Paul Douglas Radio and Film Star – Phantom Dancer 21 March 2023

Paul Douglas, 1930s CBS announcer and later Broadway and Hollywood film star, is this week’s Phantom Dancer non-stop swing jazz feature artist. He opens this week’s show in a ‘Saturday Night Swing Club’ broadcast.

Greg Poppleton has been bringing you The Phantom Dancer, your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV, each week since 1985.

Hear The Phantom Dancer online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 21 March at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/ where you can also hear two years of archived shows.

The finyl hour is vinyl.

RADIO

Though Paul Douglas Fleischer performed in dramatics as a student at Yale, he first started in radio,

He began as an announcer for CBS radio station WCAU in Philadelphia, relocating to network headquarters WABC in New York in 1934. Douglas co-hosted CBS’s popular swing music program, The Saturday Night Swing Club, from 1936 to 1939. He was host and commercial pitchman for Chesterfield Cigarettes on swing band leader Glenn Miller‘s 1939-42 CBS radio series.

BROADWAY

Paul Douglas made his Broadway debut in 1936 as the Radio Announcer in Doty Hobart and Tom McKnight’s Double Dummy at the John Golden Theatre. In 1946 he won both a Theatre World Award and a Clarence Derwent Award for his portrayal of Harry Brock in Garson Kanin‘s Born Yesterday.

HOLLYWOOD

Douglas began appearing in films in 1949. He may be best remembered for two baseball comedy movies, It Happens Every Spring (1949) and Angels in the Outfield (1951). He also played Richard Widmark‘s police partner in the 1950 thriller Panic in the Streets, frustrated newlywed Porter Hollingsway in A Letter to Three Wives (1949), Sgt. Kowalski in The Big Lift (1950), businessman Josiah Walter Dudley in Executive Suite (1954) and a con man-turned-monk in When in Rome (1952). Douglas was host of the 22nd annual Academy Awards in March 1950. Continuing in radio, he was the announcer for The Ed Wynn Show, and the first host of NBC Radio’s The Horn & Hardart Children’s Hour. In April 1959 Douglas appeared on The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show as Lucy Ricardo’s television morning show co-host in the episode “Lucy Wants a Career”.

Douglas starred in Clash by Night in 1952 with Barbara Stanwyck.

Douglas was originally cast in the 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone called “The Mighty Casey“, a role written for him by Rod Serling based on his character in Angels in the Outfield. Douglas died the day after production of the episode had been completed. He had been in his last stages of illness during filming, and his severe physical state was apparent on film. (The crew incorrectly assumed that his condition was the result of heavy drinking.) The episode – which was a comedy – was deemed unairable. It was, however, resurrected some months later, and Douglas’s scenes were re-shot with Jack Warden.

Film director Billy Wilder and his longtime co-writer I. A. L. (‘Izzy’) Diamond had just offered Douglas the role of Jeff Sheldrake in the 1960 movie The Apartment that went to Fred MacMurray instead. Wilder later said: “I saw him and his wife, Jan Sterling, at a restaurant, and I realized he was perfect, and I asked him right there in the parking lot. About two days before we were to start, he had a heart attack and died. Iz and I were shattered.”

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

A trailer from the 1950s US/UK sci fi shlocker, ‘The Gamma People’, starring Paul Douglas and Leslie Phillips. Enjoy!

Make sure you come back to this blog, Greg Poppleton’s Radio Lounge, every Tuesday, for the newest Phantom Dancer play list and Video of the Week!

21 March PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #590
107.3 2SER Tuesday 21 March 2023 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Swing on 1930s Radio
Open + Panamania	Leith Stevens Orchestra	‘Saturday Night Swing Club’ WABC CBS NY 12 Jun 1937
Naila (Delibes)	Arnold Johnson Orchestra	Comm Rec (unissued) Variety Records New York City 26 May 1937
RCA Radio Ad + Wolverine Blues + Study In Brown (theme)	Larry Clinton Orchestra	‘RCA Campus Club’ Glen Island Casino New Rochelle WEAF NBC Red NY 2 Jul 1938
Set 2	Latin Sounds on 1946-53 Radio
Open + Chiu Chiu	Desi Arnez Orchestra	Ciro’s KNX CBS LA 1946
Bolero	Sergio Torres Orchestra (voc) unannounced woman singer	‘Chicklets Program’ XEW Mexico City 1949
Chi sas? Chi sas?	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Last Frontier NBC Las Vegas 30 Nov 1953
Set 3	1943-44 Swing Radio
Joshua	Richard Himber Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Aniston, Alabama Blue Network 13 Nov 1943
I’ve Got You Under My Skin	Leo Reisman Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ National Press Club Washington DC Blue Network 23 Jan 1943
I Got Rhythm + Close	Lenny Conn Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Los Angeles AFRS Re-broadcast 1949
Set 4	Special Music Programs
First Movement	Morton Gould Orchestra	‘American Symphonette No. 3’ WOR MBS/CBC New York City 1939
Open + I’ve Got Rhythm + Money Money (calypso)	Lucky Millinder Orchestra with Noble Sissle and the Hall Sisters	‘Swingtime At The Savoy’ WNBC NBC NY 28 Jul 1948
Circle of Fourths + Jam With Sam	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘Ravinia Festival’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1 Jul 1957
Set 5	1939 Radio Singers
We Three	Johnny Messner Orchestra (voc) Johnny Messner	Radio Transcription New York City 1939
Stairway To The Stars	Teddy Wilson Orchestra (voc) Thelma Carpenter	‘America Dances’ CBS NY / BBC London 1939
From The Bottom Of My Heart	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Frank Sinatra	‘America Dances’ CBS NY / BBC London 19 Jul 1939
Chew, Chew Your Bubblegum	Chick Webb Orchestra (voc) Ella Fitzgerald	Southland Cafe WNAC NBC Boton 4 May 1939
Set 6	Traditional Jazz on 1939 – 1951 Radio
Way Down Yonder In New Orleans (theme) + Maple Leaf Rag	Wild Bill Davison	‘This Is Jazz’ WOR Mutual NY 19 Apr 1947
You’re Driving Me Crazy	Bob Crosby Bobcats	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 18 Jul 1939
Snag It	Henry ‘Red’ Allen Dixielanders	‘Doctor Jazz’ Stuyvesant Casino WMGM NY 1950
There’ll Be Some Changes Made + I Would Do Anything For You	Eddie Condon Group (voc) Red McKenzie	‘Eddie Condon Town Hall Jazz Concert’ Town Hall WJZ Blue NY 16 Sep 1944
Set 7	Benny Goodman On The Air
The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise	Benny Goodman Quintet	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Re-broadcast Jan 1948
Clarinade	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Meadowbrook Gardens Culver City Ca KECA ABC LA 26 Jan 1946
Sweet Georgia Brown	Benny Goodman Quintet	‘Spotlight Bands’ Springfield Mass. Blue Network 29 Sep 1943
Jack Benny-Gary Cooper Skit + One O’Clock Jump	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Jack Benny Show’ WEAF NBC NY 13 Dec 1942
Set 8	Modern Sounds on 1940s-50s Radio
Romance Without Finance	Tiny Grimes Quintet (voc) Tiny Grimes	Comm Rec 15 Sep 1944
Hot House	Barry Ulanov’s All Star Modern Jazz Musicians	‘Bands For Bonds’ WOR MBS NY 13 Sep 1947
Painted Rhythm	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 27 Nov 1945
Fine and Dandy	Slim Gaillard Quintet	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WJZ ABC NY 2 Jun 1951

Diligent Practice Creates New Style – Phantom Dancer 10 May 2022

Charlie Parker is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. Charlie Parker was an influential alto sax soloist and key in the development of bebop. He said that he spent three to four years practicing up to 15 hours a day in the mid-1930s. And it was while practicing and experimenting on his alto sax in 1939 that he created his unique sound.

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 10 May) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

TAKING THE KNOCKS

Parker said that he spent three to four years practicing up to 15 hours a day in the mid 1930s

Bands led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten certainly influenced Parker. He played with local bands in jazz clubs around Kansas City, Missouri, where he perfected his technique, with the assistance of Buster Smith, whose dynamic transitions to double and triple time influenced Parker’s developing style.

In late spring 1936, Parker played at a jam session at the Reno Club in Kansas City. His attempt to improvise failed when he lost track of the chord changes. This prompted Jo Jones, the drummer for Count Basie’s Orchestra, to contemptuously take a cymbal off of his drum set and throw it at his feet as a signal to leave the stage.

Rather than discouraging Parker, the incident caused him to vow to practice harder, and turned out to be a seminal moment in the young musician’s career.

