Jack Lathrop Informations

Jack Lathrop was an American vocalist and guitarist who recorded for RCA Victor in the 1940s as “Jack Lathrop and his Drugstore Cowboys” and had several hits, in part because of the Petrillo recording bans.

As a guitarist and vocalist in the Glenn Miller Orchestra, he composed "Helpless", featuring vocals by Ray Eberle, and "Long Time No See, Baby", featuring vocals by Marion Hutton, which were released as 78 singles on RCA.

He co-wrote the song "It's Anybody's Moon" with Jimmy Dorsey and Eddie DeLange in 1939. The song was released as a 78 B side single by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra featuring Bob Eberly on vocals.

Lathrop's first release with RCA Victor, the 78 single 20-3109, his first charting hit as a solo artist, was “Hair of Gold" released in 1948. This song was written by Sunny Skylar and introduced to the public by Jack Emerson on Metrotone Records. Gordon MacRae’s version was the biggest hit, but Lathrop’s version also fared well. It was his highest-charting song, reaching a peak of #19. The b-side of this record was “You Call Everybody Darling,” a song written by Sam Martin, Ben L. Trace, Clem Watts, and Albert J. Trace. This song also reached the charts at #27. These sides had been recorded as a response to the James Petrillo-led Musician’s Union recording ban of 1948. The instrumentation backing the harmonizing vocalists was limited to harmonicas, jug-blowers, and ukuleles. Despite the limited instrumentation (or perhaps because of it,) Billboard reviewed both sides as “excellent.”

The second RCA release (catalog 20-3199) was “Dainty Brenda Lee,” which received a rating of “excellent” from Billboard. “Corn Belt Symphony” was placed on the other side of the 78rpm disc. This song was cited as both an “Operators Pick” (peaking at #2) and “Retailers Pick” (peak #6) for several weeks in late 1948 in Billboard, but despite the reviews and large marketing support from RCA, the disc had limited commercial impact.

His next release for RCA was “My Darling, My Darling”, a duet with Eve Young. This garnered negative reviews from Billboard and the New York Times, but it reached the Juke Box charts at #26.

The success of the RCA recordings prompted Jack to hire Frank Hanshaw as a manager, and to go on tour with a trio consisting guitar, accordion, and bass. He recorded two more sides (RCA Victor 20-3327) before touring, “Don’t Hang Around” and “One Has My Name,” which were reviewed as “good” by Billboard.

In addition to the popular material, RCA utilized his talent for a new series of children's records.

He appeared in the 1941 20th Century Fox musical film Sun Valley Serenade as a guitarist as a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

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