The popular songs that were written in the 1920s and ’30s, ’40s and early ’50s were written by veterans – mostly men who’d had experience in life. How can you write a lyric if you...

Composers now just don’t have the depth of inspiration for melody. Most of the lyrics of the pop songs you hear today are repetitious. They’re almost nursery rhymes, as if written by children – which...

I always felt that I would become somebody outstanding, whether it was in singing, instrumental playing, orchestra conducting, or anything involving feeling.

It’s too bad that there aren’t as many light comedies around in the movies as there were when I was making pictures like ‘The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer.’ The boys are just not writing them....

The kids of today have taken over the music business – most of them very young. Simply because they write and jot down a few notes, they have the idea that they can write songs.

We of the soft-crooning radio type of singer are giving the people what they want. The American public as a whole does not care for full-throated operatic singing. And why should it? Down through the...

As for radio and movies, I like the movies better, although the work is much harder. The cinema has microphone technique, staging, and glamour all wrapped up into one.

I hope always to be busy, even if only directing an orchestra in the pit. However, I should prefer to produce movies or be the directing head of a radio corporation.