The Hoosier Hot Shots - And My Friend Gabe

Book excerpt: At the height of the Great Depression three fun-loving young musicians from the flatlands of Central Indiana began broadcasting a fifteen minute daily radio show on WOWO in Fort Wayne. Veterans of the vaudeville circuits, they performed without pay to promote local appearances for $15 per night. The show quickly drew a large following and this led to an opportunity to join the WLS National Barn Dance in Chicago. Their happy, sometimes zany antics proved to be exactly what a Depression-weary country needed. The line that began many of their songs, "Are you ready, Hezzie?" became part of the American lexicon. The Hoosier Hot Shots went on to make hundreds of phongraph records, appear in 22 movies and have their own nationwide radio show. This account of their boy-makes-good lives includes more than 80 photos, illustrations, letters written by one of the original Hot Shots, movie highlights, a discography and more.