Spade Cooley
Encyclopedia
Donnell Clyde Cooley better known as Spade Cooley, was an American
Western swing
musician, big band
leader, actor, and television personality. His career ended in 1961 when he was arrested and convicted for the murder of his second wife, Ella Mae Evans.
with Spade Cooley on fiddle. Several thousand dancers would turn out on Saturday night to swing and hop. "The hoards (sic
) of people and jitterbuggers loved him." When Wakely got a movie contract at Universal, Cooley replaced him as bandleader.
To capitalize on the pioneering success of the Bob Wills
–Tommy Duncan
pairing, Cooley hired vocalist Tex Williams
who was capable of the mellow deep baritone sound made popular by Duncan. Cooley's 18-month engagement at Santa Monica's Venice Pier Ballroom was record-breaking for the early half of the 1940s. His "Shame on You
", released on Columbia's Okeh
label, was recorded in December 1944, and was No. 1 on the country charts for two months. A Red Foley
/ Lawrence Welk
collaboration issued by Decca (18698) was No. 4 to Cooley's No. 5 on Billboard's "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records" listing in September 1945. Soundies Distributing Corp. of America issued one of their "music video like" film shorts of Cooley's band titled "Shame on You" in the fall of 1945. "Shame on You" was the first in an unbroken string of six Top Ten singles including "Detour
" and "You Can't Break My Heart".
Cooley appeared in 38 Western films, both in bit parts and as a stand-in for cowboy actor Roy Rogers
. Billed as Spade Cooley and His Western Dance Gang, he was featured in the soundie Take Me Back to Tulsa released July 31, 1944 along with Tex Williams
and Carolina Cotton. Corrine, Corrina was released August 28, 1944 minus Cotton.
The film short Spade Cooley: King of Western Swing was filmed in May 1945 and released September 1, 1945. It was followed by Melody Stampede released on November 8, 1945.
Spade Cooley & His Orchestra came out in 1949. In 1950, Cooley had significant roles in several films.
Beginning in June 1948, Cooley began hosting a variety show on KTLA-TV
in Los Angeles, California broadcast from the Santa Monica Pier Ballroom. The show became a mainstay of television in the area, and won local Emmy awards in 1952 and 1953. Guests included Frankie Laine
, Frank Sinatra
and Dinah Shore
. The Hoffman Hayride was so popular that an estimated 75 percent of all televisions in the L.A. area were tuned into the show each Saturday night. Making use of video transcriptions, The Spade Cooley Show was viewed coast-to-coast via the Paramount Television Network
.
Although by 1956 Lawrence Welk
was achieving increasing success at the nearby Aargon Ballroom, Cooley's ratings continued to drop.
After a "battle of the bands
" with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
at the Venice Pier Ballroom, which Cooley claimed he won, he began to promote himself as the King of Western Swing. Evidently Western swing, not used prior to 1942 for this style of music, was a term thought up by Cooley's then promoter, Forman Phillips. It is worthy to mention that most historians of Western swing agree that Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys is regarded the true 'King of Western Swing', and Fort Worth's Milton Brown
and his Musical Brownies is considered the pioneering 'Father of Western Swing'.
Cooley's music was like that of the then-current big band orchestras, and its sound was drawn from those dance-oriented hot bands like Bob Wills and Milton Brown. In contrast to Bob Wills' work, the performances and arrangements of Cooley's orchestra were more big-band Swing than improvised Western.
in 1952 or 1953. She soon asked Cooley, who had his own affairs, for a divorce. On March 23, Cooley filed for divorce, citing "incompatibility" and seeking custody of their three children, Melody, Donnell Jr. and John.
On April 26, 1961, Cooley was indicted by a Kern County
grand jury for the murder of his wife on April 3 at the couple's Willow Springs ranch home. Cooley's 14-year-old daughter, Melody, reportedly told the jury she watched in terror as her father beat her mother's head against the floor, stomped on her stomach, then crushed a lighted cigarette against her skin to see whether she was dead. Cooley claimed his wife had been injured by falling in the shower.
He was unsuccessfully defended by prominent attorney P. Basil Lambros in what was the longest case in county history at the time; and was convicted of first-degree murder by a Kern County jury on August 21, 1961 after unexpectedly withdrawing an insanity plea. He was spared death in the gas chamber and sentenced to life in prison.
agreed to parole him on February 22, 1970. In November 1969, he received 72-hour furlough to play a benefit concert
for the Deputy Sheriffs Association
of Alameda County
at the Paramount Theater in Oakland
. After the performance, on November 23, Cooley suffered a fatal heart attack in the backstage area. He is interred at Chapel of the Chimes
cemetery in Hayward
.
has written an in-depth portrait of Cooley's life and tragic end in Shame on You, a segment of Gilmore's non-fiction work, L.A. Despair. Cooley is a recurring character in James Ellroy
's fiction, including in the story "Dick Contino's Blues", which appeared in issue No. 46 of Granta
magazine (Winter 1994) and was anthologized in Hollywood Nocturnes
.
