The sheet music went on to have six printings, and Boo Hoo gained further popularity after being used in the 1937 movie Dead End.
Originally The Royal Canadians’ vocalist, featured on Boo Hoo, Carmen Lombardo’s style was very distinct. Some said it was nervousness and was described as if he were “eating honey with chopsticks.” Carmen stated and laughed, “It was a very awful, very nervous voice.” When Carmen stepped down as vocalist to turn his attention more seriously to writing, others in The Royal Canadians took the bandstand like crooner-guitarist Don Rodney, Lombardo brother-in-law tenor, Kenny Gardener, and Carmen’s sister Rosemarie.
Carmen Lombardo successfully collaborated with many US composers including Boo Hoo’s Edward Heyman and John Jacob Loeb. Heyman was born and raised in New York City and began writing musicals at a young age. He eventually moved on to write the scores for Broadway classics such as Here Goes the Bride, Murder at the Vanities and Pardon our French. His most well known work remains the war musical At Your Service. John Jacob Loeb collaborated with Lombardo on numerous other songs, including It’s Easier Said Than Done and Get Out Those Old Records.
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