Gus Arnheim Introduces Bing Crosby – Phantom Dancer 6 December 2022

Gus Arnheim was a popular US band leader, composer and pianist. Bing Crosby first achieved solo popularity singing with the Arnheim band. You’ll hear Bing sing live with Arnheim on live 1931 radio on this week’s Phantom Dancer. Gus Arnheim is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist.

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

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 6 December) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

GUS

Gus Arnheim was most popular in the 1920s and 1930s. He wrote the pop hits ‘Sweet & Lovely’ (his radio theme) and I Cried For You amongst others.

He began his professional music career in 1919 playing piano at the Sunset Inn, Santa Monica with fellow future band leaders, Abe Lyman, on drums and, Harry Halstead, on viloin.

He was accompanist to vaudevillian Sophie Tucker.

When Lyman organized a full dance orchestra, Arnheim came along as pianist. He left to start his own group in 1927. Arnheim’s orchestra made at least three film short subjects for Warner Brothers’ Vitaphone Corporation in 1928–29.

Arnheim first recorded for OKeh in 1928–1929. He signed with Victor in 1929 –  1933, then Brunswick 1933 – 1937.

COCOANUT GROVE

During 1928–31, Arnheim had an extended engagement at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles. That’s where you’ll hear him from in 1931 radio broadcasts on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

In 1930, when Paul Whiteman finished filming The King of Jazz for Universal, The Rhythm Boys vocal trio, consisting of Bing Crosby, Harry Barris and Al Rinker decided to stay in California. They signed up with Arnheim’s band.

The Rhythm Boys only recorded one song with Arnheim, “Them There Eyes” (which also happened to be The Rhythm Boys final recording).

Arnheim’s Orchestra backed Crosby on a number of songs released by Victor Records in 1931. These popular records, coupled with Arnheim’s radio broadcasts featuring Crosby’s solo vocals, were a key element to the beginning of Crosby’s popularity as a crooner.

NOTABLE

Between 1930 and 1933, some notable people worked in or with Arnheim’s band:

• • Fred MacMurray played clarinet and tenor sax in 1930-31 and sang on one recording “All I Want Is Just One”.

• • Russ Columbo played violin in 1930 and sang on “A Peach of a Pair”.

• Future popular bandleader Jimmie Grier was staff arranger during this time. Grier had played lead alto saxophone and clarinet in Arnheim’s band from its founding in 1928.
• Eddie Cantor and Joan Crawford each recorded a song for Arnheim on July 23, 1931, although the Crawford side (“How Long Will It Last?”) was not issued. Cantor’s side, “There’s Nothing Too Good for My Baby,” was issued but without vocalist credit.

• • Future popular singer Buddy Clark sang with Arnheim in 1932.

• • Shirley Ross sang with Arnheim in 1933

• • Stan Kenton played piano with Arnheim starting in 1937.

Between 1939 and 1944, Mexican American crooner Andy Russell played the drums and sang with Arnheim. Arnheim was the one who suggested that Russell sing bilingually in English and Spanish and change his last name from Rábago to Russell (in honor of Russ Columbo) leading to his first million-selling record “Bésame Mucho”.

