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

Dolly Dawn – Inspiration for Ella Fitzgerald – Phantom Dancer 1 October 2019

DOLLY DAWN

When you listen to Ella Fitzgerald you hear Dolly Dawn? Why? Because Dolly Dawn was a big influence on Ella Fitzgerald’s singing style. Dolly Dawn is this week’s Phantom Dancer presented by Greg Poppleton.

ONLINE

This week’s Phantom Dancer will be online right after the 1 October 107.3 2SER Sydney live mix at 2ser.com.
Hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney

FOCUS

Dolly Dawn was one of the first vocalists to become the sole focus of a band. When Walter Winchell coined the term ‘canary’ for female singers, he was referring to her.

She sang with George Hall and his Orchestra from age 16. Though born Theresa Maria Stabile, (she was a cousin of band leader Dick Stabile) she had already given herself the stage name Billie Starr after winning a singing contest at age 14.

George Hall and Harriet Mencken, a writer on The New York Journal-American, came up with the name, Dolly Dawn, for her.

‘She’s as fresh as the dawn and as dimpled as a doll,’ the newspaperwoman said, according to an article in Radio Guide in 1937. Miss Dawn never stopped hating the name, which she thought made her sound like a stripper.

DAWN PATROL

Nevertheless, her relationship with Hall and his wife was so close that they formally adopted her when she was 19. In a ceremony on 4 July 1941, at the Roseland Ballroom in New York, George Hall officially turned the band over to her and became her manager.

NEW YORK – JANUARY 28: Big Band singer Dolly Dawn and orchestra leader George Hall. Dolly models hat fashions. Image dated January 28, 1936. New York, NY. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

The band was renamed ‘Dolly Dawn and Her Dawn Patrol’ and on this week’s Phantom Dancer we hear her introduce herself as a band leader on NBC’s ‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’.

The WW2 draft took most of her band, so from 1942 she continued without the band, appearing in engagements across the US. She continued to record into the 1950s.

She developed a cult following that saw her in scattered club appearances in the 1970s and 80s, particularly in response to the release of a double album of her records with George Hall on the RCA Bluebird label in 1976.

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week is Dolly Dawn singing with George Hall’s Orchestra in the 1938 short, ‘Hall’s Holliday’. Enjoy!

1 OCTOBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #407
107.3 2SER Tuesday 1 October 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 10 – 11pm and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1	1939 – 40 Radio Remotes
Theme + Choppin’ Wood	Woody Herman Orchestra	The Famous Door WEAF NBC Red NY 7 Jan 1940
Dardenella	Paul Whiteman Orchestra	‘Chesterfield Show’ WABC CBS NY 25 Oct 1939
The Chinese Lullaby + Close	Teddy Powell Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Blair	The Famous Door WJSV Washington DC via WABC CBS NY 21 Sep 1939
Set 2	This Is Jazz 1947 Radio
Theme + St Louis Blues + Tin Roof Blues	Wild Bill Davison and more (voc) George Brunies	‘This is Jazz’ WOR Mutual NY 10 May 1947
Chocolate Bar	James P Johnson	‘This is Jazz’ WOR Mutual NY 17 May 1947
Blue Turning Gray Over You + I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling	Wild Bill Davison and more	‘This is Jazz’ WOR Mutual NY 17 May 1947
Set 3	Glenn Miller in German 1944
Long Ago and Far Away	Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Johnny Desmond	ABSIE American Broadcasting Station in Europe Abbey Road Studios London 30 Oct 1944
Body and Soul	Glenn Miller Orchestra	ABSIE American Broadcasting Station in Europe Abbey Road Studios London 27 Nov 1944
Poinciana	Glenn Miller Orchestra	ABSIE American Broadcasting Station in Europe Abbey Road Studios London 6 Nov 1944
Set 4	Dolly Dawn
The You and Me That Used To Be	George Hall Orchestra (voc) Dolly Dawn	‘Easy to Remember’ WABC CBS NY 1937
Dolly Dawn Speaks	Dolly Dawn	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 25 Aug 1941
Beethoven Wrote But It Swings	Dolly Dawn and her Dawn Patrol	Comm Rec 15 Feb 1939
52nd Street	George Hall Orchestra (voc) Dolly Dawn	‘Easy to Remember’ WABC CBS NY 1937
Set 5	Novelty Songs on 1930s-40s Radio
The Music Goes Round and Round	Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc) Jack Teagarden	‘Paul Whiteman’s Musical Varieties’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 12 Jan 1936
Open The Door Richard	The Hit Paraders	‘Your Hit Parade’ WNBC NBC NY 1 Mar 1947
Swingin’ On A Star	Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) LA	‘Spotlight Bands’ Tuskagee Alabama AFRS Re-broadcast 5 Oct 1944
Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah	Ginny Simms	‘Your Hit Parade’ WNBC NBC NY 1 Mar 1947
Set 6	Trad Bands on 1940s Radio
Ollie Outs In Free	Carl Ravazza Orchestra (voc) Carl Ravazza and Band	Radio Transcription 1942
Tain’t Me	Raymond Scott Orchestra (voc) Dorothy Collins	Radio Transcription 1944
Cancel the Flowers	Carl Ravazza Orchestra (voc) Carl Ravazza	Radio Transcription 1941
The Beard	Raymond Scott Orchestra	Radio Transcription 1944
Set 7	Cocoanut Grove 1931 – 32 Radio Transcriptions
Do The New York	Gus Arnheim Orchestra	Radio Transcription Cocoanut Grove Los Angeles 1931
Down Among the Sleepy Pines	Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) Jean Shark and the Three Ambassadors	Radio Transcription Cocoanut Grove Los Angeles 1932
Out of Nowhere	Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) Bing Crosby	‘MJB Coffee Revue’ KFI NBC Orange Cocoanut Grove Los Angeles 1931
I Know You’re Lying But I Love It	Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) Gogo DeLys and the Four Cheers	Radio Transcription Cocoanut Grove Los Angeles 1932
Set 8	Jazz Piano on Radio
Budo	Bud Powell	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WJZ ABC NY 7 Mar 1953
All The Things You Are	Thelonius Monk	Aircheck 1948
Cherokee	Art Tatum	Radio Transcription late 1940s
I’ll Remember April	Erroll Garner	Peacock Lane KFI NBC LA Mar 1957