2SER Supporter Drive 2018 – Week 1 Phantom Dancer

SUPPORT

This is the first week of the annual 2SER Supporter Drive.

The Phantom Dancer with Greg Poppleton is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week. It’s been on 2SER since 1985, thanks to your financial support in 33 subscriber drives.

And over those years, Greg Poppleton and The Phantom Dancer have inspired musicians, painters, film, TV and theatre creatives.

On-air Tuesdays 12:04-2:00pm AEST (+11 GMT) and online

COMMUNITY

2SER is community radio with a wide range of specialist music, like The Phantom Dancer, plus independent news and current affairs unavailable on any other station.

2SER runs on your financial support. Give any amount you want this year and you’ll be in the running for some great prizes in the daily prize draw.

Standard annual subscriptions are:
$40 concession
$80 standard
$160 passionate
$600 life member

Support 2SER now.
Any money amount enters you into the daily prize draw.

FAVOURITE

Over the next fortnight, I’ll be sharing with you some of my favourite 2ser Phantom Dancer musical moments mixed from shows recorded ten years ago.

I’ve got some of my kids on-air moments to share with you, moments from when they were aged 4 and 6. And I’ve got some of your great listener stories to share with you, too!

Check out more 2SER listener stories on the 2SER home page, or read quotes from our listeners on this page.

You can hear lots of past Phantom Dancers, too, at 2ser.com.

LOVE

At 2SER, we’re really lucky to air such a wide range of specialist music shows, in depth news programs, and plenty of local and alternative stories from our community every day.

Listeners like yourself truly shape that content, sending us comments, letting us know about your events and businesses, and giving us all feedback too. And of course, being able to send all this into your earlobes wouldn’t be possible without your support!

STORIES

“I love your radio show! ” Harri
“Will keep listening for sure. I really love your show” Michelle, Melbourne
“Love your program. We tape it each week” Trish
“Your program is wonderful,” Tim
“Loving it! ” Nathan
“Knocked out by your show. We’ll be regular listeners from now on” Trevor & Betty
“Your show rocks!” Sonja
“Love your show” Tara

GIVE

Support 2SER now
You can also call in your support 61 2 9514 9500

VIDEO

Inside the Phantom Dancer 2SER study filmed just last month…

16 OCTOBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #337
107.3 2SER Tuesday 16 October 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 24 other stations.
Set 1	Subscribe to 2SER Call 9514 9500
Swing That Music	Louis Armstrong (voc) Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Comm Rec Los Angeles Aug 1936
You Old Son of a Gun	Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Stars for Defense’ Radio Transcription Nov 1959
Sherlock Holmes & Wine Ad	Nigel Bruce	‘Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ KHJ Mutual LA Sep 1945
Wabash Blues	Jerry Thomas Quintet	Comm Rec Zurich, Switzerland 1942
Set 2	Subscribe to 2SER Call 9514 95000
Open + Bridegroom Special	Yiddish Swing Orchestra	‘Yiddish Melodies in Swing’ WHN NY 1940
China Boy	Sidney Bechet (sop sax)	‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue Network NYC Feb 1945
Stage Coach	Wally Portingale Orchestra	‘Army on Parade’ 2CH AWA Sydney Oct 1943
That’s Love	Phil Harris Orchestra (voc) The Three Ambassadors	‘Cocoanut Grove’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1933
Set 3	Subscribe to 2SER Call 9514 9500
Unidentified	Jan Garber Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca AFRS Re-broadcast Mar 1945
Easter Parade	Martha Mears	’10-2-4 Time’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles Mar 1948
Don’t Blame Me	Dinah Shore	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City Dec 1948
Set 4	Subscribe to 2SER Call 9514 9500
Isn’t It Romantic?	Chet Baker Quartet	Storyville Copley Square Hotel WHDH Boston 16 Mar 1954
Good Evening (theme) + April Showers	Del Courtney Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Rose Room Palace Hotel San Francisco AFRS Re-broadcast 7 Jan 1948
Drifting and Dreaming (theme) + Cheek to Cheek	Orrin Tucker Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Cocoanut Grove Wiltshire Centre Los Angeles AFRS Re-broadcast 1955
Pretending + Hold My Hand + Theme	Griff Williams Orchestra	Empire Room Palmer House WGN Chicago 5 Mar 1947
Set 5	Subscribe to 2SER Call 9514 9500
Love, Nuts and Noodles	Phil Harris Orchestra (voc) Jack Smith	‘Cocoanut Grove’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1933
I’d Rather Lead A Band + Farewell Blues + Theme	Bob Crosby Orchestra (voc) Bob Crosby and The Four Freshman	‘Ford V-8 Revue’ Radio Transcription 1936
Arabian Lover	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Comm Rec New York City 3 May 1929
These Foolish Things	Count Basie Nonet	Boston 7 Sep 1954
Set 6	Subscribe to 2SER Call 9514 9500
Levee Blues	Jimmy Dorsey’s Dorseyland Band (voc) Charlie Teagarden	Radio Transcription Hollywood 1950
Till The End of Time	Woody Herman Orchestra (voc) Frances Wayne	‘Woody Herman Show’ ABC 1 Dec 1946
Margie	Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights	‘Trianon Time’ Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca KECA ABC LA 1945
I’ve Got Five Dollars (theme) + Ooh! That Kiss!	Freddy Rich Orchestra	‘Friendly Five Footnotes’ Radio Transcription 1932
You Can’t Have Your Cake And Eat It	Harry James Orchestra	Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca KECA ABC LA Dec 1945
Section A + Theme	Raymond Scott Orchestra	‘Raymond Scott Show’ AFRS Re-broadcast
Set 7	Subscribe to 2SER Call 9514 9500
When My Dreamboat Comes Home	Jimmy Rushing (voc) Count Basie Orchestra	Aircheck Savoy Ballroom New York City 30 Jun 1937
The Glider	Artie Shaw Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Santa Barbara Ca 10 Oct 1945
Artistry in Rhythm (theme) + Eager Beaver	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 28 Nov 1944
Savoy Blues	George Lewis	‘Dixieland Jamboree’ WDSU ABC New Orleans 7 Oct 1950
Get Out Of Town	Leah Matthews (voc) Woody Herman’s Third Herd	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Peony Park WOW NBC Omaha 1954
Tangerine	Helen O’Connell and Bob Eberle (voc) Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Aircheck
Chicago	Benny Goodman	NBC TV 1967

Cool June Christy – Phantom Dancer Radio Show 11 Sep 2018

June Christy started singing professionally at 13. In the 1950s, her album ‘Something Cool’, which she re-recorded three times, launched the ‘cool’ vocal genre in jazz. She is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist.

THE PHANTOM DANCER

Swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio in a non-stop mix by Greg Poppleton.

Mixed live-to-air on radio 2SER 107.3 Sydney since 1985.

The Phantom Dancer is re-broadcast on 22 radio stations of the Community Radio Network and online at 2ser.com. That’s where you can hear lots of past Phantom Dancers, too.

IN THIS WEEK’S PHANTOM DANCER MIX?

The June Christy feature and a whole mix of swing and jazz from live 1930s-50s radio. Read the full play list below.

The last hour of the mix is ALL VINYL.

JUNE CHRISTY

was the stage name of cool jazz singer, June Christy. She was described in a 1998 New Statesman article as “one of the finest and most neglected singers of her time.”

THIRTEEN

Her professional singing career began at age 13, singing in the Decatur, Illinois based Bill Oetzel Society Orchestra at thirteen. After high school, changing her name to Sharon Leslie she sang with various bands including a group led by A-list band leader Boyd Raeburn.

FORTY-FIVE

Her big break came in 1945. She’d heard Stan Kenton was auditioning for a female singer to replace Anita O’Day. She won the audition.

Changing her name to June Christy, she sung on Kenton’s biggest selling and million selling record, his 1945 hit Tampico which we’ll hear live from ’45 on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

When Kenton broke up his band in 1948, June spent two years as a solo in nightclubs before joining the new Stan Kenton Orchestra in 1950.

FORTY-SEVEN

She had also, from 1947, started to work on her own records

She released her ‘Something Cool’ album in 1954. In the orchestra for the album was her multi-instrumentalist husband, Bob Cooper. The album was a Top 20 hit and was important in launching the vocal cool movement of the 1950s.

The New York Times quoted Christy as saying that ‘Somethng Cool’ was “the only thing I’ve recorded that I’m not unhappy with.”

She released a second edition of the album in 1955 with extra tracks.

SIXTY

Christy re-recorded ‘Something Cool’ in 1960 in stereo and with a slightly different musical line-up.

TV showcased Christy’s talents in the 1940s-50s-60s.

We’ll hear two of her TV performances on this week’s Phantom Dancer. The first is from a 1949 ‘Eddie Condon’s Floorshow’ telecast. The second is from the first sponsored jazz concert on television, The Timex All-Star Jazz Show, in 1957.

She toured Australia in the 1950s.

SEVENTY

Alcoholism reduced the number of performances she gave post-1969. Notable was her appearance with the Kenton orchestra at the 1972 Newport Jazz Festival with which she also recorded again in 1977.

EIGHTY

She continued to sing at festivals in the 1980s, making her final appearance sharing the stage with Chet Baker in 1988.