Here’s Arnheim on a 1927 Vitaphone music short…

6 DECEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #574
107.3 2SER Tuesday 6 December 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 5UV Adelaide Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am 2YYY Young Monday 3 – 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 3am – 4 and 6 -7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am and Sunday 11pm Reading Radio (QLD) Friday 1am – 2 2RRR Ryde Friday 11am – 12 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Saturday 4am – 5am Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturday 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm 2SEA Sapphire Coast Eden Sunday 9 – 10pm
Set 1	Xavier Cugat
Theme + Temptation	Xavier Cugat Orchestra (voc) Choir	‘Xavier Cugat ‘ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Alma Llanera	Xavier Cugat Orchestra (voc) Miguelito Valdés & Choir	‘March of Dimes’ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Say Si Si	Xavier Cugat Orchestra (voc) Nito Rosa & Choir	‘March of Dimes’ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Canta Noche un Amor	Xavier Cugat Orchestra (voc) Del Campo & Choir	‘March of Dimes’ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Set 2	Dodo
Rose Room + Close	Dodo Marmarosa	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1947
Set 3	Les Paul and Mary Ford
Theme + Little Rock Getaway	Les Paul and Mary Ford	‘Les Paul & Mary Ford Show’ WMAQ NBC Chicago 26 May 1950
Until I Hold You Again	Les Paul (voc) Mary Ford	‘Les Paul & Mary Ford Show’ WMAQ NBC Chicago 26 May 1950
Puttin’ on the Style	Les Paul and Mary Ford (voc) LP and MF	‘Les Paul & Mary Ford Show’ WMAQ NBC Chicago 26 May 1950
What is This Thing Called Love + If a Nightingale Could Sing Like You	Les Paul and Mary Ford	‘Les Paul & Mary Ford Show’ WMAQ NBC Chicago 26 May 1950
Set 4	Gus Arnheim
Sweet and Lovely (theme) + Can’t You Read Between the Lines	Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) George Gramlich	‘Cocoanut Grove Show’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
Making Faces at the Man in the Moon	Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) Loyce Whiteman	‘Cocoanut Grove Show’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
Dancing with the Daffodils	Gus Arnheim Orchestra	‘Cocoanut Grove Show’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
Out of Nowhere + What is It?	Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) Bing Crosby & Loyce Whiteman	‘MJB Demi-Tasse Revue’ KFI NBC Gold Los Angeles 1931
Set 5	Jimmy Dorsey
Contrasts (theme) + Just You, Just Me	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 8 Feb 1943
Jug Music	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KFI NBC Red LA 20 Oct 1941
Moonlight on the Ganges	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 8 Feb 1943
Mood in Da Groove	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KFI NBC Red LA 20 Oct 1941
Set 6	1930s English Dance Bands
Young & Healthy	Billy Cotton Band (voc) Alan Breeze	Comm Rec London 18 Mar 1933
The Gold Diggers’ Song	Jack Hylton Orchestra	Comm Rec London 28 Jul 1933
I’ve Had My Moments	Billy Cotton Band (voc) Chips Chippendale	Comm Rec London 14 Aug 1934
Hylton Stomp	Jack Hylton Orchestra	Comm Rec London 12 Oct 1932
Set 7	Ford Startime
Intro by Ronald Reagan _ Drum Boogie	Gene Krupa Orchestra (voc) Anita O’Day	‘Ford Startime’ KFI NBC TV 9 Feb 1960
Chatanooga Choo Choo	Tex Beneke & The Modernaires	‘Ford Startime’ KFI NBC TV 9 Feb 1960
South Rampart Street Parade	Bob Crosby Bobcats	‘Ford Startime’ KFI NBC TV 9 Feb 1960
Big Noise from Winnetka	Ray Bauduc & Bobby Haggart	‘Ford Startime’ KFI NBC TV 9 Feb 1960
Set 8	Ellington 64
Afro Bossa	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRTS Re-broadcast Jul 1964
Call Me Irresponsible	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRTS Re-broadcast Jul 1964
Hello Dolly	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRTS Re-broadcast Jul 1964

Happy New Decade – Did Wynn Foresee Australia Burning? – Phantom Dancer 31 Dec 2019

We started this year  with this New Year show, choc-a-bloc full of New Years swing and jazz from live 1936 – 1966 radio. And because I’m on holidays unable to move with a fractured femur, we’ll end the decade with it, too!

The Phantom Dancer, presented by myself, Greg Poppleton, since 1985 on 107.3 2SER Sydney, is now re-broadcast on over 24 stations of the Community Radio Network across Australia. Hear the show online from midday 31 December 2019 (AEST).

And see the play list below.

OOGIE BOOGIE

This week’s featured ‘artist’ is Wynn the Astrologer…

SEER

This famous 1930s astrologer gives his prognostications for 1937 on this week’s Phantom Dancer. In fact, get ready for disappointment at the end of Set 1, where I play Wynn’s ‘wise words’ (and some musical excerpts) from the 1936 New Year’s Eve Rudy Vallee show.

You’ll hear most of what Wynn had to say about the year ahead. I cut it short for time. Think of the audience for the 1936 radio broadcast, they never got that time Wynn wasted back.

Wynn, born Sidney Kimball Bennett, wrote the stars for the New York Daily News. It seems he didn’t do it for a laugh. He was pompously serious about himself, as you’ll hear.

SPOOKY

His claim to fame was a prediction he made in the NY Daily News in 1932. He ‘foresaw’ financial turmoil for early March of 1933. That’s when President Roosevelt closed the banks for a week as the US struggled with the Great Depression.

UNCANNY

Wynn’s predictions for 1937 are typically vague, and, well, predictable. More interesting is just a short list of what actually happened in 1937 out of the trillions of things Wynn’s charts failed to predict…

