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

Christmas Radio Part 1 – Phantom Dancer 13 December 2022

Christmas radio carols from 1930s – 50s radio plus pop music programming from the season is the focus for the first part of this week’s Phantom Dancer. The first part of the Phantom Dancer is nationally networked and will be on radio across Australia from 19 November.

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

MERRY

According to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 2016, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”, written by Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie in 1934, is the most played Christmas song of the last 50 years.

It was first performed live by Eddie Cantor on his Christmas radio show in November 1934. Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded their version in 1935, followed later by a range of artists including Frank Sinatra in 1948.

Long-time Christmas classics still dominate the Christmas charts – such as “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”, “Winter Wonderland”, “Sleigh Ride” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.

The most popular set of these titles—heard over airwaves, on the internet, in shopping malls, in elevators and lobbies, and on the street during the Christmas season—have been composed and performed from the 1930s onward.

CHRISTMAS TOP 5

The most performed Christmas songs in 2015 according to ASCAP…

Rank	Song	Composers	Year
1	Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town	J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie	1934
2	Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas	Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin	1944
3	Winter Wonderland	Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith	1934
4	Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!	Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne	1945
5	The Christmas Song	Mel Tormé, Robert Wells	1944

13 DECEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #575
107.3 2SER Tuesday 13 December 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 5UV Adelaide Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am 2YYY Young Monday 3 – 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 3am – 4 and 6 -7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am and Sunday 11pm Reading Radio (QLD) Friday 1am – 2 2RRR Ryde Friday 11am – 12 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Saturday 4am – 5am Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturday 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm 2SEA Sapphire Coast Eden Sunday 9 – 10pm
Set 1	Kid Ory
Theme + Maple Leaf Rag	Kid Ory and his San Francisco Jazz Band	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 25 Dec 1954
Basin Street Blues	Kid Ory and his San Francisco Jazz Band	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 25 Dec 1954
That’s a’Plenty	Kid Ory and his San Francisco Jazz Band	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 25 Dec 1954
Set 2	Jubilee 1944
Jingle Bells (intro) + One O’Clock Jump + Jumping at Ten	Delta Rhythm Boys (voc) Count Basie Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 25 Dec 1944
Just a-Sittin’ and a Rockin’	Delta Rhythm Boys (voc) Count Basie Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 25 Dec 1944
My Silent Love	Lena Horne	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 25 Dec 1944
Set 3	Henry Hall Christmas
Theme + It Had to Be You	Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra (MC: Oliver Wakefield)	‘Henry Hall Program’ BBC London 21 Nov 1936
The Fairy on the Christmas Tree	Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra (voc) Molly, Marie and Mary	‘Henry Hall Program’ BBC London 21 Nov 1936
Serenade in the Night	Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra (voc) Don Donovan	‘Henry Hall Program’ BBC London 21 Nov 1936
Set 4	Jubilee 1947
Jack Armstrong Blues	Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 25 Dec 1947
Rock-a-Bye River + Ring Dem Bells	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 25 Dec 1947
The Christmas Song	King Cole Trio	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 25 Dec 1947
Jingle Bells + Close	Paul Baron Orchestra + Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 25 Dec 1947
Set 5	Bunny Berrigan
Theme + Mr Ghost Goes To Town	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	WEAF NBC Red NYC 31 Jan 1937
Moonshine Over Kentucky + Heigh Ho	Bunny Berrigan Orchestra (voc) Ruth Gaylor	Paradise Restaurant WEAF NBC Red NYC 3 May 1938
Swinging & Jumping	Bunny Berrigan Orchestra	Manhattan Centre WNEW NYC 24 Sep 1939
Little Gate Special + I Can’t Get Started (theme)	Bunny Berrigan Orchestra	Manhattan Centre WNEW NYC 24 Sep 1939
Set 6	1930s-40s English Dance Bands
On The Air	Carroll Gibbons and The Savoy Hotel Orpheans (voc) Dorothy Stedeford	Comm Rec London 7 Nov 1932
The Man Who Comes Around	Nat Gonella and his New Georgians (voc) Nat Gonella, Stella Moya, Jack Wallace	Comm Rec London 1940
Tony’s Wife	Carroll Gibbons and The Savoy Hotel Orpheans	Comm Rec London 28 Jun 1933
Oh Buddy, I’m in Love	Nat Gonella and his New Georgians (voc) Stella Moya	Comm Rec London 1941
Set 7	Paper Records
Pardon Me Pretty Baby	Sam Lanin Orchestra (voc) Paul Small	‘Hit of the Week Records’ NYC Aug 1931
I Found a Million Dollar Baby	Don Voorhees Orchestra	‘Hit of the Week Records’ NYC 10 Sep 1931
Home	Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees (voc) Rudy Vallee	‘Hit of the Week Records’ NYC Jan 1932
I’m Keeping Company	Hit of the Week Orchestra (voc) Scrappy Lambert	‘Hit of the Week Records’ NYC Aug 1931
Set 8	Jazz Moderne
I’ll Remember April	Erroll Garner Trio	Peacock Lane KNX CBS LA Mar 1957
Dreamin’	Erroll Garner Trio	Peacock Lane KNX CBS LA Mar 1957
Flat Foot Floogie	Slim Gaillard	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NYC 28 May 1951

