Tony Bennett – Phantom Dancer 22 November 2022

Tony Bennett, singer, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. You’ll hear him and his music in a 1955 interview. Bennett has released over 70 albums during his career. The biggest selling of these in the U.S. have been I Left My Heart in San Francisco, MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett, and Duets: An American Classic, all of which went platinum for shipping one million copies. Eight other albums of his have gone gold in the U.S. Bennett also charted over 30 singles during his career.

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, Tuesday22 November) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

EARLY YEARS & WAR

At age 10, Tony Bennett sang at the opening of the Triborough Bridge in New York City, standing next to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia who patted him on the head.

He began singing for money at age 13, performing as a singing waiter in several Italian restaurants around his native Queens.

Drawing was another early passion and he saw himself having a career in commercial art. He attended New York’s School of Industrial Art studying painting and music . He later appreciated their emphasis on proper technique.

He dropped out at age 16 to help support his family and worked as a copy boy and runner for the Associated Press in Manhattan

He then set his sights on a professional singing career, returning to performing as a singing waiter, playing and winning amateur nights all around the city, and having a successful engagement at a Paramus, New Jersey, nightclub

As an infantryman in the US Army from 1944 during World War 2 in Germany, Tony Bennett narrowly escaped death in combat several times. The experience made him a pacifist. He later wrote, “Anybody who thinks that war is romantic obviously hasn’t gone through one…It was a nightmare that’s permanent. I just said, ‘This is not life. This is not life.'” At the war’s end he was part of the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp near Landsberg.

Upon his discharge from the Army and return to the States in 1946, Tony Bennett studied at the American Theatre Wing on the GI Bill. He was taught bel canto singing which has kept his voice in good shape for his entire career.

NEW AUDIENCE

Around 1990, Tony’s son, Danny Bennett, (who you will hear as a 17 month old in the 1955 Tony Bennett interview in this week’s Phantom Dancer) felt that younger audiences who were unfamiliar with his father would respond to his music if given a chance. No changes to Tony’s formal appearance, singing style, musical accompaniment or song choice (generally the Great American Songbook) were necessary or desirable.

Danny began regularly to book his father on Late Night with David Letterman, a show with a younger, “hip” audience. This was subsequently followed by appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Simpsons, Muppets Tonight, and various MTV programs.

In 1993, Bennett played a series of benefit concerts organized by alternative rock radio stations around the country. The plan worked; as Tony later remembered, “I realized that young people had never heard those songs. Cole Porter, Gershwin – they were like, ‘Who wrote that?’ To them, it was different. If you’re different, you stand out.”

Bennett was seen at MTV Video Music Awards shows side by side with the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Flavor Flav, and as his “Steppin’ Out with My Baby” video received MTV airplay, it was clear that, as The New York Times said, “Tony Bennett has not just bridged the generation gap, he has demolished it. He has solidly connected with a younger crowd weaned on rock. And there have been no compromises.”

His 1994 MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett album went platinum and, besides taking the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance Grammy award for the third straight year, also won the top Grammy prize of Album of the Year.

TECHNIQUE

Bennett had no intention of retiring until his announcement on stage in 2021, saying that he had to retire due to health reasons. He was 95.

Refering to artists like Pablo Picasso, Jack Benny, and Fred Astaire, Bennett said “right up to the day they died, they were performing. If you are creative, you get busier as you get older.”

Regarding his choices in music, Bennett stated his artistic stance in a 2010 interview:

“I’m not staying contemporary for the big record companies, I don’t follow the latest fashions. I never sing a song that’s badly written. In the 1920s and ’30s, there was a renaissance in music that was the equivalent of the artistic Renaissance. Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer and others just created the best songs that had ever been written. These are classics, and finally they’re not being treated as light entertainment. This is classical music.”