“Christy’s wholesome but particularly sensuous voice is less an improviser’s vehicle than an instrument for long, controlled lines and the shading of a fine vibrato. Her greatest moments—the heartbreaking ‘Something Cool’ itself, ‘Midnight Sun,’ ‘I Should Care’—are as close to creating definitive interpretations as any singer can come.”- The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

June Christy singing with Stan Kenton’s Orchestra in a 1945 soundie

11 SEPTEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #331
107.3 2SER Tuesday 11 September 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1	Swing Bands on 1940s Radio
Dipsy Doodle (theme) + Study in Brown	Larry Clinton Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ AFRS Re-Broadcast 18 Dec 1948
Paxtonia	George Paxton Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania NY AFRS Re-Broadcast 19 Jul 1945
Don’t Take Your Love From Me + Beautiful Love + Vieni Su (theme)	Carl Ravazza Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Blackhawk Restaurant Chicago AFRS Re-Broadcast 6 Aug 1944
Set 2	Glenn Miller 1940-41 Radio
Moonlight Serenade (theme) + I’m in a Sentimental Mood	Glenn Miller Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ NBC Blue NY 22 Nov 1941
Limehouse Blues	Glenn Miller Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ NBC Blue NY 23 Nov 1940
I Dreamt I Dwelt in Harlem + Slumber Song (theme)	Glenn Miller Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania Dec 1940
Set 3	Bing Crosby 1933-34 Radio
Black Moonlight	Bing Crosby	Comm Rec Los Angeles 27 Aug 1933
Love in Bloom	Bing Crosby	‘Woodbury Show’ KNX CBS LA 17 Sep 1934
Ad + The Very Thought of You	Bing Crosby	‘Woodbury Show’ KNX CBS LA 18 Sep 1934
Set 4	Latin-American Band Leaders on U.S Radio
Theme + I Concentrate on You	Chuck Cabot Orchestra	Empire Room Rice Hotel KTRH CBS Houston Apr 1953
Theme + I’m Walkin’	Charlie Richards Orchestra	‘ABC Dancing Party’ Birdland WABC ABC NY 1958
Bugle Call Rag + Close	Vincent Lopez Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Grill Room Hotel Taft NY AFRS Re-Broadcast 1959
Set 5	1937-38 Camel Caravan Radio
Two Buck Stew	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS New York 9 Nov 1938
Satan Takes A Holiday	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ KNX CBS LA 17 Aug 1937
If It’s The Last Thing I Do	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Martha Tilton	‘Camel Caravan’ KNX CBS LA 16 Nov 1937
Sing, Sing, Sing (Part 2)	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ KNX CBS LA 10 Aug 1937
Set 6	ABC Radio Rock’n’Roll Dance Party
See Saw	The Moonglows with Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Orchestra	Rock’n’Roll Dance Party WCBS CBS NY 1957
Mr Sandman	The Chordettes with Count Basie Orchestra	Rock’n’Roll Dance Party WCBS CBS NY 1956
Eddie, My Love	The Chordettes with Count Basie Orchestra	Rock’n’Roll Dance Party WCBS CBS NY 1956
You Mean Everything to Me	Ivory Joe Hunter with Count Basie Orchestra	Rock’n’Roll Dance Party WCBS CBS NY 1957
Set 7	June Christy on 1940s-50s Radio and TV
Tampico	June Christy (voc) Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘New Year Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945
I Want To Be Happy	June Christy (voc) Woody Herman Orchestra	‘Timex All-Star Jazz Show’ WNBT NBC TV NY 30 Dec 1957
I Don’t Want To Be Loved	June Christy (voc) Stan Kenton Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 27 Nov 1945
Look At Me Now	June Christy	Eddie Condon’s Floorshow’ WNBT NBC TV NY 23 May 1949
Set 8	1960s Jazz
Chicago	Benny Goodman Quartet	WNBC NBC TV NY 21 Aug 1967
Dark Eyes + Have I Told You Lately	Gene Krupa Quartet (voc) Tony Bennet	‘Guard Session’ Radio Transcription 1963
Satin Doll + Night Train	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRS Re-Broadcast Jul 1964

Shep Fields Rippling Rhythm – Phantom Dancer Swing Radio Mix 14 Aug 2018

Keys to success in popular music include a compelling back story that informs the music preferably with a rags to riches theme, a catchy name and/or a gimmick.

Shep Fields found fame almost as soon as he found the latter. And changing his name from Saul Feldman to the catchier Shep Fields also would have helped.

Shep Field is the feature artist on today’s Phantom Dancer. He was so popular and internationally famous even the Australian swing band of Wally Portingale included him in a song for their ‘All In Fun Revue’.

WHAT’S THE PHANTOM DANCER?

Excellent question young Harry. It’s your non-stop mixtape of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio. And it’s been live-to-air on 107.3 2SER Sydney, Tuesdays 12:04 – 2pm, since 1985.

The Phantom Dancer is then re-broadcast on 22 radio stations of the Community Radio Network and online.

In fact, you’ll be able to hear this week’s Phantom Dancer on 2ser.com online after the show. And there’s a stack of past Phantom Dancer swing jazz mix tapes for you to enjoy there as well.

THIS WEEK’S PHANTOM DANCER MIX

– has a set of ‘Women in Jazz’ introduced by jazz writer Leonard Feather for the Voice of America in 1951, we go free form with John Coltrane over WCBS-FM in 1965 and there’s the Shep Fields feature.

See the full play list below….

SHEP FIELDS

was a Swing Era U.S musician and band leader. He found fame by incorporating a simple idea into his music.

This week’s Phantom Dancer video, below, is a 1930s dramatisation of the eureka moment the idea struck. But here’s how the story goes for those of you not into film.

UP THE LADDER

Shep played clarinet and tenor saxophone in bands while at university. He played in a band at the prestigious Roseland Ballroom in 1931. In 1933 he was leading a band in that great proving ground for New York musicians and comedians in the 1930s and 1940s – the Borscht Belt. Next year he replaced the Jack Denny Orchestra in a residency at Hotel Pierre in New York City. He left that gig to back the dancers Veloz and Yolanda on a tour. 1936 found him in Chicago, with a contract to play at the Palmer House with radio broadcasts from that same spot included.

EUREKA!

Now he had come this far, the question was, how could he distinguish himself sufficiently from all the other dance band on the air and on stage to move to the next level of ‘name band’.

The inspiration came when he and his wife were sitting in a milk bar. Mrs Fields was blowing bubbles into her soft drink through a straw.

Eureka! Shep decided there and then that bubbling sound was what would introduce his band over the air. This moment was dramatised in a short film for cinema release in the late 1930s.

A BRAND IS BORN

Fields staged a contest amongst his fans in Chicago to suggest a new name for his band with the new sound.

The word ‘rippling’ came up in a number of entries. Fields himself came up with ‘Rippling Rhythm.’ And so a brand was born.

IDENTITY

That same year, 1936, with brand in place and signature sound, Shep Fields landed a record deal with the popular Bluebird label. His hits for this famous jazz record company included ‘Cathedral in the Pines’, ‘Did I Remember?’ and ‘Thanks for the Memory’.

In 1937 Fields had his own radio show, ‘The Rippling Rhythm Revue’ with comedian Bob Hope, whose theme song was ‘Thanks for the Memory’ as announcer.

In 1938, Fields and Hope were featured together in the comedian’s first feature movie, The Big Broadcast of 1938.

Today’s Phantom Dancer will feature 1930s radio transcriptions of Shep Field’s Rippling Rhythm Orchestra in the final vinyl hour. In a 1940 radio transcription you’ll hear singer Hal Derwin who later became a band leader in his own right.

ALL REEDS

Shep Fields dropped his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra in 1941 for a bold experiment, an all-reeds orchestra with rhythm section and no brass called Shep Fields and His New Music.

We’ll hear his New Music in a radio transcription from 1942.

Though the critics liked it, the public wanted Rippling Rhythm.

And with the popularity of the big bands declining after World War Two, Fields bowed to the public pressure of declining New Music ticket sales. In 1947 he re-launched his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra.

He had already brought his own venue to guarentee bookings and radio airtime, the prestigious Glen Island casino in New Rochelle, New York, which is where the opening track in this week’s Shep Field set originates.

The Rippling Rhythm Orchestra lasted until 1963. That year, Shep Fields quit band leading to be a radio disc jockey in Houston. When that ended, he worked at Creative Management Associates with his brother Freddie Fields in Los Angeles.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

It’s Shep Fields and his New Music with the ‘soundie’ The Whistler’s Mother-in-Law. Happy viewing!

