13 Facts About Ted Raph

Theodore Earl Raph was a professional trombonist who played Dixieland jazz with touring groups during the 1930s and 1940s.

Ted Raph recorded with the California Ramblers and Phil Napoleon and other New York dance bands.

Ted Raph arranged music for popular radio and television shows, including Name That Tune.

Ted Raph published two books of popular American music that are still in print more than 50 years after they were first published.

Ted Raph was the son of Louis Raffiewitz and Sarah Ann Gorney, Jewish immigrants from the area of Nezhin, Ukraine, Russia.

Ted Raph's father's surname was changed by immigration authorities during registration when he entered the US In 1905, Louis was a clothier.

Ted Raph married Marion McGuire in 1930, and in 1933 they had had a son, Alan Raph, who later became a noted bass trombonist, composer, and conductor.

Ted Raph composed and arranged for big bands in the 1930s.

Ted Raph served in the US Army from 1943 to 1945 in the Special Services Division at the Signal Corps Photographic Center conducting, composing, and arranging music for movie shorts, transcriptions, and radio shows.

Ted Raph conducted for Stop the Music, an American radio show and television quiz show.

Ted Raph followed that by arranging music for Name That Tune on the radio from 1952 to 1953 and on TV from 1953 to 1959.

Ted Raph then arranged music for the television show Yours for a Song from 1961 to 1963.

Ted Raph published two collections of sheet music in the 1960s which contained easy piano arrangements, guitar chords, and lyrics: The American Song Treasury: 100 Favorites, and Songs We Sang, a Treasury of American Popular Sheet Music.