50s, and a singer who entertained in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. A blurb in the March 14, 1978 Philadelphia Daily News said "She used to be the featured vocalist with Lionel Hampton" (no date given), but there's nothing else linking them. On New Year's Eve 1968, she was the vocalist with the Matthew Childs Organ Group. (You remember him: he backed up the Buccaneers on "Fine Brown Frame" and wrote their "Darling You Did Me Wrong".) Jay Price said Betty was a light-skinned black woman, who would have been in her early 30s at that time. Both she and Wynona Carr were there together. (What I don't understand is why they went to Cleveland, since the Red Caps were appearing in Miami at the time.)

Here's how Jay remembers Betty Carroll being fired: The Red Caps were playing the Latin Casino, along with Sammy Davis, Jr. (This would have been in October 1966.) Betty was on her way back to the dressing room and stopped to watch Sammy Davis from the wings. No one told her that Davis had a phobia about anyone being in the wings when he was performing. Exit Betty.

Pepi Mitchell Eddie Piper Juliette Oliver at the Seven Seas at the Riverboat From December 25, 1966 to January 14, 1967, Steve's Red Caps were back at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. After that, they returned to the El San Juan hotel, for their annual winter stay. (A review gave the members as Steve Gibson, Emmett Mathews, Jimmy Springs, Barbara Randolph, Wynona Carr, Chippy Brancato, and pianist Willie Preston.) April 1967 found them at the Penn-Sheraton Riverboat Room (Pittsburgh) for three weeks. They opened with Barbara Randolph, but a week later had switched to Pepi Mitchell ("Miss Sepia Of 1960"), who had recently been the vocalist with the Eddie Piper Quintet. (Since the October 1981 obituary of drummer Eddie Piper said that he'd been with the Red Caps for a while in the 1960's, it's reasonable to assume he was there at the same time as Pepi.) On May 16 they started an engagement at the Tangier Restaurant in Akron, Ohio. By the time they reached Caesar's Palace (Las Vegas) in July, their singer (for the obligatory short while) was Juliette Oliver (the stage name of June Gatlin). Since she was from Akron, she probably auditioned when the Red Caps played the Tangier.

At the Zanzibar Room ad for Capriotti's The Red Caps played the Zanzibar Room of the Sheraton Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico in March and April 1968. At that time, Emmett Mathews, Jimmy Springs, and Wynona Carr were still present; Lewis "Count Lewis" DiPasquale was on the organ and Perry Christen was the drummer. Wynona sang "Around The World", "Blue Moon", "Yesterday", and "Every Day I Have The Blues". Emmett Mathews tackled "I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town" and "Around The Clock". Jimmy Springs belted "San Francisco" and "Stagger Lee". May 1968 found them at Capriotti's Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge in Mt. Ephraim, New Jersey for a week. They'd be back the week of October 23.

in Miami On June 24, 1968, the Red Caps serenaded at the "Stars Over Miami" amateur contest, backed up by Red Prysock's orchestra. Steve, Jimmy, Emmett, and Wynona were pictured. No other names were given.

Both the Red Caps and the Treniers opened at the Seven Seas Club, at the Newport Hotel in Miami Beach for a month beginning October 31, 1968. This was considered a gamble, since it was prior to the Miami "season" and both groups were costly to engage. The male vocalist, described as a "classy little singer", was Gary Perkins. The last mention that I can find of the Red Caps is when they played the Manila Hilton's New Year's Eve celebration at the end of December 1968. According to Jay Price, when the group returned from the Far East (having also played in Thailand), they were supposed to open at Caesar's Palace, but there were some internal problems and the group never performed again.

