Evans met Jay Livingston while a student at Penn. Together they played in the University's college dance orchestra, "The Continentals." During school vacations the orchestra was engaged to play on several international cruises. After graduation the duo continued their partnership, seeking a career as a song-writing team in New York and later Hollywood. Their first big break came after auditioning for comedians Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson in 1939. Their song "G'Bye Now" made it into Olsen and Johnson's Broadway revue "Hellzapoppin"'. In 1946 Livingston and Evans signed a contract with Paramount Studios in Hollywood.