Marlene Dietrich – Singer and Activist – Phantom Dancer 9 April 2024

Marie Magdalene “Marlene” Dietrich was a German and American actress and singer whose career spanned from the 1910s to the 1980s. She was known for her humanitarian efforts during World War II, housing German and French exiles, providing financial support and even advocating their American citizenship. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Dietrich the ninth greatest female screen legend of classic Hollywood cinema. She is your Phantom Dancer feature artist this week.

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

MARLENE

In 1920s Berlin, Marlene Dietrich performed on stage and in silent films. Her breakthroigh role as Lola Lola in Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel (1930) brought her international acclaim and a contract with Paramount Pictures.

She starred in six iconic Hollywood films directed by Sternberg: Morocco (1930) (her only Academy Award nomination), Dishonored (1931), Shanghai Express and Blonde Venus (both 1932), The Scarlet Empress (1934), The Devil Is a Woman (1935).

Marlene Dietrich became one of the era’s highest-paid actresses.

Throughout World War II, she was a high-profile entertainer in the United States. Although she delivered notable performances in several post-war films, including Billy Wilder’s A Foreign Affair (1948), Alfred Hitchcock’s Stage Fright (1950), Billy Wilder’s Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil (1958), and Stanley Kramer’s Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), she spent most of the 1950s to the 1970s touring the world as a marquee live-show performer.

The earliest professional stage appearances by Dietrich were as a chorus girl on tour with Guido Thielscher’s Girl-Kabarett vaudeville-style entertainments and in Rudolf Nelson revues in Berlin.

In 1922, Dietrich auditioned unsuccessfully for theatrical director and impresario Max Reinhardt’s drama academy. She soon found herself working in his theatres as a chorus girl and playing small roles in dramas.

Dietrich’s film debut was a small part in the film The Little Napoleon (1923).

She met her future husband Rudolf Sieber on the set of Tragedy of Love in 1923. Dietrich and Sieber were married in a civil ceremony in Berlin on 17 May 1923. Her only child, daughter Maria Elisabeth Sieber, was born on 13 December 1924.

Dietrich continued to work on stage and in film both in Berlin and Vienna throughout the 1920s.

On stage, she had roles of varying importance in Frank Wedekind’s Pandora’s Box, William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and George Bernard Shaw’s Back to Methuselah and Misalliance.

It was in musicals and revues such as Broadway, Es Liegt in der Luft, and Zwei Krawatten, however, that she attracted the most attention. By the late 1920s, Dietrich was also playing sizable parts on screen, including roles in Café Elektric (1927), I Kiss Your Hand, Madame (1928), and The Ship of Lost Souls (1929).

In 1929, Dietrich landed her breakthrough role of Lola Lola, a cabaret singer who caused the downfall of a hitherto respectable schoolmaster, played by Emil Jannings, in the UFA production of The Blue Angel (1930) shot at Babelsberg film studios.

Josef von Sternberg directed the film and thereafter took credit for having “discovered” Dietrich. The film introduced Dietrich’s signature song “Falling in Love Again”, which she recorded for Electrola. She made further recordings in the 1930s for Polydor and Decca Records.

1930s

In 1930, on the strength of The Blue Angel’s international success, and with encouragement and promotion from Josef von Sternberg, who was established in Hollywood, Dietrich moved to the United States under contract to Paramount Pictures, the U.S. film distributor of The Blue Angel.

The studio sought to market Dietrich as a German answer to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s Swedish-born star Greta Garbo. Sternberg welcomed her with gifts, including a green Rolls-Royce Phantom II. The car later appeared in their first U.S. film Morocco.

The collaboration of one actress and director creating seven films is still unmatched in motion pictures, with the possible exception of Katharine Hepburn and George Cukor, who made ten films together over a much longer period but which were not created for Hepburn the way the last six von Sternberg/Dietrich collaborations were.

Dietrich’s first film after the end of her partnership with von Sternberg was Frank Borzage’s Desire (1936) with Gary Cooper, a commercial success that gave Dietrich an opportunity to try her hand at romantic comedy. Her next project, I Loved a Soldier (1936), ended in shambles when the film was scrapped several weeks into production due to script problems, scheduling confusion and the studio’s decision to fire the producer Ernst Lubitsch.

Extravagant offers lured Dietrich away from Paramount to make her first color film The Garden of Allah (1936) for independent producer David O. Selznick, for which she received $200,000, and to Britain for Alexander Korda’s production, Knight Without Armour (1937), at a salary of $450,000, which made her one of the best paid film stars of the time.

While both films performed decently at the box office, her vehicles were costly to produce and her public popularity had declined. By this time, Dietrich placed 126th in box office rankings, and American film exhibitors proclaimed her “box office poison” in May 1938, a distinction she shared with Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Mae West, Katharine Hepburn, Norma Shearer, Dolores del Río, and Fred Astaire among others.