31 JULY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #327
107.3 2SER Tuesday 14 August 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1	1944 Swing Bands
It’s Mellow	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Tune Town Ballroom AFRS Re-broadcast St Louis 5 Apr 1944
Swinging on a Star	Bob Chester Orchestra (voc) Betty Bradley and David Allyn	‘One Night Stand’ Panther Room Hotel Sherman, Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 8 Oct 1944
When I Get It + Blue Lou	Harry James Orchestra lead by Tommy Dorsey	Casino Garden Ocean Park Ca KECA ABC LA 12 Aug 1944
Set 2	Coltrane
My Favourite Things	John Coltrane	Half Note Club WCBS-FM CBS NY 26 Mar 1965
Set 3	Famous Singers
Eleg Volt Nekem Magabol (I’ve Had Enough of You)	Karady Katalin	Comm Rec Budapest 1943
Song of the Wanderer	Helen Humes (voc) Count Basie Orchestra	Aircheck 1939
Taking a Chance on Love	Ethel Waters	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 17 Jul 1945
Set 4	Women in Jazz 1951
Boogie Mysterioso	Mary Lou Williams with Mary Osbourne (elec g)	‘Jazz Club USA’ Voice of America New York City 1951
Mary’s Guitar Boogie	Mary Osbourne	‘Jazz Club USA’ Voice of America New York City 1951
Low Ceiling	Beryl Booker with Mary Osbourne (elec g)	‘Jazz Club USA’ Voice of America New York City 1951
Set 5	Shep Fields Feature
Rippling Rhythm (theme) + My Future Just Passed	Shep Fields Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Toni Arden	Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY Aircheck 1947
Heavenly, Isn’t It?	Shep Fields and his New Music	Radio Transcription New York City 1943
One Never One, Does One?	Shep Fields Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Robert Goday	Radio Transcription New York City 1937
Let There Be Love	Shep Fields Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Hal Derwin	Radio Transcription New York City 1940
Set 6	Sweet Bands on 1960s Radio
Open	Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians	New York World’s Fair WCBS CBS NY 1964
Auld Lang Syne + Let’s Do It Again	Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians	Grill Room Hotel Taft WNBC NBC NY 1 Jan 1970
Blue, Blue My Heart Is Blue	Russ Morgan Orchestra	Top of the Strip Dunes Hotel KLAV Las Vegas NV 19 Jul 1969
Medley	Jan Garber Orchestra	Lady Luck Lounge Desert Inn KLAC Las Vegas NV 4 Jul 1965
Set 7	Ray Noble’s American Orchestra
The Very Thought of You (theme) + Flowers for Madame	Ray Noble’s American Orchestra	‘Coty Hour’ Radio City WEAF NBC Red NY 13 Mar 1935
Irving Berlin Songs	Ray Noble’s American Orchestra	‘The Magic Key of RCA’ Radio City WEAF NBC Red NY 9 Feb 1936
Set 8	New Jazz on 1949 – 51 Radio
Perdido + Tiny’s Blues	Terry Gibbs All-Stars	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 1951
Move	Stan Getz	‘Modern Jazz Concert’ Carnegie Hall NY Voice of America 25 Dec 1949

You’re Never Too Old! Anita O’Day – Phantom Dancer 10 July 2018 Radio Mix

Anita O’Day is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. 

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV.

Greg Poppleton, 1920s-30s singer, brings you The Phantom Dancer every week.

It’s live every Tuesday on 107.3 2SER Sydney from 12:04-2pm, during which time it’s recorded for re-broadcast over 23 radio stations and online.

You can hear all Phantom Dancer episodes online now at 2ser.com.

THIS WEEK

The Phantom Dancer with Greg Poppleton has a set of John Coltrane for you, a set of Stan Kenton 1940s radio transcriptions, a set of ‘Dixieland Swing’ from live 1930s radio, and this week’s Phantom Dancer feature, Anita O’Day, from 1944-1960 radio and TV.

See the full play list below…

FEATURED ARTIST – ANITA O’DAY

Anita O’Day left an unhappy childhood to dance in danceathons where she’d sometime sing for tips. She said her influences were Martha Raye, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.

A botched tonsilectomy as a child during which her uvula was removed meant she couldn’t hold long notes. So she developed a rhythmic, staccato approach to singing that was perfect for uptempo swing songs.

A call from Gene Krupa to join his band in 1941 was her entre to popularity. She was with Krupa for a year. Sick of the travel and one night stands she left the band to strike out on her own. She returned to Krupa in 1945 then joined the Stan Kenton Orchestra.

TABBY THE CAT

In the Stan Kenton band she had her two big hits. We’ll hear these on today’s Phantom Dancer as radio transcriptrions, ‘Tabby The Cat’ and ‘I’m Going Mad For A Pad’.

These two hits cemented her repuation as a unique jazz singer with a swingingly rhythmic style.

Her jazz reputation grew in the 1950s with albums and festivals. She appeared on TV on one of the Timex Jazz Specials heard on previous Phantom Dancers.

RONALD REAGAN

In 1960 she was introduced by Ronald Reagan opening a ‘Ford Star Time’ TV show backed by Gene Krupa. We’ll hear this appearance on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

Anita O’Day had a hiatus during the ’60s resuming her career to critical acclaim in 1970. She appeared in movies and on TV and was still performing into the 21st century.

Her final album, released when she was in her eighties, was the aptly named ‘Indestructible’.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Hear Anita O’Day at the height of her powers in this week’s Phantom Dancer feature video with Gene Krupa and Roy Eldridge:

10 JULY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #322
107.3 2SER Tuesday 10 July 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1	Women Band Sings on 1945-47 Radio
The Best Man	Charlie Barnet Orchestra (voc) Betty Perry	‘One Night Stand’ Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jan 1947
Snap Your Fingers	Buddy Morrow Orchestra (voc) Helen Leigh	‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 12 May 1946
I’m Not Having It	Woody Herman Orchestra (voc) Frances Wayne	‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 1946
Set 2	John Coltrane on Radio
Open + Song of Praise	John Coltrane Quartet	‘Portraits in Jazz’ Half Note WABC-FM NY 7 May 1965
Set 3	1930s European Dance Bands
Pot Pourri aus dem Film ‘Frauen im Metropol’	Adolf Steimel Organum Tanz-Orchester	Comm Rec Berlin 5 Sep 1940
Flat Foot Floogie	Teddy Stauffer Orchestra (voc) Billy Toffel	Comm Rec Berlin 24 Nov 1938
Vous Avez un Beau Chapeau, Madame	Ernst van’t Hoff Orchestra (voc) Band	Comm Rec Hilversum 1939
Set 4	Stan Kenton Radio Transcriptions
Memphis Lament	Stan Kenton Orchestra (voc) Red Dorris	Radio Transcription Los Angeles Oct 1941
Flamingo	Stan Kenton Orchestra (voc) Red Dorris	Radio Transcription Los Angeles Oct 1941
Night	Stan Kenton Orchestra (voc) Red Dorris	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 20 Sep 1941
Set 5	Anita O’Day
Open + Drum Boogie	Anita O’Day (voc) Gene Krupa Orchestra	‘Ford Star Time’ CBS TV 9 Feb 1960
Tabby The Cat	Anita O’Day (voc) Stan Kenton Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles Dec 1944
Open + I’d Do It All Over Again	Anita O’Day (voc) Gene Krupa Orchestra	Hotel Astor Roof WOR Mutual NYC 15 Aug 1945
I’m Going Mad For A Pad	Anita O’Day (voc) Stan Kenton Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles Dec 1945
Set 6	1930s Dixieland Swing
Will You Won’t You Be My Baby	Louis Armstrong	Comm Rec Paris Oct 1934
Intro + In A Minor Mood + Dogtown Blues	Bob Crosby Bobcats	‘Swing Concert’ Congress Hotel WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 18 May 1937
Honeysuckle Rose + Basin Street Blues (close)	Bunny Berrigan	Aircheck New York City 12 Mar 1936
Set 7	Count Basie Blue Room 1944-45
Harvard Blues	Count Basie Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WABC CBS NY 27 May 1944
Bangs	Count Basie Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WABC CBS NY 14 Apr 1944
Jumpin’ At The Woodside	Count Basie Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WABC CBS NY 5 May 1944
Avenue C	Count Basie Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WABC CBS NY 31 Jan 1945
Set 8	Charlie Parker
Dark Shadows	Charlie Parker as, Errol Garner piano, Red Callender bass, Doc West drums voc Earl Coleman	Comm Rec Los Angeles 19 Feb 1947
Moose The Mooch + Lullaby of Birdland	Charlie Parker as, John Lewis piano, Curley Russell bass, Kenny Clarke drums	Birdland WABC ABC NY 9 May 1953
Hot House	Charlie Parker as, Miles Davis tp, Al Haig piano, Tommy Potter bass, Al Haig drums	‘Art Ford Show’ Birdland WMCA NY 12 Dec 1948

8 May 2018 Phantom Dancer – He Knew He Wanted To Be A Professional Musician By Age 16

Tenor sax man Charlie Barnet knew what he wanted from a very early age. In fact, he was playing professionally by the age of 16. Then at 18 he went to New York to talk the CBS Artist Bureau into booking him as an orchestra leader. We hear some of this determined teenager’s orchestras from 1930s-40s airchecks on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

The Phantom Dancer is produced and presented every Tuesday by authentic 1920s-30s-style singer and actor, Greg Poppleton .

It’s your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV. On air since 1985!

The Phantom Dancer is recorded live-to-air at 107.3 2SER Sydney, Tuesdays 12:04 – 2pm. It’s re-broadcast on 22 radio stations of the Community Radio Network and online.

Online, this week’s Phantom Dancer will be available for your listening pleasure after the 2SER broadcast, Tuesday 8 May. Go to 2ser.com to listen.

You’ll also find plenty of past Phantom Dancers to enjoy online, too.

