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About The Artist In the summer of 1935, WSM seemed to forgo the traditional music heard on the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights. Radio logs published indicate the Opry program was on WSM from 8:00pm to 12:00pm (midnight). Once again the last hour of the Opry portion was devoted to network dance band programs. One such act was Leonard Keller and the Bismarck Hotel Orchestra of Chicago, Illinois. The band had a half-hour slot at 11:00pm each Saturday night from June 8, 1935 to September 28, 1935. Leonard Keller was born on October 6, 1909 in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were Robert and Pauline Keller who immigrated to the United States from Russia.. Marvin J. Porter told readers in October 1934 that the "Tone Poet" wanted to find out for himself what kind of music the man in the street preferred. So he disguised himself as a mendicant fiddler, took his violin and sauntered, at night, along the byways, sawing the old fiddle, playing popular tunes and classic ones. His notion was to discover which intrigued the passerby most-pop or classic. So he stood on several street corners, several hours, fiddling away. And nobody paid the slightest attention to him. In 1940, readers learned that Leonard Keller had been away from Chicago for three years. He had come back to the Hotel Bismarck. He held the record of being their for one year entertaining audiences. Research has uncovered some snippets of interest. In this case, it was a story of a special effects in the studio that caused some issues but Leonard recovered nicely. Read on what Chase Giles told readers in October 1935: "Leonard Keller and his Bismarck Hotel orchestra have been doing those Sunday morning Gloom Dodgers programs over WBBM. The other Sunday disaster was averted by Keller's quick wittedness. Part of the theme which opens the show is the honking of an auto horn. The drummer performs this duty. As usual he pressed the button and the horn started -but it didn't stop; the electrical button had stuck. The orchestra boys tried playing as loud as they could to drown it out. No go. Finally the drummer grabbed the wires to the horn and yanked them out. That stopped it but in the excitement the drummer managed to knock over the trumpet player's music stand and spill his music. When the three minutes of confusion ended, Keller went to the microphone and said: "Now that we have finally passed that road hog. folks, we'll continue our tour to colorful Spain." " Leonard could sometimes see an opportunity with an ear to something different. Chase Giles reported another incident. " ... Leonard Keller, the Chicago orchestra leader, was idling during an intermission of his band at the Bismarck Hotel. His accordionist struck up a tune to fill the intermission and suddenly a girl in the audience began to whistle the number, softly but not so softly that Keller didn't hear it. She was doing it for her own amusement. But Keller brought her up to the stand and went through some number with her. The next Sunday she became part of his WBBM "Gloom Dodgers" program." Another snippet of an article in June of 1935, when he was starting an enagement at the Bismarck Hotel in the Walnut Room, told readers of a trend in music that Leonard thought he was seeing or hearing. He felt that "...the period of overemphasis of brass instruments and the saxophone in modern dance music is coming to an end, and plans to feature the wood-winds and a string quartet in his arrangements." That article also mentioned that Mr. Keller had won a scholarship in the school of music at the University of Wisconsin. Another summer of 1934 article indicates that Leonard Keller's orchestra had some additional talent besides musicians. Readers learned he was called "The Tone Poet" due to his imaginative musicianship," and was presiding over a floor show in the Walnut Room at the Bismarck Hotel. "...Fine transcriptions of classic melodies into dance numbers are his specialty. The cabaret entertainers are: Robinson and Loueen, dance team; Mara Santa, prima donna; J. Winchester Howard, who caricatures cinema personalities with masks, and Thelma, singer of southern songs." Chicago Tribune readers learned that Leonard Keller would be at the Walnut Room in the Bismarck for the rest of the summer of 1934. He was only 24 at the time. His specialties were said to be "...instrumentations that emphasize the strings and wood winds. He also did violin solos on their programs.
 
 
 
 
In August of 1950, Leonrad was in the news when it was announced he was marrying Nancy Carr, herself a popular soprano on WGN and a star of many "Chicago Theater of the Air" productions. Only their two families attended their ceremony. They took a honeymoon trip to Wisconsin afterwards. The former Ms. Carr made her debut on WGN and the Mutual Network in 1948. The wedding story also indicated that Mr. Keller had took advanced study inat the Julliard School of Music in New York City and the American Conservatory of Music. In addition to leading his own orchestra, he also appeared as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The marriage appeared to have lasted only a couple of years. Nancy married Robert Cosgrove in 1953 and they moved to Massachusetts. She died July 22, 2017 at the age of 95. She was born March 24, 1922 in Springfield, OH. Leonard passed away in November 1998. His obituary was short and curt and made no mention of his career. He was cremated in Delray Beach, FL. He was suvived by his wife, Evelyn. He married Evelyn Frances Zimmerman on June 4, 1998 in Delray Beach, FL. Credits & Sources
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