Skinnay Ennis
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Robert "Skinnay" Ennis (1906-June 3, 1963) was an American jazz and pop music bandleader.
Ennis was born in North Carolina and met Hal Kemp while attending college in that state. He joined Kemp's orchestra as a drummer in the late 1920s, playing with him through 1938 including on tours of Europe. Following this Ennis put together his own band, which became a popular ensemble in Hollywood films. During this time Gil Evans was one of his arrangers. He also did comedy routines, and landed a job on Bob Hope's radio program in the 1940s. He played in bands during World War II and returned to Hollywood bandleading at the war's end.
Toward the end of the 1950s Ennis's career had faded, and he worked mostly in hotels in the Los Angeles area. He choked to death on a bone while eating dinner at a restaurant in Beverly Hills in 1963.
