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One of only a handful of dance bands discovered and promoted by Flo Ziegfeld personally!
Earl was born in Harrisburg, PA, and attended Pennsylvania State University, but stayed in college only two years. In 1918, he had joined the Art Hickman band just months before the legendary showman, Florenz Ziegfeld heard the band in San Francisco and moved the orchestra to New York City. The band had a featured spot in the "Ziegfeld Follies of 1920." A year later the Hickman band opened at the Cocoanut Grove in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. When Hickman retired he asked Burtnett to continue as leader. (In 1930, Art Hickman died, in his home town of San Francisco, CA.) Because of his success in leading the band, Burtnett was able to find the financial backing to start his own band.
In the early 1930s, Earl led the featured band at the Biltmore Hotel in San Francisco, and he backed the Biltmore Trio, for Brunswick Records. Here's another photograph of the Biltmore Trio. In both photographs, Ned Hewitt is at left, Les Houck center, and Don Dorsey at the right. He also backed the singer Ruth Lee, "the platinum blonde songstress", when she introduced the song "Imagine", at the Drake Hotel in Chicago. And, here's a picture of Stanley Hickman, another Burtnett vocalist, from a photograph that he gave to Dottie and Les Houck upon their marriage. (I do not know if he was related to bandleader Art Hickman.) These three photographs are reproduced here by the kind permission of Les Houck's daughter, Ms. Pamela Houck Shriver. When Les Houck was married (in Hollywood, CA), there was the usual reception for the bride and groom, - attended by many film stars. A very interesting photograph from that event is shown on our Ted Fio Rito, entry.
In 1936, The first new hit novelty tune was "The Music Goes Round and Round". It was composed by Red Hodgson, a novelty tune singer in Burtnett's band. But it was another band - Mike Riley and Eddie Farley - that helped him to get it published. Vocalist Ruth Lee had warbled it one night in a New York club, and it became a national hit. It fact, it was the only hit recording that the 'Riley and Farley Band' ever had. They sang it every night in the Onyx Club on New York's famed 52nd Street, -- but it was a huge hit for them. Every radio station in America was playing it a dozen or so times a day.
Burtnett's band appeared in two films, 1929's 'The Flying Fool', and 1930's 'The Party Girl'. In both films, the band was billed as 'Earl Burtnett and his Hotel Biltmore Orchestra and Trio'. (vocal trio -ed.) Earl played himself in both films.
Starting in 1933 the band played 18 months at the Rice Hotel in Houston, TX, before moving up to Chicago. It was a popular band in Chicago. WGN radio often aired the band via live remote broadcasts from night spots including The Blackhawk Ballroom, the Lincoln Tavern, and the Gold Coast Room in the Drake Hotel, where Burtnett's band enjoyed a long stay. His last Chicago engagement was as the Trianon Ballroom.
Earl had also composed some songs that had a modicum of success, including "Down Honolulu Way", "Sleep", and "Leave Me With A Smile".
Ralph "Cricket" Brown, was the Bass player with Burtnett's orchestra (he had previously led his own band during Feb. to August 1928), and his grand daughter, Ms Linda Ewing, has graciously permitted us to reproduce some of the photographs in "Cricket" Brown's scrapbook. Here's a photograph of the Burtnett Orch., on stage at the Chicago Theatre. This is another photo of the band on the same stage, but showing the full Chorus Line, taking their bow. And finally, here's a nice close up of Earl Burtnett, alone.
On Sept. 28, 1935, while traveling with his orchestra, Earl suffered a broken leg due to an auto accident near Valparaiso, IN. He had fully recovered from the injury and was again actively performing with the band. On Christmas Eve, 1935, Earl had underwent an appendectomy at Chicago's Illinois Central Hospital. At first he didn't want to undergo the operation. He told the attending physician that his appendix had been removed sometime around 1918, in a hospital near his hometown of Harrisburg, PA. He even carried the scar to show it. On Dec. 24, 1935, Burtnett's condition became grave, and he was taken to the hospital. The operation revealed that his appendix had not been removed, and that Peritonitis had set in. The Peritonitis proved fatal. Burtnett died that evening. He was just 37 years old.
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