Caesar Petrillo

American songwriter, bandleader, musician and musical director. Born August 1, 1898 Chicago, Illinois, USA. Died November 22, 1963 (aged 65) Chicago, Illinois, USA. Brother of and often mixed up with "James Caesar Petrillo", who was born in Chicago in 1892, and was leader of the American Federation of Musicians, a trade union of professional musicians in the U.S. and Canada. Caesar Petrillo was the conductor and musical director of the WBBM/CBS Chicago orchestra. He had been a trombonist in nightclubs and cafes with Paul Whiteman, Vincent Lopez, Paul Ash and other bands. For 10 years he was assistant conductor and member of the house orchestras at Balaban and Katz' Uptown, Paradise and Chicago theatres in the city. He joined the WBBM orchestra in 1937, became its conductor in 1940 and was elevated to music director in 1943, supervising all live and recorded music on the station. Caesar charted as a songwriter twice with the same song in October of 1941: "Jim" by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra (vocals by Bob Eberly & Helen O'Connell) and by Doris Day. Both versions hit #5 in the U.S. The song was co-written by Edward Ross & Nelson Shawn.