One of the enduring images of the 1920s is of the college boy in a raccoon coat, out for some jazz kicks with a hip flask and a flapper on his arm. Waring’s Pennsylvanians popularized this type of image through their music, stage shows, and film appearances.

The band was formed in 1918 at Pennsylvania State University by the brothers Fred and Tom Waring, and their friends Freddy Buck and Poley McClintock. They first billed themselves as the Waring-McClintock Snap Orchestra and then became Waring’s Banjo Orchestra before adopting the name of Waring’s Pennsylvanians in 1922.

In 1923 they had a big hit with the record “Sleep” and the song continued to be the band’s theme song for many years to come. The Pennsylvanians were very popular at colleges and often played fraternity parties, proms, and local dances early in their career and then graduated to playing at movie theatres and vaudeville houses across the United States becoming one of the sought after acts in show business.

In 1925 Waring’s Pennsylvanians had a huge hit with “Collegiate” and it remains their best-known song. The tune is a wonderful little time capsule of college life in the 1920s. By the end of the 1920s they were one of the most popular musical acts in the country and they starred in an early sound film called “Syncopation” in 1929.

In the 1930s they were one of the hottest acts on radio hosting shows sponsored by Old Gold, Ford, Chesterfield and General Electric and if that were not enough Fred Waring developed and marketed the kitchen appliance the Waring Blender.

The Pennsylvanians stopped making records in 1932 because they thought that they were competing against their radio show and would not do so again until 1942.

The act continued to be popular well into the 1950s and were pioneers in broadcast televison. In 1949 the Pennsylvanians had their own weekly television show sponsored by General Electric. As the years went by the band’s music changed and they became more of a choral group than a Jazz group, but Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians remained active and quite popular up until Waring’s death in 1984.

For additional information on Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians you are encouraged to visit Fred Waring’s America at the Penn State University Library web site.

Thanks to Bob Palmer, Carl Rose, Owen Miller, Dennis Pereyra, Dave Bartholomew, Verne Buland, James Gallup and especially Martin’s 78 Turntable for many of the recordings on this page. Be sure to check out Martin’s site for more great Hot Jazz and Hot Dance streaming audio on the web.