New Ink Spots Around 1980, Steve Gibson was part of the "New Ink Spots". A promotional album (The Wonderful World of the New Ink Spots on Spot Records) listed Gibson as baritone, Lucius "Dusty" Brooks (formerly of the 4 Tones) as bass, Johnny Taylor as lead tenor, and LaRue "Rufus" McKay as second tenor. Old friend Henry Tucker Green was the drummer.

formerly with the Red Caps So how important were the Red Caps? Incredibly important, even if you don't think so. How many ads have you ever seen that tout a singer "formerly with the Drifters", "formerly with the Orioles", or "formerly with the Moonglows"? Here's a list of people who claimed, from 1947 to 1969, that they'd been with the Red Caps. Roy Branker spent nearly 20 years with the 3 Peppers; on his own in 1957, his ad only said "formerly with the Red Caps" (even though the only thing tying them together is a small blurb in the October 28, 1947 Daily American from Somerset, Pennsylvania: "Branker has been playing at the Nomad Club in Atlantic City, N. J., and has filled in with the Red Caps."). Lillian Fitzgerald had been the vocalist with Duke Ellington. Did she mention that in ads? No; in 1960 she was "formerly with the Red Caps". Doles Dickens always mentioned the Red Caps as one of the groups he'd formerly been with (but never in ads). Stan Facey (misspelled "Facy" in the ad) had been with Jimmy Springs' Toppers back in 1947 (but who ever heard of the "Toppers"?; isn't it better to say "Red Caps"?). I encountered one name in a 1969 ad that I'd never run into before and can't identify in any way: Tony Devinney. A few others are noted below.

Gordon McKay
Stan Facey
Earl Plummer (said it from 1949 through 1960)
Doles Dickens
Arthur Davy
Andre D'Orsay
Clyde Austin (Austin Johnson)
Romaine Brown
Roy Branker
Damita Jo
Kenny Mitchell
Danny Martin (**)
Lillian Fitzgerald
Frank Heppinstall
Joan Proctor
Dottie Joye
Modern Red Caps
Jimmy Springs
Earl Fulmer (**; possibly a misprint for Earl Plummer)
Jay Price
Furness Brothers
Jimmy Thomas (**)
Tony Devinney (**)
Jeff Lambert (** - he's the brother of guitarist Eddie Lambert)
Gay Dawn (** - she was a stripper who probably worked on the same bill)

            ** these never show up anywhere else as having been associated with the Red Caps.


Dave Patillo died in September 1967; Romaine Brown in June 1986; Jimmy Springs in October 1987; Steve Gibson had a stroke and subsequently passed away, in Las Vegas, in March 1996; Damita Jo in December 1998 (there's now a street in Austin, Texas named after her); Emmett Mathews, the last of the Red Caps core group, in February 1999.

The recorded output of the Red Caps shows that they tried to change with the times. However, that's a tricky thing to do and not many acts adapt successfully. On record, the Red Caps were left behind in the dust by the early 50s, although they remained crowd-pleasers at live shows for almost two decades more. This prolific and long-lived group helped bridge the gap between the "race" era groups of the 40s and the R&B and Rock 'N Roll eras of the 50s, leaving many, many fine recordings behind them.


in Atlantic City



Special thanks to Peter Grendysa, Ferdie Gonzalez, Ray Funk, Greg Centamore, Phil Beauchamp, Paul Ressler, Richard Reicheg, Joel Scherzer, Victor Pearlin, Bruce Woolf, Frank Pellicone, Val Shively, Mark Seganish, and Jay Price.

Also used were the liner notes to Krazy Kat 779 ("The 5 Red Caps - Lenox Avenue Jump") by Bruce Bastin.



DISCOGRAPHY

AMMOR (Larry Breese and His Orchestra, vocal by the 4 Toppers)
100 Carry Me Back To Old Virginia/(I Found A New Baby - instrumental) - ca. 3/40
101 Jumpin' Jive/(What's New - vocal by Dyana Gayle) - ca. 3/40

KBS (Keystone Broadcasting System) 16-inch transcriptions (flips by other artists)
62 Little Jackie Horner / Great Moon God / My Dreams Of You / Go Find Somebody New - 41
76 Thursday Nite In Harlem / Jump, The Water's Fine / Jivin' / You Drove The Gloom Away - 41

Notes on the Joe Davis recordings: Davis assigned a series to each artist, so missing numbers might exist. Consecutively-numbered records were not necessarily issued in order. Except for the first four Beacon releases, the same number series was used on several of his labels (Beacon, Davis, Joe Davis, Gennett).