THIS WEEK’S PHANTOM DANCER MIX

– includes two Australian dance bands – Jim Davidson and his New Palais Royal Orchestra and Frank Coughlan’s Trocadero Orchestra .There are also sets by Lee Konitz in 1954 from WHDH Boston, live jazz from 1962 radio on WNEW NY and WBBM Chicago, a set of trad from WMGM New York’s 1950-51 ‘Doctor Jazz’ series (after being asked for a version of Doctor Jazz during last week’s show) and, of course, the Charle Barnet set. See the full play list below.

CHARLIE BARNET

Born Charles Daly Barnet, Charlie Barnet was a U.S orchestra leader, sax player and composer. Important to his overall ‘fun’ band leading attitude was that he was a person of means. He was heir to his grandfather’s fortune, the New York Central Railway vice-president and banker, Charles Frederick Daly. His family wanted him to be a lawyer. He chose music.

Barnet had worked for one of the many franchise bands of the Jean Goldkette Orchestra, on of the most famous U.S bands of the late 1920s by the age of 16. He then left for New York to play tenor sax in Frank Winegar’s Pennsylvania Boys before trying his luck as an extra in Hollywood films.

Late in 1932 at the age of 18 he returned to New York City and talked a contact at the CBS artist’s bureau to book him as an orchestra leader.

INFATUATION

His 1930s orchestras were numerous and short-lived. But they were also musically interesting as you can hear in the 1934 recording below, ‘Infatuation’, which is your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week.

Barnet got his first recording contract in 1933 during an engagement at New York’s Park Central Hotel.

He was always into ‘hot music’ and he was an early adapter of Swing.

RAN OUT OF TOWN

While playing swing at New Orlean’s Roosevelt Hotel in 1935, he earned the ire of conservative governor Huey Long who hated the new sound. Long set up a sting, luring the band to a brothel then having it raided so the band could be ‘run out of town’.

Barnet got a number of his now unemployed band members into Joe Haymes Orchestra (soon to be taken over by Tommy Dorsey) and then headed off for a jaunt in Havana escorting a well off, older woman.

His 1936 orchestra included the new vocal harmony quartet, ‘The Modernaires’ though that band soon shut up shop, too. ‘The Modernaires’ were later and famously associated with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. At this time, Charlie Barnet was one of the first to integrate his band.

He was a big fan of Duke Ellington and Count Basie. He championed Duke Ellington tunes in his orchestra and Ellington recorded Barnet’s ‘In A Mizz’.

GO TO BLAZES

When Charlie Barnet lost all his band charts in the 1938 Los Angeles Palomar Ballroom fire, Count Basie lent him charts.

His 1939 band was catapaulted into the big time with the release of his recording of the Ray Noble song (from his Indian Suite), Cherokee.

He had a second big hit on 1944 with ‘Skyliner’. ‘Skyliner’ was used as the theme music for the late 1940s US Armed Forces Network program ‘Midnight In Munich’ broadcast from AFN Munich.

Other major recordings include ‘Scotch and Soda’, ‘In a Mizz’, ‘The Right Idea’, ‘The Wrong Idea’ and Southland Shuffle’.

STARS

Barnet switched from Swing to Bop in 1947. Barnet’s swing band included such names as Buddy DeFranco, Roy Eldridge, Billy May, Neal Hefti, Lena Horne, Barney Kessel, Dodo Marmorosa and Oscar Pettiford.

His later bands had Maynard Ferguson, Doc Severinsen and Clark Terry.

He ‘retired’ in 1949, claiming to have lost interest in music, though he continued to lead an orchestra and was broadcast on radio into the 1960s.

Charlie Barnet was married 11 times. His last marriage lasted 33 years.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

As your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week, an early Charlie Barney record from his short-lived 1934 band, the weird ‘Infatuation’

8 MAY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #316 107.3 2SER Tuesday 8 May 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 22 other stations. Set 1 Swing Bands on ‘One Night Stand’ Theme + Murder at Peyton Hall Charlie Barnet Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jan 1947 Tea For Two (voc) Carolyn Gray Gene Krupa Orchestra (voc) Carolyn Gray ‘One Night Stand’ Meadowbrook Gardens Culver City Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 31 Mar 1946 9:20 Special + Minnie the Moocher (theme) Cab Calloway Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ New Zanzibar NYC AFRS Re-broadcast Jul 1945 Set 2 Jazz on Live 1962 Radio Algiers Bounce + Lady Be Good Henry ‘Red’ Allen London House WBBM CBS Chicago 30 Mar 1962 Cuckoo + Two O’Clock Jump Harry James Orchestra Moon Bowl Freedomland WNEW NY Mar 1962 The Price Is Right Henry ‘Red’ Allen London House WBBM CBS Chicago 30 Mar 1962 Set 3 1937 Theme + Hey, Hey Your Cares Away Kay Kyser Orchestra (voc) Sully Mason Trianon Ballroom MBS Chicago 25 Mar 1937 Jamboree Frank Coughlan Trocadero Orchestra (voc) Frank Coughlan Featuradio Transcription Sydney June 1937 Time Out For Love Joe Sanders Orchestra (voc) Joe Sanders Blackhawk Restaurant MBS Chicago 25 Mar 1937 Set 4 Doctor Jazz Struttin’ With Some Barbeque Hot Lips Page ‘Doctor Jazz’ Stuyvesant Casino WMGM NY 1951 Sheik of Araby Eddie Condon Group ‘Doctor Jazz’ Eddie Condon’s WMGM NY 1951 Ride, Red, Ride Red Allen ‘Dixielanders’ ‘Doctor Jazz’ Stuyvesant Casino WMGM NY 1951 Set 5 1940 Mickey Mouse Band Radio Transcriptions Let There Be Love Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Hal Derwin Radio Transcription New York City 1940 These Things You Left Me Chuck Foster Orchestra (voc) Dorothy Brandon Radio Transcription Hollywood 1940 At Long Last Love Blue Barron Orchestra (voc) Charlie Fisher Radio Transcription New York City 1940 Pinch Me Sterling Young Orchestra (voc) Bobbie Ennis Radio Transcription Hollywood 1940 Set 6 Charlie Barnet Orchestra Ya Got Me Charlie Barnet Orchestra Comm Rec New York City oct 1938 Theme + Back In Your Own Backyard Charlie Barnet Orchestra ‘Spotlight Bands’ Fort Devon Mass Mutual Network 15 Oct 1945 The Victory Walk Charlie Barnet Orchestra Aircheck New York City 1942 In There Charlie Barnet Orchestra ‘Downbeat’ AFRS Hollywood Feb 1944 Set 7 Early 1930s dance Bands Forty-Second Street Jim Davidson New Palais Orchestra Comm Rec Sydney 6 Jun 1933 Theme + is That Religion? Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (voc) Bob Crosby Riviera Fort Lee NJ WEAF NBC Red NY 20 Sep 1934 Dancing With Tears In My Eyes Ruth Etting (voc) Ben Selvin Orchestra ‘Columbia Tele-Focal Show’ Radio Transcription New York City 1930 Somebody Loves You + Close Ben Selvin Orchestra ‘Davis Musical Moments Show’ Radio Transcription New York City 1932 Set 8 Lee Konitz 1954 Radio Open + Hi Beck Lee Konitz Storyville Copley Square Hotel WHDH Boston 5 Jan 1954 Subconscious Lee Lee Konitz Storyville Copley Square Hotel WHDH Boston 5 Jan 1954

24 April 2018 Phantom Dancer – Bea Wain First To Record ‘Over The Rainbow’

You’ll hear some very loving and touching words on today’s Phantom Dancer.

The Phantom Dancer, presented every week by actor, Greg Poppleton, Australia’s only authentic 1920s-30s singer goes live from 107.3 2SER Sydney every Tuesday after the noon news.

It’s your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV sent to 22 radio stations of the Community Radio Network and online.

Hear this week’s Phantom Dancer (after 24 April), and past Phantom Dancers, online at radio 2ser.com

In the mix this week, live 1930s-60s radio by Bob Crosby, Sammy Kaye, Al Trace, Larry Clinton and Bea Wain. See the full play list below.

THOSE TOUCHING WORDS?

“Beautiful, Bea Wain, beautiful.”

Who’s Bea Wain? She’s one of the greatest singers of the Swing Era and my absolute favourite.

Who said those words? You’ll hear them on today’s Phantom Dancer in the Bea Wain set, incidentally.

It was Andre Baruch, award-winning network radio announcer, who said them spontaneously as the announcer for the 1939 ‘Your Hit Parade’ after Bea Wain sang, ‘O, You Crazy Moon’.

They were married in 1938 and remained together until his death 53 years later. Bea Wain died last August aged 100.

THE UNSUNG SINGING GREAT

Bea Wain began singing on local radio at age six. She lived in the Bronx. Her accent disappeared when she sang. She had four No. 1 hits. And she never had a singing lesson.

She also had her name shortened from Beatrice to Bea by some unknown radio exec, to save space on record labels.

Quoting from her New York Times obituary,
“I never wanted anybody to teach me how to sing,” she said in an interview with Sara Fishko for the New York public radio station WNYC in 2013. “I had piano, elocution and dancing lessons, but never singing lessons.”

And she went on to sing professionally past the age of 90.

