Gene Krupa drum, in a recording session in December 1927. One of his bass drums, a Slingerland 14 X 26, inscribed with Benny Goodman's and Krupa's initials, is preserved at the Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C. In 1978, Krupa became the first drummer inducted into the "Modern Drummer" Hall of Fame. The 1937 recording of Louis Prima's "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)" combined with Waller's "Christopher Columbus" by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra featuring Gene Krupa on drums was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1982. With Benny Goodman Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October
The Gene Krupa Story for money. During rehearsals for some of his initial club performances, Krupa meets a girl named Ethel (Susan Kohner), who is immediately struck by his drumming. At a swim party, the two have a long conversation about many things. Ethel confides that, after graduation, she wants to go to New York City to study and write music. The two begin to fall in love. When he gets home, Gene finds that his father has died. Feeling obligated, he goes to study for the priesthood, but at the seminary he feels lost and unable to devote his whole self. He imagines