BEBOP

One night in 1939, Charlie Parker was playing “Cherokee” in a practice session with guitarist William “Biddy” Fleet when he hit upon a method for developing his solos that enabled one of his main musical innovations.

He realized that the 12 semitones of the chromatic scale can lead melodically to any key, breaking some of the confines of simpler jazz soloing.

He recalled: “I was jamming in a chili house on Seventh Avenue between 139th and 140th. It was December 1939. Now I’d been getting bored with the stereotyped changes that were being used all the time at the time, and I kept thinking there’s bound to be something else. I could hear it sometimes but I couldn’t play it … Well, that night I was working over ‘Cherokee’ and, as I did, I found that by using the higher intervals of a chord as a melody line and backing them with appropriately related changes, I could play the thing I’d been hearing. I came alive.”

STYLE

Parker’s style of composition involved interpolation of original melodies over existing jazz forms and standards, a practice known as contrafact and still common in jazz today. Examples include “Ornithology” (which borrows the chord progression of jazz standard “How High the Moon” and is said to be co-written with trumpet player Little Benny Harris), and “Moose The Mooche” (one of many Parker compositions based on the chord progression of “I Got Rhythm“).

The practice was not uncommon prior to bebop, but it became a signature of the movement as artists began to move away from arranging popular standards and toward composing their own material. Perhaps Parker’s most well-known contrafact is “Koko,” which is based on the chord changes of the popular bebop tune “Cherokee,” written by Ray Noble.

While tunes such as “Now’s The Time”, “Billie’s Bounce“, “Au Privave“, “Barbados”, “Relaxin’ at Camarillo”, “Bloomdido“, and “Cool Blues” were based on conventional 12-bar blues changes, Parker also created a unique version of the 12-bar blues for tunes such as “Blues for Alice“, “Laird Baird”, and “Si Si.” These unique chords are known popularly as “Bird Changes“. Like his solos, some of his compositions are characterized by long, complex melodic lines and a minimum of repetition, although he did employ the use of repetition in some tunes, most notably “Now’s The Time”.

Parker contributed greatly to the modern jazz solo, one in which triplets and pick-up notes were used in unorthodox ways to lead into chord tones, affording the soloist more freedom to use passing tones, which soloists previously avoided. Parker was admired for his unique style of phrasing and innovative use of rhythm.

Other well-known Parker compositions include “Ah-Leu-Cha“, “Anthropology”, co-written with Gillespie, “Confirmation”, “Constellation”, “Moose the Mooche“, “Scrapple from the Apple” and “Yardbird Suite“, the vocal version of which is called “What Price Love”, with lyrics by Parker.

Miles Davis once said, “You can tell the history of jazz in four words: Louis Armstrong. Charlie Parker”.

10 MAY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #544
107.3 2SER Tuesday 10 May 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 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 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 – 7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	1930s Swing Radio
Sugar Foot Stomp	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Madhattan Room Pennsylvania Hotel WOR Mutual NYC 21 Oct 1937
They Say	Artie Shaw Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WABC CBS NYC 1 Dec 1938
Study in Blue	Larry Clinton Orchestra	Coconut Grove Hotel Park Central WEAF NBC Red NY 7 Jul 1939
Shine on Harvest Moon	Artie Shaw Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WABC CBS NYC 1 Dec 1938
Set 2	Ted Fio Rito
Theme + The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers	Vincent Valsanti aka Ted Fio Rito Orchestra	Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1934
Blue Danube Waltz	Vincent Valsanti aka Ted Fio Rito Orchestra	Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1934
Your Head on My Shoulders	Vincent Valsanti aka Ted Fio Rito Orchestra (voc) Jack Howard	Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1934
Carioca + Theme	Vincent Valsanti aka Ted Fio Rito Orchestra	Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1934
Set 3	1935-41 Paris Radio
Radio Cite ID + Open + C’est Gentil	Ray Ventura et ses Collegiens	Poste Parisien 1935
Swing Festival ’41	Django Reinhardt, Aime Barelli, Alix Combelle and more	Radio Paris 26 Dec 1940
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes + All I Do The Whole Day Through Is Dream of You + Close	Guy Berry + Charlotte Duvier & Charles Trenet	‘Le Enfante Terrible’ Poste Parisien 1935
Set 4	Charlie Parker
Cool Blues	Charlie Parker	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WCOP Boston 1954
Interview	Charlie Parker	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Hi Hat Club WCOP Boston 1954
Scrapple From the Apple	Charlie Parker	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WCOP Boston 1954
Interview + Out of Nowhere + Jumpin’ with Symphony Sid	Charlie Parker	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Hi Hat Club WCOP Boston 1954
Set 5	1950s Swing
Open + Opus #1	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Statler Hotel WRCA NBC NYC Dec 1955
Moonlight in Vermont	Claude Thornhill Orchestra (voc) Patty Ryan	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRS Re-broadcast 19 Jun 1955
Jackpot	Harry James Orchestra	Aragon Ballroom WMAQ NBC Chicago 20 Jun 1954
Four Brothers	Woody Herman Octet	Blue Room Hotel Roosevelt WWL CBS New Orleans 10 Dec 1951
Set 6	1939 -1943 Radio Transcriptions
History of Music	Horace Heidt Orchestra (voc) Horace Heidt	Radio Transcription 1943
It’s a Hundred to One	Johnny Messner Orchestra (voc) Jeanne D’arcy and Trio	Radio Transcription 1939
I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now?	Horace Heidt Orchestra (voc) Horace Heidt	Radio Transcription 1943
Day In, Day Out + Can’t We Be Friends (theme)	Johnny Messner Orchestra	Radio Transcription 1939
Set 7	1929 Radio
Blue Melody Blues	Tiny Praham Orchestra	Comm Rec Chicago 1 Feb 1929
Am I Blue + Liza	Dixie Two-Steppers	Radio Transcription 1929
Harvey	Hoagy Carmichael and The Hotsy Totsy Gang	‘Brunswick Brevities’ Radio Transcription Oct 1929
Royal Garden Blues + Close	Ray Miller Orchestra	‘Sunny Meadows’ Radio Transcription Chicago Jan 1929
Set 8	1950s-60s Jazz radio
High Falutin’	Gene Krupa Trio	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 13 Mar 1959
Seventh Heaven	Oscar Pettiford	Birdland WABC ABC NYC 26 May 1957
I Want a Little Girl + Bernie’s Tune	Charlie Shavers	London House WBBM CBS Chicago May 1962

Mabel King – Phantom Dancer 3 May 2022

Mabel King, r’n’b singer, actor in film, TV and Broadway 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 3 May) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

MABEL KING

Mabel Elizabeth King was raised in Harlem, New York where she became a gospel and nightclub singer.

She sang on Alan Freed’s Rock’n’Roll Dance Party on CBS radio in 1956, backed by Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor. The songs she sang were her current hits and you’ll hear them on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

Mabel sang on four releases:
1. “Alabama Rock’n’Roll” (RAMA Records, 1956)
2. “Mabel King With The Royal Sita Chorus – Symbol Of Love / Second Hand Love” (RAMA Records, 1956)
3. “Go Back Home Young Fella/Lefty” (Amy Records, 1962)
4. “When We Get The Word / Love” (Amy Records, 1962)

BROADWAY

Mabel began acting in her mid thirties, in 1966, when she played the role of Maria in the national touring play of Porgy and Bess. The following year she played the role of Ernestina in the Broadway musical/comedy Hello, Dolly!. Then in 1972, she appeared in the Broadway musical Don’t Play Us Cheap. The following year, she appeared in the film version of the play. That same year, she played the Queen of Myrthia in the horror film Ganja & Hess. In January 1975, she played the role of Evilene, the Wicked Witch of the West in the all-African-American cast of the Broadway musical The Wiz. The role earned her a Drama Desk Award nomination for outstanding featured actress in a musical.

FILM AND TV

Her performance in The Wiz brought her much attention and soon after she received roles in the films The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, with Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones, and Scott Joplin, with Billy Dee Williams and Clifton Davis. In June 1980, King returned to stage work, starring in the Broadway musical It’s So Nice to Be Civilized. However, the show did poorly and closed after eight performances.

In 1976, Mabel was offered the role of Mabel Thomas in the sitcom What’s Happening!!. Her character often used the catch phrase “This is true”, which she said to her children when she tried to prove a point to them. King played the role from 1976 to 1978, but due to disagreements with the direction the creators wanted to take the series, she left What’s Happening!! in 1978 after two seasons.

That same year, she reprised the role of Evillene for the 1978 film version of The Wiz. It was the second time in her career that she appeared in a movie after being in the stage version, the first being Don’t Play Us Cheap.