22 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #570
107.3 2SER Tuesday 22 November 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	Ben Burnie – Music While You Work
It’s a Lonesome Old Town (theme) + The Army Air Corp	Ben Bernie Orchestra	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
The Singing Sands	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) Jack Fulton	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
Put-Put-Put-Put-Put Your Arms Around Me	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) The King’s Jesters	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry + Rosalie + Close	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) Gail Robbins	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
Set 2	Sauter-Finnegan
Open + Liza	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
Midnight Sleighride	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
April in Paris	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra (voc) Anita Darian	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
Doodle Town Fifers + Close	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
Set 3	Smooth Music
Song of the West  (theme) + Hooray for Love	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra  (voc) Elaine Rodgers	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Dancing in the Dark + Old Pal	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Black Lace	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra  (voc) Lon Saxon	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Happy Times + Song of the West (theme)	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra  (voc) Elaine Rodgers	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Set 4	Tony Bennett
Who Wants My Bublinsky? (theme) + Open	Howard Miller	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
Because of You	Tony Bennett	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
Interview	Tony, Sandy & Danny Bennett	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
May I Never Love Again + Close	Tony Bennett	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
Set 5	1930s-40s Swing
Cotton Pickers’ Congregation	Russ Morgan Orchestra	Paradise Restaurant NYC 14 Oct 1938
Down South Camp Meeting	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Madhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania NYC 20 Nov 1937
Boogie Woogie Lullaby	Ted Fio Rito Orchestra (voc) Madeline Mahoney	Naval Air Station Banana River FL 12 Aug 1945
Flying Home	Will Bradley Orchestra	Famous Door New York City 21 Feb 1941
Set 6	Harmonists
For You	King Sisters	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1947
Blues in the Night	Trio (voc) Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Jefferson Barracks MI Mutual Network 23 Nov 1945
Just Squeeze Me	King Sisters	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1947
Heebie Geebie Blues	Boswell Sisters	‘Woodbury Program’ KNX CBS LA 18 Sep 1934
Set 7	Jimmy Dorsey
Contrasts (theme) + Jug Music	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Aircheck 20 Oct 1941
Hit the Note	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 5 Sep 1943
Dixieland Detour	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NY 5 Oct 1939
Saturday Night	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Patti Thomas	‘Spotlight Bands’ 11 Feb 1945
Set 8	Bop 1949
Tiny’s Blues	Chubby Jackson Orchestra	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 5 Mar 1949
Esy	Tito Puente Orchestra	‘Birdland Show’ WABC ABC NYC 1951

Tony Bennett – Phantom Dancer 14 Jun 2022

Tony Bennett, singer, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. You’ll hear him and his music in a 1955 interview. Bennett has released over 70 albums during his career. The biggest selling of these in the U.S. have been I Left My Heart in San Francisco, MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett, and Duets: An American Classic, all of which went platinum for shipping one million copies. Eight other albums of his have gone gold in the U.S. Bennett also charted over 30 singles during his career.

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

EARLY YEARS & WAR

At age 10, Tony Bennett sang at the opening of the Triborough Bridge in New York City, standing next to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia who patted him on the head.

He began singing for money at age 13, performing as a singing waiter in several Italian restaurants around his native Queens.

Drawing was another early passion and he saw himself having a career in commercial art. He attended New York’s School of Industrial Art studying painting and music . He later appreciated their emphasis on proper technique.

He dropped out at age 16 to help support his family and worked as a copy boy and runner for the Associated Press in Manhattan

He then set his sights on a professional singing career, returning to performing as a singing waiter, playing and winning amateur nights all around the city, and having a successful engagement at a Paramus, New Jersey, nightclub

As an infantryman in the US Army from 1944 during World War 2 in Germany, Tony Bennett narrowly escaped death in combat several times. The experience made him a pacifist. He later wrote, “Anybody who thinks that war is romantic obviously hasn’t gone through one…It was a nightmare that’s permanent. I just said, ‘This is not life. This is not life.'” At the war’s end he was part of the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp near Landsberg.

Upon his discharge from the Army and return to the States in 1946, Tony Bennett studied at the American Theatre Wing on the GI Bill. He was taught bel canto singing which has kept his voice in good shape for his entire career.

NEW AUDIENCE

Around 1990, Tony’s son, Danny Bennett, (who you will hear as a 17 month old in the 1955 Tony Bennett interview in this week’s Phantom Dancer) felt that younger audiences who were unfamiliar with his father would respond to his music if given a chance. No changes to Tony’s formal appearance, singing style, musical accompaniment or song choice (generally the Great American Songbook) were necessary or desirable.

