![]() ![]() He told many stories over the years regarding how he chose the name Desmond, but his biographer Doug Ramsey offers an account from Desmond's friend Hal Strack that the two were listening to the Glenn Miller band singer Johnny Desmond in 1942, and Desmond told Strack "that's such a great name. ![]() In 1946, following his military discharge, Desmond legally changed his last name from Breitenfeld to Desmond. He spent three years in the military, but his unit was not called to combat. In his first year of college, Desmond was drafted into the United States Army and joined the Army band while stationed in San Francisco. It was also at that time that Desmond began playing the alto saxophone, after being influenced by the likes of Lester Young and Charlie Parker. After high school, Desmond enrolled at San Francisco State College where he majored in English. In that capacity, he interviewed comedian Bob Hope for his school newspaper during one of Hope's visits to San Francisco. During high school, he wished to study violin, but his father dissuaded him, saying that violin players were "a dime a dozen.with the violin, you'll starve." Desmond developed a talent for writing during high school as well, becoming co-editor of his high school newspaper. Starting in 1933, Desmond spent nearly five years living with relatives in New Rochelle, New York due to his mother's mental health problems.ĭesmond began to study clarinet at the age of twelve, which he continued while at San Francisco Polytechnic High School. ĭesmond's mother Shirley was emotionally unstable throughout his upbringing, and appears to have suffered from obsessive–compulsive disorder and other mental illnesses. During World War I, while Breitenfeld was training with the 17th New York Regiment in Plattsburgh, New York, he composed The Last Long Mile, one of the best-known soldiers' songs of that war. Breitenfeld accompanied silent films in movie theaters and produced musical arrangements for printed publication and for live theatrical productions. ĭesmond's father, Emil Breitenfeld, was a pianist, organist, arranger, and composer. ĭesmond's mother, born Shirley King, was Catholic, and of Irish descent. ![]() The Breitenfeld family in Bohemia and Vienna featured musicians in every generation throughout the 1800s, 1900s, and to the present day. Lewy, the maiden surname of Paul's paternal grandmother Hermine, is more likely to be of Jewish origin, but no evidence of her genealogy has surfaced." However, Fred Barton, songwriter/arranger and Desmond's cousin, found extensive genealogical proof that both the Breitenfeld and Löwy families were Bohemian Jews. There are plenty of Breitenfelds in Germany and Austria to support both sides of the argument. Biographer Ramsey notes that "the name Breitenfeld could be Jewish or non-Jewish. Interviewed by Desmond biographer Doug Ramsey, Desmond's first cousin Rick Breitenfeld said that no one in the Breitenfeld family could find evidence of Jewish ancestry or Jewish religious observance, but Paul Desmond and members of his father's family "frequently speculated as to whether or not Sigmund or Hermine Breitenfeld had Jewish backgrounds". Sigmund Breitenfeld, a medical doctor, emigrated to New York City with his wife Hermine (born Hermine Lewy) at the end of the 19th century, and the Breitenfelds raised their four children (including Desmond's father Emil) with no religion. His grandfather Sigmund Breitenfeld was, according to an obituary, born in Austria in 1857. Desmond was born Paul Emil Breitenfeld in San Francisco, California, in 1924, the son of Shirley (née King) and Emil Aron Breitenfeld. ![]()
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