In 1979 she appeared in the film The Jerk as the mother to Steve Martin‘s character. King received mostly guest spots on television series including Fantasy Island, The Jeffersons, Amazing Stories and Tales from the Darkside. In between, she signed on with then Hollywood agent Ruben Malaret, who negotiated her reprised role of Mama Johnson in the made-for-TV movie The Jerk, Too (1984). Her last two movie roles were Scrooged (1988) starring Bill Murray and Dead Men Don’t Die (1990) starring Elliott Gould.

3 MAY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #543
107.3 2SER Tuesday 3 May 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 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 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 – 7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Gi Jive
Theme + I Found a New Baby	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘GI Jive’ AFRS Hollywood 1945
On the Sunny Side of the Street	Lionel Hampton Orchestra	‘GI Jive’ AFRS Hollywood 1945
Goodnight Wherever You Are	Jo Stafford	‘GI Jive’ AFRS Hollywood 1945
Old John Silver + Close	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestr	‘GI Jive’ AFRS Hollywood 1945
Set 2	Beat the Band
Theme + You’re a Lucky Guy	Ted Weems Orchestra	‘Beat the Band’ WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 28 Jan 1940
At the Balalaika	Ted Weems Orchestra (voc) Perry Como	‘Beat the Band’ WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 28 Jan 1940
Monstro the Whale	Ted Weems Orchestra (voc) Marvel Maxwell and Red Ingle	‘Beat the Band’ WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 28 Jan 1940
Stop, It’s Wonderful + Theme	Ted Weems Orchestra	‘Beat the Band’ WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 28 Jan 1940
Set 3	The Waggoneers
Theme + Corn Silk	The Waggoneers	The Glass House Graemere Hotel WLS ABC Chicago 26 Jul 1947
Rhythm of the Rhumba	The Waggoneers	The Glass House Graemere Hotel WLS ABC Chicago 26 Jul 1947
Chi Baba, Chi Baba	The Waggoneers	The Glass House Graemere Hotel WLS ABC Chicago 26 Jul 1947
Medley: Illusion + Temptation + Theme	The Waggoneers	The Glass House Graemere Hotel WLS ABC Chicago 26 Jul 1947
Set 4	Mabel King
Theme + Let’s Face It	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NYC 24 Jul 1956
Alabama Rock’n’Roll	Mabel King	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NYC 11 Sep 1956
Second Hand Love	Mabel King	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NYC 1932
Little Skip + Theme	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NYC 24 Jul 1956
Set 5	Marx Brothers
Hollywood Agents	Groucho and Chico Marx with raymond Paige Orchestra	‘The Marx Brothers’ Show’ KNX CBS LA 1938
Set 6	Slow 1940s Swing Radio
Massenet’s Elegy	Charlie Spivak Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA Apr 1948
Meditation from Thais	Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Jefferson Barracks Missouri Blue Network 23 Nov 1945
Day by Day	Buddy Rich Orchestra (voc) Dottie Reid	‘Spotlight Bands’ Quonset, Rhode Is Mutual Network 25 Jan 1946
Set 7	1930s Radio Dance Bands
I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter + Christopher Columbus	Fats Waller	‘The Magic Key’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 24 May 1936
Midnight (theme) + On the Good Ship Lollipop	Joe Haymes Orchestra	Grill Room Hotel McAlpin WABC CBS NY 29 Jan 1935
Sugar	Lee Wiley	Jam Session St Regis Hotel NYC BBC London 5 Nov 1938
Got a Date with an Angel	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis	Lady Esther Serenade WEAF NBC Red NY 26 Aug 1936
Set 8	1950s-60s Jazz radio
High Falutin’	Gene Krupa Trio	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 13 Mar 1959
Seventh Heaven	Oscar Pettiford	Birdland WABC ABC NYC 26 May 1957
I Want a Little Girl + Bernie’s Tune	Charlie Shavers	London House WBBM CBS Chicago May 1962

Ahad Duo Sydney Hawaiian Music – Phantom Dancer 19 April 2022

The Ahad Duo, 1920s-30s Sydney Hawaiian Duo, 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 19 April) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

AHAD DUO

Ahad Duo, Victoria Ahad aka (Mim) and Jack Campbell, husband and wife played shows around Sydney Australia in the late 20s and early 30s.

They were regular broadcasters over Broadcasters’ Limited’s 2BL station in Sydney (taken over by the ABC in 1932) from 1925-33, relayed to 2HL Newcastle and 4QG Brisbane.

Here is Victoria and Jack Campbell with one another unidentified musician in the 1920s…

‘Snuggle’ and ‘Home’ which you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer, and in the video above, is their only known recording to survive.

It was recorded in 1932. Beryl Newell accompanied them on piano. This suggests to me that the record was made at the Columbia Graphophone studios in Homebush, Sydney, where Beryl was a session pianist.

Here is a photo of Victoria Ahad from a 1931 edition of the Wireless Weekly…

Snuggle and Home are rare recordings remastered and sent to The Phantom Dancer by grandson of the Ahad Duo, Kristian Kriesel.

In the Ahad Duo,
Jack Cambell: Acoustic Guitar, Lap Steel Guitar and Electric Lap Steel (some years later) and Vocals
Victoria Ahad Cambell: Piano, Piano Accordion, Ukulele, Vocals.

Victoria was a classically trained opera singer. Her background was Lebanese. Ahad was her surname before she married Jack Cambell, who was Anglo-Australian. They jammed with Pacific islanders.

They played mainly around Sydney in the late 20s – early 30s and were based in the Sydney inner city suburb of Balmain.

Jack Cambell died in the late 1950s. Victoria died in the late 1960s.

Music has been passed down through the generations, with one of Jack and Victoria’s, Kristian Kriesel being an ambient musician who has performed live on 2SER.

A photo album picture of Victoria Ahad…

19 APRIL PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #541
107.3 2SER Tuesday 19 April 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 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 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 – 7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	1948-59 Jazz Radio
Little Joe From Chicago + Boogie a la King	Nat King Cole Trio	Radio Transcription 1959
Night Flight	George Shearing	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NYC 2 Jul 1952
Mambo the Most	Woody Herman Third Herd	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Peony Park WOW NBC Omaha 1948
Set 2	1930s Radio
Sunrise Serenade	Freddy Monroe aka Frankie Masters Orchestra	‘Streamlined Interlude’ WJSV CBS Washington DC 21 Sep 1939
The More I Know + Robins and Roses	Clint Noble Orchestra (voc) Trio	WENR NBC Chicago 3 Jul 1936
I’ll Remember	Louis Prima Orchestra (voc) Louis Prima	Hickory House WABC CBS NYC 22 Sep 1939
Set 3	Friendly Five
I’ve Got Five Dollars (theme) + It’s The Girl + Sweet and Lovely	Freddy Rich Orchestra (voc) Freddy Rich	‘Friendly Five Footnotes’ Radio Transcription NYC 1931
Talk on Light Planes	Casey Jones	‘Friendly Five Footnotes’ Radio Transcription NYC 1931
It’s Great To Be in Love + I’ve Got Five Dollars (theme)	Freddy Rich Orchestra	‘Friendly Five Footnotes’ Radio Transcription NYC 1931
Set 4	Ahad Duo
Little Fugue + Accordeana	Magnati Quartet	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NYC 23 Jun 1941
Fletcher’s Folly	Henry Levine	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NYC 23 Jun 1941
Snuggle	Ahad Duo	Comm Rec Sydney 1932
Home	Ahad Duo	Comm Rec Sydney 1932
Set 5	Eddie Condon
Easter Parade	Eddie Condon	‘Eddie Conlon Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NYC 23 Sep 1944
Cricket Jumps	Eddie Condon	‘Eddie Conlon Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NYC 23 Sep 1944
Relaxin’ at the Touro	Eddie Condon	‘Eddie Conlon Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NYC 23 Sep 1944
It’s the Talk of the Town	Eddie Condon (voc) Red McKenzie	‘Eddie Conlon Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NYC 27 Jan 1945
Set 6	Fats Waller
Ain’t Misbehavin’	Fats Waller	‘Personally, It’s Off the Record’ WABC CBS NY 23 Sep 1943
There’s a Girl in my Life	Fats Waller	‘Personally, It’s Off the Record’ WABC CBS NY 23 Sep 1943
Honeysuckle Rose	Fats Waller	‘Personally, It’s Off the Record’ WABC CBS NY 23 Sep 1943
Set 7	1930s English Dance Bands
Love is the Sweetest Thing	Ambrose and his Orchestra (voc) Sam Browne	Comm Rec London 28 Oct 1932
I’ll Never Say “Never Again” Again	Billy Cotton Orchestra (voc) Chips Chipendall	Comm Rec London 17 Aug 1935
Let’s Put Out the Lights and Go to Sleep	Ambrose and his Orchestra (voc) Sam Browne and Elsie Carlisle	Comm Rec London 28 Oct 1932
Every Little Tingle in My Heart	Billy Cotton Orchestra (voc) Chips Chipendall	Comm Rec London 17 Aug 1935
Set 8	1950s-60s Jazz radio
High Falutin’	Gene Krupa Trio	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 13 Mar 1959
Seventh Heaven	Oscar Pettiford	Birdland WABC ABC NYC 26 May 1957
I Want a Little Girl + Bernie’s Tune	Charlie Shavers	London House WBBM CBS Chicago May 1962

Bob Crosby and Machito – 12 April 2022

Bob Crosby is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist, in broadcasts from 1937 – 41. You’ll also hear live 1950 radio featuring Afro-Cuban jazz by Machito. See the play list below.

