Skinnay Ennis

The son of Mr. and Mrs. E.C. Ennis, he was born Edgar Clyde Ennis Jr.^[2] in Salisbury, North Carolina, United States,^[3] and had a brother, James W. Ennis.^[4] He met Hal Kemp while attending the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. The two were members of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity there.^[5]

An obituary reported about Ennis and his orchestra, "His band had performed in every major dance palace in the nation."^[6]

Ennis joined Kemp's orchestra as a drummer and vocalist in the late 1920s, playing with him through 1938,^[3] including one tour of Europe in 1930.

In 1938, Ennis put together his own band,^[7] which became a popular ensemble in Hollywood films. "Got a Date With an Angel" was his theme song.^[3] During this time Gil Evans was one of his arrangers.^[3]

Toward the end of the 1950s Ennis's career had faded, and he worked mostly in hotels in the Los Angeles area.^[3]

Ennis and his orchestra starred in the short 1941 film Once Upon a Summertime and the film College Swing.^[8] as well as in Blondie Meets The Boss in 1939.^[9] His first film appearance was in the short film, Eddie Peabody and his College Chums (1929).

Ennis began performing comedy routines, and in 1938 he landed a job as bandleader on Bob Hope's radio program, appearing as a regular until he entered the Army.^[3]

He returned to Hollywood bandleading at the war's end and joined the Abbott and Costello radio program during the 1946–47 season.^[3]

Ennis joined the Army in 1943, serving as a "warrant officer in charge of a 28-piece band" during World War II.^[10]

Ennis was married to the former singer Carmene Calhoun for 20 years, and they had one son. The couple divorced in 1959.^[11]

Ennis, whose nickname originally was "Skinny," changed it to "Skinnay", after it was misspelled that way on the label of a record early in his career.^[6]

Ennis choked to death on a bone while eating dinner at a restaurant in Beverly Hills in 1963.^[12]