(Dust jacket notes: "Oswald Nelson began his spectacular c...)
Dust jacket notes: "Oswald Nelson began his spectacular career as a musician at age 14 when he and a friend were paid $5 to play for the local Woman's club dance in his native Ridgefield Park, N.J. Before Ozzie knew it, his 'band' was in such demand that people were willing to pay them an incredible $10 per night. From then on, it was only up for Ozzie as he divided his free time at Rutgers University between football and music. Finally, music won out over the gridiron and within five years of his college graduation, he was the leader of one of the big bands of the 1930's and an established radio personality. During this period he met Harriet Hilliard, who became his partner and, of course, his wife. Together, they won millions of radio fans when they joined Red Skelton on the highly popular 'Raleigh Cigarette Hour." In 1944, 'The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet' was first broadcast, and ran on radio and television for a total of 22 years, a show business record of almost legendary proportions! And Ozzie's career did not end there -- he returned to the stage in plays such as The Impossible Years, State Fair and The Marriage-Go-Round, and this fall he will be back on television with a new series, 'Ozzie's Girls.' OZZIE is more than Ozzie's success story and more than a family album of Ozzie, Harriet, David and Ricky. It is also a nostalgic evocation of one of the most glamorous eras of show business; the Nelsons worked with virtually every big name in entertainment from Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra to Tallulah Bankhead and Charles Laughton. Ozzie's story, enriched by a wealth of amusing anecdotes, is a truly memorable one. It presents a genuinely nice man who writes with such warmth and unaffected charm that we end by liking the man just as much as his entertaining story."
(After years of hits on Brunswick, Ozzie and his band flew...)
After years of hits on Brunswick, Ozzie and his band flew the coop for Bluebird (where he'd score 19 more) in 1937. These transcription recordings were made that year; bask in their elegant sound as they play Night Ride; They All Laughed; Sophisicated Swing; Whirligig; Carelessly , and more!
(Includes Headin' for a Wedding; In the Dim, Dim Dawning; ...)
Includes Headin' for a Wedding; In the Dim, Dim Dawning; Puddin' Head Jones; Dr. Heckle & Mr. Jive; No One Loves Me Like "That Dallas Man"; I'm Dancin' on a Rainbow; I Hate Myself (for Being So Mean to You); Goin' to Heaven on a Mule , and more.
Oswald George Nelson was an American bandleader and radio and television star. Nelson changed the face of television.
Background
Oswald George Nelson was born on March 20, 1906 in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. He was the son of George Nelson and Ethel Orr. Nelson's father was a banker, but he also was an inveterate producer of amateur talent shows and frequently had his sons on stage singing before the local Elks, Knights of Columbus, and Masons. The tightly knit family provided values that Ozzie later applied to his own family, which grew up in front of America on one of the first hit television series. At the age of thirteen, Ozzie became the Boy Scouts' youngest Eagle Scout ever. With his brother Alfred, he performed in England, France, and Belgium on a goodwill tour for the Boy Scouts. Music became Ozzie's passion, and the fourteen-year-old saxophonist organized a band in his suburban town of Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.
Education
Nelson graduated from Ridgefield Park High School in 1927 and then enrolled in Rutgers University. Nelson was a starting quarterback in football, earned letters in swimming and lacrosse, and became a boxing champion. But he failed to make the college glee club and instead put together his own band. They played at various college and local functions before Nelson went on to earn his law degree at the New Jersey Law School in New Brunswick in 1930, paying for his education by coaching football at Lincoln High School in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Career
Nelson eschewed law work and became an acclaimed bandleader, writing well-known songs like "I'm Satisfied with You" and "I Dare You. "
From 1930 until 1943, he worked steadily as one of the country's best-known orchestra leaders.
Nelson's recruitment of a female singer changed his career. Harriet Hilliard, a Des Moines, Iowa, beauty queen, joined Nelson's troupe in 1932. After their marriage, the family left New Jersey for Hollywood in 1941.
Ozzie and Harriet costarred in three movie musicals in 1944 and appeared as regulars on Red Skelton's radio show. Their break came when Skelton went into the army in 1944. The Nelsons received their own program, "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, " which was quickly acclaimed by the critics and vaulted the couple into national prominence.
The Nelsons made the move to television on October 3, 1952. David, who was nearly sixteen, and Ricky, twelve, played themselves on the show. This was a change from the radio show, where actors portrayed the Nelson siblings.
For thirty minutes every week, millions of eyes were focused on the white house at 822 Sycamore Road, Hillsdale, New Jersey.
At a time when movie making was considered the most prestigious work, he lured top cinematographers and others to the small screen. Nelson likened his show's production values to those of a major Hollywood movie.
Ozzie was proud that he and Harriet were the first TV couple shown sleeping together in a double bed. The show also catapulted Ricky to the top of the music charts by featuring his singing such hits as "Travelin' Man" in most episodes. The show was canceled by ABC in 1966, but not because of diminishing ratings. Rather, following their marriages, David's and Ricky's real-life wives, June and Kris, joined the cast. But, according to Ozzie, it became difficult keeping the show focused with three different couples sharing center stage, and the decision was made to end its run.
Ozzie and Harriet made a brief return to television in 1973 with the syndicated "Ozzie's Girls, " which had the Nelsons paired with two college girls they took in as boarders. Ozzie also did some television directing on programs like the police series "Adam 12. "
He died in his San Fernando Valley home, eight months after being diagnosed with liver cancer. David went on to a career as an entertainment industry executive, while Rick was a major recording star before his death in a plane crash on December 31, 1985. The family's legacy lasted into the 1990's with another generation of performing Nelsons.
Achievements
Nelson starred in a radio and long-running television series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet with his wife.
For his contribution to the television industry, Ozzie Nelson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6555 Hollywood Boulevard. He has an additional star with his wife at 6260 Hollywood Boulevard for their contribution to radio.
Quotations:
"Throughout the 14 years we filmed the show, we spent so much time on the set that the boys often said it was difficult to figure which was our real home. "
Personality
Ozzie's all-American image was enhanced by reports that he neither smoked nor drank.
An athlete until the end, Nelson swam two miles a day in the Pacific Ocean.
Connections
On October 8, 1935 he married Harriet Hilliard in Hackensack, New Jersey. They had two sons, David and Ricky. Ozzie and Harriet became synonymous with the ideal American family. The Nelsons were "the nicest young married couple on the air and one of the most human, " said one critic. "They represented the exemplary happy, healthy, post-war American family living the mythological middle-class white Anglo-Saxon Protestant dream life somewhere in friendly suburbia, " according to Favorite Families of TV.
