Lakewood Lore

Swing and Sway started right here

…"You and the song are gone, but the melody lingers on."

Sammy Kaye, celebrated orchestra leader and a native of Lakewood, distilled a heady elixir of sweet music back in the big-band days when so many of us young blades glided across ballroom floors, tall, unconquerable and oftentimes in love.

Kaye, of "Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye" fame, was born Samuel Zarnocay Jr. in 1910 of Slovak descent on Lakewood Avenue in our city's Birdtown area.

His parents moved to Rocky River when Sammy was 1 year old. There he grew up, attended high school, excelled in athletics and, upon graduation in 1928, received a track scholarship to Ohio University as state low-hurdles champ.

A former college classmate, Ray A. Mylius of Rocky River, remembers two other sources of revenue that helped Sammy pay his way through Ohio U.

"He formed a band that played at a small nickel-a-dance ballroom in the basement of Logan's Book Store at the gate of the campus, and he washed dishes in Lindley Hall, the girls' dormitory," Mylius recalled.

During summer breaks, he took his baton and clarinet (he also played sax) to the Roxy Ballroom at 13222 Madison Ave. in Lakewood, now Mahall's Twenty Lanes.

At college, he made the football team and earned a degree in civil engineering. Afterwards, with some of the most honeyed music ever pollinated in this country, he went on to national acclaim in the big-band world of the '30s and '40s.

Mellifluent saxophones and a lilting, rhythmic style made his band a commercial success and him a leader of renown for 40 years. He captivated the Cleveland area and then Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. In 1938, he swept into New York City, with triumphant gigs at Hotel Commodore and Paramount Theatre.

"Harbor Lights", a 1937 song written by Jimmy Kennedy (music) and Hugh Williams (lyrics), was a big hit for Sammy. Some others were "Daddy" in 1941; "There Will Never Be Another You," '42; and "It Isn't Fair," '50.

Sammy made many records, composed music and appeared in a couple of movies. He had several radio series, including Sunday Serenade in the late '40s and early '50s. His featured vocalists were Tommy Ryan, Jimmy Brown, Nancy Norman, Don Cornell and Tony Alamo.

He married Ruth Elden of Cleveland. They were divorced after 18 years and had no children. Sammy was living in New York City when he died of cancer at age 77 in 1987, a year after turning over his band to Roger Thorpe. He was buried in the family plot at Lakewood Park Cemetery.

During his later years, he returned here from time to time to visit relatives, including niece Eleanor Cook of Rocky River and nephew Donald Hopp, who runs a runs barbershop in Lakewood.

"He was a wonderful man," Mrs. Cook said. "We never thought of him as a star; we always thought of him as family."

While she is not disposed to self-praise, it is well documented that, for Sammy, a stop-off at the Cook home was always a high point because he was particularly fond of her exceptional chicken paprikash.

"He was friendly, down-to-earth, and everybody felt at home with him," according to nephew Hopp, who recollects that his uncle always went to midnight Mass at St. Christopher Church in Rocky River.

This article appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post December 21, 1989. Reprinted with permission.

More Lakewood Lore