Credit: Courtesy of the Fred Waring's America Collection, The Pennsylvania State University, www.libraries.psu.edu/waring/
In 1922, Fred Waring left the engineering program at Penn State to pursue a career as the leader of an eleven member orchestra that soon became one of the 1920s' most popular bands. In 1923 they had their recording career took off when "Sleep" became a hit. In 1925 they followed this with "Collegiate," a huge hit that captured the carefree college atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties. Now one of the nation's most popular bands, the Pennsylvanians appeared on Broadway, starred in an early sound film called Syncopation in 1929, and then became stars on radio in the 1930s.
