Bobby Troup

Bobby Troup
Troup as Dr. Joe Early on 1970s television show, Emergency! (with wife Julie London, in the role of nurse Dixie McCall)
Background information
Birth name	Robert Wesley Troup, Jr.
Born	October 18, 1918(1918-10-18) Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	February 7, 1999(1999-02-07) (aged 80) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Jazz
Occupations	Composer/Songwriter/Musician, Actor,
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1941–95

Robert William "Bobby" Troup Jr. (October 18, 1918 - February 7, 1999) was an American actor, jazz pianist and songwriter. He is best known for writing the popular standard "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66", and for his role as Dr. Joe Early, the more calm, yet dedicated doctor of Julie London's and Robert Fuller's characters, in the 1970s US TV series, Emergency!

Life and music

Bobby Troup was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Bobby Troup was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (ΣΑΕ) fraternity and the Mask and Wig Club.

His earliest musical success came with the song "Daddy" which was a regional hit in 1941. Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra recorded "Daddy", which was no.1 for 8 weeks on the Billboard Best Seller chart and the no.5 record of 1941. Glenn Miller and His Orchestra performed "Daddy" on their radio broadcasts, and The Andrews Sisters also recorded the song. In the same year, Troup's song "Snootie Little Cutie" was recorded by Frank Sinatra and Connie Haines with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and the Pied Pipers. He served as a Captain in the US Marines during World War II. He was the first white officer to be given command of an all black unit in Jacksonville, North Carolina, where the men were living in tents. Troup's Marines built Quonset huts, new latrines, a nightclub, a boxing ring, a basketball court and formed a basketball team, a jazz band, an orchestra, and had installed a miniature golf course for his men. Soon, white Marines of other units began spending time in that part of camp.^{[citation needed]}

Bobby Troup's first marriage was to Cynthia Hare. They had two daughters.

Troup's light and humorous musical style was similar to that of the Nat King Cole Trio.

In the 1940s, Cole had a hit with Troup's best known song "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66" which became a hit for Cole and then a popular standard (recorded by many artists including Chuck Berry (1961), The Rolling Stones (1964). In 1987, Depeche Mode combined the tune with their own composition, "Behind the Wheel", released it as the B-side of "Behind the Wheel" and it became a radio hit on KROQ 106.7 FM in Los Angeles. In 2006, "Route 66" was featured in the animated movie Cars, and the movie RV with Robin Williams.

Troup produced torch singer Julie London's million selling hit record "Cry Me a River" in 1955 and they married five years later, following London's divorce from actor Jack Webb, then directing and starring in the now-classic Dragnet TV show.

Troup's own recordings in the 1950s and 1960s were not commercially successful. He made recordings for Liberty Records and Capitol Records, many with musicians from the West Coast jazz scene.

In February 1999, Troup died at UCLA Medical Center of a massive heart attack, he was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills. His wife, Julie London died the following year, and her cremated remains were placed in the columbarium (Columbarium of Providence) niche, next to his. Coincidentally, their former TV producer boss (and London's former husband) Jack Webb (who died in 1982) is buried in the same cemetery.

Television and movies

In the mid-1950s, Troup was one of three regular panelists (along with Mel Blanc and Johnny Mercer) in the game show Musical Chairs, a Bill Leyden-hosted quiz program that aired locally on Los Angeles television for two years before NBC broadcast it in the summer of 1955. On the program, the viewing audience was encouraged to submit questions about music in an effort to stump the panel. The Troup Group provided much of the music in the game show. He also served as host of the ABC show "Stars of Jazz" featuring various jazz luminaries, particularly those working in Hollywood.

The Music of Disney: A Legacy in Song (1992) includes a version of the title song for 1965's That Darn Cat! recorded by Bobby Troup; in the film, it was performed by Bobby Darin.

While he relied on songwriting royalties, Troup also worked as an actor, playing musician Tommy Dorsey in the film The Gene Krupa Story (1959). He played himself in the short-lived NBC television series Acapulco. Later he had a memorable cameo as a disgruntled staff sergeant assigned to driving Hawkeye and Trapper John around in Japan in Robert Altman's 1970 masterpiece M*A*S*H. (His only line of dialogue is a repeated exasperation, "Goddamn army!", later modified to "Goddamn army jeep!"). In 1972, Jack Webb, who had previously used Troup in a 1967 episode of the television series Dragnet, cast him opposite Webb's ex-wife Julie London in the US TV series Emergency!.