Gus Arnheim Introduces Bing Crosby – Phantom Dancer 6 December 2022

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

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

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

GUS

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

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

He was accompanist to vaudevillian Sophie Tucker.

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

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

COCOANUT GROVE

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

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

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

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

NOTABLE

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

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

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

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

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

• • Shirley Ross sang with Arnheim in 1933

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

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

Here’s Arnheim on a 1927 Vitaphone music short…

6 DECEMBER PLAY LIST

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

1958 New Years Eve Radio and TV! – 21 December 2021

1958 New Years Eve radio and TV features in the first (nationally networked) part of this week’s Phantom Dancer. In the final hour of this week’s show you’ll hear Part 2 of Phantom dancer 1930s-50s Christmas music.

1958 New Years Eve TV in videos from New York, London and Bucharest.  1958 New Years radio from New York and Chicago, including New Years countdowns.

LISTEN to this Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 21 December) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

I’m Greg Poppleton, The Phantom Dancer producer and presenter every week on 107.3 2SER radio Sydney since 1985.

First, Guy Lombardo’s New Years Eve TV show on WCBS TV New York, 31 Dec 1957…

EVENTS OF 1957

• The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
• American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, which later renames it the “Frisbee”.
• The European Economic Community is established with West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg as the first members.
• The International Geophysical Year begins.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
• Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches ‘Sputnik 2’. On board is the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika.
• Sukarno expels all Dutch people from Indonesia.
• The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight.

Dancing the New Year in. Albert Hall, London, New Year’s Eve 1957-58

EVENTS OF 1958

• The European Economic Community is established.
• ‘Sputnik 1’ falls to Earth from orbit.
• The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.
• The peace symbol, commissioned by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom.
• Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time.
• Vertigo (film) named Vertigo has world premiere in San Francisco.
• U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the NASA e.g National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
• Art Kane photographs 57 notable jazz musicians in the black and white group portrait “A Great Day in Harlem” in front of a Brownstone in New York City.
• Jack Kilby demonstrates the first integrated circuit.
• The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first to reach the Pole of inaccessibility Southern pole of inaccessibility e.g southern pole of inaccessibility.

