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Roger Wolfe Kahn Orch.- Don't Ever Leave Me, 1929

3,825 views · Published 1 April 2012 · 2:53 · Indexed 8 November 2026

Channel: 240252 · 2012 · Music

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Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orchestra with Vocal Chorus  -- Don't Ever Leave Me, Fox Trot from "Sweet Adeline" (Hammerstein 2nd /Kern), Brunswick 1929 

NOTE: Roger Wolfe Kahn (1907-1963) -- American bandleader, son and heir of  wealthy banker Otto Kahn. He began to study music at an early age and has mastered several instruments. In 1923, at age of 16 he became a bandleader when his father bought him the Arthur Lange Orchestra. However, he appeared to be a talented bandleader and his group became an attraction in the New York area. Since 1925, the orchestra was headquartered at the Hotel Biltmore and began recording for the Victor label as Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Hotel Biltmore Orchestra. Until its demise, the group was simply known as Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orchestra, recording for Victor until 1929, then for Columbia and Brunswick labels between 1929-31. Due to Kahn's wealth he was able to employ or to hire for special events the top musicians of his day: Jack Teagarden, Gene Krupa, Red Nichols, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Artie Shaw, the Dorsey Brothers. In 1931 Kahn married musical comedy actress Hannah Williams, whom he divorced two years later. Possibly, it was reason why R.W. Kahn lost interest in music and in 1934 he disbanded his orchestra. Instead, he got interest in aviation and earned a pilot's license. In  1941 he went to work as a test pilot -- he tested many of the fighter planes used in WWII by American pilots. 

"Sweet Adeline" was a Broadway comedy show with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was set in the 1890s and concerned a story of a New Jersey girl who, unlucky in love, becomes a Broadway star. Unfortunately, opening just before the stock market crash, it received rare reviews, moreover, the elaborate and old-fashioned piece was a step back from the innovations in Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat (1927). In 1934, a musical movie was released by Warner Bros, directed by Mervyn LeRoy with Irene Dunne and Louis Calhern.

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