BEACON (The 5 Red Caps)
115   I'm The One/Tuscaloosa - 8/43
116   I Made A Great Mistake/There's A Light On The Hill - 8/43
117   Don't Fool With Me/Mama Put Your Britches On - 10/43
118   No Fish Today/Grand Central Station - 11/43
7115 I'm The One/I Made A Great Mistake - 43
7116 There's A Light On The Hill/Don't Fool With Me - 43
7117 Tuscaloosa/Mama Put Your Britches On - 43
7118 No Fish Today/Grand Central Station - 43
7119 Just For You/I'm Going To Live My Life Alone - 4/44
7120 I Learned A Lesson I'll Never Forget/Words Can't Explain - 1/44
7121 Boogie Woogie Ball/Lenox Avenue Jump - 2/44
7122 Don't You Know/Strictly On The Safety Side - 8/44
7123 Somebody's Lyin'/Was It You - 5/44
7124 Sugar Lips/Gabriel's Band - 10/44
7127 Red Caps Ball/I Didn't Mean To Be Mean To You - 44
7128 If I Can't Have You/After I've Spent My Best Years On You - 44
7129 It's So Good Good Good/Spellbound - 44
7130 No One Else Will Do/I'm Crazy 'Bout You - 7/44

       (NOTE: Beacon 7115-7123 were re-released on Davis' Gennett label, with the same numbers, in September, 1944)

JOE DAVIS (The Red Caps Trio)
7220 Get Off Of That Kick/It's Got A Hole In It - 2/45
7221 Monkey And The Baboon/That's The Stuff - 2/45

JOE DAVIS (The 5 Red Caps)
7115 I'm The One/I Made A Great Mistake - 45
7120 I Learned A Lesson I'll Never Forget/Words Can't Explain - 45
7121 Boogie Woogie Ball/Lenox Avenue Jump - 45
7123 Somebody's Lyin'/Was It You - 8/45
7125 Don't Say We're Through/Destination Unknown - 6/45
7126 The Tables Have Turned On Me/Never Give Up Hope - 3/45
7130 No One Else Will Do/I'm Crazy 'Bout You - 45
7131 I Was A Fool To Let You Go/Thinking - 9/45
7132 Pleasant Dreams/Mary Had A Little Jam - 10/45
7133 I'm To Blame/Boogie Woogie On A Saturday Night - 4/45
7135 You Thrill Me/The Boogie Beat'll Getcha If You Don't Watch Out - 12/45
7136 I'll Remind You/My Everlasting Love For You - 9/45

JOE DAVIS (Bon Bon And The Red Caps Trio)
7190 Apple Honey/Were You Lyin' - 11/44
7191 Don't Be Angry With Me/Can't You See - 6/45
7192 Truthfully/Better Stop Playing Around - 2/45
7199 Please Think Of Me Sometime/Don't Go Back On Your Word - 45
7201 I Drove You Into Someone Else's Arms/Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome - 45
7203 Building A Dream/I Just Had To See You, Dear - 45
7206 You'd Better Stop Playin' With Fire/My Dreams Are Getting Me Nowhere - 45
7210 I Admit/Two Can Play That Game - 45

SAVOY (As The Toppers)
559 If Money Grew On Trees/Palace Of Stone - 5/45

DAVIS (The 5 Red Caps)
7134 In The Quiet Of The Dawn/Thru Thick And Thin - 45
7135 You Thrill Me/The Boogie Beat'll Getcha If You Don't Watch Out - 12/45
7136 I'll Remind You/My Everlasting Love For You - 8/45

JOE DAVIS (Bon Bon and The Park Avenue Trio)
7196 Again And Again And Again/If You Cared For Me - 6/45
7200 Playin' The Field/Riffin' With The Riff-Raff - 8/45
7202 Must We Say Goodbye/Heaven Happens Tonight - 45
7205 Too Bad/It Was So Nice Knowing You - 9/45
7207 Harriette/Don't Be Surprised - 10/45

JOE DAVIS (As Magnolia Five)
6666 It Hurts Me, But I Like It/Don't Come Cryin' To Me - 11/45
6667 If You Can't Get Five, Take Two/Ouch! - 11/45

