Item 477 - Far away from everybody

American musician Milton DeLugg was born in Los Angeles and attended the University of California, Los Angeles, for a year. He had studied piano and had learned how to play the accordion after his father had come home with one as a gift, and provided a teacher. He learned how to play jazz on the instrument and found work as one of the only jazz accordion players in town. During World War II, he served in the radio-production unit of the U.S. Army and was a soloist with the 36-piece orchestra of the West Coast Army Air Force Training Center. In 1946, he married Anne Rasmussen with whom he later collaborated in composing. He was taken on by Paramount Studios as the accordionist for the staff orchestra, appearing in a few films. Radio, however, was the field where he excelled, composing and arranging for Abe Burrows, Slapsie Maxie and Jackie Wilson. His song “Hoop Dee Doo,” whose lyrics were written by Frank Loesser, a close friend, became a hit for Perry Como; Nat King Cole had a hit with DeLugg’s “Orange-Colored Sky”. In 1950 he began working for television late-night variety shows; in some of them he also participated as a sidekick as well as band leader. One show was “Broadway Open House,” the forerunner of the Tonight Show (on which he also worked). He became the musical director for decades at NBC, playing for game shows (the Newlywed Game, The Dating Game, The Gong Show). The What’s My Line show used his “Rollercoaster” as its closing theme. He was head of the music department at Signature Records and Dot Records, handling recordings like Buddy Holly’s “Rave On.” He and his wife composed film scores for American versions of German and Japanese children’s films. He continued working into his nineties as music director for Macy’s annual Thanksgiving Day parade.