Whenever I did a good performance, my Dad and my uncles, who were rabid movie fans, took me to the movies. There began my underlying love affair with film.

But, in fairness to them, too, the popular song per se is really a pretty shallow medium to perform in.

As Buddy Rich, for instance, broke into the business at the age of three, I think it was, on drums, so indeed did I break into the business at the age of four as a singer.

I got into radio when I was eight, and I was one of the busiest child dramatic actors in America.

Since the advent of Benny Goodman, there have been too few clarinetists to fill the void that Goodman left. Ken Peplowski is most certainly one of those few. The man is magic.

It may sound a bit like an army barracks, but the truth of the matter is: there must be some time laid aside for arranging, time for working on either a book or an article - I've written two articles in the last four months for the New York Times book review section.

Because Chicago was to radio what Hollywood was to films and Broadway was to the theatre: it was the hub of radio.