Van Streeter(1930-1960)
- Actor
James E. Streeter was a native of Wichita Kansas, where he got his
start playing tenor sax in Lloyd Hunter's territory band. Bandleader
Johnny Otis took Streeter to Los Angeles in 1944. Enamored of
director-actor Erich von Stroheim, Streeter billed himself as Von
Streeter or James Von Streeter. In the late 1940s and early '50s, he
recorded for several labels, including Coral, as Von Streeter & His Wig
Poppers, playing wild, honking R&B, and several members of this group
accompanied him when he appeared as a wild, sweaty sax maniac in a key
nightclub scene of the original D.O.A. (1950). However, for the
soundtrack the producer overdubbed another band altogether, led by
saxophonist Maxwell Davis, who would later be influential as a Los
Angeles A&R man during the early rock 'n' roll era. Streeter's career
was derailed by heroin addiction, which eventually killed him in
1960.