While in London, Dietrich later said in interviews, she was approached by Nazi Party officials and offered lucrative contracts, should she agree to return to be a foremost film star in Nazi Germany. She refused their offers and applied for U.S. citizenship in 1937. She returned to Paramount to make Angel (1937), another romantic comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch; the film was poorly received, leading Paramount to buy out the remainder of Dietrich’s contract.

Dietrich, with encouragement from Josef von Sternberg, accepted producer Joe Pasternak’s offer to play against type in her first film in two years: that of the cowboy saloon girl, Frenchie, in the western-comedy Destry Rides Again (1939), with James Stewart. This was a significantly less well paid role than she had been accustomed to.

The bawdy role revived her career and “See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have”, a song she introduced in the film, became a hit when she recorded it for Decca. She played similar types in Seven Sinners (1940) and The Spoilers (1942), both with John Wayne.

Dietrich was known to have strong political convictions and the mind to speak them. In the late 1930s, Dietrich created a fund with Billy Wilder and several other exiles to help Jews and dissidents escape from Germany.

In 1937, her entire salary for Knight Without Armor ($450,000) was put into escrow to help the refugees.

In 1939, she became an American citizen and renounced her German citizenship.

1940s

In December 1941, the U.S. entered World War II, and Dietrich became one of the first public figures to help sell war bonds. She toured the U.S. from January 1942 to September 1943 (appearing before 250,000 troops on the Pacific Coast leg of her tour alone) and was reported to have sold more war bonds than any other star.

During two extended tours for the USO in 1944 and 1945, she performed for Allied troops in Algeria, Italy, the UK, France and Heerlen in the Netherlands, then entered Germany with Generals James M. Gavin and George S. Patton.

When asked why she had done this, in spite of the obvious danger of being within a few kilometers of German lines, she replied, “aus Anstand”—”out of decency”.

Wilder later remarked that she was at the front lines more than Dwight Eisenhower. Her revue, with Danny Thomas as her opening act for the first tour, included songs from her films, performances on her musical saw (a skill taught to her by Igo Sym that she had originally acquired for stage appearances in Berlin in the 1920s) and a “mindreading” act that her friend Orson Welles had taught her for his Mercury Wonder Show.

Dietrich would inform the audience that she could read minds and ask them to concentrate on whatever came into their minds. Then she would walk over to a soldier and earnestly tell him, “Oh, think of something else. I can’t possibly talk about that!” American church papers reportedly published stories complaining about this part of Dietrich’s act.

In 1944, the Morale Operations Branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) initiated the Musak project, musical propaganda broadcasts designed to demoralize enemy soldiers. Dietrich, the only performer who was made aware that her recordings would be for OSS use, recorded a number of songs in German for the project, including “Lili Marleen”, a favorite of soldiers on both sides of the conflict. Major General William J. Donovan, head of the OSS, wrote to Dietrich, “I am personally deeply grateful for your generosity in making these recordings for us.”

At the war’s end in Europe, Dietrich reunited with her sister Elisabeth and her sister’s husband and son. They had resided in the German village of Belsen throughout the war years, running a cinema frequented by Nazi officers and officials who oversaw the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Dietrich’s mother remained in Berlin during the war; her husband moved to a ranch in the San Fernando Valley of California. Dietrich vouched for her sister and her sister’s husband, sheltering them from possible prosecution as Nazi collaborators. However, Dietrich later omitted the existence of her sister and her sister’s son from all accounts of her life, completely disowning them and claiming to be an only child.

Dietrich received the Medal of Freedom in November 1947, for her “extraordinary record entertaining troops overseas during the war”. She said this was her proudest accomplishment. She was also awarded the Légion d’honneur by the French government for her wartime work.

1950s – 70s

From the early 1950s until the mid-1970s, Dietrich worked almost exclusively as a cabaret artist, performing live in large theatres in major cities worldwide.

In 1953, Dietrich was offered $30,000 per week to appear live at the Sahara Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. The show was short, consisting only of a few songs associated with her. Her daringly sheer “nude dress”—a heavily beaded evening gown of silk soufflé, which gave the illusion of transparency—designed by Jean Louis, attracted a lot of publicity. This engagement was so successful that she was signed to appear at the Café de Paris in London the following year; her Las Vegas contracts were also renewed.

Dietrich employed Burt Bacharach as her musical arranger starting in the mid-1950s; together, they refined her nightclub act into a more ambitious theatrical one-woman show with an expanded repertoire. Her repertoire included songs from her films as well as popular songs of the day. Bacharach’s arrangements helped to disguise Dietrich’s limited vocal range — she was a contralto — and allowed her to perform her songs to maximum dramatic effect. Together, they recorded four albums and several singles between 1957 and 1964. In a TV interview in 1971, she credited Bacharach with giving her the “inspiration” to perform during those years.

