Ray Anthony was born in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania on 20 January 1922. He was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He left his home there to tour with a band. Glenn Miller heard about Anthony and his trumpet playing. Anthony was asked to join Miller’s band. Glenn Miller was like a commanding officer in the Navy. He was stern and had a strange personality. He fired Anthony twice but hired him back after the first time because of his talent on the trumpet. Eventually, the band went to Hollywood and made a movie, “Sun Valley Serenade.” It was a great experience for a young man. There was a lot of talent in the band. Initially, he left Miller’s band after being fired the first time but was hired back in Cleveland. He did enough dumb things afterward to get fired a second time [Annotator’s Note: Anthony laughs]. He returned to Cleveland and joined the Jimmy Dorsey band for three or four months until he had to enter the Navy.

Ray Anthony joined the Navy rather than the Army. He went to the Great Lakes and Chicago. Eddie Peabody was a commanding officer there and a banjo player. That may have been the reason Anthony joined the Navy. He knew ahead of time that he would be a part of the band at Chicago. Anthony played in the United States but also played at Midway and eventually at Okinawa. That was where he was when the war ended. He played quite a bit at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu. Anthony heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor after he left the Glenn Miller band the second time. He was on his way home. Upon entering the Navy, he joined a band that was already formed. He would put his own band together latter. The band played first at Midway Island which was strange. Being a small island, a person could not go very far. After a few months, the band was transferred to Honolulu to play at the Royal Hawaiian. About nine months later, he was transferred to Okinawa. Six months later, the war ended. He was anxious to get out of there and get home. Being in the Navy made a man out of him. He was on Midway when he heard of Glenn Miller’s death. The band was in England at the time. It made Anthony realize that death could happen at any time. Miller went down in a small plane. When the war ended, Anthony was ready to get out of the Navy.

Ray Anthony returned to Cleveland after the war. He began to organize his own band recruiting former Navy bandmembers and talent from the Cleveland area. The first booking was at the Chase Hotel in St. Louis. The band did such a good job that they were rebooked several times. Anthony’s singer in the band, Dee Keating. She was in the Al Donahue band with Anthony. The two fell in love and married. She was a lovely lady. Anthony’s band performed well and were rebooked frequently. He would latch on to a fad that was emerging and write an arrangement to fit it. He saw the Bunny Hop being danced and wrote an arrangement to it that would be one of the band’s greatest hits [Annotator’s Note: in 1952]. He arranged the theme music to “Dragnet” and “Peter Gunn” with Capitol Records [Annotator’s Note: two popular television programs of the 1950s]. He had a great career. Anthony particularly liked “Tender Leaves” and “As Time Goes By.” They were some of the great standard songs or the era. He was a good friend of Hugh Heffner’s brother Keith and played “As Time Goes By” for his service after he passed. Anthony enjoyed putting his own spin on some of the songs he played with the Glenn Miller band. The “Hokey Pokey” and “Autumn Leaves” are some of his best works.

Ray Anthony had contacts with 20th Century Fox because he had made movies there with “Sun Valley Serenade” [Annotator’s Note: he was featured in the movie playing trumpet for the Glenn Miller Band] and later with Jayne Mansfield. He arranged to throw a party for Marilyn Monroe at his home to introduce a song that had been written for her [Annotator’s Note: the party in 1952 was a big event at Anthony’s home to introduce the tune “Marilyn”]. She was a shy person at the time. She was delightful girl. She was gaining popularity at the time. Many press people covered the event. It included Anthony’s big band. He kept in touch with her afterward. She stayed very busy and Anthony subsequently had few contacts with her. She met up with Joe DiMaggio and even President Kennedy [Annotator’s Note: President John Kennedy]. Everyone wanted to meet her. She was very “hot” and becoming a phenomena. Years ago, Anthony had a thing with Lana Turner and then Monroe came into his life. They never dated but they were at several functions at the same time. She was so busy. She was kept under wraps between work at 20th Century and publicity. Her passing was very unfortunate. Trying to get to sleep with pills likely did her in. She was very sought after by extremely important people. Her early life would have never predicted her fame. She was just a normal girl from a family that was not well to do. She backed into everything that happened to her. She likely got very tired while she was that popular. She loved her song introduced to her at the party. She had a very exciting life that may have been too hard to take. Mickey Rooney and other celebrities were at the party for Monroe. He played the drums and was a friend to Anthony. Rooney was a constant performer. Anthony is preparing a “Marilyn” web page. He has included his personal film of her. He could do one on Frank Sinatra. They were good friends who recorded together. Marilyn Monroe had a short life but has maintain such a long-term popularity. Frank Sinatra sang with the Tommy Dorsey Band. He was very talented. He made the movie “From Here to Eternity” and could do just about anything. Anthony would visit him quite a bit since they lived on the same street in Hollywood, California. As a performer, he was one of the best. Anthony has contemplated building a piece for the world to see on Sinatra that would be similar to what he did for Marilyn Monroe.

Ray Anthony saw the big band era subside with the influx of the rock and roll genre. Anthony seldom performs now. Hollywood still has some of the greatest musicians. Anthony will pick up his trumpet and keep in shape. He was a fan of Harry James and admired him of all the trumpet players. James played with heart and great technical ability. The way big band music continues through the future may require some kind of gimmick. The war happened when the big bands were at their peak. The Glenn Miller and the Dorsey bands happened during the war just as Anthony’s orchestra did. Something new will show people what they had back then. Anthony met Benny Goodman. He was not the flamboyant type. He kept to himself. Anthony knew him through the profession. They played in New York City quite a bit. Theaters and hotels had bands entertaining at that time. When Anthony passed through Chicago, he went to the Playboy Mansion and started a relationship with Hugh Heffner. When Heffner went west to California, Anthony visited him at his new home.