THE BIG BREAK

Was a big band arranger and in 1938 was forming a swing band with big RCA – NBC promotion. You’ll hear the band broadcasting ‘The RCA Campus Club’ from the Glen island Casino on today’s Phantom Dancer. The singer he hired to front this important band was Bea Wain.

How’d he find her.

She was in the chorus for the Kate Smith Radio Show. She stepped forward for an eight bar solo. That was enough for Clinton. She was hired. Again quoting from her NYT obit:

“The impeccable Wain never fails to captivate us as Clinton’s brassmen play natty little curlicues around her,” Will Friedwald wrote in his book “Jazz Singing: America’s Great Voices From Bessie Smith to Bebop and Beyond” (1990).

OVER THE RAINBOW

In 1939 Billboard magazine’s college poll voted her the most popular female vocalist. Ella Fitzgerald was second.

In 1938 she was the first to record ‘Over The Rainbow’ from the film, ‘The Wizard of Oz’. MGM, which owned the rights, stopped the record from being issued until after the film, and Judy Garland’s version (who sang it in the movie) was released.

Wain’s ‘Over The Rainbow’ is the Phantom Dancer Video of the Week. It’s interesting to hear the first-ever version, totally untouched by Garland’s version.

Wain said in a 1988 interview, that when Helen O’Connell, a fellow big band singer, was asked how it felt to be a part of music history, she replied, “If I knew it was history, we would have paid more attention.”

HIT RECORDS

In a short recording career of just a few years (she got tired of touring and the poor recording fees and rarely made records after 18 months with the Clinton band), Bea Wain had four hit records, all with Larry Clinton’s Orchestra .
1. Heart and Soul, which she introduced in the short ‘A Song is Born’ announced by Andre Baruch
2. Deep Purple
3. Cry, Baby, Cry
4. My Reverie, an up-tempo version of the Debussy piano piece ‘Reverie’ with lyrics by Larry Clinton.

‘My Reverie’ became Bea Wain’s theme song but, quoting from her New York Times obituary, “it was almost scrapped when Debussy’s heirs learned, to their horror, that the music had been adapted for a pop audience with a brisk tempo and lyrics.

But when Larry Clinton sent them his recording, Wain recalled, they replied, “If this girl sings it, O.K”

MR AND MRS MUSIC

After the World War Two, during which Bea Wain sung in Army Camps and her husband, Andre Baruch served overseas, the couple became ‘Mr and Mrs Music,’ a daily program on WMCA, New York, on which they doubled as disc jockeys and interviewers.

 

They continued on radio when they moved to Palm Springs in 1973 and retired from being DJs in 1980.

After that, Bea Wain sang on TV and in clubs, (there’s a 1983 TV medley of her 1938-39 hits on YouTube).

Quoting from the Wiki article on Wain, she told Christopher Popa in a 2004 interview, “Actually, I’ve had a wonderful life, a wonderful career. And I’m still singing, and I’m still singing pretty good. This past December, I did a series of shows in Palm Springs, California, and the review said, “Bea Wain is still a giant.” It’s something called Musical Chairs. I did six shows in six different venues, and I was a smash. And I really got a kick out of it.”

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week the first recording of ‘Over The Rainbow’ sung by Bea Wain in 1938 but not released until after the ‘Wizard of Oz’ (in which the song features) came out in 1939. Enjoy this original take wholly uninfluenced by Judy Garland…

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #313 107.3 2SER Tuesday 24 April 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 22 other stations. Set 1 Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye Theme + Elmers Tune Sammy Kaye Orchestra (voc) The Three Kaydettes ‘Spotlight Bands’ Washington DC Blue Network 31 Jan 1942 Ad + It’s a Great Feeling Sammy Kaye Orchestra (voc) The Kaydettes ‘Sammy Kaye Showreel’ Radio Transcription 1949 Medley: How Deep is the Ocean? + I’m In The Mood For Love + Avalon + Close Sammy Kaye Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Hotel Astor Roof New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Aug 1945 Set 2 Bob Crosby Open + Mama Why Don’t You Dance With Me Bob Crosby and The Modernaires (voc) Jerry Gray Orchestra ‘Club 15’ KNX CBS LA 25 Nov 1947 Don’t Forget Tonight Tomorrow Bob Crosby (voc) Bob Crosby Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Hollywood Palladium AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Aug 1945 Muskrat Ramble Bob Crosby Bobcats ‘Marine Corp Show’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1950 Set 3 WGN Parade of Bands Home Recordings Open + Isn’t It Romantic Al Trace and his Shuffle Rhythm ‘WGN Parade of Bands’ Blackhawk Restaurant WGN Chicago c 1950 Marie + Linger Awhile Ted Fio Rito Orchestra ‘WGN Parade of Bands’ Chez Paree WGN Chicago c 1950 Bella Bella Marie + Medley: In My Dreams + I Love You So Much It Hurts Jimmy Featherstone Orchestra (voc) JF and Peggy Murdoch ‘WGN Parade of Bands’ Walnut Room Bismarck Hotel WGN Chicago c 1950 Set 4 Bea Wain East of the Sun Bea Wain (voc) Larry Clinton Orchestra ‘RCA Campus Club’ Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY WEAF NBC Red NY 2 Jul 1938 Try, Try Again Bea Wain and Band (voc) Larry Clinton Orchestra ‘RCA Campus Club’ Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY WEAF NBC Red NY 2 Jul 1938 Oh, You Crazy Moon Bea Wain ‘Your Hit Parade’ WEAF NBC Red NY 7 Oct 1939 Set 5 Swing Trumpet Stars on Ballads Cirribirribin (theme) + You’re In Love With Someone Else Harry James Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest Hotel Astor Roof WABC CBS NY 28 Aug 1942 Oh What It Seemed To Be Erskine Hawkins Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Mitchell ‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NY AFRS Re-broadcast 1 May 1946 Goodnight, Good Neighbour Charlie Spivak Orchestra (voc) Irene Daye ‘One Night Stand’ Century Room Hotel Commodore NY AFRS Re-broadcast 25 Feb 1945 Clouds Henry Busse Orchestra (voc) Carl Grayson Radio Transcription Hollywood 1935 Set 6 Hal Kemp and Skinnay Ennis Sells Beauty Creme When Summer Is Gone (theme) + You’ve Got Me Crying Again Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis ‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934 Last Year’s Girl Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis ‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934 It’s Only A Paper Moon + Ad Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis ‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934 I Couldn’t Tell Them What To Do Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis ‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934 Set 7 1950s-60s Radio Swing Bands One O’Clock Jump + Blee Blop Blues Count Basie Orchestra ‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 14 Jan 1953 Cohn’s Alley Woody Herman’s Third Herd ‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Peony park WOW NBC Omaha 1954 Song of India Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WRCA NBC NY Dec 1955 Flashback From The Future Duke Ellington Orchestra Aircheck 24 Oct 1965 Set 8 Mickey Mouse Bands Live and Transcribed Romance (theme) + We Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye Ray Herbeck and his Music with Romance Orchestra (voc) Lorraine Benson Trianon Ballroom WGN Chicago 24 Nov 1947 I’ll See You In My dreams Jan Garber Orchestra Radio Transcription 1941 Would It Make Any Difference To You? Carl Ravazza Orchestra (voc) CR Radio Transcription 1943 Can’t We Be Friends? Johnny Mesner Orchestra Radio Transcription New York City 1939

27 March Phantom Dancer – Bunny Berigan and How Disease Effects Legacy

It never ceases to amaze me how disease can over-shadow the brilliant legacy of a person’s life. How much ‘expert’ blather was there about Stephen Hawking’s motor neurone disease as an excuse to avoid explaining and understanding his discoveries in physics? It’s belittling and disrespectful.

Louis Armstrong’s favourite trumpet player was Bunny Berigan. We’ll be hearing radio broadcasts by Bunny Berigan on this week’s The Phantom Dancer.

Even today, seventy years after his death, he is still considered to have been one of the top trumpet players in jazz.

But what I find additionally interesting is how his legacy has been marred by the alcoholism that affected the inventiveness of his playing in the latter part of his short thirty-three years and which ultimately killed him through cirrhosis of the liver.

On this week’s Phantom Dancer you’ll also hear a set of live vintage radio by Dave Brubeck, Jack Teagarden and women singers with their own radio shows – Lee Wiley, Peggy Lee, Dinah Show and Mildred Bailey.

 

THE PHANTOM DANCER is two hours of non-stop swing and jazz mixed from live 1920s – 1960s radio and TV by Greg Poppleton, Australia’s only authentic 1920s-1930s singer www.gregpoppletonmusic.com

Broadcast 12:04pm Tuesdays 107.3 2SER Sydney then over 22 radio stations and online.

HEAR The Phantom Dancer live-streamed and afterwards online on the Radio 2SER website. http://www.2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

HOW DISEASE EFFECTS LEGACY

When jazz musicians talk about Bunny Berigan, his alcoholism always comes up.

‘What might have been had he not drank?’, is usually the most positive musing. But to me, from a music perspective, his illness should have no bearing on his legacy. Surely it’s his trumpet playing and technique that’s important, the music played, the songs composed, the landmark recordings made. Louis Armstrong praised Bunny Berigan’s trumpet sound and jazz ideas both before and after Berigan’s death.

