Bernard PRESS

<a href=http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960514&slug=2329158><strong>Obituary</strong></a><br><br>Bernard Press Topped Music Charts In1948<br>By Carole Beers<br>Seattle Times Staff Reporter<br>As a musician in some of the nation's busiest big bands, Bernard Press got around.<br><br>With one group or another, he played trombone, sang and arranged music for engagements atclubs ranging from New York's Copacabana to the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles.<br><br>He made the big time in 1948 when his song "That Certain Party" hit the topof the charts.<br><br>Mr. Press performed during the 1962 Seattle World's Fairwith the Jackie Souter Orchestra. His music graced the Elvis Presley film "It Happened at the World's Fair."<br><br>"That (World's Fair) is something a musiciandoesn't often get - a year's gig," said his son Mark Press of Edmonds. "He loved it."<br><br>Mr. Press also worked in The Boeing Co.'s tool-supply department from 1959 to 1977.<br><br>He died Wednesday, May 8, of complications from surgery. He was 84.<br><br>Born in Liverpool, England, of Russian and English parents,Mr. Press came to the United States as a boy and grew up in Hartford, Conn. He gravitated to New York's Tin Pan Alley and in 1930 joined Jerry Johnson and the NBC Orchestra.<br><br>"He was playful, full of life and joy," said his son. "He was a ham. In the World's Fair gig he used to chase an oversized, female percussionist around the stage to get a laugh.<br><br>"But he also was happy playing violin or singing. And he really loved to write music."<br><br>Mark Press remembershis father - a founder and cantor at the former Temple Beth Judea Reform synagogue - sitting at his desk,<br><br>writing a few notes, jumping up to play them on a piano, then returning to the desk.<br><br>Mr. Press played not only for World's Fair concerts and dances, but in a four-piece ensemble, the Four Foul Balls,at Seattle Rainier baseball games in the 1960s. He later played with the Max Pillar Orchestra and the Sentimental Gentlemen, which he helped found.<br><br>He directed the Nile Temple Oriental Band, performing in parades around the Northwest, and was organist of the Edmonds Masonic Lodge. His final gig was as a bassistand singer with the Senior Swingers.<br><br>He liked telling of how he turned down an invitation to join Lawrence Welk's band.<br><br>Mr. Press met Welk at Chicago's famed Trianon Ballroom on New Year's Eve 1940 while playing with the Benny Strong Orchestra, which was sharing music-making chores that night with Welk'sgroup.<br><br>He met Welk again a few years later but turned down the offer because he wanted to stay with the Strong band.<br><br>Mr. Press' survivors includeanother son, David Press of Seattle; sisters, Millie Apter of Hartford, Conn.,Isabelle Kafka of Peakskill, N.Y., and Vivian Kaplan of Hamden, Conn.; brother,Irving Press of West Palm Beach, Fla.; three grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.<br><br>Services have been held. Remembrances may go to the Bernie Press Memorial Music Fund, Madrona School in Edmonds, c/o any Washington Mutual Bank branch.<br><br>Copyright (c) 1996 Seattle Times Company, All Rights Reserved.

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