• Safety glass in vehicle windscreens becomes mandatory in Great Britain
• Bradman scores 270 Aust v England at the MCG, incl 110 singles
• 2nd of Stalin‘s purge trials; Pyatakov & 16 others sentenced to death
• DuPont Corp patents nylon, developed by employee Wallace H Carothers
• Initial flight of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman’s Arrowbile
• Bradman scores 169 in 5th Test Cricket v England in 223 minutes
• Mexico nationalizes oil
• Pope Pius XI publishes anti-nazi-encyclical Mit brennender Sorge
• Astronomer Fritz Zwicky publishes his research on stellar explosion in which he coins the term “supernova” and hypothesizes that they were the origin of cosmic rays
• Spinach growers of Crystal City, Texas, erect statue of Popeye
• Debut of cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd & Petunia Pig
• German Luftwaffe destroys Basque town of Guernica in Spain
• 1st commercial flight across Pacific operated by Pan Am
• The Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% voted yes
• San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge opens
• Spam, the luncheon meat, is first introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation
• Japanese & Chinese troops clash at the Marco Polo Bridge, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War
• Buchenwald Concentration Camp opens
• Isolation of pituitary hormone announced (Yale University)
• 1st FM radio construction permit issued (W1X0J (WGTR) in Boston MA)
• Date celebrated as the first International Hobbit Day and the birthdays of Bibo and Frodo Baggins
• 1st Santa Claus Training School opens (Albion NY)
• Balinese Tiger declared extinct
• Dmitri Shostakovitch’s 5th Symphony premieres
• Clifford Odets’ “Golden Boy” premieres in NYC
• Japanese troops conquer and plunder Nanjing (Nanjing Massacre)
• Bill O’Reilly takes 9-41 for NSW against South Australia
• Constitution of Ireland (Irish: Bunreacht na hÉireann) is enacted and Irish free state is named Eire
• Pan Am starts service between San Francisco and Auckland, New Zealand

Here’s some footage of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman’s Arrowbile. How did Wynn miss this one? Probably the same way he missed foretelling his own 1926 car accident…(gosh, on today’s Phantom Dancer he warns Rudy Vallee to be ‘careful of cars’, spooky!)

31 DECEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #417
107.3 2SER Tuesday 31 December 2019 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) National Program: ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1
New Years Eve Aboard An Ocean Liner	Raymond Scott Quintette	Comm Rec New York 21 Jul 1939
In The Mood	Glenn Miller Orchestra	‘Chesterfield Show’ WABC CBS NY 27 Dec 1939
Never Should Have Told You + Predictions for 1937 + Chim Bomba + Close	Rudy Vallee and Wynn the Astrologer	‘Royal Gelatin Show’ WEAF NBC Red NY 31 Dec 1936
Set 2
Open + Happy Holidays	Bing Crosby (voc) John Scott Trotter Orchestra	‘Kraft Music Hall’ KFI NBC LA 30 Dec 1943
Rhapsody In Blue (theme) + Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah	Paul Whiteman Orchestra and Chorus	‘The Paul Whiteman Show’ WJZ ABC NY 1 Jan 1947
Poinciana + Close	Bing Crosby (voc) John Scott Trotter Orchestra	‘Kraft Music Hall’ KFI NBC LA 30 Dec 1943
Set 3
Deep Forest (theme) + Dippermouth Blues + When The Saints Go Marching In + Tiger Rag	Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines	Club Hangover KCBS CBS San Francisco 1 Jan 1957
Set 4
Auld Lang Syne + Newport Up + Together + Macarena + You Better Know It	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Grissom and Ozzie Bailey	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 1 Jan 1958
Set 5
Sad Sack	Harry James Orchestra (Hollywood)	‘New Year’s Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945
One O’Clock Jump	Count Basie Orchestra (New York)	‘New Year’s Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945
Warsaw Concerto	Freddy Martin Orchestra (Cocoanut Grove, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles)	‘New Year’s Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945
Woodchopper’s Ball	Woody Herman Orchestra (Meadowbrook Ballroom, Cedar Grove NJ)	‘New Year’s Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945
Set 6
Open + Stompin’ At The Savoy + Tea For Two	Teddy Wilson Trio	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ The Embers WRCA NBC NY 31 Dec 1957
Stompin’ Down Broadway + Opus 1 (close)	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WCBS CBS NY 1 Jan 1956
Set 7
Afterthoughts + Canadian Sunset + Soft Summer Breeze + The Man I Love + Begin The Beguine	Eddie Haywood Trio	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ The Embers WRCA NBC NY 31 Dec 1957
Set 8
Robin Hood	Louis Prima Orchestra (voc) LP	‘New Year’s Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945
Gotta Be This Or That	Benny Goodman Orchestra (with Slam Stewart b, Red Norvo vibes, Boston)	‘New Year’s Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945
Let The Zoomers Drool	Duke Ellington Orchestra (Evansville, Indiana)	‘New Year’s Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945

Bing Crosby, Russ Colombo, Rudy Vallee Crooners – Phantom Dancer 18 June 2019

CROONERS

A crooner is a male singer of jazz standards singing in a soft, sentimental side using a microphone to carry the voice. The three most famous crooners of the early 30s, when the style was popular, were Russ Colombo, Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallee. You’ll hear them on this week’s Phantom Dancer with Greg Poppleton from live 1930s radio broadcasts.

The three crooners were the subject of the 1932 Looney Tunes cartoon ‘Crosby, Columbo and Vallee’.

See the full Phantom Dancer play list of swing and jazz mixed by Greg Poppleton from live 1920s-60s radio below is ready for your perusal below.

ONLINE

This week’s Phantom Dancer will be online right after the 18 June 2SER live mix at 2ser.com.
Hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney

RUSS COLOMBO

Russ Colombo began performing professionally as a violinist at age 13. He would later in his short life (he died in a gun accident at age 26) be a composer, actor, and most famously – crooner.