I have known jazz musicians, world-touring, who’ve died after long illnesses. They kept their illnesses private, performing to the very end. Even though everyone knew they were terminally ill, the particulars of their illnesses were never discussed. These musicians had the luxury and the determination to never be defined by their disease. Nowadays, when people talk about them, they talk about their music, the good times and their positive legacy. How they died, their disease, and their substance abuse (in one case) are irrelevancies.

However, other jazz musicians I have known, have had deaths after long, debilitating illnesses during which time it was impossible to perform. Others have died suddenly – a heart attack, an overdose, a bleed. Always, these musicians are discussed in terms of their deaths, their creative life work overshadowed by the fabula of their failing health or their fatal surprise.

I guess it’s easier to talk about sickness and death than music. The musical process is a specialist field. Feeling poorly and falling off the perch is something on which everyone has an expert opinion.

BUNNY BERIGAN…
…was the stage name of Roland Bernard Berigan.

He composed, sang, and most famously was a brilliant trumpet player. Of his compositions, we’ll hear a live recording of one, ‘Chicken and Waffles’, from a live 1936 radio broadcast on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

He was best known for his virtuoso jazz trumpeting. His 1937 classic recording of a song from a flop music, ‘I Can’t Get Started’ (which we’ll also hear in two live 1930s versions on this week’s Phantom Dancer) was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1975. ‘I Can’t Get Started’ was Berigan’s radio theme when he launched his own band in 1937.

Bunny Berigan had learnt violin and trumpet and was playing in local bands by his mid-teens. In 1930 he joined the Hal Kemp Orchestra and soon came to notice. He became a sought-after studio musician in New York as well as playing in the orchestras of Freddy Rich, Freddy Martin, Ben Selvin, Paul Whiteman and Benny Goodman. In fact, Goodman’s manager only got ‘that ace drummer man’ Gene Krupa to join the band by telling him Berigan was already on board.

After leaving Goodman, Berigan began to record regularly under his own name and to back singers such as Bing Crosby, Mildred Bailey, and Billie Holiday. We’ll hear him this week with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in early 1937. His solo on ‘Marie’ became one of his signature performances. We’ll hear a 1940 radio version. And, of course, a critic describing Berigan’s trumpet on the 1940 show had to bring up his alcoholism.

After leaving Goodman, Berigan began to record regularly under his own name and to back singers such as Bing Crosby, Mildred Bailey, and Billie Holiday. We’ll hear him this week with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in early 1937. His solo on ‘Marie’ became one of his signature performances. We’ll hear a 1940 radio version. And, of course, a critic describing Berigan’s trumpet on the 1940 show had to bring up his alcoholism.

MUSICAL ADVICE FROM BERIGAN
And instrumentalists PLEASE TAKE NOTE. There’s nothing more irritating to a singer than an instrumentalist taking too much air during the singer’s solo, or cramping the singer’s freedom of expression by trying to steer the improvisation…

Your Phantom Dancer Bunny Berrigan singing and playing trumpet on ‘Until Today’ with Freddy Rich’s Orchestra in 1936 . Enjoy!

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #308 107.3 2SER Tuesday 20 March 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 22 other stations. Set 1 Swing on 1940s Radio Theme + Girl of My Dreams Randy Brooks Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Roseland Ballroom NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 17 Nov 1945 K.C. Caboose + Are You Happy? John Kirby Sextet ‘One Night Stand’ Aquarium Restaurant NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 18 Jul 1944 They Didn’t Believe Me + Blue Moon (Close) Eliot Lawrence Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Roseland Ballroom NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 26 Jul 1945 Set 2 Big Bands on 1950s Radio Theme + I’m Walking Johnny Richards Orchestra ‘ABC Dancing Party’ Birdland WABC ABC NYC 1957 If I Had You Ted Heath Orchestra ‘International Bandstand’ London NBC/BBC 2 Mar 1959 It’s All In The Game Ray Anthony Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania AFRS Re-broadcast 1952 Set 3 Bing Crosby Radio Open + Pistol Packin’ Mama Bing Crosby ‘Kraft Music Hall’ KFI NBC LA 16 Dec 1943 Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra Bing Crosby ’Philco Radio Time’ KECA ABC LA 19 Nov 1947 Ukulele Lady + Green Grow The Lilacs + Close Bing Crosby + Rosemary Clooney (2nd song) ’Bing Crosby-Rosemary Clooney Show’ KNX CBS LA 19 Oct 1961 Set 4 Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street Open + Dixieland One-Step Henry Levine Octet ‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 1 Sep 1941 O Sussanah Diane Courtney ‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 1 Sep 1941 Cheery-Beery-Bee The Tune Toppers ‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 1 Sep 1941 Dangerous Mood Paul Lavalle Woodwinds ‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 1 Sep 1941 Set 5 Trombonist Jack Teagarden Announcer’s Blues Paul Whiteman Orchestra ‘Paul Whiteman’s Music Varieties’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 19 jan 1936 Mr Jessie Jack Teagarden Orchestra Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Chicago 22 Nov 1941 You Took Advantage of Me + Tea For Two + Close The Three T’s (Jack and Charlie Teagarden and Frank Trambauer) Hickory House WEAF NBC Red NY 9 Dec 1936 (1936 Home Recording) Wolverine Blues + Close Jack Teagarden Orchestra Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Chicago 27 Dec 1941 Set 6 Women Singers With Their Own Radio shows Somebody Loves Me Peggy Lee ‘Peggy Lee Show’ KNX CBS LA 1947 Beg Your Pardon Dinah Shore ‘Dinah Shore Show’ KNX CBS LA 4 May 1948 Too Good To Be True Lee Wiley ‘Lee Wiley Sings’ WABC CBS NY 1 Jul 1936 Summertime Mildred Bailey ‘Mildred Bailey Show’ WABC CBS NY 12 Jan 1945 Set 7 Bunny Berigan I Can’t Get Started (theme) + Organ Grinder’s Swing Bunny Berigan Orchestra ‘Norge Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1937 I Can’t Get Started (theme) + Ay, Ay, Ay Bunny Berigan Orchestra Manhattan Centre WNEW NY 26 Sep 1939 Marie Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Bunny Berigan tp feature) Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NY 9 Mar 1940 Runnin’ Wild + Chicken and Waffles Bunny Berigan Orchestra ‘Saturday Night Swing Club’ WABC CBS NY 31 Oct 1936 Set 8 Dave Brubeck This Can’t Be Love Dave Brubeck Aircheck Jan 1954 The Song Is For You Dave Brubeck Basin Street WCBS CBS NY Mar 1957 Stardust Dave Brubeck ‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY Dec 1953 All The Things You Are Dave Brubeck Basin Street WCBS CBS NY Feb 1956

27 Feb Phantom Dancer – Errol Buddle Dead, The Last Australian In The Australian Jazz Quintet.

The Phantom Dancer is presented by authentic 1920s – 30s singer, Greg Poppleton.

It’s your two hour non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s – 1960s radio and TV.

Hear the mix after the 27 Feb broadcast at radio 2ser.com

This week, The Phantom Dancer, bids farewell to Sydney jazz identity, jazz bassoon and sax great –  the last Australian in the Australian Jazz Quartet, Errol Buddle.

Errol died last week and The Phantom Dancer brings you a broadcast he made with the AJQ in 1956.

AUSTRALIAN JAZZ QUARTET/QUINTET

The broadcast of the Australian Jazz Quintet is from Birdland as part of the NBC Radio Series ‘The All-Star Parade of Bands’.

I make these cultural observations about the broadcast:

1. Fred Collins, NBC announcer, network jazz DJ and ‘expert’, obviously doesn’t know what to do with The Australian Jazz Quintet. He comes across like he hasn’t done his research. He’s polite, almost seeming to damn with very faint praise. And the AJQ get short shrift from Fred in the promotion department.

2. The All-Star Parade of Bands usually has two bands doing 13 minutes each with an ad in between as the second band sets up. In this broadcast, the AJQ do two songs in the middle and the closing theme. Most of the show is given to Carmen McRae.

3. The American in the AJQ is the spokesman for the group on the radio.

4. The AJQ use voicings and phrasings that hark back to the Australian dance bands of the late 30s and 1940s. This, as well as jazz bassoon, must have sounded uncomfortable to New York jazz ears who went for an overload of the safe and familiar with Carmen.

5. The NBC live recording for the AJQ is rather indistinct sounding. Carmen and her pianist is much more present in the radio mix.

 

WHO WERE THE AJQ?

They were three Australians and one American. The Australians were Errol Buddle (bassoon and tenor saxophone), Bryce Rohde (piano), and Jack Brokensha (vibraphone and percussion).

Errol Buddle, who played in the Sydney Jazz Scene , died last week.

Bryce Rohde returned to the U.S. from Australia in 1965 and played in the San Francisco jazz scene until he died in 2016.

Jack Brokensha returned to Detroit after the 1958 AJQ Australian tour.  He was hired by Berry Gordy of Motown Records as a percussionist. He was one of the few white members of Motown’s Hitsville U.S.A. recording studio’s house band, The Funk Brothers. He was given the nickname “White Jack”, to distinguish him from Jack Ashford, an African American percussionist nicknamed “Black Jack”.