Emergency! was created by Webb, who had recently starred in a revival of Dragnet and was producing NBC's popular Adam-12. London and Troup had remained on cordial terms with Webb, who had used Troup (and his daughter Ronny) in episodes of Adam-12 as well as the revived Dragnet. In the role of Dr. Joe Early, Troup projected a relaxed amiability that brought humor to the show and contrasted with the intensity of actor Robert Fuller in the role of Dr. Kelly Brackett.

Troup also wrote the title song (sung by Little Richard) in the classic 1950s rock and roll movie The Girl Can't Help It. An instrumental rendition of his song "The Meaning of the Blues" appeared on the landmark Miles Davis album, Miles Ahead. Troup's hipster interpretation of the fairy tale "The Three Bears" is often erroneously credited to "anonymous" and re-titled "Three Bears Rap", "Three Bears with a Beat", etc. This song was first recorded by the Page Cavanaugh Trio and later by Western Swing bandleader Leon McAuliffe.

Circa 1969 Troup collaborated with entertainer Tommy Leonetti, penning the lyrics for Leonetti's song "My City of Sydney". Leonetti's original recording was used for many years in the close-down sequence for TV station ATN-7 in Sydney, and was also covered by Sydney punk band XL Capris.

Selected compositions

• "Baby, Baby, All The Time" - Nat King Cole, June Christy, Diana Krall
• "Bran' New Dolly" - written and sung by Bobby Troup on RCA Victor some time between 1947–50
• "Daddy" - 1941, recorded by Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra, The Andrews Sisters, The Charioteers, performed by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra
• "Girl Talk", lyrics by Troup, music by Neal Hefti - recorded by Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter
• "Hungry Man" - Louis Jordan
• "I See Your Bass Before Me"
• "I'd Like You For Christmas" - Julie London
• "It Happened Once Before" - The Four Freshmen
• "Jack 'N Jill"
• "Lemon Twist" - Stan Kenton, Billy May, John Pizzarelli
• "Let's Keep Dancing" - Peggy Lee
• "One October Morning"
• "Out of the Shadows" - June Christy
• "Please Belong To Me"
• "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66", 1946 - recorded by the Nat King Cole Trio, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, Perry Como, Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, Depeche Mode, and numerous others
• "Snootie Little Cutie", 1941 - recorded by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra featuring Frank Sinatra, Connie Haines, The Manhattan Transfer
• "The Feeling of Jazz" - words to Duke Ellington's composition
• "The Girl Can't Help It", 1956 - Little Richard
• "The Meaning of the Blues" - Miles Davis (1957), Shirley Horn, Irene Kral, Buddy Rich
• "The Three Bears", 1946 - Page Cavanaugh Trio, Ray Ellington, Leon McAuliffe
• "Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring" - The Four Freshmen, The Beach Boys, Sue Raney
• "There She Goes"
• "This October" - The Four Freshmen, Julie London
• "You're Looking At Me" - Nat King Cole, Don Fagerquist, Stacey Kent, Diana Krall, Cleo Laine, Carmen McRae
• "Walking Shoes" - words to Gerry Mulligan's composition

Discography

• 1955 Bobby Troup, (Bethlehem)
• 1955 Bobby Troup Sings Johnny Mercer, (Bethlehem)
• 1955 The Distinctive Style of Bobby Troup, (Bethlehem)
• 1955 Bobby Troup and His Trio, (Liberty)
• 1955 The Feeling of Jazz, (Star Line)
• 1957 Bobby Swings Tenderly, (Mode)
• 1957 Sings Johnny Mercer, (Bethlehem)
• 1957 In a Class Beyond Compare, (Audiophile)
• 1958 Stars of Jazz, (RCA)
• 1958 Here's to My Lady, (Liberty)
• 1958 Bobby Troup and His Jazz All-Stars, (RCA Victor)
• 1959 Cool, (Interlude)

External links

• Bobby Troup at the Internet Movie Database
• Bobby Troup at Find a Grave