He wrote his own radio theme song ‘You Call It Madness but I Call It Love’ as well as the standards ‘Prisoner of Love’ and ‘Too Beautiful For Words’.

At the time of his death in 1934, Columbo had just completed work on the film ‘Wake Up and Dream’ and he was on his way to stardom. Other Columbo films were: ‘Woman to Woman’ (with Betty Compton), ‘Wolf Song’ (with Lupe Vélez), ‘The Texan’ (with Gary Cooper) and ‘Broadway Thru a Keyhole’.

The type of singing that was popularized by the likes of Columbo, Rudy Vallee, and Bing Crosby is crooning. Columbo disliked the label but it caught on with the general public. It gained popular credence, despite its initial use as a term of derision for the singers employing their low, soothing voices in romantic songs. Similarly, to reinforce his romantic appeal, Colombo was called ‘Radio’s Valentino’ and ‘The Romeo of Song’.

Columbo’s mother was hospitalized by a heart attack at the time of the Russ’ death. The news was withheld from her by his brothers and sisters for the remaining ten years of her life. Due to her heart condition, it was feared that the news would prove fatal to her (she died in 1944). They used all manner of subterfuges to give the impression that Columbo was still alive, including faked letters from him and records used to simulate his radio program.

BING CROSBY

Crosby was he first multimedia star and a leader in record sales, radio ratings and movie grosses from 1931 to 1954.

His early career coincided with recording innovations that allowed him to develop the crooning style that influenced many male singers who followed him.

In 1948, American polls declared him the “most admired man alive”. That same year, Music Digest estimated that his recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music.

Crosby won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Father Chuck O’Malley in the 1944 feature movie ‘Going My Way’ and was nominated for his reprise of the role in The ‘Bells of St. Mary’s’ opposite Ingrid Bergman the next year, becoming the first of six actors to be nominated twice for playing the same character.

In 1963, Crosby received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award. He is one of 33 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the categories of motion pictures, radio, and audio recording.

Crosby influenced the development of the postwar recording industry. After seeing a demonstration of a German broadcast quality reel-to-reel tape recorder brought to America by John T. Mullin, he invested $50,000 in a California electronics company called Ampex to build copies. He then convinced ABC to allow him to tape his shows. He became the first performer to pre-record his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto magnetic tape. Through the medium of recording, he constructed his radio programs with the same directorial tools and craftsmanship (editing, retaking, rehearsal, time shifting) used in motion picture production, a practice that became an industry standard.

In addition to his work with early audio tape recording, he helped to finance the development of videotape, bought television stations, bred racehorses and co-owned a baseball team.

RUDY VALLEE

His given first name was Hubert. He named himself Rudy after saxophonist Rudy Wiedoeft. After enlisting in WW1 then being discharged for only being 15, he continued high school where he played drums. He then took up clarinet and saxophone, playing in bands around New England.

From 1924 to 1925 he played with the Savoy Havana Band at the Savoy Hotel in London, where band members discouraged his attempts to become a vocalist.

He returned to the United States, attending the University of Maine for a degree in philosophy from Yale University.

After graduation he formed Rudy Vallée and the Connecticut Yankees. With this band of two violins, two saxophones, a piano, a banjo and drums, he started singing. He had a thin, wavering tenor voice and seemed more at home singing sweet ballads than jazz songs. But his singing, suave manner, and boyish good looks attracted attention, especially from young women. Vallée was given a recording contract, and in 1928 he started performing on the radio.

He became one of the first crooners. Singers needed strong voices to fill theaters in the days before microphones. Crooners had soft voices that were suited to the intimacy of radio. Vallée’s trombone-like vocal phrasing on ‘Deep Night’ would inspire Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Perry Como to model their voices on jazz instruments.

Vallée was one of the first celebrity pop stars. Flappers pursued him wherever he went. His live appearances were usually sold out. Among screaming female fans, his voice failed to project in venues without microphones and amplification, so he often sang through a megaphone.

He was a fan of electronic instruments. He had a theremin in his band at one stage. He introduced the elctric banjo. He was instrumental in developing PA for singers.

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week is the very dated 1932 Looney Tunes cartoon Crosby, Colombo and Vallee’. Enjoy!