DAVIS (The 5 Red Caps)
2101 Seems Like Old Times/I'm Glad I Waited For You - 3/46
2102 I Love An Old-Fashioned Song/Atlanta, Ga. - 3/46
7141 Confused/Have A Heart For Someone Who Has A Heart For You - 4/46

DAVIS (DA-1 Davis Presents The 5 Red Caps - 4/46)
DA-1-1 I Didn't Mean To Be Mean To You
        -2 Spellbound
DA-1-3 If I Can't Have You
        -4 After I've Spent My Best Years On You
DA-1-5 Red Caps Ball
        -6 It's So Good Good Good
DA-1-7 Thru Thick And Thin
        -8 In The Quiet Of The Dawn

JOE DAVIS (Bon Bon and The Park Avenue Trio)
7213 Foolishly/Do Anything But Cry, Sweetheart ** - 11/46
       (** this title is really by Bon Bon & the Park Lane Trio; see text)

DAVIS (Bon Bon and The Park Avenue Trio)
2106 I Didn't Mean A Word I Said **/Regretting ** - 46
2109 There's No One But You/Without Any Strings - 46
      (** these titles are really by Bon Bon & the Park Lane Trio; see text)

BEACON (The 5 Red Caps)
7142 Words Can't Explain/Strictly On The Safety Side - 46

OTHER 5 RED CAPS MASTERS (offered for sale in a March 1947 Joe Davis Billboard ad)
      Why Should The Two Of Us Be Lonesome (presumed scheduled as 7137, but cancelled)
      You Always Think Of Everything (presumed scheduled as 7137, but cancelled)
      Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow (presumed scheduled as 7138, but cancelled)
      My Life Is Empty Without You (presumed scheduled as 7138, but cancelled)
      Lord, Forgive Me! (presumed scheduled as 7139, but cancelled)
      A Rose To Remember (presumed scheduled as 7139, but cancelled)
      Nothing Is Too Good For You (presumed scheduled as 7140, but cancelled)
      How Can I Forget We're Not Together (presumed scheduled as 7140, but cancelled)
      I May Forgive, But How Can I Forget (never scheduled for release)
      If I'm In The Way (never scheduled for release)

MERCURY (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
5011 You Can't See The Sun When You're Crying/Bless You (For Being An Angel) - 1/47

DAVIS (Bon Bon And The Red Caps Trio)
7210 I Admit/Two Can Play That Game - 2/47

BEACON (The Red Caps Trio)
7220 Get Off Of That Kick/It's Got A Hole In It - 47
7221 Monkey And The Baboon/That's The Stuff - 47

MERCURY (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
8038 Jack You're Dead/San Antonio Rose - 5/47
8052 I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire/You Never Miss The Water Till The Well Runs Dry - 9/47

BEACON (Bon Bon And The Park Avenue Trio)
7201 I Drove You Into Someone Else's Arms/Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome - 10/47
7202 Must We Say Goodbye/Heaven Happens Tonight - 10/47

BEACON (Bon Bon And The Red Caps Trio)
7210 I Admit/Two Can Play That Game - 10/47

MERCURY (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
8059 Walkin' Through Heaven/You're Driving Me Crazy - 11/47

SAVOY (As The Toppers)
656 I'm All Alone/I'm Living For You - 10/47
      ("I'm All Alone" is the same master as "Palace Of Stone", released on Savoy in 1945)

MERCURY (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
8069 Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine/I'd Like To Live A Lifetime For You - 1/48
      The 78 said "I'd Love To Live A Lifetime For You"; the 45 had "I'd Like To Live A Lifetime For You"
      The correct title should have been "I've Lived A Lifetime For You"

CELEBRITY (Bon Bon And The Red Caps Trio; this is a Joe Davis label)
2008 I'm Thinking Twice/Truthfully - 3/48

MERCURY(Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
8085 Little White Lies/Turnip Greens - 4/48

BEACON (The 5 Red Caps)
4120 Words Can't Explain/Strictly On The Safety Side - 48

