José Melis

José Melis Guiu, (February 27, 1920 – April 7, 2005), known as José Melis, was a Cuban-American bandleader and television personality.

Biography

Melis was born in Havana, Cuba. He studied at the Havana Conservatory of Music and a Cuban government scholarship enabled him to continue his education in Paris. When he was 16, he arrived in the United States, graduated from the Juilliard School of Music and worked as a lounge pianist. During World War II, while he was serving as the musical director for the USO's New York City branch of the USO, he met Jack Paar, and the two remained friends for years.

In 1954–55, Melis was the pianist when The Morning Show on CBS was hosted by Paar. Then Paar moved from mornings to late night, and from 1957 to 1962, Melis served as the musical director of The Tonight Show during Jack Paar's tenure as host. He also wrote the music for Paar's theme song, "IM4U" (lyrics by Sev F. Marino), and he performed with Paar on other shows, including Parr’s Startime (1960). One of his routines on Paar's shows was the "telephone game," in which Melis would improvise a musical number based on the last four digits of an audience member's telephone number.

Melis also appeared on other TV shows, including Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town, and he portrayed himself in the musical comedy film Senior Prom (1958). He occasionally accompanied Frank Sinatra, and his song "Pasion Orientale" was heard in the Judy Garland version of A Star Is Born (1954). In addition to touring with Mel Torme, he also appeared as a soloist with the Boston Pops and other symphony orchestras.

Melis was 85 when he died of a respiratory infection in Sun City, Arizona on April 7, 2005.[1]

Listen to
  • "Mas Feliz Navidad : Christmas with Melis". Archived from the original on 27 April 2007. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
gollark: Yes, they do have considerations other than minimizing short-term COVID-19 deaths, but that is sensible because other things do matter.
gollark: The US government, and large business owners and whoever else ("capitalism"), don't really want people to die in large numbers *either*, they're:- still *people*- adversely affected by said large numbers dying, because: - if lots of people die in the US compared to elsewhere, they'll look bad come reelection - most metrics people look at will also be worse off if many die and/or are ill for a while - many deaths would reduce demand for their stuff, and they might lose important workers, and more deaths means a worse recession
gollark: That is stupid on so many levels. Is it meant to be some homepathic thing, where the blood is obviously even more worserer if they dilute it?
gollark: Why did YouTube recommend this to me‽ Why?
gollark: Governments seem to now be making it some sort of ridiculous competition to have 5G as soon as possible even with no immediate uses, which is annoying.

References
  1. Lueck, Thomas J. (2005-04-18). "José Melis, a 'Tonight' Show Bandleader, Dies at 85". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 18 March 2020.


Media offices
Preceded by
Skitch Henderson		 The Tonight Show bandleader
1957–1962		 Succeeded by
Skitch Henderson
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