Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers

History

Tom C. Fouts earned the nickname Stubby because of his short build. After leaving Indiana Central University following just one year, he put together a band with five friends in 1938. They called themselves the Six Hoosiers and focused on comedy, with Fouts playing odd instruments like a tuned toilet seat he dubbed the "gitarlet." The group got a contract with WDAN radio in Danville, Illinois, and in 1940 the station ran a contest to give them a new name.

The winning entry, worth $100, was Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers, though Fouts sometimes joked they were "Captain Stubby and the bucket of tears." In 1944 the band joined the U.S. Navy's Entertainment Division and traveled overseas to perform for sailors. After the war, they signed with Chicago's WLS Radio and appeared on the National Barn Dance. They later became regulars on ABC-TV's Polka Go-Round and cut records for five labels, mostly featuring Fouts' songs.

With singer Lola Dee, they released the Mercury single "Padre" and "Takin' The Trains Out." Fouts also hosted the syndicated talk show Captain Stubby's Special Delivery and wrote for and performed on Don McNeill's Breakfast Club from 1968 to 1971.

Members

Tom C. Fouts (Captain Stubby) handled comedy and novelty instruments such as a musical hat rack and a tuned toilet seat called the gitarlet, and sang. Dwight E. (Tiny) Stokes sang lead tenor and played bass. Jerald R. Richards played clarinet, flute, bass clarinet, ocarina, and tin whistle, and sang. Sonny Fleming played guitar and banjo and sang.

Peter Kunatz played accordion and piano. Gerald (Curley) Myers played guitar and banjo and sang. Chuck Kagy played fiddle, guitar, and mandolin. Buddy Ross and Tony Walberg each played accordion.

Advertising

Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers first performed the original Roto-Rooter jingle on WLS in the early 1950s, and the recorded version became one of the longest-running tunes in advertising history, featuring Tom Fouts' bass voice in Away go Troubles Down the Drain. Shortly before his death at 85 in 2004, he contributed to nostalgic radio spots for Roto-Rooter. Captain Stubby also sang the 1959 Chicago White Sox fight song, Let's Go, Go-Go White Sox, and was the voice of Green Giant's Little Sprout.