MERCURY (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
8091 Scratch! And You'll Find It/Danny Boy - 6/48
8093 Money Is Honey/Give Me Time - 6/48

REGENT (Savoy Subsidiary - As Steve Gibson And The Toppers)
130 Nat's Boogie Woogie/I'm Living For You - 8/48

MGM (The 5 Red Caps) (Old Masters Purchased From Joe Davis, 8/48)
4001 Thru Thick And Thin/I'm To Blame - 48
10285 Boogie Woogie On A Saturday Night/If I Can't Have You - 10/48
10330 I Learned A Lesson I'll Never Forget/Sugar Lips - 12/48

MERCURY (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
8109 I Learned A Lesson I'll Never Forget/You Made Me Love You - 11/48

BOURNE MUSIC CO. (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
8069 I've Lived A Lifetime For You / 5233M I've Lived A Lifetime For You - Eddy Howard - early 49
      (This was a promo, pressed by Mercury. Bourne Music owned publishing rights to the song.)

MERCURY (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
8146 Blueberry Hill/I Love You - 6/49

REGENT (Savoy Subsidiary - As Steve Gibson And The Toppers)
1008 Steve's Boogie Woogie/I'm Living For You - 8/49
      ("Steve's Boogie Woogie" is the same master as "Nat's Boogie Woogie", released on Regent in the previous year)

MERCURY (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
8157 Petunia/I've Been Living For You - 10/49
            (same song as the Toppers' "I'm Living For You")
8165 I Wake Up Every Morning (With A Heartache)/They Ain't Gonna Tell It Right - 1/50
5380 I'll Never Love Anyone Else/I Want A Roof Over My Head - 2/50
8174 Are You Lonesome Tonight/Sentimental Me - 3/50
8186 Steve's Blues/Dirt-Dishin' Daisy - 7/50

RCA VICTOR (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
47-3986* Am I To Blame/The Thing - 12/50
47-4076* Three Dollars And Ninety-Eight Cents/D'Ya Eat Yet, Joe - 3/51
50-0127* I'm To Blame/Sidewalk Shuffle - 5/51
50-0138* Would I Mind/When You Come Back To Me - 7/51
47-4294 Shame/Boogie Woogie On A Saturday Night - 9/51
      (* label says "Steve Gibson And The Original Red Caps")

MERCURY (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
MG-25115 Harmony Time With Steve Gibson And The Red Caps - 12/51 (a 10-inch LP)
      I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire, You're Driving Me Crazy, Little White Lies, Danny Boy,
      Let The Rest Of The World Go By, Sentimental Me, I'll Never Love Anyone Else, I Love You

MG-25116 Singing And Swinging With Steve Gibson And The Red Caps - 1/52 (a 10-inch LP)
      Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine, Blueberry Hill, You Made Me Love You,
      San Antonio Rose, Bless You, I've Lived A Lifetime For You, You Can't See The Sun When You're Crying,
      I Wake Up Every Morning

A-106x45 Singing And Swinging With Steve Gibson And The Red Caps (a 3-disc 45 album) - 52
      1253x45 I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire/You're Driving Me Crazy
      1254x45 Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine/Little White Lies
      1255x45 You Made Me Love You/Blueberry Hill

A-144x45 Harmony Time With Steve Gibson And The Red Caps (a 3-disc 45 album) - 52
      1362x45 San Antonio Rose/Bless You
      1363x45 Danny Boy/I Wake Up Every Morning (With A Heartache)
      1364x45 I Love You/Let The Rest Of The World Go By

            NOTE: For whatever reason, the titles on the 45 albums don't match up with those on the LPs.

