By Don Cosby, Local Historian
In 2009, I am sure it could be truthfully said that few, if any, local citizens ever heard of Charles “Bud” Dant, yet seldom does one see a true success story of a local small town person make it to the bright lights of Hollywood. Such was the case for Charles G. Dant, affectionately known as “Bud” to his friends, family and acquaintances.
For the younger groups who enjoy the hip hop artists “Snoop Dog” and “P Diddy” and others, it is safe to say you will find this article anything but interesting and will without doubt not waste your time reading further. However, there are those of us who will remember when there was melody to the music, the lyrics didn’t necessarily have to rhyme, be vulgar, and it didn’t have to be loud to be good, and yes, you could even hum along if you forgot the lyrics.
In the 1930s and 40s the big bands and orchestras were the rage. Radio and movies totally dominated the entertainment industry since television was non-existent at that time. In reading this article, what one needs to appreciate is the fact of what was achieved by Bud Dant during his working years was quite remarkable. Many of the names of the bands and personalities may be unfamiliar unless you are at least 50 years old, but in the 1930s and 40s they represented the “who’s who” in the entertainment industry. They were as important in the 30s and 40s as the Beatles were in the 60s and 70s.
Whether you are old enough to remember the names and the times or not isn’t actually as important as being appreciative of the pinnacle of success achieved by Dant.
Bud Dant was born June 21, 1907, in Washington to Charles Edward Dant and Catherine Keifer. He was one of three children born to the couple.
Bud still has distant relatives here in Washington.
Bud’s musical talent came from the Keifer side of the family for around the turn of the century the Keifer name was quite popular locally in musical circles. The Keifer band participated in numerous contests and nearly always won first or second prize.
Bud attended grade school here and was also home-schooled. For whatever reason, most of his high school years were spent at Manual High School in Indianapolis. Upon graduation from high school, he was awarded a fellowship scholarship to Indiana University Conservatory of Music. He was truly a gifted musician and played lead trumpet in the dance band which he organized while at IU. The band became an immediate success throughout the state. They played several summers at various northern Indiana lake resorts, including Lake Shaffer and Lake James, as well as numerous college fraternity and sorority engagements. After graduating from IU with honors in 1932, he struck out on his own taking his band to Cleveland, Ohio, naming it “the Golden Pheasants” and was given a contract with WTAM Radio.
In 1933, Dant’s fraternity brother, “Hoagy” Carmichael, was in the process of organizing a new orchestra and persuaded Bud to dissolve his own band and join the Carmichael Band. In addition to playing with the orchestra, Bud did all of the arrangements for the Hoagy Carmichael Orchestra, including the immortal classic “Stardust,” which has remained a jazz classic through the years and dominated the charts for more than a year at that time.
Hoagy Carmichael first wrote “Stardust” in 1927 and while recognized as one of the most recorded songs in history, it was not an instant success. The song was, according to Hoagy Carmichael himself, actually inspired by an old girlfriend while he was in college and was written and initially recorded in ragtime and the tempo upbeat, which was the musical style in that period of time.
The initial recording was done in Richmond at the old Star Piano Factory in what would be considered today as a primitive studio and was released under the Gennett Label and performed by a bunch of college kids.
In planning for the trip to Richmond, Ind., a few miles north of Bloomington, Hoagy was able to recruit an Indianapolis band leader named Emil Seidel, along with seven of his own band members for the recording session. Harold Soule, a Gennett recording engineer, told of receiving a 3 a.m. telephone call from Carmichael saying, “We’ve got a band over here for you to record,” So Soule said, “I got out of bed and went down and recorded them. I got the first tune cut at 5 a.m.” “Stardust” was recorded back to back with “One Night in Havana.” Bud Dant and Wad Allen, both Washington boys, had gone with Hoagy that night and participated in that recording session. Dant played trumpet and Wad played saxophone.
Bud Dant later remarked that he had never sat in on a recording session and, “We never really thought much about cutting a record, but just thought it was exciting to be asked to go to Richmond with Hoagy. It sounded like it would be a lot of fun.” But when he got into the recording studio, he was impressed with the technical equipment. It really did turn out to be a lot of fun.
Carmichael became affiliated with Mills Music Company in 1928 and the owner, Irving Mills, hired lyricist Mitchael Parrish to provide the “Stardust” lyrics. Two years later it was getting played occasionally as a part of the repertoire at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem and with a change in tempo it became a ballad. It was later arranged for the Isham Jones Orchestra by Bud Dant, and suddenly they had a hit on their hands.
College days at IU were responsible for developing lifelong friendships between Dant and Allen of the Carmichael band and both had personal and family ties with Washington. Bud Dant and Wad Allen were also fraternity brothers and lifelong friends with Carmichael.
Wad Allen was a younger brother of Brooks Allen, known to many in Washington as the “Old Timer.” Hoagy visited Washington on a number of occasions. In fact, Wad introduced Hoagy to Elizabeth Smith, a local girl whom he came to see at her N.E. Seventh Street home several times. Hoagy also came to Washington many times with Dant, for in addition to being fraternity brothers, Bud and Hoagy were roommates. This bond continued through the years between the three of them. Bud and Wad Allen both corresponded regularly for years after their college days at IU with Hoagy.
