In 1938 the elegant American band leader and composer , Jay Whidden , a violin player with the tips of his left hand missing, came to Australia . Over the years, he had passed himself off as a cowboy from Montana where his cattleman father had cut off his frost bitten finger tips with a knife. In addition, Whidden entertained audiences with accounts of exciting life in the wild north west-Indian raids, stampeding horses .
In fact, he had been born in Brooklyn in 1890 and lost his fingertips while working with his father on the docks in New York . He got the chance to play cowboy when he entered into a bigamous marriage and his second partner had a ranch in California , where Hollywood friends dropped in from time to time .
Whidden apparently picked up the desire to play the violin from his father who entertained the family playing Irish jigs . Early in his life, Jay teamed up with a talented young composer and lyricist, Con Conrad, and they toured together in ragtime vaudeville shows and played Broadway .
Going to London , they became the darlings of the West End, playing jazz, attired in sophisticated Saville Row clobber . In 1934 Betty Grable was the leading female vocalist in one of Whidden's bands in San Francisco .
Whidden was invited to come to Melbourne by the ABC and performed at the St Kilda Palais de Danse , broadcasted nationally over 3LO and encouraged young talent , including the Lester Sisters , Nola , Betty and Olive. He also performed at the Tivoli , Sydney.
A Little Darwin scavenger recently found in Townsville the above 1938 piece of Australian sheet music featuring a photo of him posing with his violin. Advertisements on the back are for Gone With The Wind , The Girl In The Alice Blue Gown , songs from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the smash hit of the year and the most played song on air...WHERE THE DOG SITS ON THE TUCKERBOX ( five miles from Gundagai ).