Dietrich’s return to West Germany in 1960 for a concert tour received a mixed reception—despite a consistently negative press, vociferous protest by Germans who felt she had betrayed her homeland, and two bomb threats, her performance attracted huge crowds. During her performances at Berlin’s Titania Palast theatre, protesters chanted, “Marlene Go Home!”

On the other hand, Dietrich was warmly welcomed by other Germans, including Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt, who was, like Dietrich, an opponent of the Nazis who had lived in exile during their rule.

The tour was an artistic triumph, but a financial failure. She was left emotionally drained by the hostility she encountered, and she left convinced never to visit again.

East Germany, however, received her well. She also undertook a tour of Israel around the same time, which was well-received; she sang some songs in German during her concerts, including, from 1962, a German version of Pete Seeger’s anti-war anthem “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”, thus breaking the unofficial taboo against the use of German in Israel.

She would become the first woman and German to receive the Israeli Medallion of Valor in 1965, “in recognition for her courageous adherence to principle and consistent record of friendship for the Jewish people”. Dietrich in London, a concert album, was recorded during the run of her 1964 engagement at the Queen’s Theatre.

She performed on Broadway twice (in 1967 and 1968) and received a Special Tony Award in 1968. In November 1972, I Wish You Love, a version of Dietrich’s Broadway show titled An Evening with Marlene Dietrich, was filmed in London. She was paid $250,000 for her cooperation but was unhappy with the result. The show was broadcast in the UK on the BBC and in the U.S. on CBS in January 1973.

Dietrich continued with a busy performance schedule until September 1975. When Clive Hirschhorn asked her why she continued to perform, she said, “Do you think this is glamorous? That this is a great life, and that I do it for my health? Well, it isn’t. It’s hard work. And who would work if they didn’t have to?”

In her 60s and 70s, Dietrich’s health declined: she survived cervical cancer in 1965 and suffered from poor circulation in her legs. Dietrich became increasingly dependent on painkillers and alcohol. A stage fall at the Shady Grove Music Fair in Maryland in 1973 injured her left thigh, necessitating skin grafts to allow the wound to heal. She fractured her right leg in August 1974.

Dietrich’s show business career largely ended on 29 September 1975, when she fell on the stage and broke a thigh bone during a performance in Sydney, Australia.

POST-CAREER

The following year, her husband, Rudolf Sieber, died of cancer on 24 June 1976. Dietrich’s final on-camera film appearance was a brief appearance in Just a Gigolo (1978), starring David Bowie and directed by David Hemmings, in which she sang the title song.

Dietrich withdrew to her apartment at 12 Avenue Montaigne in Paris. She spent the final 13 years of her life mostly bedridden, allowing only a select few—including family and employees—to enter the apartment. During this time, she was a prolific letter-writer and phone-caller. Her autobiography Nehmt nur mein Leben (Take Just My Life), was published in 1979.

In 1982, Dietrich agreed to participate in a documentary film about her life, Marlene (1984), but refused to be filmed. The film’s director, Maximilian Schell, was allowed only to record her voice. Schell used his interviews with her as the basis for the film, set to a collage of film clips from her career. The film won several European film prizes and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary in 1984. Newsweek named it “a unique film, perhaps the most fascinating and affecting documentary ever made about a great movie star”.

In 1988, Dietrich recorded spoken introductions to songs for a nostalgia album by Udo Lindenberg.

In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel in November 2005, Dietrich’s daughter and grandson said Dietrich was politically active during these years.

She kept in contact with world leaders by telephone, including Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Margaret Thatcher, running up a monthly bill of over US$3,000.

In 1990, her appeal to save the Babelsberg Studios from closure was broadcast on BBC Radio. She had spoken on television via telephone on the occasion of the fall of the Berlin Wall the previous year.

In spring 1990, she spoke on French forces radio station addressing her fellow Berliners in Germany about her then most recent conversation with French president Mitterrand regarding his promise to her that Berlin would be the capital city of a united Germany later on—at that point in time, a quite appealing but non-official French presidential statement.

Her picture was used in the Cannes Film Festival poster the year she died, pasted up all over Paris.

