Pee Wee King was born Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski on February 18, 1914 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The son of a Polish polka bandleader, he mastered the accordion early in life. In the mid-1930s, King and promoter J. L. rank formed the Golden West Cowboys, a pillar of the Grand Ole Opry from 1937 to 1947. During those years, the band boasted such Opry talents as Eddy Arnold and Cowboy Copas.

In 1947 King moved the group to Louisville, Kentucky, where he remained enormously popular on television for a decade. He also headlined TV programs in other cities including an ABC-TV series. With band member Redd Stewart, King wrote “Tennessee Waltz” in 1947, an American classic and one of King's biggest hits. This helped him win Hall of Fame membership in 1974. The song became the official state song for Tennessee in 1965. Other hit songs composed by King and Stewart were “Bonaparte’s Retreat,” “Slow Poke,” and “You Belong To Me.”

King made his film debut in 1958, appearing with Gene Autry in “Gold Mine In The Sky.”

He disbanded the “Golden West Cowboys” in 1968 and retired to his home in Louisville, Kentucky. On February 28, 2000 he suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized. Pee Wee King died on March 7, 2000.

Dusty Owens
TCM Radio News

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