Welcoming 1958 on Bucharest TV Romania…

21 DECEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #523
107.3 2SER Tuesday 21 DECEMBER 2021 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 – 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 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
Open + Stomping at the Savoy	Teddy Wilson Trio	‘All Star Parade of Bands’ The Embers WRCA NBC New York City 31 Dec 1957
Tea for Two	Teddy Wilson Trio	‘All Star Parade of Bands’ The Embers WRCA NBC New York City 31 Dec 1957
Afterthoughts	Eddie Heywood Trio	‘All Star Parade of Bands’ The Embers WRCA NBC New York City 31 Dec 1957
Begin the Beguine (which the announcer mis-names ‘Moonglow’	Eddie Heywood Trio	‘All Star Parade of Bands’ The Embers WRCA NBC New York City 31 Dec 1957
Set 2
So In Love	Ben Arden Orchestra (voc) Ben Arden	‘New Year Dancing Party’ Palmer House WGN Chicago 31 Dec 1957
Asia Minor + Theme + Chicago 1958 New Year Countdown	Frank Yaw Orchestra	‘New Year Dancing Party’ Porter House Room Hotel Sherman WGN Chicago 31 Dec 1957
Auld Lang Syne + Down by the River Side	David LaWinter Orchestra (voc) The Four Lads	‘New Year Dancing Party’ Pump Room Ambassador East Hotel WGN Chicago 1 Jan 1958
Set 3
Theme + From This Moment On	Jimmy Blade Orchestra	‘New Year Dancing Party’ Camelia House Drake Hotel WGN Chicago 1 Jan 1958
New York 1958 New Year Countdown + One O’Clock Jump + Whirlibird	Ben Grauer in Times Square + Count Basie Orchestra	‘All Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WRCA NBC New York City 1 Jan 1958
Blues in Frankie’s Flat	Count Basie Orchestra	‘All Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WRCA NBC New York City 1 Jan 1958
Set 4
Auld Lang Syne + Take the A-Train + Chicago 1958 Countdown	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘All Star Parade of Bands’ Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 1 Jan 1958
Newport Up	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘All Star Parade of Bands’ Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 1 Jan 1958
Star-crossed Lovers	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘All Star Parade of Bands’ Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 1 Jan 1958
Set 5
Say It Isn’t The Night	Jimmy Blade Orchestra	‘New Year Dancing Party’ Camelia House Drake Hotel WGN Chicago 1 Jan 1958
Tea For Two	Jimmy Blade Orchestra	‘New Year Dancing Party’ Camelia House Drake Hotel WGN Chicago 1 Jan 1958
Oya Negra + Theme + Meditation + Station Close	Jimmy Blade Orchestra	‘New Year Dancing Party’ Camelia House Drake Hotel WGN Chicago 1 Jan 1958
Set 6
Jingle Bells	Thrasher Sisters	‘Fountain of Fun’ WLW Cincinnati 19 Dec 1943
Jingle Bells	Mel Blanc and The Sportsmen	‘Mail Call’ AFRS Hollywood
Jingle Bells	Glenn Miller Orchestra	‘Chesterfield Show’ WABC CBS NY 24 Dec 1941
Jingle Bells	Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Tex Beneke and The Modernaires)	‘Sunset Serenade’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ NBC Blue NY 27 Dec 1941
Set 7
12th Street Rag	Tiny Crump	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 25 Dec 1954
Weary Blues	Kid Ory	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 25 Dec 1954
Set 8
Jingle Bells (theme) + Half Nelson	Charlie Parker, Kenny Dorham, Al Haig, Tommy Potter, Max Roach	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 25 Dec 1948
White Christmas	Charlie Parker, Kenny Dorham, Al Haig, Tommy Potter, Max Roach	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 25 Dec 1948
Little Willie Leaps	Charlie Parker, Kenny Dorham, Al Haig, Tommy Potter, Max Roach	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 25 Dec 1948

Gogo DeLys – Phantom Dancer 30 November 2021

Gogo DeLys Canadian band singer in the US and actor, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist.

LISTEN to this Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 30 November) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

I’m Greg Poppleton, The Phantom Dancer producer and presenter every week on 107.3 2SER radio Sydney since 1985.

GOGO

Gogo DeLys was born on August 17, 1908 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada as Marie Gabrielle Belanger. She was an actress, known for Northern Exposure (1933), No Sale (1938) and Television Highlights (1936). She was married to Robert L. Redd. She died on February 19, 2003 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

The film, Television Highlights, was a Mentone Brevity short that featured an early-day Henny Youngman (billed as Henry Youngman). Gogo DeLys (the correct version of her name), old-timer Lew Hearn and Powers’ Prom Girls. Youngman is the emcee at the Yacht Club nightclub who is trying to get Lew Hearn to buy a television set on which unbooked vaudeville acts are performing.

DELYS

DeLys performed in a talent show while she was a law student at the University of Southern California. A talent scout saw her and turned her career plans from law to singing.

Dubbed “the Canadian Canary” by newspaper columnist Walter Winchell, DeLys was active professionally from the 1920s into the 1940s. In 1928, she performed in vaudeville shows headed by Eddie Peabody and Paul Ash.

Before January 1931, DeLys had moved from Vancouver to Los Angeles, singing on radio station KHJ, where Radio Digest magazine said, “she promptly became an instantaneous hit”. By June 1931, DeLys had become the female vocalist with Georgie Stoll and his orchestra. The following year she sang with Jimmy Grier’s orchestra.

She appeared alongside Fred Astaire and Dick Powell in the big stage shows of Fanchon and Marco.

On radio, DeLys sang with Jerry Joyce’s Boys. She also sang on the radio shows, Little Ol’ Hollywood, Your Hit Parade, and Carefree Carnival. She also had her own show on NBC, “Gogo DeLys Sings.”

In 1936, she had her own twice-weekly program on CBS, and in 1937 she was featured with The Norsemen, James Melton, and Don Voorhees’ orchestra in a series of transcribed programs sponsored by Rexall. In July 1937, Mid-Summer Night’s Serenade debuted on CBS with DeLys as its star. A review in the trade publication Radio Daily described the program as “a well-balanced 15 minutes of evening music.”