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 12 April) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

BOB CROSBY

Bob Crosby is an unusual figure in the history of show business. While he had a brother, Bing, who was one of the biggest names in the business, (the first multimedia star, leader in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture grosses from 1930 to 1954), Bob was both similar enough and different enough not to be overshadowed. They could even work together sharing the same self-effacing and laid-back wit.

Hear how Bob and Bing’s voices and personalities blend in this 1950 aircheck of ‘Let’s Do It Again’…

12 APRIL PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #540
107.3 2SER Tuesday 12 April 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 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 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 – 7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Anson Weeks 1932 Radio
Theme + Let’s Fly Away	Anson Weeks Orchestra (voc) Bill Moreling	Radio Transcription San Francisco 1932
Medley	Anson Weeks Orchestra	Radio Transcription San Francisco 1932
Who’s Your Little Who Zis?	Anson Weeks Orchestra (voc) Bill Moreling	Radio Transcription San Francisco 1932
Set 2	Duke Ellington 1952 Radio
Theme + Bensonality	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 30 Jul 1952
All of Me + Bakiff	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Bette Roche	Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 30 Jul 1952
Set 3	Early Cab Calloway Records
Jitterbug	Cab Calloway Orchestra (voc) CC	Comm Rec NYC 22 Jan 1934
Lady With a Fan	Cab Calloway Orchestra (voc) CC	Comm Rec NYC 1933
Doin’ The Rhumba	Cab Calloway Orchestra (voc) CC	Comm Rec NYC 3 Mar 1931
Set 4	Bob Crosby
Theme + Boogie Woogie Maxixe	Bob Crosby Orchestra	Blackhawk WGN Mutual Chicago 29 Apr 1940
Theme + In A Minor Mood + Dogtown Blues	Bob Crosby Orchestra	Swing Concert Congress Hotel WMAQ NBC red Chicago 18 May 1937
It’s You, You, Darling	Bob Crosby Orchestra (voc) Marian Mann	Terrace Room Hotel New Yorker WOR Mutual NY 25 Mar 1940
Smokey Mary + Close	Bob Crosby Orchestra	Aircheck 23 May 1942
Set 5	African Rhythms
Field Recordings	Various	‘Biography in Rhythm’ WRCA NBC NY Jun 1955
Afro-Cuban Suite	Machito and his Afro-Cuban Band	‘Biography in Rhythm’ WRCA NBC NY Jun 1955
Set 6	Machito
Theme + Carambola	Machito and his Afro-Cuban Band (voc) Machito & Graziella	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 1951
Cao Cao	Machito and his Afro-Cuban Band (voc) Graziella	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 1951
Tanga	Machito and his Afro-Cuban Band with Zoot Sims	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 1951
Set 7	Leonid Utesov
Komsommol	Leonid Utesov and the RSFSR Orchestra	Melodia Records Moscow 1942
Mishka Odesset	Leonid Utesov and the RSFSR Orchestra	Melodia Records Moscow 1942
Baron von der Pshek	Leonid Utesov and the RSFSR Orchestra	Melodia Records Moscow 1943
Aosha	Leonid Utesov and daughter and the RSFSR Orchestra	Melodia Records Moscow 1943
Set 8	1940s Bop Radio
Low Ceiling	Beryl Booker	‘Jazz Club USA’ Voice of America 1951
I Wished on the Moon	Beryl Booker	‘Jazz Club USA’ Voice of America 1951
Mischevious Lady + The Moors	Melba Liston	‘Jazz Club USA’ Voice of America 1951
I’ve Got The World on a String + Close	Hazel Scott	‘Jazz Club USA’ Voice of America 1951

Teddy Powell Flash in Pan – Phantom Dancer 5 April 2022

Teddy Powell (Teodoro Paolella) is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. For a few weeks in 1939 he lead one of the most popular big bands in swing. But when he went out on the road, the crowds stopped coming.

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 5 April) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

Also, there’s a couple of 1931-32 Gogo DeLys radio vocals on this week’s show. Hear The Phantom Dancer Gogo DeLys special and read her story here

TEDDY POWELL

Teddy Powell first learned the violin aged 8.

He picked up the banjo when he was 14.

Then he led his first band at 15.

Trained at the San Francisco Music Conservatory and Heald’s Business College in Oakland, California.

Powell worked with Lou Singer and Ray West (1927) before joining Abe Lyman’s Orchestra as guitarist, violinist, banjoist, vocalist and arranger. He stayed with Lyman until 1934.

Teddy Powell the  worked on the business side of the music business, organizing radio bands.

In late 1938, he put together his own big band.

SUCCESS

For a brief period in 1939, Teddy Powell led one of the top big bands in jazz. With an ensemble full of top musicians, Powell had a very successful six-week run at the Famous Door in New York. Powell bragged that he had done in a short time what it taken Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey years to accomplish. But once he took his band on the road, the lack of name recognition resulted in small crowds, money began to be lost and the more notable sidemen left for other lucrative jobs.

After its initial success and difficulties on the road, the Teddy Powell Orchestra managed to survive as a second-level band for several years. A disastrous fire at the Rustic Cabin in New Jersey in Oct. 1941 resulted in the orchestra losing all its instruments but Powell was able to keep the big band (which underwent a lot of turnover) going into 1944 although not recording anything after 1942.

Earlier editions of the band made swinging recordings for Decca and Bluebird. Among Powell‘s sidemen through the years were clarinetist Gus Bivona, pianist Tony Aless, clarinetist Irving Fazola, tenor-saxophonist Charlie Ventura and trumpeter Pete Candoli. After his big band’s breakup, Powell concentrated on composing and arranging.

He wrote many popular songs, including “Take Me Back to My Boots and Saddles” (ASCAP Award 1935), “March Winds and April Showers”, “Unsuspecting Heart”, “Bewildered”, “If My Heart Could Only Talk” and “I Couldn’t Believe My Eyes”.

TEE PEE

His theme song was “Blue Sentimental Mood”.

One of Powell’s vocalists was future TV star Gene Barry.

Powell dodged the military draft during World War II by bribing a clerk to delay his induction. He consequently served five months of a 15-months jail sentence for “conspiracy to evade military service”.

Powell reorganised and led several orchestras until 1953. Then he quit the big band scene and worked in music publishing for his own company, Tee Pee Music Inc..