RCA VICTOR (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
47-4670* I May Hate Myself In The Morning/Two Little Kisses - 4/52
47-4835* I Went To Your Wedding/Wait - 7/52
47-5013 Truthfully/Why Don't You Love Me - 10/52
47-5130 Big Game Hunter/Do I, Do I, I Do - 1/53
      (* label says "Steve Gibson And The Original Red Caps")

MERCURY (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
EP-1-3215 Blueberry Hill / Are You Lonesome Tonight / Sentimental Me / I'll Never Love Anyone Else - 3/54
70389 Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine/Second Hand Romance - 5/54

JAY-DEE (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps - old Davis masters originally released as the Magnolia Five)
796 Ouch!/It Hurts Me But I Like It - 11/54

RCA VICTOR (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
47-5987 My Tzatskele (My Little Darling)/Win Or Lose - 1/55
47-6096 Feelin' Kinda Happy/Nuff Of That Stuff - 4/55
47-6281* Freehearted/Always - 10/55
47-6345 Bobbin'/How I Cry - 11/55
      (* Label credits the Red Caps, but they're only instrumentalists behind Damita Jo

ABC-PARAMOUNT (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
9702 Love Me Tenderly/Rock And Roll Stomp - 5/56
9750 Write To Me/The Gaucho Serenade - 11/56
9796 You May Not Love Me/You've Got Me Dizzy - 3/57
9822 How Will I Know*/I'll Never Cry* - 5/57
9849 My Heart Is Home (Crying For You)*/Disillusioned Lovers* - 8/57
9856 Flamingo/Silhouettes - 9/57
      (* Label only credits Damita Jo, but the group is present)

HI LO (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps; part of Rose Records)
101 Itty Bitty/I Want To Be Loved (with June Henry) - 9/58
103 It's Love/Forever 'N' A Day - 58

ROSE (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
5534 Bless You/I Miss You So - 2/59

HUNT (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps; part of ABC-Paramount)
326 Bless You/Cheryl Lee - 3/59

CASA BLANCA (Steve Gibson And The Original Red Caps; part of Rose Records)
5505 Where Are You/San Antone Rose - 9/59

HUNT (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps; part of ABC-Paramount; these are the Rose masters)
330 Where Are You/San Antone Rose - 10/59

STAGE (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps; part of Rose Records)
3001 Blueberry Hill/Poor, Poor Me - 60

ABC-PARAMOUNT (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
10105 I Went To Your Wedding/Together - 4/60
10176 How Will I Know*/Disillusioned Lovers* - 1/61
      (* Label only credits Damita Jo, but the group is present; these are reissues)

ABC-378 Damita Jo: The Big 15 - With Steve Gibson And The Red Caps - 11/60
      (Those marked "DJ" are led by Damita Jo)
      How Will I Know (DJ), My Heart Is Home (DJ), Write Me (DJ) [mistitled; should be "Write To Me"], The Gaucho Serenade,
      I Went To Your Wedding, Love Me Tenderly (DJ), Silhouettes, Story Tellin' Baby (DJ), I'll Never Cry (DJ), Disillusioned Lovers (DJ),
      You May Not Love Me (DJ), You've Got Me Dizzy, Together, Time Out For Tears (DJ), Flamingo

BAND BOX (Steve Gibson And The Red Caps)
325 No More/Peppermint Baby - 62

THE MODERN RED CAPS

SMASH (George Tindley And The Modern Red Caps - first group)
1768 I Couldn't Care Less/Done Being Lonely - 6/62

ROWAX (George Tindley And The Modern Red Caps - first group)
801 Don't You Hear Them Laughing/They Can Dream - 6/63

PENNTOWNE (The Modern Red Caps - second group)
101 Free/Never Kiss A Good Man Good-bye - 1/65

LAWN (a subsidiary of Swan; the Modern Red Caps - second group)
254 Our Love Will Never Be The Same/Empty World - 7/65

SWAN (The Modern Red Caps - second group)
4243 Golden Teardrops/Never Too Young (To Fall In Love) - 1/66

   UNRELEASED SWAN
      No Sign Of You
      Tammie Is Coming Home

UNITED ARTISTS (The Modern Red Caps - second group) - recorded 7/14/67; all unreleased
      The Sound Of Music
      When You Wish Upon A Star
      We Walked In The Moonlight
      As Long As I Want Someone
      Layers And Layers
      When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through Her Eyes

DOO-WOPP (George Tinley [sic] And The Modern Red Caps - second group)
101 Since I Met Cindy/Ain't Gonna Worry About You - probably 70s (recorded mid-60s)


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