Credit: Image donated by Corbis-Bettmann
When Tommy Dorsey posed for this photo in March 1938, he was the leader of one of the nation's top swing bands. Since founding his own orchestra in the fall of 1935, he had become a major recording star, scoring eleven Top Ten hits in 1936, eighteen in 1937, and fifteen in 1938. A classically trained violinist from West Philadelphia, KYW band leader Jan Savitt was also a successful big band leader. His band, The Top Hatters, featured George "Bon Bon" Tunnell, one of the first African-American vocalists to work with a white band.