5 APRIL PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #539
107.3 2SER Tuesday 5 April 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 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 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 – 7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Glenn Miller
Theme + Glowworm	Frankis Carle Orchestra	‘The Summer Electric Hour’ KNX CBS LA 13 Jun 1948
Every Day of My Life	Eddie Oliver Orchestra (voc) Sheri Carroll	‘Spotlight Bands’ AFRS Re-broadcast 14 Aug 1944
Personality + Close	Sy Oliver Orchestra	‘Endorsed by Dorsey’ WOR Mutual NY 3 Mar 1946
Set 2	1929 Radio
On The Alamo	Red Nichols Orchestra (voc) Scrappy Lambert	‘Brunswick Brevities’ Radio Transcription New York 27 Aug 1929
Sittin’ and Whittlin’	Coon-Sanders Nighthawks (voc) Joe Sanders	‘Maytag Frolics’ Radio Transctiption Chicago 1 Mar 1929
In the Deep Low South	Coon-Sanders Nighthawks (voc) Carleton Coon	‘Maytag Frolics’ Radio Transctiption Chicago 1 Mar 1929
Yours Sincerely	Eskimo Pie Orchestra	‘Eskimo Pie Program’ Radio Transcription New York Jul 1929
Set 3	Mod Jazz
Open + I Love You	Herbie Fields Septet	‘Stars on Parade’ Radio Transcription New York 1951
Tenderly	Sarah Vaughan	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WRCA NBC NYC 1952
Mean to Me	Sarah Vaughan	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WRCA NBC NYC 1952
Circle of Fourths + Jam with Sam	Duke Ellington	‘Ravinia Festival’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1 Jul 1957
Set 4	Teddy Powell
I Found a New Baby	Teddy Powell Orchestra	The Famous Door WJSV CBS Washington DC 21 Sep 1939
For You, To You	Teddy Powell Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Blair	The Famous Door WJSV CBS Washington DC 21 Sep 1939
Well, All Right	Teddy Powell Orchestra (voc) Ruth Gaylor and Band	The Famous Door WJSV CBS Washington DC 21 Sep 1939
Chinese Lullaby + Close	Teddy Powell Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Blair	The Famous Door WJSV CBS Washington DC 21 Sep 1939
Set 5	Dorsey Brothers
Too Young to Go Steady	Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra (voc) Dolly Houston	Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WCBS CBS NYC 1956
Studio 50	Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WCBS CBS NYC 1956
Let’s Fall in Love	Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WCBS CBS NYC 1956
Set 6	Fats Waller
Ain’t Misbehavin’ (theme) + Hold My Hand	Fats Waller	WEAF NBC Red NY 16 Jul 1938
Yacht Club Swing (theme) + You Can’t Be Mine and Someone Else’s Too	Fats Waller	Aircheck Yacht Club NYC 18 Oct 1938
Frenesi	Fats Waller	Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 3 Dec 1940
Hallelujah	Fats Waller	Aircheck Yacht Club NYC 14 Oct 1938
Set 7	George Trevare and his Australians
There Goes That Song Again	George Trevare and his Australians	Comm Rec Sydney 1943-45
Don’t Sweetheart Me	George Trevare and his Australians (voc) Joan Blake	Comm Rec Sydney 1943-45
Shoo Shoo Baby	George Trevare and his Australians (voc) Joan Blake	Comm Rec Sydney 1943-45
Is There a Story?	George Trevare and his Australians (voc) Joan Blake	Comm Rec Sydney 1943-45
Set 8	1930s-40s Swing
Somebody Stole My Gal	Benny Goodman Orchestra	AFRS 1 Jul 1946
I’d Do It All Over Again	Gene Krupa Orchestra (voc) Anita O’Day	Hotel Astor Roof WOR Mutual NYC 15 Aug 1945
Back to Back	Teddy Wilson Orchestra (voc) Thelma Carpenter	‘America Dances’ WABC CBS NY and BBC London 1939
Carioca + Nightmare (theme)	Artie Shaw Orchestra	Summer Terrace Ritz Carlton Hotel WNAC NBC Red Boston 19 Aug 1939

Buddy Clark Dies in Air Crash – Phantom Dancer 29 March 2022

Buddy Clark is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. Singer with the Benny Goodman Let’s Dance show orchestra that popularised swing, he was also ‘The Contented Singer’ for Carnation Milk.

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 29 March) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

Also, there’s a couple of 1931-32 Gogo DeLys radio vocals on this week’s show. Hear The Phantom Dancer Gogo DeLys special and read her story here

LINDA MACCARTNEY

Here’s Buddy Clark singing ‘Linda’ written by Jack Lawrence, inspired by 6 year old Linda MacCartney…

BUDDY CLARK

Buddy Clark, as a young boy, sang as often as he could at gatherings, and in what today’s times would be called “joints”, local pubs, where the floors of the local pubs and bar rooms were covered with sawdust.

He was singing at a local wedding in Boston when he was heard by David Lilienthal, a proprietor of Boston’s leading furriers, I.J. Fox.

Changing his name to Buddy Clark, Buddy became a protégé of Lilienthal who arranged music lessons for him and started him off on a professional career as a band vocalist and radio star.

He sang for nine years on a Boston radio show sponsored by I.J. Fox –  made two evening broadcasts and sang six days a week on morning shows.

In 1934 he made his big band singing debut career in earnest as a vocalist with the Benny Goodman band on the “Let’s Dance” radio show. Buddy was billed on several other top radio shows including the “Hit Parade” from 1936-1939.

He sang uncredited on radio transcription discs for the big bands of Fred Rich, Archie Blyer, Freddy Martin, Lud Gluskin and Nat Brandywynne.

In fact, Buddy Clark’s renown as a “ghost singer” was such that film producer Darryl F. Zanuck hired him to do the singing for actor Jack Haley in “Wake Up and Live”, a 1937 movie about a popular radio singer who gets “Mike Fright”.

The Hollywood welcome mat was now laid down for Buddy. He was offered his own radio show called, “Here’s to Romance” and he even played a small cameo role in the 1942 film “Seven Days Leave’ which starred two of Hollywood’s leading stars, Lucille Ball and Victor Mature. He also sang for actor Mark Stevens in the musical hit “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now”.

Buddy made scores of hit records many of them with Xavier Cugat’s orchestra. The balding Clark who didn’t care whether he lost his hair or not earned the title of the “Contented Crooner”, partly because of his radio sponsor on the “Carnation Contented” program, and also because of his appeal to the bobby-sox fans.

During World War II, while in the US army, Buddy sang with many of the military bands until his discharge in 1945, in which he resumed his career, earning over a $100,000 a year, equivalent to millions today.

In 1946 he signed with Columbia Records and scored his biggest hit with the song “Linda” recorded in November of that year, but hitting its peak in the following spring. “Linda” was written especially for the six-year-old daughter of a show business lawyer named Lee Eastman, whose client, songwriter Jack Lawrence, wrote the song at Lee’s request.

1947 also saw hits for Clark with such titles as “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?” (from the musical Finian’s Rainbow), which made the Top Ten, “Peg O’ My Heart“, “An Apple Blossom Wedding”, and “I’ll Dance at Your Wedding”.^[3] The following year he had another major hit with “Love Somebody” (a duet with Doris Day, selling a million and reaching #1 on the charts) and nine more chart hits, and extended his success into 1949 with a number of hits, both solo and duetting with Day and Dinah Shore. A month after his death, his recording of “A Dreamer’s Holiday” hit the charts.

PLANE CRASH

On Saturday, October 1, 1949, hours after the 37-year-old had completed a Club Fifteen broadcast on CBS Radio with The Andrews Sisters—subbing for ailing host Dick Haymes—Clark joined five friends in renting a small plane to attend a University of Michigan vs. Stanford University college football game in Stanford, California. On the way back to Los Angeles after the game, the plane ran out of fuel, lost altitude, and crashed on Beverly Boulevard in West Los Angeles. Clark did not survive the crash. Clark’s last radio broadcast found him in very high spirits, clowning with Maxene, LaVerne, and Patty Andrews. He joined them for a comical rendition of “Baby Face,” during which Buddy amused the CBS studio audience, as well as the famous swing trio of sisters, with his spot-on Al Jolson impression

His one daughter with second wife, Nedra Stevens, Penelope, died in 1950 age 6, as a result of being hit by a car as she ran across the street to meet her governess. Penny was a ‘little friend’ of Clark Gable, the Clark’s next-door neighbor, who often shared ‘little tea’ with his young neighbor.

29 MARCH PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #538
107.3 2SER Tuesday 29 March 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 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 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 – 7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Glenn Miller
High Heel Boogie + So Long (theme)	Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Marion Hutton	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ NBC Blue NYC 7 Oct 1940
Too Romantic	Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Ray Eberle	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ NBC Blue NYC 5 Apr 1940
Down South Camp Meeting + Moonlight Serenade (theme)	Glenn Miller Orchestra	Paradise Restaurant WEAF NBC Red NYC 30 Dec 1938
Set 2	Jimmy Grier
Music in the Moonlight (theme) + This Time It’s Love	Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Gogo DeLys	Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
I Can’t Believe You’re In Love With Me	Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Gogo DeLys	Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel KECA NBC Gold LA 1932
Laying in the Hay + Music in the Moonlight (theme)	Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Harry Foster	Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
Set 3	Mod Jazz
Jet Propulsion	Illinois Jacquet	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WRCA NBC NYC 1952
Shaw ‘Nuff	Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945
Nina Never Knew	Wild Bill Davis	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WRCA NBC NYC 1952
Without a Song + Close	Wild Bill Davis	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WRCA NBC NYC 1952
Set 4	Buddy Clark
Theme + September in the Rain	Buddy Clark	‘Your Hit Parade’ WEAF NBC Red NY 15 May 1937
Open + Washington State Song	Buddy Clark’s Hit Show but without Buddy Clark	‘Carnation Contented Hour’ KNX CBS LA 21 Aug 1939
Too Many Tears	Buddy Clark	‘Carnation Contented Hour’ KNX CBS LA 26 Jul 1948
Let’s Dance (theme) + The Object of my Affection	Buddy Clark (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Let’s Dance’ WEAF NBC Red NYC 1 Dec 1934
Set 5	Dorsey Brothers
Open + Song of India	Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WCBS CBS NYC 1956
Long Sam	Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WCBS CBS NYC 1956
Sunny Side of the Street	Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra (voc) Lynn Roberts	Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WCBS CBS NYC 1956
Set 6	1930s Radio
Open + Isn’t Love The Grandest Thing?	Guy Lombardo Orchestra (voc) Trio	‘Esso Boulevarde’ WABC CBS NYC 7 Oct 1935
Monday Morning	Fats Waller	Aircheck Yacht Club NYC 18 Oct 1938
It’s Only a Paper Moon	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis	‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription 1934
Love Nest	Les Brown Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Edison WOR MBS NYC 22 Nov 1938
Set 7	1940s Band Radio Transcriptions
Doodle Doo Doo (theme) + Candy	Art Kassels and his Kassels-in-the-Air Orchestra (voc) Gloria Hart	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1945
Three Little Words	Sterling Young Orchestra (voc) Bobbie Ennis	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1940
Chopsticks	Art Kassels and his Kassels-in-the-Air Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1945
So You’re the One	Sterling Young Orchestra (voc) Bobbie Ennis	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1940
Set 8	Modern Jazz
Allen’s Alley	Howard McGee	‘Junior Jazz at the Auditorium’ Los Angeles Aug 1946
Imagination	Slim Gaillard	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ NY 2 Jun 1951