 

THE AJQ STORY

Errol Buddle, Bryce Rohde and Jack Brokensha went to Windsor, Ontario, Canada in 1952, across from the U.S. city of Detroit with the aim of touring the U.S as a trio. Initially they had visa troubles. For a while, Errol Buddle played bassoon in the Windsor Symphony. A chance booking on WXYZ-TV Detroit for Brokensha after being spotted at a Windsor gig led to all three getting visas and regular TV, recording and club work in Detroit. There they met the fourth member of the AJQ, who you hear talking on the Birdland broadcast, Richard J. (Dick) Healey (alto sax, clarinet, flute, bass).

Because what happened next is so detailed, I will quote directly from the Wikipedia article on the AJQ

“Early 1954 appearances on the Detroit WXYZ-TV show “Soupy’s On” led comedian Soupy Sales to recommend the group to a Detroit suburb club owner Ed Sarkesian to accompany jazz vocalist Chris Connor for two weeks at the club (Rouge Lounge in River Rouge, a Detroit suburb) and to have the group perform between each of her sets. Since Buddle had been playing bassoon regularly with the Windsor Symphony, Healey and Rohde quickly decided to make arrangements for the flute-bassoon-vibes combination, giving the group a distinctive sound. This unusual instrumentation created much interest in the quartet, not only from jazz enthusiasts, but also from classical music aficionados. During the two-week engagement with Connor, Sarkesian contacted Joe Glaser of Associated Booking Corporation in New York. Sarkesian named the group The Australian Jazz Quartet/Quintet, and based on a quickly recorded 78 disk, he garnered a five-year contract with ABC and Bethlehem Records for the group. Sarkesian then became the group’s personal manager, which worked out very well because he also soon became a major promoter of jazz concerts and festivals.

Under the new arrangement with ABC the AJQ performed at the Blue Note in Chicago and on a concert in Washington DC. with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, the Modern Jazz Quartet, and Carmen McRae. Soon they began playing at clubs like The Hickory House, Birdland (jazz club), Basin Street, and the Roundtable in New York; the Blue Note, Modern Jazz Room, and Robert’s Show Room in Chicago; Storyville in Boston; Jazz City in Los Angeles; Macumba in San Francisco; Sonny’s Lounge in Denver; Peacock Alley in St. Louis; Rouge Lounge in Detroit; Peps and Blue Note in Philadelphia; Midway Lounge in Pittsburgh; Colonial in Toronto, Ball & Chain in Miami and many others. At many of these clubs the AJQ shared the band stand with well-known groups such as the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Les Brown Orchestra, Johnny Smith Quartet, Bud Shank Quartet, Miles Davis, Pete Jolly Trio, J. J. Johnson, Max Roach-Clifford Brown Quintet, Art Blakey Quintet, Teddy and Marty Napoleon Quartet, Bud Powell Trio, Thelonious Monk, Conte Candoli/Al Cohn Quintet, Ahmad Jamal Trio, Don Shirley Trio, Lee Konitz Quartet, Woody Herman, Billie Holiday and others.

National concert tours took place in 1955–57. In 1955 there was the “Modern Jazz Show” with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Gerry Mulligan, and Carmen McRae. In 1956 there was “Music For Moderns” with Count Basie, Erroll Garner, the Kai Winding Septet, the Chico Hamilton Quintet, and the Gerry Mulligan Quartet. In 1957, there was again “Music For Moderns” with the George Shearing Quintet, the Gerry Mulligan Quintet, Chico Hamilton, Helen Merrill, Cannonball Adderley, and Miles Davis. These tours included performances at major concert halls, including Carnegie Hall in New York.

The AJQ appeared on several national television shows, the most notable being the Steve Allen Tonight Show, The Dave Garroway Today Show, The Arthur Godfrey Show, In Town Tonight Chicago, and the Ed Mackenzie and Soupy Sales Shows from ABC in Detroit. On the Radio they were heard on CBS’s “Woolworth Hour”, NBC’s “Monitor”, and ABC’s “Parade of the Bands”.

During 1955 to 1958 the AJQ recorded seven albums under the Bethlehem label. The first album, distinguished by its cover illustrated by four side-by-side kangaroos, was a 10″ LP recorded in February 1955 and featured arrangements of eight standard songs. A 12″ version of this album, released in 1956, added three standards and one original song by bassist Jimmy Gannon, who also assisted on the recording. Meanwhile, another album, this one with scores of kangaroos on its cover, was released with 10 songs including two originals, one by Gannon and the other by Healey.

In 1958 the group travelled to Australia for The Australian Concert Tour for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Also, there were TV and Radio Broadcasts, and, in Melbourne and Sydney, there were concerts with Sammy Davis Jr. These performances were broadcast nationally by the ABC. After the 1958 tour the group members decided to terminate the AJQ and become independent performing and recording artists. However, reunion concerts occurred in Adelaide in 1986 and 1993, and a recording of the 1993 concert was distributed.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Australian_Jazz_Quartet

ERROL BUDDLE – YOUR PHANTOM DANCER VIDEOS OF THE WEEK!

Your Phantom Dancer ‘Video of the Week’ features Errol Buddle on tenor in a cameo about Sydney jazz club, The El Rocco. Good to see some of the extras at least tried to get ’80s versions of early 1960s short back and sides.

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #305 107.3 2SER Tuesday 27 February 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 22 other stations. Set 1 1950s Dance Bands on Radio Theme + Komonoi Ostrow Lawrence Welk Orchestra Aragon Ballroom Ocean Park Ca KECA ABC LA 1955 South Chuck Cabot Orchestra Empire Room Rice Hotel CBS Houston Apr 1953 Show Me The Way To Get Out Of This World (That’s Where Everything Is) + Will You Still Be Mine? (Theme) Matt Dennis ‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Chi-Chi Club WRCA NBC NYC 13 Jun 1955 Set 2 Bands on 1936 Radio Theme + I’ve Got Rhythm Freddy Rich Orchestra ‘Dodge Show’ Radio Transcription New York City 13 Feb 1936 Christopher Columbus Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians (voc) Band ‘Ford Show’ WABC CBS NY 14 Apr 1936 Hallelujah Johnny Green Orchestra ‘Packard Hour’ KFI NBC LA 11 Mar 1936 Set 3 Australian Jazz Quintet Spring Is Here + The Fire Dance Australian Jazz Quintet ’All Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WRCA NBC NY 1956 You’re My Thrill + Coming Down To Earth  Carmen McRae  ’All Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WRCA NBC NY 1956 Lullaby of Birdland  Australian Jazz Quintet ’All Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WRCA NBC NY 1956 Set 4 Cocoanut Grove Radio 1933-34 Lady Play Your Mandolin Vincent Valsanti Orchestra (voc) The Playmates Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1934 Making Faces At The Man In The Moon Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) Loyce Whiteman ‘Cocoanut Grove’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1931 Dancing With The Daffodils + Sweet and Lovely (theme) Gus Arnheim Orchestra Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931 Set 5 Jazz Tenor Sax Stars On Radio Too Marvellous For Words Chu Berry and his Stompy Stevedours Comm Rec New York 23 Mar 1937 Body and Soul (theme) + Chant of the Groove Coleman Hawkins Orchestra Aircheck Savoy Ballroom Harlem 4 Aug 1940 I Cover The Waterfront Lester Young ‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 4 Dec 1948 Long Island Sound Stan Getz ‘Stars of Modern Jazz’ Carnegie Hall Voice of America 25 Dec 1949 Set 6 1939 Radio Dance Bands Way Back In 1939 AD Gray Gordon Tic-Toc Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Cliff Grass Radio Transcription New York City 1939 Concerto for Trumpet Harry James Orchestra Chatterbox Club Mountainside NJ Aircheck 1940 Scatterbrain Blue Barron Orchestra Radio Transcription New York City 1939 Theme + Over The Waves Bob Crosby Orchestra ‘America Dances’ CBS NY and BBC London 1939 Set 7 Swing on 1943 Radio Take The A-Train (theme) + Way Low Duke Ellington Orchestra Hurricane Restaurant WJZ NBC Blue 28 Aug 1943 Blackberry Jam Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra ‘Spotlight Bands’ Columbus OH Blue Network 19 Nov 1943 T’aint What You Think Les Brown Orchestra ‘Spotlight Bands’ Miami FL Blue Network 10 Aug 19435 Jumpin’ Jiminy + Close Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WABC CBS NY Mar 1943 Set 8 1950s – 60s Swing On Radio and TV One O’Clock Jump (theme) + Blee Blop Blues Count Basie Orchestra ‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 14 Jan 1953 Hamp’s Boogie Woogie Lionel Hampton Orchestra ‘Second Timex All-Star Jazz Concert’ CBS TV 30 Apr 1958 What Is This Thing Called Love + My Funny Valentine Charlie Shavers Quartet London House WBBM CBS Chicago May 1962

9 Jan Phantom Dancer – Comedian Has A Bad Night On Live 1958 Radio

The 1950s comedian, Pat McCaffrie, who you’ll hear with Hawaiian band leader, singer and composer, Johnny Pineapple, on this week’s Phantom Dancer (Sets 3 and 4 – see play list below) somehow reminds me of funny men characters Bobby Bittman and Krusty the Klown.

