Victor Arden and Phil Ohman first met while the two were employed at the QRS Piano Roll Company; Ohman recording piano rolls, and Arden as an arranger. There soon developed a warm friendship, and they found that they could work closely as a team. Ohman's brother Ernest, has said that \"Phil sketched out the arrangements, but didn't write them down. He decided the style. In their duets, Phil played the treble.\" Around 1924, they began recording for such labels as Brunswick, Victor, Columbia, and also some smaller labels. In addition, they led pit orchestras for such George Gershwin Musical shows as \"Lady Be Good' (1924), \"Tip Toes\" (1925), \"Oh, Kay\" (1926), and \"Funny Face\" (1927). The team also did some vaudeville touring.
The Arden and Ohman team also had a film career, albeit rather limited, appearing in a series of Vitaphone short subjects. They played both classical and popular selections for these shorts. But it was their radio performances that made them well known to the more general public. Among their featured shows were \"American Album of Familar Music\", \"The Buick Program\", and the \"Bayer Music Review\"'.
In 1934, the team split up - probably a natural evolution since there was no evidence of hard feelings.
Ohman went to Hollywood and put an orchestra together for Hollywood's famed Trocadero nightclub. While in Hollywood, he worked in the studios, usually off-camera, for films that required an actor to simulate piano playing. He also scored and even wrote some songs for films. Probably his best known song was \"Lost\" in 1936, with Johnny Mercer Lyrics. He continued in music until the late 1950's.
Arden followed suit and quickly formed, and quickly dropped, a Dance Band. In 1934 to 1937, he was conducting radio and studio orchestras for such radio shows as \"Kings of Melody\" and \"Broadway Varieties\" starring Frank Munn vocalizing. In the Mid-1940s, he did the \"Manhattan Merry-Go-Round\" show on Sunday Evenings, and in 1947, he worked on \"American Melody Hour\". Late in his career, Arden also directed the All Stars Trio, a group he had originally formed back when he was arranging Piano Rolls for QRS.
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