Don Raye
b. Donald McRae Wilhoite Jnr., 16 March 1909, Washington, D.C., USA, d. January 1985. Raye was an accomplished dancer as a boy, and won the Virginia State Dancing Championship. From the mid-20s he worked as a singer and dancer in Vaudeville and, later, toured theatres and nightclubs in France and England, while also writing songs for himself and other performers. In 1935 he collaborated with Sammy Cahn, Saul Chaplin and band leader Jimmie Lunceford on Rhythm In My Nursery Rhymes and, in the late '30s, worked for a New York music publishing house. After moving to Hollywood in 1940, Raye was commissioned to write the songs for ARGENTINE NIGHTS, in which the Andrews Sisters made their screen debut. Together with Hughie Prince and the Sisters' arranger Vic Schoen, Raye wrote Hit The Road and Oh! How He Loves Me. With Prince, he produced Rhumboogie, the first of a series of ‘boogie woogie’ numbers, several of which became hits for the Andrews Sisters, pianist Freddie Slack, and Will Bradley And His Orchestra. Raye and Prince's next assignment was BUCK PRIVATES, which also featured the Andrews Sisters, and rocketed the comedy duo, Abbott And Costello to movie stardom. The songs included You're A Lucky Fellow, Mr Smith, Bounce Me Brother With A Solid Four and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy From Company B, which was nominated for an Academy Award, and revived successfully in 1973 by Bette Midler. Raye's other boogie ballads included Beat Me Daddy (Eight To The Bar), Rock-A-Bye The Boogie, Down The Road A Piece and Scrub Me, Mamma, With A Boogie Beat. His long partnership with Gene De Paulfollowed, in which they collaborated on songs for the 1941 films IN THE NAVY, SAN ANTONIO ROSE, MOONLIGHT IN HAWAII and KEEP 'EM FLYING; in 1942, HELLZAPOPPIN', WHAT'S COOKIN', RIDE 'EM COWBOY, ALMOST MARRIED, PARDON MY SARONG and BEHIND THE EIGHT BALL; in 1943, WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME and HI BUDDY, REVEILLE WITH BEVERLEY, WHAT'S BUZZIN' COUSIN?, LARCENY WITH MUSIC, CRAZY HOUSE and I DOOD IT; in 1944, HI GOOD LOOKIN' and STARS ON PARADE. They also enjoyed success with Who's That In Your Love Life?, Irresistible You and Solid Potato Salad. Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet (from BROADWAY RHYTHM). Towards the end of World War II, De Paul spent two years in the Armed Forces. He and Don Raye resumed writing their movie songs in 1947 with Who Knows? for WAKE UP AND DREAM and Judaline for A DATE WITH JUDY. In 1948 they contributed to A Song Is Born and also wrote It's Whatcha Do With Whatcha Got for the Walt Disney live-action feature, SO DEAR TO MY HEART. De Paul and Raye's last film work together was in 1949, for another Disney project, the highly acclaimed cartoon, THE ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD AND MR TOAD. During the period working with De Paul, Raye also collaborated with others writers on Yodelin' Jive, Why Begin Again?, This Is My Country, I Love You Too Much, Music Makers, The House Of Blue Lights, Your Home Is In My Arms, Domino, They Were Doin' The Mambo (a US hit for Vaughn Monroe), Roses And Revolvers, I'm Looking Out The Window and Too Little Time. After the mid-50s, Raye only wrote occasionally, although his Well, All Right, written with Frances Faye and Dan Howell, and a hit in 1959 for the Andrews Sisters, was interpolated into the 1978 bio-pic, THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY.