Ted Raph

Theodore Earl 'Ted' Raph (born Jehial Isadore Raph, September 14, 1905 – December 20, 1991) was a professional trombonist who played Dixieland trombone with touring groups during the 1930s and 1940s and recorded with The California Ramblers and Phil Napoleon and other New York dance bands. He later arranged music for popular radio shows, including Name That Tune from 1952–1953 and afterward for the television series of the same name from 1953–1959. He published two well-known books of popular American music that are still in print more than 50 years after they were first published.

Personal life

Ted Raph was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Louis Raffiewitz and Sarah Ann Gorney, Jewish immigrants from the area of Nezhin, Ukraine, Russia. The wave of pogroms that overtook Russian Jewry in 1881 and 1905 severely affected the Jews of Nezhin.^[1] Sarah Gorney's family left Russia around 1892 because of an impending pogrom. Louis and Sarah also had two daughters, Gertrude and Ruth. Louis' surname was changed by immigration authorities upon his registration and entering the United States. In 1905, Louis' was a clothier.^[2][3] Like other Jewish band members including pianist Joel Shaw and drummer Smith Howard, whose real names were Joel Schwartz and Sal Horowitz, Ted changed his name legally from Jehial Isadore Raph to Theodore Earl Raph on March 24, 1930.^[2][4]

Ted married Janet Hughes and later, Marion McGuire. Marion and Ted had one son, Alan Raph, who has become a noted bass trombonist, composer, and conductor.^[5] Marion had a daughter from a previous marriage named Ranney. After Marion died in 1958, Raph married Jane E. Beasley. She became a noted educator and author on early childhood development.^[2]

Professional career

Ted was a professional musician and played Dixieland trombone with touring groups in the eastern United States during the 1920s, including Phil Napoleon,^[6] The Emperors, The California Ramblers, The Goofus Five and Their Orchestra, and Ermine Calloway.^[7]

He later composed and arranged for a number of big bands in the 1930s. He served in the U.S. Army from 1943–1945 in the Special Services Division at the Signal Corps Photographic Center conducting, composing, and arranging music for movie shorts, transcriptions, and radio shows. The photographic center on Long Island in Astoria, New York, had been converted from thirteen buildings originally owned by Paramount Pictures Company, including a sound stage and a complete studio originally built in the 1930s. The facility is currently known as the Kaufman Astoria Studios.^[2]

Raph went on to an active role in prominent radio and TV shows, including arranging music for Name That Tune on radio from 1952–1953 and on TV from 1953–1959. He followed that with arranging for the television show Yours for a Song from 1961–1963. and conducted for Stop the Music, an American radio and later television quiz show.^[2]

Publications

Raph published two collections of American sheet music in the 1960s which contained easy-to-play piano arrangements, guitar chords, and complete lyrics: The American Song Treasury: 100 Favorites (1964),^[8] and Songs We Sang, a Treasury of American Popular Sheet Music (1971).^[9] As of 2016, editions of both books were still offered for sale on Amazon.com.^[10]

References