18 JUNE PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #391
107.3 2SER Tuesday 18 June 2019 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program: Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1	Dance Bands on 1939 Radio
Open + Change Partners + Say It Isn’t So + Back to Back	Jerry Livingstone and his Young Men of Manhattan	Miami Room New York City via WJSV CBS Washington DC 21 Sep 1939
Strange Enchantment	Joan Edwards (voc) Paul Whiteman Orchestra	‘Chesterfield Show’ WABC CBS NY 9 Aug 1939
Sweet and Lowdown + Close	Jimmy Walsh Orchestra	Sweets Oakland KQW San Franscisco 1939
Set 2	1950s Jazz on Radio
My Sweet Baby (theme) + Land of the Sky Blue Waters	Billy May Orchestra	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Palladium Ballroom KFI NBC LA 21 Dec 1953
Open + Without a Word of Warning	Arnett Cobb Orchestra	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 3 Jul 1952
Bohemia After Dark + Close	Marian McPartland	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Composers’ Club WRCA NBC NY 23 Apr 1956
Set 3	This is Jazz
Open + Everybody Loves My Baby	Wild Bill Davison	‘This is Jazz’ WOR Mutual NY 3 May 1947
Memphis Blues	George Brunies	‘This is Jazz’ WOR Mutual NY 17 May 1947
Tiger Rag + Close	Albert Nicholas	‘This is Jazz’ WOR Mutual NY 10 May 1947
Set 4	Crooners
Your Time Is My Time (theme) + Sweet Music	Rudy Vallee	‘Fleischmann Yeast Hour’ WEAF NBC Red NY 13 Dec 1934
Kissable Baby + I Cried For You	Bing Crosby	WABC CBS NY 7 Nov 1931
Rolling in Love + I’ve Had My Moments + I’m Dreaming	Russ Colombo	‘Hollywood on the Air’ KECA Los Angeles 15 Jul 1934
Set 5	Mod Women Singers on 1940s-50s Radio
Who Started Love?	Barbara Jane (voc) Boyd Raeburn Orchestra	Palace Hotel San Francisco KQW CBS SF 7 Aug 1945
Confess	Patti Page (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ The Click Philadelphia AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jun 1948
I’m Glad There’s You	Jackie Cain	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 1949
The Echo Said No	Rosalind Patton (voc) Eliot Lawrence Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 5 Dec 1947
Set 6	Ben Selvin Orchestra
Open + This Is The Missus	Ben Selvin Orchestra	‘Davis Musical Moments’ Radio Transcription New York City 1932
Too Many Tears	Ben Selvin Orchestra	‘Davis Musical Moments’ Radio Transcription New York City 1932
Cheers Up	Ben Selvin Orchestra	‘Davis Musical Moments’ Radio Transcription New York City 1932
Somebody Loves You + Close	Ben Selvin Orchestra	‘Davis Musical Moments’ Radio Transcription New York City 1932
Set 7	1930s – 40s Sweet Band Radio Transcriptions
Doodle Doo Doo (theme) + Candy	Art Kassel Orchestra (voc) Gloria Hart	Radio Transcription 1945
Heart and Soul	Blue Barron Orchestra (voc) Russ Carlisle	Radio Transcription 1938
All I Do Is Wantcha	Art Kassel Orchestra (voc) Gloria Hart and Trio	Radio Transcription 1945
You’re The Only Star in My Blue Heaven	Blue Barron Orchestra (voc) Russ Carlisle	Radio Transcription 1939
Set 8	1956-57 Rock’n’Roll Radio
Let’s Face It	Sam the Man Taylor Orchestra	‘Rock’n’Roll Party’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1957
Maybeline	Chuck Berry	‘Rock’n’Roll Party’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1956
I Almost Lost My Mind	Ivory Joe Hunter	‘Rock’n’Roll Party’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1957

Happy New Year! Wynn the Astrologer – 1 January 2019 Phantom Dancer

Your New Year’s Phantom Dancer is choc-a-bloc full of New Years swing and jazz from live 1936 – 1966 radio.

Presented by myself, Greg Poppleton, since 1985 on 107.3 2SER Sydney, the show is now re-broadcast over 24 stations of the Community Radio Network across Australia. Hear the show online from midday 1 January (AEST).

See the play list below.

This week’s featured ‘artist’ is Wynn the Astrologer…

SEER

This famous 1930s astrologer gives his prognostications for 1937 on this week’s Phantom Dancer. In fact, get ready for disappointment at the end of Set 1, where I play Wynn’s ‘wise words’ (and some musical excerpts) from the 1936 New Year’s Eve Rudy Vallee show.

You’ll hear most of what Wynn had to say about the year ahead. I cut it short for time. Think of the audience for the 1936 radio broadcast, they never got that time Wynn wasted back.

Wynn, born Sidney Kimball Bennett, wrote the stars for the New York Daily News. It seems he didn’t do it for a laugh. He was pompously serious about himself, as you’ll hear.

SPOOKY

His claim to fame was a prediction he made in the NY Daily News in 1932. He ‘foresaw’ financial turmoil for early March of 1933. That’s when President Roosevelt closed the banks for a week as the US struggled with the Great Depression.

