Lee Wiley is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. You’ll hear the American jazz singer in broadcasts from the 1930s and 40s
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The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV which I’ve been bringing you every week on 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985. Listen here
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LEE WILEY
Wiley began her radio career at KVOO in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She left home at 15 to sing on New York City radio stations. Her career was interrupted by a fall while horseback riding. She suffered temporary blindness but recovered. At the age of 19 she was a member of the Leo Reisman Orchestra. In 1931 she recorded three songs with Reisman, ‘Take It from Me’, ‘Time On My Hands’, and her composition ‘Got the South in My Soul’.
She sang on the Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt program on NBC in 1932 and was featured on Victor Young’s radio show in 1933.
She rose to fame in the summer of 1934 on the Paul Whiteman Kraft Show. She was also heard on CBS with Willard Robison’s orchestra and then on her own 15 minute summer series in 1936, some of which we’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer.
ALBUMS
In 1939, Wiley recorded an album of eight Gershwin songs on 78s with a small group for Liberty Music Shop Records. The set sold well and was followed by albums of 78s dedicated to the music of Cole Porter (1940) and Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart (1940 and 1954), Harold Arlen (1943), and 10″ LPs dedicated to the music of Vincent Youmans and Irving Berlin (1951).
She was a favourite of Eddie Condon and sang on the later episodes of his 1944-45 Blue Network ‘Eddie Condon’s Jazz Concerts’ series which you’ll also hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer.
On October 11, 1963, Bob Hope Theater on NBC-TV presented ‘Something About Lee Wiley’. Piper Laurie portrayed Wiley in the episode. Wiley’s singing voice was provided by Joy Bryan.
MARRIAGE
Wiley married jazz pianist Jess Stacy in 1943. The couple was described by their friend Deane Kincaide as being as “compatible as two cats, tails tied together, hanging over a clothesline”; they divorced in 1948. Her response to Stacy’s desire to get a divorce was, “What will Bing Crosby be thinking of you divorcing me?”, while Stacy said of Wiley, “They did not burn the last witch at Salem.”
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Lee Wiley sings ‘Manhattan’
3 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST
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Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream
Community Radio Network Show CRN #439 |
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107.3 2SER Tuesday 3 November 2020 |
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Set 1
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Women Singers on 1950s Radio | |
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Open + I Woke Up Crying
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Les and Larry Elgart Orchestra (voc) Joni James
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‘Let’s Go To Town’
Radio Transcription 1950s |
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Take Mine
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Betty Madigan
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‘Guest Star’
Radio Transcription 17 Feb 1957 |
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You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To
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Charlie Barnet Orchestra (voc) Lynn Franklyn
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Salt-Air Ballroom
KDYL Salt Lake City 5 Jun 1957 |
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Set 2
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Australian Radio | |
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Over There
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Wally Portingale Orchestra
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‘All In Fun Revue’
2CH AWA Sydney Sep 1943 |
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Swingin’ the Blues
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Wally Portingale Orchestra
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‘The Army on Parade”
2CH AWA Sydney Sep 1943 |
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Here’s Hooey
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Ward Leopold
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Comm Rec
Sydney 1940 |
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Set 3
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Lee Wiley | |
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Three Little Words
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Lee Wiley
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‘Lee Wiley Sings’
WABC CBS NY 12 Aug 1936 |
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Song of the Wanderer
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Eddie Condon Ensemble
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‘Eddie Condon Town Hall Jazz Concert’
WJZ Blue NY 10 Feb 1945 |
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You’re a Sweetheart
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Lee Wiley
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KHJ Mutual LA
10 Mar 1938 |
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Set 4
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Chamber Music | |
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Theme + Overture to the Marriage of Figaro
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Paul Lavalle
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’The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street ’
WJZ NBC Blue NY
8 Sep 1941 |
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Ida
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Diane Courtney
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’The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street ’
WJZ NBC Blue NY
8 Sep 1941 |
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Jazz Me Blues
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George Barnes
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’The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street ’
WJZ NBC Blue NY
8 Sep 1941 |
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Shoo Fly, Don’t Bother Me
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Henry Levine Octet
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’The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street ’
WJZ NBC Blue NY
8 Sep 1941 |
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Set 5
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Movie Music | |
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Double or Nothing Medley
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Louis Levy and the Gaumont British Symphony
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Comm Rec
London 1937 |
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Heigh-Ho
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Bunny Berrigan (voc) Gail Reese
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Paradise Restaurant
WABC CBS NY 10 Apr 1938 |
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Pennies From Heaven
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The Mills Brothers
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‘Norge Program’
Radio Transcription NYC 1937 |
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Swingin’ on a Star
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Louis Armstrong (voc) Louis Armstrong Orchestra
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‘Spotlight Bands’
Tuskagee Airfield Alabama AFRS Re-broadcast 5 Oct 1944 |
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Set 6
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Harry James | |
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Theme + Joe Blow
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Harry James Orchestra
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The Click
WCAU CBS Philadelphia 1943 |
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I Can’t Begin To Tell You
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Harry James Orchestra (voc) Ginny Powell
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Meadowbrook Gardens
Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NY 10 Feb 1946 |
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Forgotton
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Harry James Orchestra
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‘Call for Music’
KFI NBC LA 1948 |
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Two O’Clock Jump
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Harry James Orchestra
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Hotel Astor Roof
WNBC NBC NYC 25 May 1953 |
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Set 7
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Mildred Bailey 1944-45 Radio | |
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Rocking Chair (theme) + Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone
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Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra
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‘Music Till Midnight’
WABC CBS NY 1944 |
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Stormy Weather
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Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra
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‘Music Till Midnight’
WABC CBS NY 24 Nov 1944 |
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From The Land of the Sky Blue Water
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Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra
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‘Music Till Midnight’
WABC CBS NY 1944 |
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Summertime
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Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra
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‘Music Till Midnight’
WABC CBS NY 12 Jan 1945 |
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Set 8
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1940s Progressive Radio | |
| I’d Rather Have a Memory Than a Dream |
Sarah Vaughan
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Comm Rec
25 May 1945 |
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Hurry Home
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Buddy Stewart
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‘Symphony Sid Show’
Royal Roost WMCA NY 5 Mar 1949 |
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Groovin’ The Blues
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Miss Rhapsody (Viola Wells) (voc)
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Comm Rec
NYC 6 Jul 1944 |
Actor - Singer - Voiceover 