He appeared in the 1941 film Ball of Fire, in which he and his band performed an extended version of the hit " Drum Boogie" (composed by Krupa and Roy Eldridge), sung by Martha Tilton and lip-synced by Barbara Stanwyck.
But conflict with Goodman prompted him to leave the group and form his own orchestra shortly after the Carnegie Hall concert in January 1938. His tom-tom interludes on the hit " Sing, Sing, Sing" were the first extended drum solos to be recorded commercially. In December 1934, he joined Benny Goodman's band, where his drum work made him a national celebrity. Krupa appeared on six recordings by the Thelma Terry band in 1928. There were many other drummers (Ray Bauduc, Chick Webb, George Wettling, Dave Tough) who influenced his approach to drumming and other instrumentalists and composers such as Frederick Delius who influenced his approach to music. Press rolls (dragging one stick across the snare head while keeping the beat with the other stick) were a fairly common technique in the early stages of his development. Krupa's influences during this time included Father Ildefonse Rapp and Roy Knapp (both teachers of his), and drummers Tubby Hall, Zutty Singleton and Baby Dodds. Along with other recordings by musicians from the Chicago jazz scene, such as Bix Beiderbecke, these recordings are examples of Chicago style jazz.
Krupa made his first recordings in 1927 with a band under the leadership of Red McKenzie and guitarist Eddie Condon. The Playboys were the house band at the Golden Pumpkin nightclub in Chicago and toured throughout the eastern and central United States. In 1927, he was hired by MCA to become a member of Thelma Terry and Her Playboys, the first notable American jazz band to be led by a female musician (except all-female bands). Moeller, and began playing drums professionally in the mid-1920s with bands in Wisconsin. After graduation he attended Saint Joseph's College for a year but decided the priesthood was not his vocation. Bowen High School on Chicago's southeast side. He spent his grammar school days at parochial schools. His parents were Roman Catholics who groomed him for the priesthood. Anna was born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, and was also of Polish descent. Bartłomiej was an immigrant from Poland born in the village of Łęki Górne, Podkarpackie in Southeastern Poland. The youngest of Anna (née Oslowski) and Bartłomiej Krupa's nine children, Gene Krupa was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.