Harry Babbitt

The longtime lead vocalist with Kay Kyser’s big band, Harry Babbitt could very well be most widely known to subsequent generations for providing the distinctive giggle of cartoon icon Woody Woodpecker. Given birth to November 2, 1913 in St. Louis, Missouri, Babbitt became a member of Kyser’s orchestra in 1938 — along with his warm high baritone tone of voice and visual appearance (Kyser dubbed him “Good looking Harry”), he was popular on record and film as well, in 1939 co-starring in THAT IS RIGHT, You’re Incorrect, the to begin seven Hollywood features he made out of the group. Furthermore to performing on strikes including “The Umbrella Guy,” “Three Small Fishies,” “Who Wouldn’t Like You,” “Jingle, Jangle, Jingle,” and “He Wears a set of Sterling silver Wings,” Babbitt was also a presented player within the smash radio series Kay Kyser’s Kollege of Musical Understanding. From 1944 to 1946 he offered within the U.S. Navy, time for the Kyser group pursuing his release — in 1948, they documented “The Woody Woodpecker Track,” compiled by George Tibbles and Ramez Idriss honoring the favorite Walter Lanz cartoon creation. The Kyser disk offered 250,000 copies, and Babbitt also documented a new edition for make use of in Lanz’s Oscar-nominated brief Wet Blanket Plan. (The track would stay a staple from the Woody Woodpecker franchise for a long time to arrive.) Another Babbitt smash was his single rendition from the seasonal strike “All I’D LIKE for Christmas Is certainly My Two Entrance Tooth” — various other solo efforts consist of “I’ll MANAGE,” “How Are Factors in Glocca Morra?” and “Family portrait of Jenny.” For near ten years, he also managed the weekday radio plan The Second Sit down elsewhere Membership. Babbitt retired from executing in 1964 to begin with a profession in property, but pursuing Kyser’s 1985 loss of life he obtained the privileges to Kyser’s name and catalog in the bandleader’s widow, spending another decade touring beneath the Kyser Orchestra aegis. Babbitt passed away of organic causes within a Newport Seaside, California nursing house on Apr 9, 2004.