The Liltin’ Miss Martha Tilton

Martha Tilton (1915-2006) was a popular singer of the big band era who made her mark on record, radio, television, and film.

Tilton was raised in Corpus Christi, Texas; Edna, Kansas; and finally Los Angeles, where she began to sing on local radio as a teenager. Early in her career she sang with the big bands of Sid Lippman, Hal Grayson, and Jimmy Dorsey. With the quartet Three Hits and a Miss, she appeared in the 1937 movie Topper. That same year she also had a small part in Pinky Tomlin’s Sing While You’re Able, and a star turn in a musical short called Broker’s Follies.

From August 1937 through the end of 1939, Tilton sang with Benny Goodman’s band, fronting on two dozen Top 20 hits, the best known of which was “And the Angels Sing” (#1), followed by “I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart” (#1), “This Can’t Be Love” (#2), “What Goes on Here in My heart” (#3), “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen” (#4), “I’ve Got a Date With a Dream” (#4), “‘S Wonderful” (#7), “Loch Lomond” (#12), and others. Goodman’s grueling schedule, which involved working every day of the year with no breaks, caused her to move on after two years, in spite of such perks as getting to sing at Carnegie Hall. In 1940 she married Goodman’s manager Leonard Vannerson. The union lasted until 1947.

During the next phase of her career, Tilton sang in the feature films Irene (1940), Buck Bunny Rides Again (1940), Sunny (1941), You’ll Never Get Rich (1941), Strictly in the Groove (1942), and starred in the shorts Varsity Vanities (1940), Tickled Pinky (1940, again with Tomlin), A Little Jive is Good For You (1941), Love Turns Winter to Spring (1941), What the Country Needs (1941), and Jan Savitt’s Serenade in Swing (1942). She also supplied the singing voices of Barbara Stanwyck, Martha O’Driscoll, and Anne Gwynne in films.

In 1942 Tilton became the first artist signed by Johnny Mercerfor the brand new Capitol Records. Her hits as a solo artist included “I’ll Walk Alone” (#4, 1944), “I Should Care” (#10, 1945), and “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?” (#8, 1947). During this same period you could hear her on such radio programs as Fibber McGee and Molly, Campana Serenade, Fiesta Ranch, The Jack Smith Show, and Alka-Seltzer Time, on which she co-starred with Curt Massey.

In 1943 she reunited with Jack Benny (with whom she had appeared in Buck Benny Rides Again) to accompany his U.S.O. tours over a two year period. She later appeared on his radio show, and his TV show as well. Also during the war years, Tilton made a brief stab at a career as a dramatic actress, starring the films Swing Hostess (1944) and Crime Inc (1945).

Tilton’s career started to wind down at the end of the decade. She left Capitol Records in 1949, although she continued to record with smaller labels. She made occasional TV appearances on such programs as The Alan Young Show, The Colgate Comedy Hour, and The Tonight Show with Steve Allen. She played herself in The Benny Goodman Story (1956). After which she retired to raise a family. After nearly two decades she re-emerged to sing in the TV movie Queen of the Stardust Ballroom (1975) with Maureen Stapleton, Charles Durning, and Charlotte Rae.

For more about show business historyconsult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, And please stay tuned for my upcomingElectric Vaudeville: A Century of Radio and TV Variety.