One of the era's leading entertainers during the 1930s, Rudy Vallée stood among the earliest vocalists to adopt crooning well before Bing Crosby rose to prominence. Known for projecting his voice through a megaphone and opening shows with the greeting "Heigh-Ho, Everybody," Vallée continued releasing records into the mid-1940s and experienced renewed attention in the 1960s following prominent Broadway engagements.
Although born in Vermont, Vallée spent his formative years in Maine, where he mastered the alto saxophone and clarinet. He enlisted in the Navy at age 16 only to be discharged once officials learned he had falsified his age. After attending Yale and the University of Maine, he spent part of the mid-1920s performing with the Savoy Havana Band at London's Savoy Hotel. By 1928 he had formed his own ensemble, the Connecticut Yankees, yet initially refrained from singing. An engagement at New York's Heigh-Ho Club brought his first broad recognition along with the signature phrase "Heigh-Ho Everybody." The following year radio broadcasts, vaudeville dates, and the film The Vagabond Lover expanded his reach; he had already begun recording and quickly scored major successes with the singles "Marie," "Honey," and "Weary River." Also in 1929 he launched the long-running radio program The Fleischmann Hour, a top-rated series for more than a decade that featured emerging talents such as Burns & Allen, Edgar Bergen, and Frances Langford.
In 1930 Vallée honored his alma mater with "Stein Song (The University of Maine)," which held the top position on national charts for more than eight weeks and later served as the school's official anthem. Throughout the 1930s he appeared in motion pictures, among them the popular titles George White's Scandals and Gold Diggers in Paris. By the 1942 release The Palm Beach Story, Vallée had shifted from romantic leads to skilled portrayals of eccentric supporting characters. During World War II he directed a Coast Guard orchestra, and the 1946 recording "As Time Goes By"—originally cut more than fifteen years earlier—returned him to the upper reaches of the charts after its inclusion in Casablanca.
Following the war Vallée resumed work in Hollywood across film, radio, live performance, and eventually television. His most substantial acting role arrived in 1961 when he played a blustery company president in the Broadway production How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, a part he repeated for the 1967 screen version. Vallée maintained a film career into the mid-1970s and continued touring until his death a decade afterward.
