Of Lou Busch and His Alter Ego, Joe “Fingers” Carr

July 18 was the birthday of Red Skelton, Lupe Velez, Dave Chasen, Monty Banks, Jane Frazee, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Dion DiMucci, and the Unsinkable Molly Brown, among many others we’ve written about. Today we add to their number ragtime revivalist, producer/arranger, and A&R man Lou Busch, a.k.a. Joe “Fingers” Carr (Louis Bush [sic], 1910-1979).

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Bush was in his pre-teens when he form his first ragtime/hot jazz band Lou Bush and His Tickle Toe Four in 1922. (Note original spelling of his name, the Anglo way, like the Presidents. He later added a “c”, apparently to Germanize it, perhaps to attach himself to that country’s substantial musical culture). Throughout the ’20s he played with the jazz bands of Clyde McCoy, Henry Busse, and George Olson. He then took time off in the early ’30s to learn theory at the Cincinnati Music Conservatory. The new, improved Busch then became a major asset to Hal Kemp’s orchestra through Kemp’s death in a car crash in 1940. He married Kemp’s singer Janet Blair in 1943.

Following his World War Two service, Busch was hired by Johnny Mercer for his brand new Capitol Records, where he rapidly worked his way up to an A & R role. In 1949, he produced, arranged and played on a hit cover of the 1912 classic “Ragtime Cowboy Joe” sung by Jo Stafford, and this launched a lucrative sideline for the frustrated performer. By now, we were well into the time of styles like be bop and jump blues (a precursor to rock and roll). Ragtime was ancient history as far as kids were concerned, but the older generations still had affection for it. Busch cooked up a persona that would allow him to record in the old style for the nostalgia market. As Joe “Fingers” Carr, with his vocal group, The Carr Hopps, Busch affected a honky tonk saloon costume like that of Fats Waller, in a manner that would also be emulated by the likes of Big Tiny Little (whom he later teamed up with) and Max Morath. His first single in this guise, “The Ivory Rag”, an original composition, was a hit in 1950, and hit yet again in 1955 as part of Johnny Maddox’s recording of the “Crazy Otto Medley”. The flip side was “Sam’s Song”, also a hit. Success must have turned his head. In 1950 he also divorced Blair and married Margaret Whiting. That marriage only lasted until 1953.

Busch/Carr released over two dozen albums and nearly 100 singles in this vein, and collaborated with the likes of Tennessee Ernie Ford, Candy Candido, Dorothy Provine (then associated with The Roaring Twenties), Pee Wee Hunt, the Ewing Sisters, and as we said, Big Tiny Little of the Lawrence Welk band. After a few years at Capitol, he later worked at Warner Brothers (where he produced the hit comedy records of Allan Sherman under his own name) and Dot.

In 1979, Busch died in the same manner as his old mentor Hal Kemp — a car accident.

For more on vaudeville historyplease consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, and pleasestay tuned for my upcomingElectric Vaudeville: A Century of Radio and TV Variety.