Judge for yourself when you listen to this week’s Phantom Dancer.

You’ll also be treated to a set of Harry James from live 1960s-70s radio, a set of Australian swing from 1930s-50s Sydney radio – plus Lee Gordon’s beatnik 1959 Sydney release – ‘She’s The Ginchiest’ – and Charlie Parker on live 1949 New Years radio.

The Phantom Dancer, presented by 1920s-1930s singer and band leader, Greg Poppleton, since 1985, is your non-stop two hour mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s – 1960s radio and TV.

Hear the show online for 4 weeks from 9 January on the Radio 2SER website

While The Phantom Dancer is a music mix,  it’s also a first hand social history of the mid-20th century.

And sometimes I find something that is so awkward, I feel compelled to play it for you in its entirety.

The talent and professionalism of all actors in this broadcast is beyond dispute.

It just seems that radio had captured that one unfortunate ‘bad night’ , and everyone has bad nights, where anything that could go wrong beyond their control, sound-wise and audience-wise, did go wrong. This week’s Phantom Dancer has such a time for your edification…

NEW YEAR’S DAY 1958
I’m guessing this sixty year old tape with the awkward broadcast I’ll be playing for you today was recorded by someone in their home tuned into WGN radio Chicago for New Years.

They were taping the live bands WGN were broadcasting as part of their annual bringing in of the New Year. (I’ve also added the religious talk at the end of the broadcast day and the station sign-off for your enjoyment).

One of the bands that 1958 New Years Day, from the Polynesian Room of Chicago’s Edgewater Beach Hotel, was Johnny Pineapple.

As well as his band Johnny Pineapple had a floor show in his hour radio spot on WGN, including dancers, a girl vocal group called The Polynesian Sweethearts one of whom calls out “Wait!” before they launch into Jingle Bells, and a comedian.

Perhaps the tape ran out during the comedian’s story about New York and the recordist had to find a new spool to thread on the tape recorder.

Or perhaps the recordist didn’t have an ear for comedy gold and switched the comedian off to save tape. Whatever the reason, there’s a break in Johnny’s hour spot that reduces the total play time to just over 30 minutes.

WHO’S JOHNNY?
David Kaonohi, dubbed ‘Johnny Pineapple’ by Hollywood movie scouts who spotted him performing while he was in his first year at university in 1938, made several appearances in Hollywood films but was primarily a Hawaiian musician and entertainer.

He played in New York’s Lexington Hotel and Stork Club and at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago from where he is broadcasting on today’s Phantom Dancer during New Year 1958.

He wrote 25 songs and died in 1981.

There’s another Johnny Pineapple (a son, perhaps?) who was leading a Hawaiian band in the US, and was a friend of Tiny Tim, according to his 2005 website.

WHO’S THE COMIC?
He’s Pat McCaffrie. And he’s having something of a tough night in this Johnny Pineapple show. He even asks, jokingly, if he’s in the wrong place. No-one’s laughing.

Quoting his IMDB bio, “Pat McCaffrie was born on January 12, 1919 in Chicago, Illinois, USA as Patric Francis McCaffrie. He was an actor, known for Get Smart (he was Agent 47) (1965), The Beverly Hillbillies (1962) and A Guide for the Married Man (1967). He died on December 4, 1992 in Orange, California, USA.”

What I love about McCaffrie’s comedy and awkwardness, though, is that he instantly reminded me of my favourite Second City TV character, funnyman Bobby Bittman.

BOBBY BITTMAN
I’ve been a big fan of Second City TV since it first aired in Sydney, usually around 1am Monday mornings, in the early to mid-1980s – we got it late.

And one of my favourite SCTV characters is funnyman, Bobby Bittman, played by Eugene Levy.

There are some who see a stylistic connection between Bobby Bittman and Krusty the Klown on The Simpsons.

And I hear a connection, in the delivery and tone of voice, between McCaffrie’s stand-up and Bobby Bittman.

I’m not saying there is a connection, like McCaffrie inspired Bittman. I just hear one, as a fan joining dots that are highly unlikely to actually exist.

But it’s also a good excuse to introduce you to some classic Bittman from SCTV. It’s your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week. Enjoy! And enjoy Pat McCaffrie and Johnny Pineapple live from New Years 1958 on The Phantom Dancer!

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #298 107.3 2SER Tuesday 9 January 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 22 other stations. Set 1 Harry James on 1960s-70s Radio Cirribirribin (theme) + Shiny Stockings Harry James Orchestra ’New Year All-Star Parade of Bands’ Crystal Room Desert Inn NBC Las Vegas 31 Dec 1970 Two O’Clock Jump Harry James Orchestra El Patio Ballroom KCBS San Francisco 20 May 1961 Jumpin’ at the Woodside + Close Harry James Orchestra Moon Bowl Freedomland WCBS CBS NYC 31 Aug 1962 Set 2 1930s-50s Australian Swing on the Air Sobbin’ Blues Frank Coughlan Aircheck Trocadero Ballroom Sydney 25 May 1937 Open + Three Little Words Edwin Duff ’The George Wallace Show’ 2GB Macquarie Network Sydney 1952 Alexander’s Ragtime Band George Sorlie (voc) Humphrey Bishop &​ His AWA Light Opera Company ’The Showman’ 2CH AWA Network Sydney 1944 Set 3 and 4 An Awkward New Year Theme + Comic Intro Johnny Pineapple and Pat McCaffrie (comedian) ’New Year Dancing Party’ Polynesian Room Edgewater Beach Hotel WGN Chicago 1 Jan 1958 Little Grass Shack + Comedy Johnny Pineapple ’New Year Dancing Party’ Polynesian Room Edgewater Beach Hotel WGN Chicago 1 Jan 1958 Jingle Bells + Hawaiian New Year The Polynesian Sweethearts and Johnny Pineapple ’New Year Dancing Party’ Polynesian Room Edgewater Beach Hotel WGN Chicago 1 Jan 1958 My Blooming Flower + A Million Moons Over Hawaii + Comedy (gets cut-off) Johnny Pineapple and Pat McCaffrie ’New Year Dancing Party’ Polynesian Room Edgewater Beach Hotel WGN Chicago 1 Jan 1958 Canadian Sunset + Kila Kila Holi’akala + Theme Johnny Pineapple ’New Year Dancing Party’ Polynesian Room Edgewater Beach Hotel WGN Chicago 1 Jan 1958 Religious Talk + Station Close Staff Announcer ’New Year Dancing Party’ Polynesian Room Edgewater Beach Hotel WGN Chicago 1 Jan 1958 Set 5 Count Basie 1937-38 Radio Moten Swing (theme) + King Porter Stomp Count Basie Orchestra Chatterbox Hotel William Penn WCAE NBC Pittsburgh 8 Feb 1937 John’s Idea Count Basie Orchestra Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NY Nov 1937 They Can’t Take That Away From Me Billie Holiday (voc) Count Basie Orchestra Savoy Ballroom WEAF NBC Red NY 30 Jun 1937 One O’Clock Jump Count Basie Orchestra ’America Dances’ WABC CBS NY/BBC London Famous Door NY Jul 1948 Set 6 Swing Bands on 1940s Radio Theme + Smile Charlie Barnet Orchestra ‘For The Record’ WEAF NBC NY 11 Sep 1944 Flight of the Jitterbug Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra Radio Aircheck New York City 1940 Minnie’s in the Money Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) BG ‘Spotlight Bands’ Cornell University Ithaca NY Blue Network 25 Sep 1943 Frenesi Jack Teagarden Orchestra Arcadia Ballroom WEAF NBC Red NY 11 Dec 1940 Set 7 Radio Jazz in Opera Halls Blue Cellophane Duke Ellington Orchestra Chicago Opera House Blue Network 25 Mar 1945 All God’s Children Got Rhythm Bud Powell Trio Carnegie Hall VOA 25 Dec 1949 Trumpets No End Duke Ellington Orchestra Carnegie Hall NYC 13 Nov 1948 Tea for Two + Close Esquire All Stars ’Spotlight Bands’ Metropolitan Opera House WJZ Blue NY 18 Jan 1944 Set 8 Mod Sounds She’s The Ginchiest Lee Gordon Comm Rec Sydney 1959 How High The Moon Jubilee All-Stars with Miguelito Valdez’s Cuban Rhythm Section ’Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood Oct 1945 Be-Bop + Slow Boat To China Charlie Parker ’Symphony Sid New Years Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 1 Jan 1949

Happy New Year! You’re Welcome To Share…

Doof-doof, rap-rap, yeah-yeah, oo-oo, plink-plonk and strum-strum is not my soundtrack for New Year’s Eve.

So I’ll be enjoying the spectacular New Year fireworks here in Sydney with family and friends to a different soundtrack! And you’re welcome share…

These are swing and jazz soundtracks I’ve made for you myself:

1. New Year’s Phantom Dancer radio show: enjoy a two hour mix of swing and jazz from live 1930s-50s radio. You can stream it right now at 2ser.com.

2. Enjoy these popular mixes of 1920s – 1930s songs from my four albums. Enjoy!

Greg Poppleton Chill Mix 1

Greg Poppleton Chill Mix 2

Greg Poppleton Chill Mix 3

Book the 1920s-30s Band: Greg Poppleton Music