11 Facts About Frank Crumit

Frank Crumit was an American singer, composer, radio entertainer and vaudeville star.

Frank Crumit made his first stage appearance at the age of five in a minstrel show.

Frank Crumit instead graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in electrical engineering.

Frank Crumit studied voice in Cincinnati and then tried out unsuccessfully for opera in New York City.

Frank Crumit appeared in the Broadway musical Betty Be Good in 1918, where he was the first to play the ukulele on Broadway.

Frank Crumit was a success there and went on to Greenwich Village Follies of 1920, which featured his song, "Sweet Lady," written with David B Zoob.

Frank Crumit began making records for American Columbia in 1919, during the time of the acoustic or "horn" method of recording, an entirely mechanical process which preceded the development of microphones and amplifiers in the mid-1920s.

Frank Crumit occasionally added vocals and banjo to recordings by the Paul Biese Trio on the American Columbia label.

Frank Crumit met Julia Sanderson, then a musical comedy star, in 1922.

Frank Crumit was married to a Connecticut woman at the time.

Frank Crumit is credited with composing at least 50 songs in his career, including the Ohio State University fight song, "Buckeye Battle Cry" in 1919 for a song contest.