UNCANNY

Wynn’s predictions for 1937 are typically vague, and, well, predictable. More interesting is just a short list of what actually happened in 1937 out of the trillions of things Wynn’s charts failed to predict…

• Safety glass in vehicle windscreens becomes mandatory in Great Britain
• Bradman scores 270 Aust v England at the MCG, incl 110 singles
• 2nd of Stalin‘s purge trials; Pyatakov & 16 others sentenced to death
• DuPont Corp patents nylon, developed by employee Wallace H Carothers
• Initial flight of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman’s Arrowbile
• Bradman scores 169 in 5th Test Cricket v England in 223 minutes
• Mexico nationalizes oil
• Pope Pius XI publishes anti-nazi-encyclical Mit brennender Sorge
• Astronomer Fritz Zwicky publishes his research on stellar explosion in which he coins the term “supernova” and hypothesizes that they were the origin of cosmic rays
• Spinach growers of Crystal City, Texas, erect statue of Popeye
• Debut of cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd & Petunia Pig
• German Luftwaffe destroys Basque town of Guernica in Spain
• 1st commercial flight across Pacific operated by Pan Am
• The Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% voted yes
• San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge opens
• Spam, the luncheon meat, is first introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation
• Japanese & Chinese troops clash at the Marco Polo Bridge, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War
• Buchenwald Concentration Camp opens
• Isolation of pituitary hormone announced (Yale University)
• 1st FM radio construction permit issued (W1X0J (WGTR) in Boston MA)
• Date celebrated as the first International Hobbit Day and the birthdays of Bibo and Frodo Baggins
• 1st Santa Claus Training School opens (Albion NY)
• Balinese Tiger declared extinct
• Dmitri Shostakovitch’s 5th Symphony premieres
• Clifford Odets’ “Golden Boy” premieres in NYC
• Japanese troops conquer and plunder Nanjing (Nanjing Massacre)
• Bill O’Reilly takes 9-41 for NSW against South Australia
• Constitution of Ireland (Irish: Bunreacht na hÉireann) is enacted and Irish free state is named Eire
• Pan Am starts service between San Francisco and Auckland, New Zealand

Here’s some footage of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman’s Arrowbile. How did Wynn miss this one? Probably the same way he missed foretelling his own 1926 car accident…(gosh, on today’s Phantom Dancer he warns Rudy Vallee to be ‘careful of cars’, spooky!)

31 DECEMBER 2018 PLAY LIST

Phantom Dancer 1 January 2019 107.3 2SER Sydney 12 – 2pm and Online CRN (Community Radio Network) Program #366 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) National Program ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1
New Years Eve Aboard An Ocean Liner	Raymond Scott Quintette	Comm Rec New York 21 Jul 1939
In The Mood	Glenn Miller Orchestra	‘Chesterfield Show’ WABC CBS NY 27 Dec 1939
Never Should Have Told You + Predictions for 1937 + Chim Bomba + Close	Rudy Vallee and Wynn the Astrologer	‘Royal Gelatin Show’ WEAF NBC Red NY 31 Dec 1936
Set 2
Open + Happy Holidays	Bing Crosby (voc) John Scott Trotter Orchestra	‘Kraft Music Hall’ KFI NBC LA 30 Dec 1943
Rhapsody In Blue (theme) + Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah	Paul Whiteman Orchestra and Chorus	‘The Paul Whiteman Show’ WJZ ABC NY 1 Jan 1947
Poinciana + Close	Bing Crosby (voc) John Scott Trotter Orchestra	‘Kraft Music Hall’ KFI NBC LA 30 Dec 1943
Set 3
Deep Forest (theme) + Dippermouth Blues + When The Saints Go Marching In + Tiger Rag	Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines	Club Hangover KCBS CBS San Francisco 1 Jan 1957
Set 4
Auld Lang Syne + Newport Up + Together + Maccarena + You Better Know It	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Grissom and Ozzie Bailey	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 1 Jan 1958
Set 5
Sad Sack	Harry James Orchestra (Hollywood)	‘New Year’s Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945
One O’Clock Jump	Count Basie Orchestra (New York)	‘New Year’s Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945
Warsaw Concerto	Freddy Martin Orchestra (Cocoanut Grove, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles)	‘New Year’s Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945
Woodchopper’s Ball	Woody Herman Orchestra (Meadowbrook Ballroom, Cedar Grove NJ)	‘New Year’s Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945
Set 6
Open + Stompin’ At The Savoy + Tea For Two	Teddy Wilson Trio	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ The Embers WRCA NBC NY 31 Dec 1957
Stompin’ Down Broadway + Opus 1 (close)	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WCBS CBS NY 1 Jan 1956
Set 7
Afterthoughts + Canadian Sunset + Soft Summer Breeze + The Man I Love + Begin The Beguine	Eddie Haywood Trio	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ The Embers WRCA NBC NY 31 Dec 1957
Set 8
Robin Hood	Louis Prima Orchestra (voc) LP	‘New Year’s Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945
Gotta Be This Or That	Benny Goodman Orchestra (with Slam Stewart b, Red Norvo vibes, Boston)	‘New Year’s Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945
Let The Zoomers Drool	Duke Ellington Orchestra (Evansville, Indiana)	‘New Year’s Dancing Party’ AFRS Hollywood 31 Dec 1945

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

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

Phantom Dancer 12 Dec 2017. One Good Turn Deserves Another

The first all-vinyl set on this week’s Phantom Dancer features singer Mildred Bailey.