Gogo DeLys on radio in 1940…

Gogo DeLys recorded several hits with the Grier band for Brunswick Records, including “Moonstruck,” “Sugar Plum” and “Secondhand Heart for Sale.” You’ll hear her on this week’s Phantom Dancer with the Jimmy Grier Ambassador Hotel Cocoanut Grove Orchestra.

During her radio days, she met future husband, NBC executive Robert L. Redd. As Mrs. Redd, she devoted much of her time to the owning and racing of thoroughbred horses and working for various charity groups. She was a charter member of the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters and a recipient of the group’s Golden Canary Award.

She is survived by a daughter.

30 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #520
107.3 2SER Tuesday 30 NOVEMBER 2021 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 – 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 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	Tony Pastor
Saturday Night  is the Lonliest Night of the Week	Tony Pastor Orchestra (voc) Ruth MacKellar	‘One Night Stand’ Jantzen Beach Portland OR AFRS Re-broadcast 15 May 1945
Sunday in Savannah	Tony Pastor Orchestra (voc) Tony Pastor	‘One Night Stand’ Jantzen Beach Portland OR AFRS Re-broadcast 15 May 1945
Bell Bottom Trousers	Tony Pastor Orchestra (voc) Tony Pastor and Ruth MacKellar	‘One Night Stand’ Jantzen Beach Portland OR AFRS Re-broadcast 15 May 1945
I Got Rhythm + Close (Temptation)	Tony Pastor Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Jantzen Beach Portland OR AFRS Re-broadcast 15 May 1945
Set 2	Jack Smith and Martha Tilton
This Is It	Jack Smith	‘Jack Smith Show’ WABC CBS NYC 19 Jun 1947
I’ll Be Yours (Komm Zurueck)	Jack Smith	‘Jack Smith Show’ WABC CBS NYC 19 Jun 1947
I’ll Walk Alone + It Might As Well Be Spring	Martha Tilton	‘Jack Smith Show’ WABC CBS NYC 19 Jun 1947
One More Dream + The Same Time, The Same Place (theme)	Jack Smith	‘Jack Smith Show’ WABC CBS NYC 19 Jun 1947
Set 3	Date with the Duke
Take the A Train (theme) + Bluetopia	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘Date With The Duke’ 400 Restauarnt New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Jun 1945
Sentimental Journey	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘Date With The Duke’ 400 Restauarnt New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Jun 1945
Passion Flower	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘Date With The Duke’ 400 Restauarnt New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Jun 1945
Air Conditioned Jungle	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘Date With The Duke’ 400 Restauarnt New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Jun 1945
Set 4	GoGo DeLys
Music in the Moonlight (theme) + It’s Time To Love	Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) Gogo DeLys	‘Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription’ Los Angeles 1932
Too Many Tears	Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) Gogo DeLys	‘Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription’ Los Angeles 1932
Tomorrow + Music in the Moonlight (theme)	Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) Gogo DeLys	‘Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription’ Los Angeles 1932
Set 5	1930s German Swing
Dieses Leid hat keinen Text	Evelyn Kuennecke (voc) Peter Igelhoff Orch	Comm Rec Berlin
Ueber die Daecher der grossen Stadt	Rudi Schuericke Terzett (voc) Hans Carste Orch	Comm Rec Berlin
Ti Pi Tin	Erwin Hartung (voc) Scala Orchestra	Comm Rec Berlin
Qui Madame	Peter Igelhoff (voc) and his Ensemble	Comm Rec Berlin
Set 6	Count Basie
Moten Swing (theme) + One Oclock Jump	Count Basie	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ Nov 1937
I’ll Always Be In Love With You	Count Basie	Savoy Ballroom NYC Aircheck 30 Jun 1937
Every Tub + Song of the Wanderer	Count Basie	‘America Dances’ Famous Door WABC CBS NYC BBC London Jul 1938
Bugle Blues + Moten Swing (theme)	Count Basie	Savoy Ballroom NYC Aircheck 30 Jun 1937
Set 7	Miles
Open + Walkin’	Miles Davis	‘Bandstand USA’ Birdland WOR Mutual NYC 3 Jan 1959
Set 8	1940s Swing Radio
Lucky	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood Jan 1946
Swanee	Lionel Hampton Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 3 Dec 1945
Hitsum Kitsum	Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra (voc) Quartet	‘Spotlight Bands’ Mitchell Field Long Is NY Blue Network 15 Jan 1945
Even Stevens	Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Mitchell Field Long Is NY Blue Network 15 Jan 1945

First Nighters – Phantom Dancer 5 January 2021

First nighters for the first Phantom Dancer of 2021 – your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton.

