One of the first singers to take advantage of the new technological medium of radio, Rudy Vallee (1901–1986) was descended from Francophone Quebecois and pursued music through his teen years and his time at Yale University. His clean-cut image came to symbolize a whole generation of Ivy League graduates. His singing voice was a smooth baritone that did not have the power to come across on stage but shone when broadcast over the airwaves. He also acted in films, sending up his fusty image successfully in The Palm Beach Story. As well as being one of the first radio and recording stars, his following was mostly adolescent girls, making him one of the first teen idols in the modern sense.