You’ll hear her sing four songs from her own CBS radio show, “Music Till Midnight”, which ran from 1 September 1944 to 9 February 1945.

And below, this side of the play list and Video of the week, you can read how one good turn deserved another and launched two outstanding careers in jazz for Mildred Bailey and Bing Crosby.

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV. It’s presented by authentic 1920s-30s singer, Greg Poppleton

Hear the past four Phantom Dancers at radio 2ser.com

ONE GOOD TURN

Born Mildred Rinker, (Bailey was the surname of her first husband), Mildred was the older sister to two musical brothers, Al, a vocalist and composer, and Charles, a lyricist.

Al Rinker, was one of Paul Whitemam’s famous ‘Rhythm Boys’ vocal group, along with Harry Barris and Bing Crosby, in the late 1920s.

Mildred was already an established blues and jazz singer based in Los Angeles by 1925 when her brother Al, and his musical partner Bing Crosby, moved in with her to try their luck in music.

She help Al and Bing, who at that time was a drummer, get their first gigs.

She also introduced Crosby to jazz singers. She played him her collection of records by Louis Armstrong, Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith to get him started.

DESERVES ANOTHER

Four years later, When Bing Crosby was already successful with ‘The King of Jazz’ Paul Whiteman, Crosby in turn went out of his way to help Bailey.

He introduced her to Paul Whiteman at a house party. The Whiteman band, with Crosby, was in Los Angeles on tour.

Mildred sang at the party for Whiteman and was immediately hired. She then sang with Paul Whiteman’s band from 1929 to 1933.

When Bailey debuted on Paul Whiteman’s network radio show in 1929, singing “Moanin’ Low”, the favourable public reaction was, that she was an immediate star.

RADIO SHOW

Mildred Bailey had five network radio series of her own.

The broadcasts you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer are from her final series, “Music Till Midnight”.

She had been sick with diabetes and had come out of retirement to broadcast. Nonetheless, her voice is still strong, emotive, swinging and understated.

It is also a testimony to her standing as a singer and personality in the entertainment industry at that time, that she was also the announcer on her show. Enjoy!

TUNE

Now enjoy this 1938 Mildred Bailey version of Bob Hope’s theme tune, “Thanks For The Memory”.
It’s your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week-

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #293 107.3 2SER Tuesday 12 December 2017 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 Modern Jazz on 1950s Radio Open + Sweets Stan Kenton Orchestra ’Concert in Miniature’ WSOC NBC Charlotte NC 1952 Waldorf Mambo + Saving Bonds Ad Xavier Cugat Orchestra ’All-Star Parade of Bands’ Ramona Room Hotel Last Frontier NBC Las Vegas 30 Nov 1953 S’Wonderful + In The Still of the Night + Close Larry Green Orchestra Starlite Roof Hotel Chase KMOX CBS St Louis 1959 Set 2 Singers on the Air White Christmas Frank Sinatra ’Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 20 Dec 1947 The Nearness of You Sarah Vaughan ’Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 21 Apr 1952 Blue Velvet Arthur Prysock ’Music From Birdland’ Birdland 9 Sep 1952 Set 3 Philco Hour 1930-31 Let a Little Pleasure Interfere With Business Philco Orchestra ’Philco Hour’ WABC CBS NY 1930 Oh Boy! Oh Boy! I’ve Got It Bad Boswell Sisters ’Philco Hour’ WABC CBS NY 1931 Cinderella Brown Philco Orchestra ’Philco Hour’ WABC CBS NY 1930 Set 4 1940s Dance Bands Josephine Art Kassels and his Kassels-in-the-Air Blackhawk Restaurant WGN Chicago 1949 Valse Triste by Sibelius Russ Morgan Orchestra ’One Night Stand’ Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles AFRS Re-broadcast 28 Apr 1944 Flying Home Lionel Hampton Orchestra ’One Night Stand’ Aquarium Restaurant New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 1949 Set 5 Mildred Bailey Rocking Chair (theme) + Please Don’t Talk About Me While I’m Gone Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra ’Music Till Midnight’ WABC CBS NY 1944 I’m Beginning To See The Light Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra ’Music Till Midnight’ WABC CBS NY 19 Jan 1945 I Dream of You Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra ’Music Till Midnight’ WABC CBS NY 1944 Robin Hood Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra ’Music Till Midnight’ WABC CBS NY 12 Jan 1945 Set 6 Les Brown Dance of the Blue Devils (theme) + Spain Les Brown Orchestra Green Room Hotel Edison NY Aircheck 22 Nov 1938 Leap Frog (theme) + Floating Les Brown Orchestra ’One Night Stand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 28 Dec 1945 Coastin’ Along Les Brown Orchestra Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS Los Angeles 16 Aug 1945 Bizet Has His Day + Leap Frog (theme) Les Brown Orchestra Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WABC CBS NY 7 Jul 1944 Set 7 Original Crooners The Song is You Les Allen (voc) Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra Comm Rec London 4 Apr 1933 I Cried For You Bing Crosby WABC CBS New York City 7 Nov 1931 I Never Had a Chance Al Bowlly(voc) Ray Noble Orchestra ’Coty Hour’ WEAF NBC Red NY 13 Mar 1935 I’m Not Lazy, I’m Dreaming Russ Colombo ’Hollywood on the Air’ KECA NBC Blue Los Angeles 15 Jul 1934 Set 8 1930s Swing Bands Song of India Tommy Dorsey Orchestra ’Ford Show’ NBC Dallas Aug 1936 Every Tub + Song of the Wanderer Count Basie Orchestra ’America Dances’ Famous Door CBS NY/BBC London Jul 1938 Hurry Home Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Martha Tilton ’Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 3 Jan 1939 I Can’t Get Started (theme) + Sugar Foot Stomp Bunny Berrigan Orchestra Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Red Chicago Jul 1939

