This band deserves a lot more attention than it sadly gets... or should I say doesn't get. This 1927 selection once again displays their great skill. Born in Grand Rapids, Frank Winegar co-founded his first band at the age of 16. In 1922 at Peddle Prep School, Winegar directed a band called the Gold and Blues. Later that year, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, where in 1923 his band won a contest. After spending the summer performing overseas, they came home to continue their studies. Winegar majored in architecture. During the winter of 1923-1924 he published his first song, "Dreary Weather." In December of 1924, Ted Weems secured a gig for Winegar's Peppy Collegians at the Arcadia Ballroom in New York in January of 1925, then toured New England and parts of the Midwest. In June 1927, Milt Shaw became the leader of this band. They took off for Michigan, there to become Milt Shaw's Detroiters. Winegar's next band, Frank Winegar's Pennsylvanians, included Sherry Magee, Bill Haid, Tony Franchini, Larry Hart (not lyricist Lorenz Hart), and brothers Herman and Bill Drewes. This was perhaps the best band he ever led. They made a number of good records for the Edison label (1927-1929) and during the spring of 1928 pulled in $1,800 a week performing at Yoeng's Chinese restaurant in New York. They also played Philadelphia, Atlantic City, and New York, taking off on a protracted NBC tour of RKO theaters. Winegar dissolved the band late in 1929. Winegar practiced architecture in Grand Rapids, then assembled a quintet and sailed with them to Europe. After serenading the royal family at the Belgian Centenary in Antwerp, they returned to the U.S. in the autumn of 1930. Winegar led a large orchestra in New York, featuring Judy Canova and young Charlie Barnet. After 1933, he took a break from bandleading to hole up in Grand Rapids, where he wrote minor hits like "When a Gypsy Makes His Violin Cry." He led a dance band at the Rowe Hotel, and toured with the group throughout Michigan. Winegar discovered Betty Jane Thornburg singing at a bar in Lansing around 1936. After changing her name to Betty Jane Blair, she worked with Vincent Lopez and ended up in Hollywood as Betty Hutton. In 1941, Winegar got a B.A. in English Literature and scored a Master's degree in Music from the University of Michigan. During the Second World War, he led a band in Flint and became a high school band instructor in suburban Detroit. He composed marches and continued to teach throughout the '50s, first in Newberry and then Chesaning, MI, where during the early '60s, he managed his children's Rock & Roll band. Calling themselves the Red Coats, they made it onto the Ed Sullivan Show. Beginning in 1969, Winegar taught school and performed with a traditional jazz combo in Piney Woods, MS. He appeared as star banjoist with the Jackson Symphony in 1982. By 1986 he was living in Fairmont, MN and died there on in 1988.
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