STOP PRESS: Because of a gig that was come up 26 Jan, this First Nighters show replaces the scheduled live Rosemary Clooney mix  which will now be heard Tuesday 2 Feb. Thank you

Hear excepts from the 1939 radio premier of Morton Gould’s ‘American Symphonette #2’, the first all African-American Variety show on NBC in 1948, and Duke Ellington introducing his Shakesphere suite over CBS from the 1957 Ravinia Festival

You can hear The Phantom Dancer online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

FIRST NIGHTERS

Every week The Phantom Dancer brings you a feature artist. This week, it’s first nighter feature programs. Excerpts from three historic first nighters with some explaination about why they are so important below…

AMERICAN SYMPHONETTE No.3 RADIO PREMIER – WOR MBS New York City / CBC CANADA, 1939

Joseph Stevenson writes,
“This 1939 composition is one of the most convincing classical attempts to create a jazz spirit. It succeeds in doing so without the presence of any jazz players or use of improvisation. Nevertheless, jazz devices of coloration are used, such as wire brushes on drums, glissandi and lip slurs, and chord voicings that are common to jazz arrangements of the time. In addition, the themes (and their scales and harmonies) are jazz- and blues-derived. So successful was Gould in devising “jazz” themes for this symphonette that the second movement, “Pavane” has been widely quoted in actual jazz performances by such masters as John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, and Glenn Miller. The outer two movements of this three-movement piece are marked “Moderately fast” and “Very fast–Racy,” respectively. Incidentally, you have heard and are quite familiar with the theme of the Pavane, whether you know it or not. Outstanding listening. Gould is notable for creating excellent music, perfectly crafted, seemingly almost commercial in intent and yet, when really listened to, revealing unusual breadth. I always conclude listening to this piece believing that it is a true masterpiece without even trying to be. Wonderfully ingratiating music.”

‘SWINGTIME AT THE SAVOY’ WNBC NBC NY, 28 Jul 1948

New York Times headline: “The News of Radio; All-Negro Variety Show, ‘Swingtime at the Savoy,’ Will Bow Tonight on NBC”

“An all-Negro variety show, entitled “Swingtime at the Savoy,” will have its premiere at 8 o’clock tonight on NBC. The regular cast will include Lucky Millinder and his orchestra, Miller and Lee, comedians; Jackie (Moms) Pabley, comedienne, and the King Odem Quartet.” New York Times, 28 July 1948

RAVINIA FESTIVAL – DUKE ELLINGTON SHAKESPHERE SUITE PREMIER, CBS 1 JUL 1957

The Ravinia Festival is the oldest outdoor music festival in the United States, with a series of outdoor concerts and performances held every summer from June to September. In Ravinia Park’s first summer of 1905, it hosted the New York Philharmonic, and the prairie style Martin Theater dates from this time period. It has been the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) since 1936. Located in Highland Park, Illinois, the festival operates on the grounds of the 15 ha Ravinia Park, with a variety of outdoor and indoor performing arts facilities – Wiki

“In 1957, Duke Ellington premiered the latest in what would become a series of suites based on various subjects and inspirations. This one, inspired by the plays of William Shakespeare, had its U.S. premier at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago and was broadcast (much, but not all of it) via CBS Radio on July 1st, with the performance already underway. An album of the suite was planned and recorded, slated for release in November of 1957, but apparently the stereo version was scrapped and only the mono version was available until 1999. The world premier of the piece was given at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, where Ellington and his band were scheduled to play for two nights. It was there that Ellington got the idea to do a suite based on Shakespearean themes, and along with his co-writer Billy Strayhorn, worked on the suite to be premiered the following year at the festival. So the actual world premier of most of Such Sweet Thunder took place at Stratford around June 30 1957, but it wasn’t complete and no recording of it exists.” Gordon Skene.

Now, tirelessly searching YouTube for a swingy, jazzy, instructive, or ‘weird and wonderful’ Video of the Week, I’ve found this for your ocular delectation, a whole set of soundies by the 1940s all-women swing orchestra, International Sweethearts of Rhythm, recently featured on your Phantom Dancer with Greg Poppleton. 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!

Thank you.

5 JANUARY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream Community Radio Network Show CRN #469
107.3 2SER Tuesday 5 January 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 Sunday 5 – 6pm
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	‘Chiclets Program’ XEW Mexico City 1949
Chi sas? Chi sas?	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Hotel 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
All of Me + VIP’s Boogie	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Bette Roche	Town Casino NBC Cleveland 1952
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

Paul Douglas Radio and Film Star – Phantom Dancer 8 September 2020

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 8 September 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!

