Maine Atlas, the Office of the Maine Secretary of State
A black and white group portrait of the United States Coast Guard band in uniform with their instruments, including violins, brass horns, a piano, and a harp, gathered around a central bass drum.

Rudy Vallee

National Archives

Deep into the prohibition years, “The Stein Song” – the school song of the University of Maine – became a number one hit in the United States for eight weeks in 1930. It was sung by Rudy Vallée, one of the first singers known as a “crooner,” who had grown up in Westbrook and briefly attended the University of Maine in the 1920s.

Vallée played drums in his high school band but gained national attention after he began singing on New York City radio in 1928. Success followed quickly. Recording contracts, sold-out performances, one of the nation’s most popular radio shows, films, and Broadway made Vallée one of America’s biggest entertainers.

Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Vermont, it was Maine the Franco-American remained tied to throughout his life. For many years he maintained a home on Kezar Lake and regularly returned to Maine to perform. He is buried in St. Hyacinth Cemetery in Westbrook and his childhood home in Westbrook is on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1975, the state designated October 11 as Rudy Vallée Day. Each year, University of Maine students and faculty continue the tradition by performing the version of "The Stein Song" that Vallée popularized nearly 100 years ago.

Maine Historical Society: The Maine Stein Song
Vintage sheet music cover for the "Stein Song (University of Maine)," featuring text details about a new arrangement by Rudy Vallée for voice and piano. On the right, a black and white photograph shows a smiling Rudy Vallée standing in a double-breasted suit jacket while holding a large megaphone down by his side.
The Stein Song sheet music. Photo: The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection, Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries & University Museums.
A black and white photograph of a man in a tuxedo and top hat standing on a stage at a microphone, holding a saxophone, with an orchestra visible in the background.
Rudy Vallee, three-quarter portrait, standing before microphone at opening of new Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. Photo: Library of Congress.
A black and white photograph captured at a baseball stadium, showing a man in a business suit shaking hands with a smiling baseball player wearing a jersey that reads "BRAVES".
Rudy Vallee and Bill McKechnie, manager of the Braves. 1930. Photo: Boston Public Library.
A black and white photograph of a man in a crisp white military dress uniform and officer's cap, seated in profile and playing a Steinway & Sons grand piano while looking upward.
Lieutenant Rudy Vallee leads the famous Eleventh Naval District U.S. Coast Guard band. The thirty-three piece Coast Guard band is composed of men drawn largely from the ranks of name bands. 1943. Photo: National Archives.

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