He is referenced in one of the Honeymooners episodes (from Art 'Ed Norton' Carney to Jackie 'Ralph Kramden' Gleason): "They wouldn't-a won that except some guy slipped in a Spade Cooley record."
Ry Cooder
's 2008 album I, Flathead
features a reference to Cooley on the track "Steel Guitar Heaven" ("There ain't no bosses up in heaven / I heard Spade Cooley didn't make the grade"), as well as a track named "Spayed Kooley", the name of the singer's dog.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Western swing
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...
musician, big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
leader, actor, and television personality. His career ended in 1961 when he was arrested and convicted for the murder of his second wife, Ella Mae Evans.
Music career
One of the groups which played at the Venice Pier Ballroom in Venice, California was led by Jimmy WakelyJimmy Wakely
James Clarence Wakeley , better known as Jimmy Wakely, was an American country-Western singer and actor, one of the last crooning cowpokes following World War II...
with Spade Cooley on fiddle. Several thousand dancers would turn out on Saturday night to swing and hop. "The hoards (sic
Sic
Sic—generally inside square brackets, [sic], and occasionally parentheses, —when added just after a quote or reprinted text, indicates the passage appears exactly as in the original source...
) of people and jitterbuggers loved him." When Wakely got a movie contract at Universal, Cooley replaced him as bandleader.
To capitalize on the pioneering success of the Bob Wills
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills , better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western Swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with...
–Tommy Duncan
Tommy Duncan
Thomas Elmer Duncan , better known as Tommy Duncan, was a pioneering American Western swing vocalist and songwriter who gained fame in the 1930s as a founding member of The Texas Playboys...
pairing, Cooley hired vocalist Tex Williams
Tex Williams
Sollie Paul Williams , known professionally as Tex Williams, was an American Western swing musician from Ramsey, Illinois....
who was capable of the mellow deep baritone sound made popular by Duncan. Cooley's 18-month engagement at Santa Monica's Venice Pier Ballroom was record-breaking for the early half of the 1940s. His "Shame on You
Shame On You (Cooley song)
"Shame on You" is a Western Swing song written by Spade Cooley and became his signature song.The title comes from the refrain that starts each verse:In the song, the singer is rebuking his straying girlfriend....
", released on Columbia's Okeh
Okeh Records
Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918. From 1926 on, it was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.-History:...
label, was recorded in December 1944, and was No. 1 on the country charts for two months. A Red Foley
Red Foley
Clyde Julian Foley , better known as Red Foley, was an American singer, musician, and radio and TV personality who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II....
/ Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982...
collaboration issued by Decca (18698) was No. 4 to Cooley's No. 5 on Billboard's "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records" listing in September 1945. Soundies Distributing Corp. of America issued one of their "music video like" film shorts of Cooley's band titled "Shame on You" in the fall of 1945. "Shame on You" was the first in an unbroken string of six Top Ten singles including "Detour
Detour (song)
"Detour " is a Western swing ballad written by Paul Westmoreland in 1945. The original version was by Jimmy Walker with Paul Westmoreland and His Pecos River Boys, issued around the beginning of November 1945....
" and "You Can't Break My Heart".
Cooley appeared in 38 Western films, both in bit parts and as a stand-in for cowboy actor Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...
. Billed as Spade Cooley and His Western Dance Gang, he was featured in the soundie Take Me Back to Tulsa released July 31, 1944 along with Tex Williams
Tex Williams
Sollie Paul Williams , known professionally as Tex Williams, was an American Western swing musician from Ramsey, Illinois....
and Carolina Cotton. Corrine, Corrina was released August 28, 1944 minus Cotton.
The film short Spade Cooley: King of Western Swing was filmed in May 1945 and released September 1, 1945. It was followed by Melody Stampede released on November 8, 1945.
Spade Cooley & His Orchestra came out in 1949. In 1950, Cooley had significant roles in several films.
