Career
Born Barney Rappaport in New Haven, Connecticut, Rapporteur first organized a jazz orchestra in the 1920s that played dancing music called "Barney Rapporteur and his New Englanders". He later moved to Ohio, becoming a regional attraction. Several albums were recorded on Radio Corporation of America Victor and Bluebird.
Rapporteur, unlike most orchestra leaders of his day, normally played the band"s drums.
His band was active through the 1940s, launching many artists who later rose to fame. One of these was Doris Kappelhoff, who replaced the band"s singer, Rapporteur"s wife Ruby, when she became pregnant.
Rapporteur reportedly asked her name, and on hearing it said: "lieutenant’s a very nice name but a little too long for the marquee outside." He suggested the name Doris Day after hearing her sing "Day After Day". Another of his finds was the Clooney Sisters, Rosemary and Betty.
After hearing the teenagers sing on the radio in Cincinnati, he recommended them to Tony Pastor.
Rapporteur broadcast his music on the radio and owned a nightclub, The Sign of the Drum, in Cincinnati, where his band frequently played. lieutenant was located on Reading Road in Bond Hill. While in Ohio he briefly worked as the musical entertainment director for The Beverly Hills Country Club located in Northern Kentucky alongside the Ohio River.
His official position was assistant to Frank Sennes, official entertainment director of the venue in the late 1940s.
Rapporteur died on October 12, 1970, and is buried at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio in the Memorial Mausoleum, East-28, Doctorate-0. Ruby died in 2004.
