AccuRadio Song Of The Day-William Tabbert

Artist:William Tabbert

Song:Younger Than Springtime

Album:South Pacific: Original Broadway Cast

William Tabbert was a Broadway star in the 40s. He is best known for appearing in the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific as Lt. Joseph Cable USMC. He sang the songs Younger Than Springtime and You Have to Be Carefully Taught. He was born Oct. 5, 1919 in Chicago. His father was a railroad engineer. Tabbert was attending Hirsch Metropolitan High School in Chicago when he won a three year scholarship sponsored by the Chicago Daily Tribune to study opera with Anna Fitziu. He appeared in high school shows. After graduating, Tabbert worked for the Chicago Civic Light Opera and sang in local clubs. He married dancer Evelyn Rainey in 1941. Tabbert was drafted into the US Army. But he contracted pneumonia and was discharged. He moved to New York and started to appear in Broadway shows. After appearing in a few shows, Tabbert was cast as Cable in South Pacific. The producers wanted Howard Keel but he just signed with MGM. South Pacific ran for almost five years. One would have thought that it would have launched Tabbert to stardom. But he only had one other Broadway appearance in the musical Fanny which ran from 1954-56. He even hosted his own TV show on ABC in 1954. But he never returned to Broadway. It seems that Tabbert preferred performing in nightclubs. He was a regular performer at City College of New York's Lewisohn Stadium until it was demolished in 1973. He seemed to prefer the financial stability of cabaret singing over Broadway, TV or film. Tabbert and his family moved to Dallas in 1964. But he continued to perform in clubs. He appeared in New York often enough that he kept an apartment there. Tabbert was in New York rehearsing for an upcoming show when he died from a heart attack on Oct. 18, 1974 at age 55. Here's William Tabbert performing Younger Than Springtime on a July 10, 1949 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show.