Beginning in June 1948, Cooley began hosting a variety show on KTLA-TV
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
in Los Angeles, California broadcast from the Santa Monica Pier Ballroom. The show became a mainstay of television in the area, and won local Emmy awards in 1952 and 1953. Guests included Frankie Laine
Frankie Laine
Frankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio , was a successful American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
. The Hoffman Hayride was so popular that an estimated 75 percent of all televisions in the L.A. area were tuned into the show each Saturday night. Making use of video transcriptions, The Spade Cooley Show was viewed coast-to-coast via the Paramount Television Network
Paramount Television Network
The Paramount Television Network was a venture by American film corporation Paramount Pictures to organize a television network in the late 1940s...
.
Although by 1956 Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982...
was achieving increasing success at the nearby Aargon Ballroom, Cooley's ratings continued to drop.
After a "battle of the bands
Battle of the Bands
Battle of Bands is a contest in which two or more bands compete for the title of "best band". The winner is determined by a panel of judges, the general response of the audience, or a combination. The winning band usually receives a prize in addition to bragging rights. Traditionally, battles of...
" with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills , better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western Swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with...
at the Venice Pier Ballroom, which Cooley claimed he won, he began to promote himself as the King of Western Swing. Evidently Western swing, not used prior to 1942 for this style of music, was a term thought up by Cooley's then promoter, Forman Phillips. It is worthy to mention that most historians of Western swing agree that Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys is regarded the true 'King of Western Swing', and Fort Worth's Milton Brown
Milton Brown
Milton Brown was an American band leader and vocalist who co-founded the genre of Western swing. His band was the first to fuse hillbilly hokum, jazz, and pop together into a unique, distinctly American hybrid, thus giving him the nickname, "Father of Western Swing"...
and his Musical Brownies is considered the pioneering 'Father of Western Swing'.
Cooley's music was like that of the then-current big band orchestras, and its sound was drawn from those dance-oriented hot bands like Bob Wills and Milton Brown. In contrast to Bob Wills' work, the performances and arrangements of Cooley's orchestra were more big-band Swing than improvised Western.
Murder of Ella Mae Evans
Cooley suspected his second wife, Ella Mae Cooley (née Evans), 38, who was a singer in his band before they married 15 years earlier, of repeatedly being unfaithful. In March 1961, she told a friend she had an affair with Roy RogersRoy Rogers
Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...
in 1952 or 1953. She soon asked Cooley, who had his own affairs, for a divorce. On March 23, Cooley filed for divorce, citing "incompatibility" and seeking custody of their three children, Melody, Donnell Jr. and John.
On April 26, 1961, Cooley was indicted by a Kern County
Kern County, California
Spreading across the southern end of the California Central Valley, Kern County is the fifth-largest county by population in California. Its economy is heavily linked to agriculture and to petroleum extraction, and there is a strong aviation and space presence. Politically, it has generally...
grand jury for the murder of his wife on April 3 at the couple's Willow Springs ranch home. Cooley's 14-year-old daughter, Melody, reportedly told the jury she watched in terror as her father beat her mother's head against the floor, stomped on her stomach, then crushed a lighted cigarette against her skin to see whether she was dead. Cooley claimed his wife had been injured by falling in the shower.
He was unsuccessfully defended by prominent attorney P. Basil Lambros in what was the longest case in county history at the time; and was convicted of first-degree murder by a Kern County jury on August 21, 1961 after unexpectedly withdrawing an insanity plea. He was spared death in the gas chamber and sentenced to life in prison.
Death
After he had served eight years, the state of CaliforniaCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is responsible for the operation of the California state prison and parole systems. CDC&R is the second largest law enforcement or police agency in the United States behind the New York City Police Department which employs approximately...
agreed to parole him on February 22, 1970. In November 1969, he received 72-hour furlough to play a benefit concert
Benefit concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause at...
for the Deputy Sheriffs Association
Alameda County Sheriff's Office
The Alameda County Sheriff's Office is a law enforcement agency serving Alameda County, California. The ACSO is accredited through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies , the American Correctional Association , National Commission on Correctional Health Care and the...
of Alameda County
Alameda County, California
Alameda County is a county in the U.S. state of California. It occupies most of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,510,271, making it the 7th most populous county in the state...
at the Paramount Theater in Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
. After the performance, on November 23, Cooley suffered a fatal heart attack in the backstage area. He is interred at Chapel of the Chimes
Chapel of the Chimes (Hayward, California)
Chapel of the Chimes Memorial Park and Funeral Home is a cemetery, mausoleum, crematorium, columbarium and funeral home complex in Hayward, California. The site was first established as a seven acre cemetery in 1872. Interment records are at 5,289.One of the memorial park's three mausoleums is...
cemetery in Hayward
Hayward, California
Hayward is a city located in the East Bay in Alameda County, California. With a population of 144,186, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area and the third largest in Alameda County. Hayward was ranked as the 37th most populous municipality in California. It is included in...