Margaret Whiting Singer and Cabaret Coach – Phantom Dancer 22 March 2022

Margaret Whiting is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. Recognized as one of the top selling vocalists (male or female) of the post-war era, Margaret had a long, acclaimed career spanning seven decades. She sang jazz, country and musical theatre. All-around entertainer, star of radio, stage, TV and film, she was known for her vocal clarity, lyrical style and mellow tone. And she taught and encouraged other singers.

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 22 March) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

MARGARET WHITING’S ADVICE FOR SINGERS

If I’m any good at all as a singer, a lot of it is due to something my father (composer, Richard Whiting) taught me…

He once said, ‘Margaret, you have a good voice, you certainly know how to sing. Now spend years in perfecting your craft. I hate to think of it as a craft. It’s something I love to do, but it is a job, it is work, and we work very hard to write a song. You must sing this song with great affection and feeling. It takes the men who write the lyrics a long time. Just believe in their words. Do them simply and honestly. That’s how a singer should interpret a song’.

MARGARET ELEANOR WHITING

Margaret Whiting’s father, Richard, was a composer of popular songs, including the classics “Hooray for Hollywood“, “Ain’t We Got Fun?“, and “On the Good Ship Lollipop“. Her sister, Barbara Whiting, was an actress (Junior Miss, Beware, My Lovely) and singer.

An aunt, Margaret Young, was a singer and popular recording artist in the 1920s.

Margaret Whiting’s singing ability was noticed at an early age and at seven she sang for singer-lyricist Johnny Mercer, with whom her father had collaborated on some popular songs, including “Too Marvelous for Words”.

In 1942, Mercer co-founded Capitol Records and signed Margaret to one of Capitol’s first recording contracts.

CABARET MASTER CLASS TEACHER

Margaret Whiting spent a great deal of her time and energies preserving and promoting the Great American Songbook, and the young performers who were keeping it alive.

From 1989 – 2001, Whiting was the Artistic Director of the annual Cabaret and Performance Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford Connecticut.

With other performers such as Julie Wilson and Anne Francine as well as musical directors like Tex Arnold, she spent 10 days instructing selected professionals and amateurs in the cabaret performance process.

OFFICIAL BIO

Quoting from her International Movie Data Base bio:

Born July 22, 1924 in Detroit, she began singing as a small child and, by the age of seven, signed with Johnny Mercer, the popular songwriter and founder of Capitol Records, for whom her father worked.

She was a popular vocalist in the 1940s and 1950s, recording dozens of hits for Capitol Records, launched by her father and two partners. She was the first artist to be engaged by the label, where she began recording in 1942. She served as President of the Johnny Mercer Foundation, and she continued her work as a performer of Mercer songs.

In the early 1940s, her hits included “That Old Black Magic” (with Freddie Slack), “Moonlight in Vermont” (with Billy Butterfield) and “It Might As Well Be Spring” (with Paul Weston). Between 1946-54, she had more than 40 solo hit tunes for Capitol. After stints with Dot Records and Verve Records and, a brief return to Capitol in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, she recorded for the London label beginning in 1966.

In the late 1990s, she appeared in the Broadway musical “Dream” (1997) and in the PBS broadcast The Songs of Johnny Mercer: Too Marvelous for Words (1997).

Under her own name in late 1945, she recorded the Jerome Kern–Oscar Hammerstein II composition “All Through The Day”, which became a bestseller in the spring of 1946, and “In Love In Vain”, both of which were featured in the film Centennial Summer (1946). She also had hits with songs from the Broadway musicals “St. Louis Woman” and “Call Me Mister” in 1946. Those first recordings under her name were made in New York. In late 1946, she returned to California and began recording there, with Jerry and His Orchestra–“Guilty” and “Oh, But I Do” were the best-selling results of that session. Her hit streak continued in 1948-49.

Due to a musician’s strike in the US, orchestral tracks were recorded outside of the country and vocals added in US studios. Whiting supplied vocals to tracks cut by Frank DeVol and His Orchestra, including “A Tree In The Meadow”, a #1 hit in the summer of 1948, recorded in London. Her next #1 song occurred in 1949 with “Slipping Around”, one of a series of duet recordings made with country/western singer and cowboy star Jimmy Wakely. Also that year, Whiting recorded a duet with Mercer, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”.

In 1950, she had a hit with “Blind Date”, a novelty record made with Bob Hope and Billy May and His Orchestra.

Whiting continued recording for Capitol into the mid-1950s, until her run of hits dried up. She left the company in 1958 for Dot Records but achieved only one hit there. She switched to Verve Records in 1960 and recorded a number of albums, including one with jazz vocalist Mel Tormé. A brief return to Capitol was followed by a hiatus, after which Whiting signed with London Records in 1966, where she recorded her last two charting pop singles. Her recordings continued to appear on the easy listening charts into the 1970s. Whiting was still recording in the early 1990s and performing in cabaret and concerts. She died on January 10, 2011 (aged 86) in Englewood, New Jersey.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Burt Richards (updated by R.M. Sieger)

22 MARCH PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #537
107.3 2SER Tuesday 22 March 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 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 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 – 7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	1940s Sweet Band Radio
High Heel Boogie + So Long (theme)	Eddie Howard Orchestra (voc) Eddie Howard	‘Spotlight Bands’ Battle Creek Mich. WGN Mutual Chicago 9 Nov 1945
How Do You Fall in Love? + Medley: Pretending |  Hold My Hand | Theme	Griff Williams Orchestra (voc) Walt King	Empire Room Palmer House WGN Mutual Chicago 5 Mar 1947
Movement from Rachmaninoff Concerto #2 + Close	Freddy Martin Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel LA AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Jan 1946
Set 2	1931-33 Dance Music
Me + College Medley	Sam Lanin Orchestra (voc) Band	Hit of the Week Record New York City 1931
Love Letters in the Sand + College Medley	Sam Lanin Orchestra (voc) Trio	Hit of the Week Record New York City 1931
When the Morning Rolls Around	Phil Harris Orchestra (voc) The Three Ambassadors	Radio Transcription Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel Los Angeles 1933
Set 3	Benny Goodman Camel Caravan
Let’s Dance (theme) + The Spring Song	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WEAF NBC Red NY 9 Sep 1939
Some of These Days	Benny Goodman Quintet	‘Camel Caravan’ WEAF NBC Red NY 13 Sep 1938
King Porter Stomp + Theme	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WEAF NBC Red NY 13 Sep 1938
Set 4	Margaret Whiting
Stay with the Happy People	Margaret Whiting	‘Oxydol Show’ KNX CBS LA 1950
St Louis Blues	Margaret Whiting	‘Sunday Down South’ Ryman Auditorium Nashville Lion Network 6 Nov 1949
My One and Only + Close	Margaret Whiting	‘Navy Star Time’ 12 Jun 1949
Set 5	Eddie Condon
Open + Love Nest	Eddie Condon Ensemble	‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 9 Sep 1944
Big Noise from Winnetka	Eddie Condon Ensemble	‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 9 Sep 1944
Big Butter and Egg Man	Eddie Condon Ensemble	‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 9 Sep 1944
Set 6	1930s Radio
Open	Kay Kyser and his Band from the Carolines	Radio Transcription 12 Jun 1934
Dancing on the Ceiling	Anson Weekes Orchestra	Radio Transcription San Francisco 1932
Christopher Columbus	Isham Jones Orchestra	WOR Mutual NYC 13 Mar 1936
It’s Love	Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) Loyce Whiteman	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
Set 7	1940s Band Radio Transcriptions
Coyote Canyon	Jimmy Grier Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1940s
The Siren’s Song	Jan Garber Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1940s
Whattya Gonna Do?	Jimmy Grier Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1940s
Lady Be Good	Jan Garber Orchestra (voc) Fritz Heilbron	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1940s
Set 8	Bop
Jumpin’ with Symphony Sid	Lester Young	‘Bandstand USA’ Cafe Bohemia WOR Mutual NYC 1956
Half Nelson + Night in Tunisia	Charlie Parker Sextet with Milt Jackson (vibes)	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 26 Feb 1949
Bye Bye Blues	Benny Goodman Sextet	‘One Night Stand’ The Click Philadelphia AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jun 1948

Ruth Etting, Radio Sweetheart and Domestic Violence – Phantom Dancer 6 Apr 2021

Ruth Etting was a US singer/actress of the 1920s and 1930s. She never had voice lessons and had over 60 hit recordings. She worked on stage, radio and film. She was known as ‘America’s Radio Sweetheart’ and was also involved in a famous case of domestic violence with her mobster first husband. You’ll also get to hear her speaking voice.

