Buddy Clark

Buddy Clark grew up in the Westend of Boston. As a youngster, he expressed strong interests in sports, body building, exercising, and one of his big dreams was to become a professional baseball player. Buddy even had plans to become a lawyer. He attended Northeastern Law School in Boston, however his love for music was stronger than his dreams of becoming a pro baseball player or an attorney. As a young boy Buddy sang as often as he could at gatherings, and in what today's times would be called "joints", local pubs, where the floors of the local pubs and ba rooms were covered with sawdust. He often times sang just to earn enough to pay for a square meal. Neighbors and friends, who heard this young lad sing were supportive; whether he sang on the streets or in a pub, he was well liked; it wasn't long before Buddy was appearing with local Boston bands, singing his heart out to supportive loyal Boston fans. At 27 years old the young Sam Goldberg was singing at a local wedding in Boston when he was heard by David Lilienthal, a proprietor of Boston's leading furriers, I.J. Fox, located on Washington Street in Boston. Sam became a protégé of Mr. Lilienthal who arranged music lessons for him and started him off on a professional career as a band vocalist and radio star. He appeared for nine years on a Boston radio show sponsored by I.J. Fox; Sam made two evening broadcasts and sang six days a week on morning shows. Sam was now on his way to a new musical career with his own Boston radio show, with a new name, were he was billed as Buddy Clark...a name that had more of a show business flair than his own. It wasn't too long that the Buddy Clark stylish unique baritone voice was catching on to local audiences in his own home state of Massachusetts. Within a few years after his successful Boston radio show, he was now ready to tackle the "Big Apple"...New York City, where singers often went to seek their musical careers by joining the big bands.... and Buddy was no exception. In 1934 he made his big band singing debut career in earnest as a vocalist with the Benny Goodman band on the "Let's Dance" radio show. Buddy was billed on several other top radio shows including the "Hit Parade" from 1936-1939. Buddy worked hard to achieve his musical goals. He even supplemented his vocal activity by appearing, often times unaccredited, on the transcription discs recorded with such giants of the big band era as Fred Rich, Archie Blyer, Freddy Martin, Lud Gluskin, Nat Brandywynne, and other popular bands of the radio stations that couldn't afford to have a live music program of their own. In fact, Buddy Clark's renown as a "ghost singer" was such that film producer Darryl F. Zanuck hired him to do the singing for actor Jack Haley in "Wake Up and Live", a 1937 movie about a popular radio singer who gets "Mike Fright". The Hollywood welcome mat was now laid down for Buddy. He was offered his own radio show called, "Here's to Romance" and he even played a small cameo role in the 1942 film "Seven Days Leave' which starred two of Hollywood's leading stars, Lucille Ball and Victor Mature. He also sang for actor Mark Stevens in the musical hit "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now". Buddy made scores of hit records many of them with Xavier Cugat's orchestra. The balding Clark who didn't care whether he lost his hair or not earned the title of the "Contented Crooner", partly because of his radio sponsor on the "Carnation Contented" program, and also because of his appeal to the bobby-sox fans. He didn't care if his fans swooned when he sang. Although fame and fortune came to Buddy Clark, in the 30's and 40's he was one who never forgot where he came from as a struggling singer of Boston. Every year he would return back to the Westend of Boston and perform for friends, and fans alike. Jdacob Burnes at the time was an official of the Westend House on Blossom Street in Boston, where Clark was an alumnus of the famous Westend House. Burnes recalled, "The young singer was a good looking boy, an excellent debater and a fine athlete. He was the catcher on the Wesend House baseball team and was on the basketball team." Buddy Clark put his career on hold by enlisting into the U.S. Army for three years during World War II. While serving his country, Buddy sand with many of the military bands until his discharge in 1945, in which he resumed his career. For the last ten years of his singing career as a super star in radio and a top ranking celebrity of the juke boxes, he had lived in an aura of success while earning over a $100,000 a year, which in those days would be equivalent to millions of dollars to popular singers of the 1990's and now of the 2000's. Buddy married twice. His first wife was Louise Dahl, the adopted daughter of famed hotelier, Ralph Hitz, who owned the famous New Yorker Hotel, as well as the Lexington, and several other New York hotels. Buddy and Louise had three children, all born between 1935 and 1939. Following their divorce, Buddy married Nedra Stevens. They had one daughter, Penelope, born in 1943. Penny, as she was called, died in 1950, as a result of being hit by a car as she ran across the street to meet her governess. Penny was a 'little friend' of Clark Gable, the Clark's next-door neighbor, who often shared 'little tea' with his young neighbor. Buddy's career ended abruptly in the plane crash onto Beverly Boulevard on the 1st of October 1949.