Juke Box Comics #4

Miguelito Valdes rises from a law student in Havana to become a celebrated entertainer, first finding success as a boxer with an impressive knockout streak before a devastating loss sends him toward his true calling—music. Hailed across the Americas as a musical ambassador, Valdes transforms his raw energy and charisma from the ring into the stage, eventually becoming Cuba's most popular singer and leading his own band. This is the story of how a young man's detour through the boxing ring led him to stardom on an international stage.

Louis Armstrong nearly misses his moment of glory at the International Jazz Festival in Nice, France, when he gets so caught up jamming with another trumpet player that he loses track of time—just as the President of France arrives to present him with one of the highest honors in jazz. Racing against the clock and a increasingly frantic hotel staff, Armstrong must make it downstairs before the ceremony begins and the distinguished guest gives up waiting.

Jimmy Durante clawed his way up from his father's barber shop on New York's Lower East Side, determined to master the piano despite the neighborhood kids' ridicule, and by 18 he was playing professionally at Coney Island—where he caught the attention of Eddie Cantor himself. After forming his legendary partnership with Eddie Jackson and Lou Clayton in 1923, Durante rode the wave of success until the Depression forced the trio to chase opportunity all the way to Hollywood, where they've remained together ever since. Today, "The Great Schnozzola" has even trademarked his famous nickname, turning what started as a kid's stubborn dream into one of show business's most enduring careers.

Ted Weems, the famous bandleader, hires a talented young trumpet player during rehearsal in California—but fate intervenes when the musician is struck by a car the very next morning. Six years later, Weems finds himself stranded at an Army hospital en route to Fort Dix, New Jersey, with an injured ankle and a show the soldiers are counting on, when an unexpected encounter offers a chance to save the day. "Fate Takes a Hand" is a warm reminder that kindness and coincidence can circle back in the most surprising ways.

Francis Craig, creator of the 1947 hit "Near You," made an unexpected gamble in the recording studio: while preparing to retire from his twenty-one-year career leading an orchestra, he decided to record a song he'd written months earlier as a B-side, unsure it would make much of an impact. What Craig didn't anticipate was that his modest composition would become the breakout hit of the year, launching him on an entirely new chapter.