Bing, Bob, Martin & Lewis Raise Money For The 1952 US Olympic Team

Salutations Phantom Dancers,

Another humdinger of a show for you this week. Vincent Price introduces calypso pioneers Lord Invader & Lord Beginner, Bob Hope introduces Bing Crosby & The Andrew Sisters. Plus more 1940s Australian swing by George Trevare, Billy Cotton from London & Angelini from Rome

An Olympic Video Of The Week: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope (who gets very angry at the beginning – look at his face when he hits Jerry Lewis), Dean Martin, the aforementioned Jerry Lewis & John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra raising money to send the US team to the 1952 Helsinki Games

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show #8 2SER Tuesday 17 July 2012 12 noon – 1:30pm (+10 hours GMT) 2SER Saturday 21 July 2012 6 – 7:30pm (+10 hours GMT) Set 1 Aspetto Di Diretto Angelini e sua Orchestra (voc) Duo Fasano Comm Rec Rome 1949 Open + Babe Elmer Fain Orchestra ‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1944 The New York Subway & Shake Around Lord Invader & Lord Beginner ‘The World In Music’ AFRS Hollywood 1944 Film Noir Close Theme Unknown ‘The FBI In Peace And War’ AFRTS Re-broadcast Hollywood 1950s Set 2 Open + Baby & Me Louis Prima Orchestra Hickory House NY via WJSV CBS Washington DC 22 Sep 1939 Moon Over Miami Chevrolet Orchestra ‘Melody Moments’ Radio Transcription New York 1936 We’re Working Our Way Through College Rudy Vallee, Dorothy Lamour and Charlie McCarthy (voc) Robert Ambruster Orchestra ‘The Chase & Sanborn Hour’ KFI NBC Red LA 3 Oct 1937 Buckin’ The Wind + Close Ted Fio Rito Orchestra (voc) Jack Howard & The Three Blue Keys ‘Cocoanut Grove’ TRANSCO Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1934 Set 3 Where Or When Buddy Clark (voc) NBC May 1943 I’m Shooting High Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Helen Ward Joseph Urban Room Congress Hotel WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 20 Jan 1936 I’m Just Beginning To Care Bob Crosby Orchestra ‘Ford V8 Revue’ Radio Transcription New York 1936 Don’t Fence Me In Bing Crosby & The Andrew Sisters (voc) ‘Command Performance’ AFRS Hollywood 1945 Set 4 Dardanella Bunny Berrigan Orchestra Aircheck 22 Oct 1936 Open + Birmingham Special Glen Gray & The Casa Loma Orchestra ‘Spotlight Bands’ Columbus OH Mutual 19 Nov 1943 Open + Bensonality Duke Ellington Orchestra Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 20 Jul 1952 A Table In The Corner Artie Shaw Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WEAF NBC Red NY 20 Oct 1939 Set 5 Something’s The Matter with Me George Trevare Orchestra (voc) Johnny Fitzgerald Comm Rec Sydney 1943 St Louis Blues Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra ‘Music Till Midnight’ WABC CBS NY 1944 Blues In The Night Jimmy Lunceford Orchestra (voc) Trio ‘Spotlight Bands’ Jefferson Barracks Missouri Blue Network 25 Nov 1945 I Get The Blues When It Rains Les Paul Trio (voc) Peggy Lee ‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1946 Set 6 Rhythm Mad Billy Cotton Orchestra Comm Rec London 26 Mar 1935 Melancholy Lullaby (theme) + Old Man River Benny Carter Orchestra Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca KECA Blue Network Los Angeles 1944 Lullaby Of Birdland (theme) + Old Man River Lester Young Quintet Birdland WJZ ABC NY 5 Sep 1956