It is also noteworthy to mention that several years later when Indiana University honored Hoagy Carmichael, Bud Dant was asked to be master of ceremonies, for who else would know him better than Bud Dant?
Just as today, music transitions from one style to another. Jazz was the coming thing in the late 20s and college kids set the trend. Bix Beiderbeck was a strong influence and in early recordings had a distinct southern blues and Dixieland flavor. It was true that Carmichael composed and “banged out” the first eight bars of “Stardust” on the piano at Poolitson’s Book Nook, which was the student hangout at IU at that time. Hoagy composed numerous other songs, but his other big hit, “Georgia On My Mind,” wasn’t written until 1930 and the first recording was with Bix Beiderbeck on muted cornet and Hoagy on the vocal. Ray Charles and Willie Nelson had the most popular renditions by far however. Just as “Stardust” has stood the test of time, “Georgia On My Mind” likewise has done the same.
Later after college, one band after another owed their distinctive arrangements to the musical genius of Bud Dant and as a result his career really began to snowball. Finally he decided to leave the Carmichael Orchestra and devote his full time to musical arrangements, conducting and coaching vocalists. In 1933, while in Chicago, Bud met and married Nell Call, a young beautiful and talented trio singer with the Frankie Masters Orchestra at the Chicago Winter Garden. Nell was from Anderson, Ind., and had also attended Indiana University.
In 1938, Dant went on a western tour with the Ted Weems Orchestra and in a short time his exceptional talents were recognized by the movie industry due to his arrangements for Weems and the successful movie picture “Swing Sister Swing.” In 1939, Dant joined the Hollywood NBC staff as musical arranger and conductor, but later resigned due to so many requests for his talents. He began to freelance compose for various orchestras such as Andre Kostelanetz, Phil Harris, Buddy Rogers, Vincent Lopez, Ozzie Nelson, Sammie Kay, Paul Whiteman, Herbie Kay, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Glen Miller, Bob Crosby and several others.
Another interesting item was that in the early 1940s many Washington radio fans when turning into their favorite morning radio show, “Glamour Manor,” were probably not aware of the fact that Charlie Hale of “Glamour Manor” was none other than Washington’s favorite son, Charles “Bud” Dant.
For a year or two, Bud chose to use a stage name and borrowed the name of Hale from his brother Hale Lewis Dant. He simply substituted the Dant name with Hale, thus becoming Charlie Hale. This fact was virtually unknown by anyone locally.
Bud and Nell Dant had two children, Susan was born in 1939 and in 1943 a son, Christopher, came along. Christopher still lives in California.
During Bud’s career, he worked with every movie studio in Hollywood and with all the big stars, such as Bob Hope, Lawrence Welk, Jack Benny, and he coached and arranged for numerous vocalists including Peggy Lee, Jo Stafford and was credited in finding Pete Fountain, the talented clarinet player on the Lawrence Welk Show, and the famous Hawaiian singer, Don Ho, who was a favorite on the Ed Sullivan Show and recorded two big hit records, “Tiny Bubbles” and “Pearly Shells.”
Doris Day, another famous movie starlet, and Bud were close friends, in addition to him being her vocal coach. A family member stated that during a very difficult divorce period, Doris felt she needed time away from the bright lights of Hollywood and Bud suggested that Washington, Ind., would be an ideal retreat, saying that “he could arrange for her to stay with his family here.” This, of course, did not happen, but this event is quite interesting. Can you imagine Doris Day walking down our main street?
Along about that time the Herby Kay Orchestra had a national radio show and had hired Dorothy Lamour as their featured soloist. Dorothy was young and beautiful, she had a pretty voice, she also had a lot of raw talent, but needed stage presence and refinement, so Bud was hired and coached her for two years, and in that time she became more polished and was propelled to national prominence. She later sang with the very popular Rudy Vallee radio show and of course became even more popular later on as a movie star, making several movies with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. It is not at all a stretch to connect the importance of the influence of Bud Dant’s as vocal coaching both Doris Day and Dorothy Lamour and their popularity as singers, as well as both of their tremendous movie careers.
Throughout Bud’s career, he was associated also with many top network shows, including Cavalcade of Hits, Jack Carson Show and the Tonight Show. He also was under contract with Decca Records.
While in the process of researching the Bud Dant story, I was able to make contact with his son Christopher Dant in California, for I wanted to verify some of the data I had compiled. I had also been unable to find his famous father’s date of death and a suitable photograph. Christopher was kind enough to send the picture shown with this article and advised me that his father, Bud, had lived to be 92 years old and that he had passed away Oct. 31, 1999, and was buried in Kona, Hawaii.
It is a rare occasion when someone born in a small town such as Washington is able to achieve fame and notoriety such as Bud Dant during his lifetime and still being able to maintain a high degree of humility, but this was the person that he was.
Washington should be extremely proud to claim Charles “Bud” Dant as their favorite son.
Comments on this article may be addressed to: Don Cosby, 1201 N.E. Third St., Washington, IN 47501 or e-mailed to doncosby@att.net.