8 SEPTEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #429
107.3 2SER Tuesday 8 September 2020 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

The 1929-45 Teenager – Phantom Dancer 25 February 2020

This week’s Phantom Dancer 25 February mix feature artist from live 1920s-60s radio is The Teenager.

Specifically, we’ll hear three examples from 1929 – 45 radio of music and spoken word aimed at the teenager. You’ll even hear the massed voices of teenagers in a Frank Sinatra broadcast.

The Phantom Dancer with actor and 1920s-30s singer Greg Poppleton can be heard online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The last hour is all vinyl.

HAROLD TEEN

‘Harold Teen’ is a 1929 song celebrating the popular comic book character of the same name first published in 1919, written and drawn by Carl Ed (pronounced “eed”).

Asked in the late 1930s why he had started the strip, Ed answered, “Twenty years ago, there was no comic strip on adolescence. I thought every well-balanced comic sheet should have one.”

Harold Teen 1928 movie poster

The success of the strip led to toys, figurines, pins and other products.

Carl Ed received writing credit for both film adaptations of Harold Teen. Tap dancer Hal Le Roy had the title role in the 1934 movie musical Harold Teen. In the 1928 silent version, Harold was portrayed by Arthur Lake, best known for his many performances as Dagwood Bumstead.

There was also a Harold Teen radio show mid-day on Saturdays on the Tribune radio station WGN in Chicago. It was mostly a DJ show with Harold and his buddy Shad spinning the latest hits.

Kansas City jazz band pianist Joe Sanders wrote a song about the “Don Juan of comic strip fame”, describing him as a “human love machine” and as “romance personified”. A performance by the Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra can be heard in the March 1, 1929, episode of the Maytag Frolics radio program on this week’s Phantom Dancer

BOBBY SOXERS

Bobby soxer is term for a very zealous fan of 1940s traditional pop music, in particular that of singer Frank Sinatra. We’ll hear them screaming after a Frank song in this week’s Phantom Dancer.

Bobby soxers were usually teenage girls in high schools and colleges, who got their name from the bobby socks that they wore.

Teenage actress Shirley Temple played a stereotypical Bobby socker in the film The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947).

Bobby soxers

SEVENTEEN

Turns out, as you’ll hear announced on this week’s Phantom Dancer, that Eddie Condon’s dxieland jazz was ‘OK with teenage USA’.  This reported wisdom came from a newly published magazine, Seventeen, the first magazine aimed at 13-17 year old girls that treated them like adults so they could be sold to.

Helen Valentine (1893-1986) was the founder and editor in chief of Seventeen.

April 1945 Seventeen cover

In 1944, while serving as promotion director for Mademoiselle magazine at Walter Annenberg’s Triangle Publications, she was asked by Annenberg to help revive a movie magazine.

Although the concept of “teenager” as a distinct demographic segment of the population was a relatively new idea at that time, Valentine instead proposed a magazine for teen-age girls. Noticing the wide popularity of a King Features Syndicate comic strip by cartoonist Hilda Terry that focused on the trials and tribulations of a typical teenager’s life entitled Teena which began running in July 1944, Valentine convinced Annenberg that teenage girls needed a magazine of their own and that the then unserved demographic had the potential to become an important and lucrative new consumer market segment stating that “It was time to treat children as adults.”

The magazine was launched in September 1944 and within a year, Seventeen had a circulation of a million. Seventeen is credited with creating a teen market for clothing manufacturers and other industries.

VIDEO

The Phantom Dancer Video of the Week  is a short clip from the documentary, Teenage, featuring Bobby Soxers. 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!

