April 13 Illinois History Minute

It’s April 13th, and that’s Howard Keel, singing in the MGM musical “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”. Keel was born on this day in the Macoupin County town of Gillespie in 1919. He starred in many movie musicals in the 1950s, and in the ‘80s, played oil baron Clayton Farlow in the TV series “Dallas”.

Saxophonist Bud Freeman got his nickname “The Eel”, for his solo on this Eddie Condon record of the same name. Freeman was born on this day in 1906 in Chicago, where he was part of the Austin High School Gang of pioneering jazz musicians.