Danny began regularly to book his father on Late Night with David Letterman, a show with a younger, “hip” audience. This was subsequently followed by appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Simpsons, Muppets Tonight, and various MTV programs.

In 1993, Bennett played a series of benefit concerts organized by alternative rock radio stations around the country. The plan worked; as Tony later remembered, “I realized that young people had never heard those songs. Cole Porter, Gershwin – they were like, ‘Who wrote that?’ To them, it was different. If you’re different, you stand out.”

Bennett was seen at MTV Video Music Awards shows side by side with the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Flavor Flav, and as his “Steppin’ Out with My Baby” video received MTV airplay, it was clear that, as The New York Times said, “Tony Bennett has not just bridged the generation gap, he has demolished it. He has solidly connected with a younger crowd weaned on rock. And there have been no compromises.”

His 1994 MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett album went platinum and, besides taking the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance Grammy award for the third straight year, also won the top Grammy prize of Album of the Year.

TECHNIQUE

Bennett had no intention of retiring until his announcement on stage in 2021, saying that he had to retire due to health reasons. He was 95.

Refering to artists like Pablo Picasso, Jack Benny, and Fred Astaire, Bennett said “right up to the day they died, they were performing. If you are creative, you get busier as you get older.”

Regarding his choices in music, Bennett stated his artistic stance in a 2010 interview:

“I’m not staying contemporary for the big record companies, I don’t follow the latest fashions. I never sing a song that’s badly written. In the 1920s and ’30s, there was a renaissance in music that was the equivalent of the artistic Renaissance. Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer and others just created the best songs that had ever been written. These are classics, and finally they’re not being treated as light entertainment. This is classical music.”

14 JUNE PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #549
107.3 2SER Tuesday 14 June 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	Ben Burnie – Music While You Work
It’s a Lonesome Old Town (theme) + The Army Air Corp	Ben Bernie Orchestra	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
The Singing Sands	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) Jack Fulton	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
Put-Put-Put-Put-Put Your Arms Around Me	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) The King’s Jesters	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry + Rosalie + Close	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) Gail Robbins	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
Set 2	Sauter-Finnegan
Open + Liza	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
Midnight Sleighride	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
April in Paris	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra (voc) Anita Darian	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
Doodle Town Fifers + Close	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
Set 3	Smooth Music
Song of the West  (theme) + Hooray for Love	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra  (voc) Elaine Rodgers	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Dancing in the Dark + Old Pal	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Black Lace	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra  (voc) Lon Saxon	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Happy Times + Song of the West (theme)	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra  (voc) Elaine Rodgers	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Set 4	Tony Bennett
Who Wants My Bublinsky? (theme) + Open	Howard Miller	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
Because of You	Tony Bennett	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
Interview	Tony, Sandy & Danny Bennett	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
May I Never Love Again + Close	Tony Bennett	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
Set 5	1930s-40s Swing
Cotton Pickers’ Congregation	Russ Morgan Orchestra	Paradise Restaurant NYC 14 Oct 1938
Down South Camp Meeting	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Madhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania NYC 20 Nov 1937
Boogie Woogie Lullaby	Ted Fio Rito Orchestra (voc) Madeline Mahoney	Naval Air Station Banana River FL 12 Aug 1945
Flying Home	Will Bradley Orchestra	Famous Door New York City 21 Feb 1941
Set 6	Harmonists
For You	King Sisters	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1947
Blues in the Night	Trio (voc) Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Jefferson Barracks MI Mutual Network 23 Nov 1945
Just Squeeze Me	King Sisters	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1947
Heebie Geebie Blues	Boswell Sisters	‘Woodbury Program’ KNX CBS LA 18 Sep 1934
Set 7	Jimmy Dorsey
Contrasts (theme) + Jug Music	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Aircheck 20 Oct 1941
Hit the Note	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 5 Sep 1943
Dixieland Detour	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NY 5 Oct 1939
Saturday Night	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Patti Thomas	‘Spotlight Bands’ 11 Feb 1945
Set 8	Bop 1949
Tiny’s Blues	Chubby Jackson Orchestra	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 5 Mar 1949
I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles	Jackie Kane & Roy Kral	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 1949
Father Knickerbocker	Chubby Jackson Orchestra	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 5 Mar 1949

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