25 FEBRUARY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #425
107.3 2SER Tuesday 25 February 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Mon 2:30 – 3:30am 4NAG Keppel FM 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 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Sweet Music
Open + On the Sunny Side of the Street	Frances Langford	‘Swingtime’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Open + Old Shanty Town	Owen Bradley and the Anita Kerr Singers (voc) Lion Oil Orchestra	‘Sunday Down South’ Lion Network. 25 Jul 1954
Sheik of Araby + Time To Say Goodbye (theme)	Russ Morgan Orchestra (voc) Russ Morgan	Club Del Mar Santa Monica Ca 22 Aug 1959
Set 2	Modern Music Radio
Open + Move	Miles Davis Nonet	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 4 Sep 1948
Open + Lady Be Good	Coleman Hawkins	‘Jazz Art Concert’ Theatre DeLys WNBC NBC NY 4 Oct 1952
Boogie Mysterioso	Mary Lou Williams Quintet	‘Jazz Club USA’ Voice of America 1951
Set 3	Selling Oldsmobiles
Open + Roll Out of Bed with a Smile	Johnny Green Orchestra	‘Oldsmobile Program’ WABC CBS NY 20 Feb 1934
Everything I Have Is Yours + After Sundown	Ruth Etting	‘Oldsmobile Program’ WABC CBS NY 20 Feb 1934
Temptation + I Wanna Be Loved (theme)	Johnny Green Orchestra	‘Oldsmobile Program’ WABC CBS NY 20 Feb 1934
Set 4	Aimed at Teenagers
Open + I Found a New Baby	Eddie Condon	‘Eddie Condon Town Hall Jazz Concert’ Ritz Theatre WJZ Blue NY 3 Mar 1945
Open + Harold Teen	Coon-Sanders Nighthawks (voc) Joe Sanders	‘Maytag Frolics’ Radio Transcription 28 Feb 1929
I Love You	Frank Sinatra	‘Your Hit Parade’ WABC CBS NY 6 May 1944
Set 5	Trad Jazz on Radio
Royal Garden Blues	Jimmy Dorsey Dorseyland Band	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1950
Eh, La Bas!	Papa Celestin	‘Dixieland Jamboree’ WDSU ABC New Orleans 1950
Jazz Me Blues	Bob Crosby Bobcats	Blackhawk Restaurant WGN Mutual Chicago 25 Mar 1940
Copenhagen	Artie Shaw Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WEAF NBC Red NY 30 Dec 1939
Set 6	Swing Radio
Take The A-Train (theme) + Way Low	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Hurricane Restaurant Aircheck NYC 28 Aug 1943
Open + Sugarfoot Stomp	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Springfield Ma. Blue Network 29 Sep 1943
Frantic in the Atlantic	Cab Calloway Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Club Zanzibar AFRS re-broadcast 16 Jul 1946
Your Father’s Moustache	Woody Herman Orchestra	‘Wild Root Creme Oil Show’ ABC 1 Dec 1946
Set 7	1930s French Swing
Got a Date in Louisiana	Philippe Brun Swing Band	Comm Rec Paris 8 Mar 1938
Avalon	Michel Warlop Orchestra	Comm Rec Paris 2 Mar 1935
What’ll I Do	Fletcher Allen Orchestra	Comm Rec Paris 15 Mar 1938
Popcorn Man	Ray Ventura Orchestra (voc) Betty Allen	Comm Rec Paris 1938
Set 8	1940s-50s Moderne
BeBop	Howard McGee Sextet	Aircheck Hollywood 29 Apr 1947
Imagination	Slim Gaillard	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland 2 Jun 1951
Oo-Ba-Ba-Re-Ba	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	400 Restaurant New York City Aircheck 1945
Mulligantawny	Woody Herman Third Hers	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Peony Park WOW NBC Omaha 1954

First Nighters Feature – Latest From 3MGB Radio Mallacoota – Phantom Dancer 7 Jan 2020

First nighters for the first Phantom Dancer of 2020 – your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton.

Hear excepts from the 1939 radio premier of Morton Gould’s ‘American Symphonette #2’, the first all African-American Variety show on NBC in 1948, and Duke Ellington introducing his Shakesphere suite over CBS from the 1957 Ravinia Festival

3MGB Radio Mallacoota plays The Phantom Dancer every week. Mallacoota has faced some of the worst of the 2019 – 2020 bushfires where the sky turned red and the Navy is now in the process of evacuating people from the town.

Map showing warning areas near bushfires in Victoria, Australia. The areas with a black line and grey fill are designated for evacuation. The red lines indicate “emergency warning”. The arrow points toward Mallacoota, Victoria. The width of the largest emergency warning area is approximately 204km (110 miles), east to west. Map by Vic Emergency, Dec. 31, 2019

The ABC (the Australian national broadcaster) has just posted news from 3MGB volunteer, Francesca Winterson, 2 Jan…

“Francesca Winterson is a volunteer at Mallacoota’s community radio station 3MGB, and plenty of you were concerned about her safety earlier in the week. We’ve been able to have a long chat with her this morning.

She said misinformation had been spreading on Facebook.

“I think people are starting to get incredibly anxious because they have been isolated for so long but they have to accept that right at the moment there’s absolutely nothing we can do,” she told ABC Gippsland.

“Some people have been able to get back into their homes. I was one person fortunate enough that at the moment my house is standing.”
Ms Winterson said water supplies had been restored but power was still out and the only road out of town was still closed.

Paramedics had been brought in by police helicopter and only people with acute medical emergencies were being airlifted out, she said, as the town waits for a navy ship docked nearby to start evacuating people.

But amid the chaos people were doing what they could to help.

