Lewis was one of the first Northern musicians to imitate the style of
New Orleans jazz musicians who came to New York in the 1910s. He first recorded in 1917 with
Earl Fuller's Jazz Band, then engaged at Rector's restaurant in Manhattan, a band which was attempting to copy the sound of the city's newest sensation, the
Original Dixieland Jass Band, which was playing at Reisenweber's restaurant in New York City. Although the piccolo was the first instrument Lewis learned, he also played the
C-melody saxophone but was known principally as a clarinetist throughout his long career. His primary instrument was a B♭ Albert System clarinet. Based on his earliest recordings, Lewis did not seem able to do much on the clarinet other than trill in its upper register. Promoting one recording the Victor catalog stated: "The sounds as of a dog in his dying anguish are from Ted Lewis' clarinet". As his career gained momentum he refined his style under the influence of the first New Orleans clarinetists to relocate in New York,
Larry Shields,
Alcide Nunez, and
Achille Baquet. By 1919, Lewis was leading his own band with whom he starred in the Broadway
musical revue The Greenwich Village Follies of 1919. He had a recording contract with
Columbia Records, which marketed him as their answer to the
Original Dixieland Jass Band that recorded for Victor records. For a time (as the company did with Paul Whiteman) Columbia gave him a special record label featuring his picture. At the start of the 1920s, he was being promoted as one of the leading lights of the mainstream form of jazz popular at the time. Although Lewis's clarinet style became increasingly corny, he certainly knew what good clarinet playing sounded like, for he hired musicians like
Benny Goodman,
Jimmy Dorsey,
Frank Teschemacher, and
Don Murray to play clarinet in his band. Over the years his band also included
jazz greats
Muggsy Spanier on trumpet and
George Brunies on trombone. Ted Lewis's band was second only to the
Paul Whiteman band in popularity during the early 1920s, and arguably played a more authentic form of jazz with less pretension than Whiteman. Lewis recorded for Columbia from 1919 to 1933. Subsequently, he recorded for
Decca from 1934 through the 1940s. In 1932, Lewis recorded "
In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town", which he had performed in the film
The Crooner with his orchestra. The recording reached number one in radio polls and remained there for ten weeks. One of Lewis's most memorable songs was "
Me and My Shadow" with which he frequently closed his act. Around 1928, Lewis noticed an African-American usher named Eddie Chester mimicking his movements during his act. He hired Chester to follow him on stage as his shadow during "Me and My Shadow". Chester was the first of five African-American shadows, the most famous being Charles "Snowball" Whittier, whom Lewis would address on stage as "Charlie". Thus Ted Lewis was one of the first prominent white entertainers to showcase African-American performers (arguably in stereotypical ways) on stage, on film, and eventually on network television. Ted Lewis and His Orchestra was one of the featured acts at the 1939
Golden Gate International Exposition – Pageant of the Pacific on
Treasure Island (Sunday, August 13, 1939, Program of Special Attractions and Events indicates that the Ted Lewis Orchestra performed from 2:45 to 3:45 p.m. and from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the Temple Compound and from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. in the Treasure Island Music Hall for a free dance). Lewis's band continued to play in the same general style throughout the
Great Depression, but was essentially the musical backdrop for his act as a showman. He remained successful during an era when many bands broke up. Through it all he retained his famous catchphrases
Is everybody happy? and
Yessir! His mannerisms were so familiar that nightclub comedians would imitate him, including
Harry Ritz of the
Ritz Brothers, and
Jackie Gleason. Lewis was occasionally caricatured in
Warner Brothers cartoons, as in
A Great Big Bunch of You (1932),
Speaking of the Weather (1937), and
Person to Bunny (1960). Lewis adopted a battered top hat for sentimental, hard-luck tunes (he called himself "The High-Hatted Tragedian of Song"). Frequently he would stray from song lyrics, improvising patter around them. This gave the effect of Lewis "speaking" the song spontaneously: "When ma' baby... when ma' baby smiles at me...
gee, what a wonderful, wonderful
light that
comes to her eyes... look at that
light, folks..." ==Films==