Broadway's Paramount Theater consistently broke attendance records. While appearing at the posh "Star-light Roof" atop the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in 1937, Fields replaced Paul Whiteman with his own radio show, The Rippling Rhythm Revue, which featured a young actor named Bob Hope as the announcer on the NBC network. In 1938, Fields' Rippling Rhythm Orchestra and Hope were featured in his first feature-length motion picture, The Big Broadcast of 1938. A series of live remote broadcasts of the orchestra was also transmitted at this time from the landmark Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel featuring the accordionist John Serry Sr. As the decade of the 1930's came to a close, Fields remained popular with audiences nationwide. In 1939, he appeared with his orchestra at the Academy Awards ceremony in the historic Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. New music and USO By 1941, Fields revamped the band into an all-reeds group, with no brass section, known as Shep Fields and His New Music, featuring vocalist Ken Curtis. The orchestra's size was increased dramatically to embellish the results, which Paul Whiteman had recorded. Fields now presented an orchestra that blended over 35 instruments, including: one bass saxophone, one baritone saxophone, six tenor saxophones, four alto saxophones, three bass clarinets, 10 standard clarinets, and nine flutes including an alto flute and a piccolo. Noted singers such as Ralph Young were also engaged. The resulting band produced a rich ensemble sound under the guidance of such arrangers as Glenn Osser, Lew Harris, and Freddy Noble, who also served as the band's musical director. The critic Leonard Feather applauded the new band's beautiful sound, and Shep embarked upon a series of USO tours to entertain the troops during World War II. From February, 1943, to August, 1944, guitarist Joe Negri also worked with the band. After World War II ended, Fields reverted to his ever popular "Rippling Rhythm" style in 1947 and continued to perform in hotels long after other bands of his era had disappeared. The group disbanded in 1963, and Fields moved to Houston, Texas, where he worked as a disc jockey. He later worked at Creative Management Associates with his brother Freddie Fields in Los Angeles. Death Shep Fields died on February 23, 1981, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles from a heart attack. He was buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery in New York. Legacy During the course of an artistic career, which