Ray Hackett

Ray Hackett (né Raymond William Hackett; 5 November 1909 Carlin, Nevada[1] – 29 March 1987 Santa Rosa, California) was an American radio broadcast and dance orchestra leader who flourished from 1928, while attending the University of Nevada, Reno, to the mid 1970s in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he spent most of his professional career.[2][3][4]

Career

By the age of 15 (January 1924), Hackett — billed as "The Boy Wonder" — was playing popular piano music in Reno theaters. Hackett was a 1932 graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno. He studied philosophy with plans to become a lawyer. In 1928, while in college, he was leading his own dance orchestra. Following the Crash of 1929, Hackett lost his scholarship and began relying mostly on gigs from his dance band to pay tuition. He graduated and pursued music. His primary instrument was piano.

In 1937, Hackett became music director at CBS in San Francisco. In 1939, he was appointed music director of the Golden Gate Exposition at Treasure Island.[4] By 1949, Hackett's band was booked by Music Corporation of America.[5]

Hackett's tenure as music director for CBS in San Francisco endured through the mid-1960s. Hackett was music director of The Bill Weaver Show with Ray Hackett and His Orchestra, which began in the mid-1950s and continued through the mid-1960s.[Note 1] The Bill Weaver Show was broadcast on KQW radio, later renamed KCBS, from the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Hackett also was the music director of the 1960 Republican National Convention in San Francisco.

Education

Pre-college music

Before attending high school (around 1920), Hackett began studying piano with Harriet Irene Peterson (1886–1939).[Note 2]

Primary and secondary schools

Hackett attended grammar school at the Mary S. Doten School (grades 1–8) in Reno, finishing the eighth grade January 25, 1925.[6] Hackett was a 1928 graduate of Reno High School. In February 1928, Hackett became president of the Reno High School Senior Class.

College

Hackett was a 1932 graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno. He majored in philosophy.

Notable orchestra members
  • Eddie Duran, jazz guitarist with the CBS Orchestra, late 1950s

Selected compositions

Songs

  • "Yearning", song with men's quartet
By Ray Hackett and Theodore H. Post
Arranged by Theodore H. Post (1933)[Note 3]
September 27, 1933, Class E (musical composition) 38645[lower-alpha 1]
  • "From Time To Time"
Lyrics by Clare Eleanore Hackett, music by Raymond William Hackett
© Sumond Music Co., March 15, 1955 Class E (unpublished musical composition) EU390223[lower-roman 1]
  • "Where In The World"
Lyrics by Bradford Woodridge Young & Clare Eleanore Hackett, music by Raymond William Hackett
© Bradford Woodrldge Young, Clare Eleanore Hackett, and Raymond William Hackett
February 15, 1955 Class E (unpublished musical composition) EU386461[lower-roman 1]

Grove plays

  • The Green Mountain Boys (1963)
Richard L. Breen, author; Raymond W. Hackett, composer; J. Fenton McKenna (1905–1995),[Note 4] director
Bohemian Club, San Francisco
Grabhorn Press, San Francisco
  • The Valley of The Moon (1966); OCLC 46976235, 17548614
Ralph Moody, author; Raymond W. Hackett, composer; J. Fenton McKenna (1905–1995),[Note 4] director
Bohemian Club, San Francisco
Francis N. Marshall (1907–1997), author; Raymond W. Hackett, composer-conductor; James Robert Minser (1925–1987), director
Bohemian Club, San Francisco

Selected discography
  • The Forward Look (album; musical revues & comedies) (1956); OCLC 13672360
Junior League of San Francisco
With Ray Hackett and His Orchestra
  • "Come Join The Band" (78 rpm single), Raycord (19--); OCLC 82069788
1001; mx HR-100
Stan Noonan's[Note 5] Cheerleaders; Ray Hackett and His Orchestra
  • "The Indian Jumps" (78 rpm single), Raycord (19--); OCLC 77646425
1001; mx HR-102
Ray Hackett and His Orchestra
  • "Our Sturdy Golden Bear" (78 rpm single), Raycord (19--); OCLC 82645240
1002; mx HR-103
Stan Noonan's[Note 5] Cheerleaders; Ray Hackett and His Orchestra
  • "Oski Jumps" (78 rpm single), Raycord (19--); OCLC 83944610
1002; mx HR-104
Ray Hackett and His Orchestra

Professional and fraternal affiliations

References

Notes

  1. Bill Weaver was the pseudonym of William Francis Ward (1920–1996)
  2. Harriet Irene Peterson (never married; 1886–1939), a concert pianist who had a private studio in Reno, earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Nevada, Reno, in 1906. From 1906 to 1908, Peterson studied piano with William Hall Sherwood (1854–1911) of Chicago, and, in 1908, earned a diploma from the Bush Conservatory of Music in Chicago, where she studied organ with Dr. Charles E. Allum (1854–1917)
  3. Theodore H. Post (1892–1955) was a professor of music at the University of Nevada, Reno, from 1927 until his retirement in 1954. Before 1927, Post had also taught at Smith, Grinnell, and Washburn Colleges. Post received his bachelor's degree from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, masters from Harvard, and, in 1918, graduate diploma in voice from the New England Conservatory of Music
  4. John Fenton McKenna (1905–1995) was, among other things, Dean of the San Francisco State University College of Creative Arts from 1963 to 1975
  5. Stan Noonan (né Stanley Jack Noonan; 1912–1996)

Copyright citations

Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 3, Musical Compositions, New Series, Library of Congress, Copyright Office
Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 5B, Unpublished Musical Compositions, New Series, Library of Congress, Copyright Office

Inline citations

  1. Buck, Richard P.; Bethards, Jack M. (2005). Music and Musicians in Bohemia: The First One Hundred Years: a Research Document. Bohemian Club. pp. 188, 250, 279.
  2. Papers, 1919–1955, of Theodore H. Post (1892–1955), Walter Van Tilburg Clark (1909–1971); Ray Hackett, Dorothy Mendenhall, Bertha Eaton Raffetto (1885–1952), Una L. Stephens, University of Nevada, Reno; OCLC 42334546
  3. "Radio Orchestras of San Francisco," by Jack M. Bethards (né John Bethards; born 1940), Paramount Theatre Music Library, Oakland, California (2010), reprinted from the AFM Local Six Newsletter
  4. "Raymond W. Hackett" (obituary), San Francisco Chronicle, March 31, 1987, pg. 24
  5. "On The Stand: Ray Hackett," by Lee Zhito (1818–1995), Billboard, October 8, 1949, pg. 18
  6. "71 Will Graduate from Grammar Schools," Reno Evening Gazette, January 24, 1924, pg. 8, col. 1
  7. Bohemian Club: History, Officers and Committees, Former Officers, in Memoriam, House Rules, Grove Rules. Bohemian Club. 1973. p. 76.
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