.
In popular culture
John GilmoreJohn Gilmore (writer)
John "Jonathan" Gilmore is an American author and gonzo journalist known for iconoclastic Hollywood memoirs, true crime literature and hard-boiled fiction. A motion picture, television and stage actor in Los Angeles and New York in the 1950s, his friends including James Dean and Marilyn Monroe...
has written an in-depth portrait of Cooley's life and tragic end in Shame on You, a segment of Gilmore's non-fiction work, L.A. Despair. Cooley is a recurring character in James Ellroy
James Ellroy
Lee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a so-called "telegraphic" prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black...
's fiction, including in the story "Dick Contino's Blues", which appeared in issue No. 46 of Granta
Granta
Granta is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centers on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make real." In 2007, The Observer stated, "In its blend of...
magazine (Winter 1994) and was anthologized in Hollywood Nocturnes
Hollywood Nocturnes
Hollywood Nocturnes is a 1994 collection of short stories by James Ellroy. Like many of Ellroy's novels, the majority of the stories are set in 1940s and 1950s. The collection was inspired by Ellroy's having seen the film Daddy-O and finding cosmic significance in the image of Dick Contino, whom...
.
He is referenced in one of the Honeymooners episodes (from Art 'Ed Norton' Carney to Jackie 'Ralph Kramden' Gleason): "They wouldn't-a won that except some guy slipped in a Spade Cooley record."
Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
's 2008 album I, Flathead
I, Flathead
I, Flathead:The Songs of Kash Buk and the Klowns is a concept album by Ry Cooder. It is the third in his "California trilogy" that began with Chávez Ravine and was followed by My Name Is Buddy ....
features a reference to Cooley on the track "Steel Guitar Heaven" ("There ain't no bosses up in heaven / I heard Spade Cooley didn't make the grade"), as well as a track named "Spayed Kooley", the name of the singer's dog.
Discography
| Selected Discography | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Title | Label | |
| 1941 | "Tell Me Why" | Westernair 801 | |
| 05/03/46 | "Oklahoma Stomp" | Columbia 20573 | |
| 05/03/46 | "Steel Guitar Rag Steel Guitar Rag "Steel Guitar Rag" is the seminal Western swing instrumental credited with popularizing the steel guitar as an integral instrument in a Western band.... " |
Columbia 39054 | |
| 06/06/46 | "Spadella" | Columbia 37585 | |
| 06/06/46 | "Swingin' the Devil's Dream" | Columbia 28253 | |
| 04/25/47 | "All Aboard for Oklahoma" | RCA 20-2552 | |
| 01/31/47 | "Minuet in Swing" | RCA 20-22181 | |
| 05/09/47 | "You Can't Take Texas out of Me" | RCA 20-3547 | |
| 05/29/52 | "One Sweet Letter from You" | Decca 28344 | |
| Top 40 Hits | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Position | Title | Label |
| 1945 | 1 | "Shame On You Shame On You (Cooley song) "Shame on You" is a Western Swing song written by Spade Cooley and became his signature song.The title comes from the refrain that starts each verse:In the song, the singer is rebuking his straying girlfriend.... " |
OKeh 6731 |
| 8 | "A Pair of Broken Hearts" | " | |
| 4 | "I've Taken All I'm Gonna Take from You" | OKeh 6746 | |
| 1946 | 2 | "Detour Detour (song) "Detour " is a Western swing ballad written by Paul Westmoreland in 1945. The original version was by Jimmy Walker with Paul Westmoreland and His Pecos River Boys, issued around the beginning of November 1945.... " |
Columbia 36935 |
| 3 | "You Can't Break My Heart" | " | |
| 1947 | 4 | "Crazy 'Cause I Love You" | Columbia 37058 |
See also
- Aragon Ballroom (Ocean Park)
- Spade Cooley's Western Swing Song FolioSpade Cooley's Western Swing Song FolioSpade Cooley's Western Swing Song Folio was the first songbook to identify the big Western dance band music as Western Swing. The songs were written by Spade Cooley. Smokey Rogers co-wrote several of the songs...
External links
- Spade Cooley's Murder Trial
- Biography at CMT.com
- [ Biography at Allmusic]
- "A Swing King Reemerges" (LA Times)
- Complete Discography
- Shame on You
- Podcast - the life of Spade Cooley (with song samples)
- Spade Cooley at Bakersfield Sound
- Spade Cooley at B-Westerns.com
- Spade Cooley...rich, famous and a murderer
- In the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
- Complete Decca sessionography and discography