“There’s a lot of smiles, a lot of waves,” she said.

“Yes there are some people who are incredibly anxious but basically the community is pulling together and that’s what we’ve got to do. We all have to pull together, reach out to other people, offer them accommodation, offer them a shower.

“We’re a strong little town and most of the people that come here have been coming here for a long time and they love Mallacoota so they’ll help us.”

Source – ABC Blog

You can hear The Phantom Dancer online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

FIRST NIGHTERS

Every week The Phantom Dancer brings you a feature artist. This week, it’s feature programs. Excerpts from three historic first nighters with some explaination about why they are so important below…

AMERICAN SYMPHONETTE No.3 RADIO PREMIER – WOR MBS New York City / CBC CANADA, 1939

Joseph Stevenson writes,
“This 1939 composition is one of the most convincing classical attempts to create a jazz spirit. It succeeds in doing so without the presence of any jazz players or use of improvisation. Nevertheless, jazz devices of coloration are used, such as wire brushes on drums, glissandi and lip slurs, and chord voicings that are common to jazz arrangements of the time. In addition, the themes (and their scales and harmonies) are jazz- and blues-derived. So successful was Gould in devising “jazz” themes for this symphonette that the second movement, “Pavane” has been widely quoted in actual jazz performances by such masters as John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, and Glenn Miller. The outer two movements of this three-movement piece are marked “Moderately fast” and “Very fast–Racy,” respectively. Incidentally, you have heard and are quite familiar with the theme of the Pavane, whether you know it or not. Outstanding listening. Gould is notable for creating excellent music, perfectly crafted, seemingly almost commercial in intent and yet, when really listened to, revealing unusual breadth. I always conclude listening to this piece believing that it is a true masterpiece without even trying to be. Wonderfully ingratiating music.”

‘SWINGTIME AT THE SAVOY’ WNBC NBC NY, 28 Jul 1948

New York Times headline: “The News of Radio; All-Negro Variety Show, ‘Swingtime at the Savoy,’ Will Bow Tonight on NBC”

“An all-Negro variety show, entitled “Swingtime at the Savoy,” will have its premiere at 8 o’clock tonight on NBC. The regular cast will include Lucky Millinder and his orchestra, Miller and Lee, comedians; Jackie (Moms) Pabley, comedienne, and the King Odem Quartet.” New York Times, 28 July 1948

RAVINIA FESTIVAL – DUKE ELLINGTON SHAKESPHERE SUITE PREMIER, CBS 1 JUL 1957

The Ravinia Festival is the oldest outdoor music festival in the United States, with a series of outdoor concerts and performances held every summer from June to September. In Ravinia Park’s first summer of 1905, it hosted the New York Philharmonic, and the prairie style Martin Theater dates from this time period. It has been the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) since 1936. Located in Highland Park, Illinois, the festival operates on the grounds of the 15 ha Ravinia Park, with a variety of outdoor and indoor performing arts facilities – Wiki

“In 1957, Duke Ellington premiered the latest in what would become a series of suites based on various subjects and inspirations. This one, inspired by the plays of William Shakespeare, had its U.S. premier at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago and was broadcast (much, but not all of it) via CBS Radio on July 1st, with the performance already underway. An album of the suite was planned and recorded, slated for release in November of 1957, but apparently the stereo version was scrapped and only the mono version was available until 1999. The world premier of the piece was given at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, where Ellington and his band were scheduled to play for two nights. It was there that Ellington got the idea to do a suite based on Shakespearean themes, and along with his co-writer Billy Strayhorn, worked on the suite to be premiered the following year at the festival. So the actual world premier of most of Such Sweet Thunder took place at Stratford around June 30 1957, but it wasn’t complete and no recording of it exists.” Gordon Skene.

Now, tirelessly searching YouTube for a swingy, jazzy, instructive, or ‘weird and wonderful’ Video of the Week, I’ve found this for your ocular delectation, a whole set of soundies by the 1940s all-women swing orchestra, International Sweethearts of Rhythm, recently featured on your Phantom Dancer with Greg Poppleton. 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!

Thank you.

7 JANUARY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #418
107.3 2SER Tuesday 7 January 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) National Program: ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1	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	‘Chiclets Program’ XEW Mexico City 1949
Chi sas? Chi sas?	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Hotel 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
All of Me + VIP’s Boogie	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Bette Roche	Town Casino NBC Cleveland 1952
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

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

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

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

And see the play list below.

OOGIE BOOGIE

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

SEER

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

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

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

SPOOKY

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

UNCANNY

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

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

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

31 DECEMBER PLAY LIST

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