When he heard that Paul Whiteman was looking for singers to replace the Rhythm Boys, Mercer applied and got the job, `` not for my voice, I'm sure, but because I could write songs and material generally ''.

Kansas City was not bombed in the original script, although Whiteman Air Force Base was, making Kansas City suffer shock waves and the horde of survivors staggering into town.

" It came down to a choice of either Warrensburg, Missouri and Lawrence, Kansas, both college towns — Warrensburg was home of Central Missouri State University and was near Whiteman Air Force Base and Lawrence was home of the University of Kansas and was near Kansas City.

The Paul Whiteman Orchestra was the most popular and highest paid band of the day.

At three hundred pounds, Whiteman was huge both physically and culturally —" a man flabby, virile, quick, coarse, untidy and sleek, with a hard core of shrewdness in an envelope of sentimentalism ," according to a 1926 New Yorker profile.

For Beiderbecke, the downside of being with Whiteman was the relentless touring and recording schedule, exacerbated by Beiderbecke's alcoholism.

While he was away, Whiteman famously kept a chair empty in Beiderbecke's honor.

Over 18 years after Coughlan, that was finally achieved by UK's Anthony Whiteman, running 3: 58. 79 on June 2, 2012.

Paul Samuel Whiteman ( March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967 ) was an American bandleader and orchestral director.

His popularity faded in the swing music era of the 1930s, and by the 1940s Whiteman was semi-retired from music.

In his autobiography, Duke Ellington declared, " Paul Whiteman was known as the King of Jazz, and no one as yet has come near carrying that title with more certainty and dignity.

Whiteman was born in Denver, Colorado.

By 1922, Whiteman already controlled some 28 ensembles on the east coast and was earning over a $ 1, 000, 000 a year.

In 1924 Whiteman commissioned George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which was premiered by Whiteman's orchestra with George Gershwin at the piano.

Whiteman AFB was established in 1942 as Sedalia Glider Base.

Lieutenant Whiteman, a native of Sedalia, was one of the first American airmen killed in World War II when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941.

The 442nd, an Air Force Reserve Command unit operating the A-10 Thunderbolt II was previously assigned to Richards-Gebaur AFB, Missouri, transferring to Whiteman after the closure of Richards-Gebaur.

Whiteman was one of the settings for the television movie The Day After.

Riverside Hall, built in 1927 on the east bank of the river, became a popular dance pavilion, where Paul Whiteman was once featured.

Rock singer Steve Whiteman of the band Kix, best known for their hit song ' Don't Close Your Eyes ', was born in Piedmont in 1956.

Using a large ensemble and exploring many styles of music, Whiteman is perhaps best known for his blending of symphonic music and jazz, as typified by his 1924 commissioning and debut of George Gershwin's jazz-influenced " Rhapsody In Blue ".

Paul Whiteman hoped to snatch up Goldkette's best musicians for his traveling orchestra, but Beiderbecke, Trumbauer, Murray, Rank, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, Chauncey Morehouse, and Frank Signorelli instead joined the bass saxophone player Adrian Rollini at the Club New Yorker.

While most jazz musicians and fans consider improvisation to be essential to the musical style, Whiteman thought the genre could be improved by orchestrating the best of it, with formal written arrangements.

Be it enacted by the general assembly, that one hundred and thirty-nine acres of land, in the county of Hampshire, the property of John Kellar, and laid off by him into in and out lots, with convenient streets, shall be, and the same is hereby established, a town by the name of Frankfort, and that John Mitchell, Andrew Cooper, Ralph Humphries, John Williams, Sen. James Clark, Richard Stafford, Hezekiah Whiteman, and Jacob Brookhart, gentlemen, be trustees thereof, who, or the major part of them, shall have power, from time to time, to settle and determine all disputes concerning the bounds of said lots, and to establish such rules and regulations for the regular building of houses thereon, as to them shall seem best.

( Jones ' recordings during this period rivaled Paul Whiteman and other dance orchestras as examples of the very best and most popular dance music of the era.

The young Roy Radabaugh, as he was then known, had just two days in film extra work on the side, and can be seen in King of Jazz ( 1930 ), along with Paul Whiteman and his band.

* John Watts ( Cherokee chief ) ( died 1802 ), known as Whiteman Killer Watts

Benny Green, in particular, derided Whiteman for being a mere " mediocre vaudeville act ," and suggesting that " today we only tolerate the horrors of Whiteman's recordings at all in the hope that here and there a Bixian fragment will redeem the mess.

Although unashamedly commercial, these bands often featured front-rank jazz musicians — for example Paul Whiteman employed Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer.

In 1920 he moved with his band to New York City where they started recording for the Victor Talking Machine Company which made the Paul Whiteman Orchestra famous nationally.

( In his first five recordings sessions for Victor, Aug 9-Oct 28, 1920, Whiteman used the name " Paul Whiteman and His Ambassador Orchestra ," presumably because he had been playing at the Ambassador Hotel in Atlantic City ; from Nov. 3, 1920, he started using " Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra.

In May 1928 Whiteman signed with Columbia Records, and recorded for the label until September 1931, when he returned to RCA Victor.

Whiteman AFB is the only permanent base for the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.

Later, Whiteman B-2s led the way for America's military response to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D. C. in September 2001.

On July 1, 1990, the 100th Air Division activated at Whiteman and assumed host responsibilities for the base.

Accordingly, the 351st Combat Support Group and the 351st Security Police Group, along with their assigned units and the squadrons under the deputy commander for resource management, inactivated at Whiteman.

Then, on July 1, 1993, the 509th accepted the host responsibilities for Whiteman from the 351st and a new era dawned for the base.

Gershwin decided to keep his options open as to when Whiteman would bring in the orchestra and he did not write out one of the pages for solo piano, with only the words " Wait for nod " scrawled by Grofé on the band score.

Whiteman undertook to present what for the most part was an ordinary set of dance-band numbers in a concert hall under the trappings of high culture.

Because of Whiteman ’ s advertisement of the concert at Aeolian Hall, and the orchestration for primarily wind instruments, the audience was predisposed to listen to the piece as a jazz work.

I was having a love affair with New York when Whiteman commissioned me to write a tone poem.

He remained semi-active, having designed at least one book cover in the 1980s and four cd covers for Harmonie Ensemble / New York, Steven Richman, conductor: Stravinsky: Histoire du Soldat, Premieres and Rarities GRAMMY AWARD NOMINATION Koch International Classics ; Copland: Rarities and Premieres Bridge Records ; Symphonic Jazz: Ferde Grofe and George Gershwin in Original Paul Whiteman Orchestra Versions Bridge Records ; Dvorak Day Concert Dvorak Festival Orchestra of New York, Steven Richman, conductor Music and Arts