The Phantom Dancer – your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton.

Enjoy a whole library of Phantom Dancer mixes online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

This show will be online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 6 April at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

ART and DESIGN

Etting drew from an early age and left home at 16 for The Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. While at art school, one of her professors offered her an interesting assignment. The owner of the Marigold Gardens, a Chicago nightclub, needed someone to draw the costume designs his wife had suggested for the chorus girls, the eponymous Marigolds. She was sent to the club and invited to catch the show.

Etting was immediately stagestruck—so much so that she asked for a job there and then. At first, she used her chorus girl’s $25-a-week salary to pay her school expenses, but show business soon eclipsed the fashion world. She quit school and was soon immersed in Chicago’s vaudeville life, working with such stars as Sophie Tucker and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. 

SINGER

Ruth Etting never took voice lessons. She modeled her singing style on Marion Harris,  creating her own style by alternating tempos and by varying notes and phrases and lowering her voice. Opportunity knocked for Ruth when a featured vocalist at the Marigold Gardens was unable to perform. With no other replacement available, Etting was asked to fill in. She quickly changed into the costume, scanned the music arrangements and as the performer was male, Etting lowered her voice.

Her first ever solo number was, ‘Hats Off to the Polo Girl’, which she sang dressed as the male actor she had replaced. She became a featured vocalist at the nightclub.

STAGE, SCREEN, SOUND

Ruth Etting moved to New York in 1927, where Etting made her Broadway debut in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927.

She went on to appear in a number of other hit shows in rapid succession, including Ziegfeld’s Simple Simon and Whoopee!.

In Hollywood, Etting made three feature films: Roman Scandals (1933); The Gift of Gab (1935); Hips, Hips, Hooray (1939); plus around 30 musical shorts. She said, “I was no actress and I knew it. But I could sell a song”.

Etting was first heard on radio station WLS when she was living in Chicago. Her appearance drew so much fan mail the station signed her to a year’s contract for twice weekly performances. She had her own twice weekly 15 minute radio show on CBS in the 1930s. In 1934, she was on NBC for Oldsmobile with Johnny Green’s Orchestra, as you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

She made a test acoustic record for Victor on April 4, 1924, that went unissued. She was signed to Columbia electrical Records in February 1926 and sang for many labels until April 1937, when she quit recording.

 

ABUSE

Etting met a gangster in 1922 while performing at the Marigold Gardens. The gangster, who divorced his first wife to marry Etting in 1922, used his political connections to get bookings for her.

She later said she married him “nine-tenths out of fear and one-tenth out of pity.” Etting told her friends, “If I leave him, he’ll kill me.” He managed her career, booking radio appearances and eventually had her signed to an exclusive recording contract with Columbia Records.

His aggressive and controlling management style caused problems for Etting while she was on Broadway. He was a constant presence and never without a gun which he liked to poke people with, saying “Put your hands up!” while laughing at their fright.

By 1934 Etting was having difficulty getting engagements. Her mobster husband’s arguing and fighting at venues where Etting was employed caused her to be passed by for jobs. She took work in England when work for her in the US dried up. Hubby created problems there, too. A street fight caused hugely adverse publicity for Etting.

She divorced the gangster on the grounds of cruelty and abandonment in 1937. She had started divorce proceddings while in London after he had beat her legs with a cane. He didn’t contest the divorce and received from Etting a settlement of half her earnings, securities and a half interest in a home in Beverly Hills, California. She deducted the gambling debts of she had paid for him and the cost of the home she had bought for his mother.

Once the divorce became public, Etting destroyed all her sheet music, her press clippings, her wardrobe, gave up the reported $200,000 a year she had been earning, and retired from show business once and for all, moving permanently into her Beverly Hills home with her gangster ex-husband’s daughter Edith, from his first marriage. Edith, too, had grown tired of her father’s bullying and gladly accepted Etting’s offer to take her on as a secretary.

She fell in love with her pianist, Myrl Alderman, and started getting threatening telephone calls from the mobster. He claimed Etting withheld assets from him and was also upset she was seeing another man. He told her he was coming to California and kill her and his daughter. Ruth called the police and hired bodyguards afor a few days.

However, months later, the criminal ex-husband detained Myrl Alderman at a local radio station and forced the pianist at gunpoint to take him to Ruth. At Ruth’s home, the gangster said he intended to kill her, Edith and Myrl. He shot Myrl Alderman, then told Ruth, “I’ve had my revenge, so you can call the police.”

It also appeared that Etting had attempted to shoot her ex-husband with her own gun during the stnd-off and was prevented from doing so by Edith’s intervention. Another story has Edith then firing several at her father which all missed and hit the floor. “I would gladly have killed (my ex) if I could have held the gun steady enough,” Etting told reporters outside the Los Angeles courtroom where her ex was on trial. “And I could kill him now if I had a gun.”

During the kidnapping and attempted murder trial, the gangster’s lawyers painted Ruth Etting as a calculating woman who’d married her mobster husband only to benefit her career, and that she divorced him to be with a younger man (Alderman).

Myrl’s first wife sued Ruth for $150,000, claiming Etting had broken up her marriage, but lost the case. Once the decision was handed down, Ruth sold her Beverly Hills house and moved to Colorado Springs to be with Myrl and his family. Edith died of complications from rheumatic fever in 1939. During the next seven years, Etting made only one appearance, at a World War II rally for war bonds in New York.

COMEBACK

Then, shortly after the war’s end, listeners to Rudy Vallee’s weekly radio show were surprised to hear a familiar voice. Etting had decided to return to the business because doctors had suggested that Myrl go back to writing and playing music as part of his recovery from wartime injuries.

In 1947, she opened at the Copacabana in New York. Time featured her in an article which reminded readers that Ruth Etting had once been “the nation’s leading torch singer, rivalled only by Helen Morgan.” The reviews of her Copa act were respectful, with Variety reporting that “her figure is still svelte and her song-selling effective if, betimes, she wisely skirts the top notes.”

In the same year, Etting briefly had a radio show on WHN New York City, a song from which you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer.  She then decided to quit show business once and for all.

BIOPIC

Etting’s life was the basis for the 1955 biopic, Love Me or Leave Me, starring Doris Day (as Etting), James Cagney (as the gangster husband) and Cameron Mitchell (as Alderman). Etting, Myrl Alderman and the gangster all sold their rights to the story to MGM.

Etting said of the film, ” It was half fairy tale. It’s a shame that the most beautiful part of my life, my 28-year marriage to [Myrl], was left out completely because that was the real highlight of my life story.”

She also said she thought the screen portrayal of her was too tough and that Jane Powell was her preference to play her.

