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Eager fans waiting outside theater in Pittsburgh, PA, to see Jan Savitt and Frank Sinatra. December 11, 1943.
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Frank Sinatra Fans Waiting Outside Theater.

Credit: Image donated by Corbis-Bettmann

Soon after playing on the same bill in Pittsburgh, Jan Savitt and his Top Hatters went on a national tour with Frank Sinatra, then at the height of his popularity with "hep kittens" and other young women across the nation. A classically trained violinist, Philadelphia band leader Savitt led one of the first big bands to feature an African-American vocalist, Philadelphia's George "Bon Bon" Tunnell. In 1948, Savitt would die at the age of forty from a cerebral hemorrhage.

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