6 APRIL PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #484
107.3 2SER Tuesday 6 April 2021 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 4RPH Brisbane Sunday 3 – 4am 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Trumpet Swing Band Leaders
Memories of You (theme) + The Wish I Wish Tonight	Sonny Dunham Orchestra (voc) Tommy Randall	‘One Night Stand’ Terrace Room Hotel New Yorker NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 15 Jul 1945
Slavic Dance	Lee Castle Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Meadowbrook Ballroom Ice Terrace Room New Jersey AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Aug 1944
Eight Bar Riff + Rose Room	Harry James Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 22 Sep 1945
Set 2	Jimmy Grier
I’ve Found You	Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Donald Novis	Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel TRANSCO Radio Transcription 1932
The Soldier on the Shelf	Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) The Three Cheers	Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel TRANSCO Radio Transcription 1932
Was That The Human Thing To Do? + Music in the Moonlight (theme)	Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Margaret Lawrence	Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel TRANSCO Radio Transcription 1932
Set 3	1950s Jazz Radio
Open + Sonnet For Sister Kate	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘Such Sweet Thunder’ Ravinia Festival WBBM CBS Chicago 1 Jul 1957
Walkin’	Andre Previn	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 1959
Carnegie Horizons + Close	George Shearing	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 2 Jul 1952
Set 4	Ruth Etting
Dancing With Tears in My Eyes	Ruth Etting (voc) Ben Selvin Orchestra	‘Tele-Focal Radio Receivers Transcription’ New York City 1930
Shine on Harvest Moon (theme) + I Wanna Be Loved + Body and Soul	Ruth Etting (voc) Johnny Green Orchestra	‘Oldsmobile Program’ WABC CBS NYC 27 Feb 1934
Do You Ever Think of Me?	Ruth Etting (voc) Studio Orchestra	‘The Ruth Etting Show’ WHN NYC 13 Jun 1947
Out of Nowhere + I Wanna Be Loved (theme)	Ruth Etting (voc) Johnny Green Orchestra	‘Oldsmobile Program’ WABC CBS NYC 21 Feb 1934
Set 5	Swing Band Radio Transcriptions
Blueberry Hill	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Bob Eberly	Radio Transcription 1941
I Married an Angel	Dick Jurgens Orchestra (voc) Eddie Howard	Radio Transcription 1938
Swamp Fire	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Radio Transcription 1939
Boo Hoo	Russ Morgan Orchestra (voc) Mullins Sisters	Radio Transcription 1938
Set 6	Music from Poems
Meditation from Thais	Jimmy Lunceford Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Jefferson Barracks Missouri Mutual Network 23 Nov 1945
Minnehaha	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Ciro’s KECA ABC LA Jul 1947
Hiawatha	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Ciro’s KECA ABC LA Jul 1947
Eli, Eli	Lionel Hampton Orchestra	Casa Manana Culver City Ca KFI NBC LA 20 Jul 1947
Set 7	Artie Shaw 1939-40
Carioca	Artie Shaw Orchestra	Aircheck 13 Jan 1939
Moonray	Artie Shaw Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest	Summer Terrace Ritz Carlton WNAC NBC Red Boston 19 Aug 1939
Looking For Yesterdays	Artie Shaw Orchestra (voc) Anita Boyer	Aircheck 26 Oct 1940
St Louis Blues + Nightmare (theme)	Artie Shaw Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WEAF NBC Red NY 19 Oct 1939
Set 8	Count Basie and Lester Young
Ain’t It The Truth	Count Basie Orchestra (without Lester Young)	‘Swing Time’ AFRS Hollywood 1946
Three Little Words	Lester Young	‘Bandstand USA’ Cafe Bohemia WOR Mutual NY 1956
Be Bop Boogie	Lester Young	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal roost WMCA NY 4 Dec 1948
Jumpin’ at the Woodside + One O’clock Jump (theme)	Count Basie Orchestra with Lester Young	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 31 Aug 1952

Lee Wiley – Phantom Dancer 3 November 2020

Lee Wiley is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. You’ll hear the American jazz singer in broadcasts from the 1930s and 40s

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LEE WILEY

Wiley began her radio career at KVOO in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She left home at 15 to sing on New York City radio stations. Her career was interrupted by a fall while horseback riding. She suffered temporary blindness but recovered. At the age of 19 she was a member of the Leo Reisman Orchestra. In 1931 she recorded three songs with Reisman, ‘Take It from Me’, ‘Time On My Hands’, and her composition ‘Got the South in My Soul’.

She sang on the Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt program on NBC in 1932 and was featured on Victor Young’s radio show in 1933.

She rose to fame in the summer of 1934 on the Paul Whiteman Kraft Show. She was also heard on CBS with Willard Robison’s orchestra and then on her own 15 minute summer series in 1936, some of which we’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

ALBUMS

In 1939, Wiley recorded an album of eight Gershwin songs on 78s with a small group for Liberty Music Shop Records. The set sold well and was followed by albums of 78s dedicated to the music of Cole Porter (1940) and Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart (1940 and 1954), Harold Arlen (1943), and 10″ LPs dedicated to the music of Vincent Youmans and Irving Berlin (1951).

She was a favourite of Eddie Condon and sang on the later episodes of his 1944-45 Blue Network ‘Eddie Condon’s Jazz Concerts’ series which you’ll also hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

On October 11, 1963, Bob Hope Theater on NBC-TV presented ‘Something About Lee Wiley’. Piper Laurie portrayed Wiley in the episode. Wiley’s singing voice was provided by Joy Bryan.

MARRIAGE

Wiley married  jazz pianist Jess Stacy in 1943. The couple was described by their friend Deane Kincaide as being as “compatible as two cats, tails tied together, hanging over a clothesline”; they divorced in 1948. Her response to Stacy’s desire to get a divorce was, “What will Bing Crosby be thinking of you divorcing me?”, while Stacy said of Wiley, “They did not burn the last witch at Salem.”

VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Lee Wiley sings ‘Manhattan’

3 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream Community Radio Network Show CRN #439
107.3 2SER Tuesday 3 November 2020 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program  5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm  1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Women Singers on 1950s Radio
Open + I Woke Up Crying	Les and Larry Elgart Orchestra (voc) Joni James	‘Let’s Go To Town’ Radio Transcription 1950s
Take Mine	Betty Madigan	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription 17 Feb 1957
You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To	Charlie Barnet Orchestra (voc) Lynn Franklyn	Salt-Air Ballroom KDYL Salt Lake City 5 Jun 1957
Set 2	Australian Radio
Over There	Wally Portingale Orchestra	‘All In Fun Revue’ 2CH AWA Sydney Sep 1943
Swingin’ the Blues	Wally Portingale Orchestra	‘The Army on Parade” 2CH AWA Sydney Sep 1943
Here’s Hooey	Ward Leopold	Comm Rec Sydney 1940
Set 3	Lee Wiley
Three Little Words	Lee Wiley	‘Lee Wiley Sings’ WABC CBS NY 12 Aug 1936
Song of the Wanderer	Eddie Condon Ensemble	‘Eddie Condon Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 10 Feb 1945
You’re a Sweetheart	Lee Wiley	KHJ Mutual LA 10 Mar 1938
Set 4	Chamber Music
Theme + Overture to the Marriage of Figaro	Paul Lavalle	’The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street ’  WJZ NBC Blue NY 8 Sep 1941
Ida	Diane Courtney	’The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street ’  WJZ NBC Blue NY 8 Sep 1941
Jazz Me Blues	George Barnes	’The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street ’  WJZ NBC Blue NY 8 Sep 1941
Shoo Fly, Don’t Bother Me	Henry Levine Octet	’The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street ’  WJZ NBC Blue NY 8 Sep 1941
Set 5	Movie Music
Double or Nothing Medley	Louis Levy and the Gaumont British Symphony	Comm Rec London 1937
Heigh-Ho	Bunny Berrigan (voc) Gail Reese	Paradise Restaurant WABC CBS NY 10 Apr 1938
Pennies From Heaven	The Mills Brothers	‘Norge Program’ Radio Transcription NYC 1937
Swingin’ on a Star	Louis Armstrong (voc) Louis Armstrong Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Tuskagee Airfield Alabama AFRS Re-broadcast 5 Oct 1944
Set 6	Harry James
Theme + Joe Blow	Harry James Orchestra	The Click WCAU CBS Philadelphia 1943
I Can’t Begin To Tell You	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Ginny Powell	Meadowbrook Gardens Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NY 10 Feb 1946
Forgotton	Harry James Orchestra	‘Call for Music’ KFI NBC LA 1948
Two O’Clock Jump	Harry James Orchestra	Hotel Astor Roof  WNBC NBC NYC 25 May 1953
Set 7	Mildred Bailey 1944-45 Radio
Rocking Chair (theme) + Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone	Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra	‘Music Till Midnight’ WABC CBS NY 1944
Stormy Weather	Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra	‘Music Till Midnight’ WABC CBS NY 24 Nov 1944
From The Land of the Sky Blue Water	Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra	‘Music Till Midnight’ WABC CBS NY 1944
Summertime	Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra	‘Music Till Midnight’ WABC CBS NY 12 Jan 1945
Set 8	1940s Progressive Radio
I’d Rather Have a Memory Than a Dream	Sarah Vaughan	Comm Rec 25 May 1945
Hurry Home	Buddy Stewart	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 5 Mar 1949
Groovin’ The Blues	Miss Rhapsody (Viola Wells) (voc)	Comm Rec NYC 6 Jul 1944