9 April PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #648
107.3 2SER Tuesday 9 April 2024 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) 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 7RPH Hobart Monday 3 – 4pm 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	World Music
Open + Skyliner	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	‘International Music Man’ AFRS Hollywood 1953
Rum Joe	Blind Blake	‘International Music Man’ AFRS Hollywood 1953
All The Time and Everywhere + Close	Dickie Valentine	‘International Music Man’ AFRS Hollywood 1953
Set 2	Sammy Kaye
Kaye’s Melody (theme) + Dixie	Sammy Kaye Orchestra	‘Sammy Kaye’s Serenade’ AFRS re-broadcast 1952
Interview	Karen Chandler	‘Sammy Kaye’s Serenade’ AFRS re-broadcast 1952
Madonna	Karen Chandler	‘Sammy Kaye’s Serenade’ AFRS re-broadcast 1952
Say It Isn’t So + Kaye’s Melody (theme)	Sammy Kaye Orchestra (voc) Tony Alama and Laura Leslie	‘Sammy Kaye’s Serenade’ AFRS re-broadcast 1952
Set 3	Marlene Dietrich
Open + Go See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have	Marlene Dietrich	‘Command Performance USA’ AFRS Hollywood 9 Sep 1943
Wo ist der Mann?	Marlene Dietrich	Comm Rec Paris Jul 1933
Es liegt in der Luft	Marlene Dietrich	Comm Rec Berlin May 1928
Open + You’ve Got That Look + Close	Marlene Dietrich	‘Command Performance USA National Association of Broadcasters-AFRS Hollywood 13 May 1942 + ‘Command Performance USA’ AFRS Hollywood 9 Sep 1943
Set 4	Billy Bishop
Open + Song of India	Billy Bishop Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Trianon Ballroom Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 23 Feb 1945
I Didn’t Know About You	Billy Bishop Orchestra (voc) Alice Mann	‘One Night Stand’ Trianon Ballroom Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 23 Feb 1945
Memories + Am O Blue? + Pagan Love Song + Louise	Billy Bishop Orchestra (voc) Billy Bishop	‘One Night Stand’ Trianon Ballroom Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 23 Feb 1945
Canadian Capers	Billy Bishop Orchestra (piano) Billy Bishop	‘One Night Stand’ Trianon Ballroom Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 23 Feb 1945
Set 5	Duke Ellington 1920s-30s Sides
Jubilee Stomp	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Comm Rec 26 Mar 1928
Merry Go Round	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Comm Rec 15 Feb 1933
Yellow Dog Blues	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Adelaide Hall	Comm Rec 5 Jun 1928
Harlem Speaks	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Comm Rec 13 Jul 1933
Set 6	Harry James
Cirribirribin (theme) + Maybe	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Dick Haymes	Aircheck Chatterbox Mountainside NJ Apr 1940
Concerto for Trumpet	Harry James Orchestra	Aircheck Chatterbox Mountainside NJ Apr 1940
Tangerine	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Johnny McAfee	Hotel Astor Roof WABC CBS NYC 28 Aug 1942
Feet Draggin’ Blues + Close	Harry James Orchestra	Hotel Astor Roof WABC CBS NYC 28 Aug 1942
Set 7	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (theme) + Song of India	Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WRCA NBC NY 1956
Sunny Side of the Street	Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra (voc) Lynn Roberts	Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WRCA NBC NY 1956
I Could Have Danced All Night	Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra (voc) Dolly Houston	Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WRCA NBC NY 1956
On the Street Where You Live	Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra (voc) Tommy Mercer	Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WRCA NBC NY 1956
Set 8	Charlie Parker and Miles Davis
Hot House	Miles Davis (tpt); Charlie Parker (as); Al Haig (p); Tommy Potter (b); Max Roach (d); Art Ford (ann)	‘Sunday Afternoon Symphony Sid Bop Concert’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 12 Dec 1948
Salt Peanuts	Miles Davis (tpt); Charlie Parker (as); Al Haig (p); Tommy Potter (b); Max Roach (d); Art Ford (ann)	‘Sunday Afternoon Symphony Sid Bop Concert’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 12 Dec 1948

Horrie Dargie – Harmonica Genius 2 – Phantom Dancer 2 April 2024

Horrie Dargie was an Australian harmonica player and clarinetist, television compère (Personally Yours (1959), BP Super Show (1959–1962) and The Delo and Daly Show (1963–1964)), talent manager, music label founder (Go!! Records) and music arranger.

Horrie was to be last week’s feature artist, however a technical issue meant the segment couldn’t be played. Chiemi Eri was last week’s feature artist in his place.

Read the Chiemi Eri story.

Hear the show until end of April 2024

The Horrie Dargie Quintet was awarded the first gold record in Australia for ‘Horrie Dargie Concert’ (1952). Horrie Dargie was to be last week’s feature artist, however a technical issue meant the segment couldn’t be played.

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

HORRIE

Horace Dargie was given a harmonica by his father. From the age of ten, he practised the instrument for five hours a day.

A self-taught musician, Horrie Dargie, began his musical career as a diatonica harmonica player. At 16-years-old, in 1933, he joined the Yarraville Mouth Organ Band.

He joined the Victorian Mouth Organ Band conducted by William Ketterer.

In the early 1930s Dargie took up the chromatic harmonica and won a variety competition for professional and amateurs on local radio station 3KZ in 1937.

The Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) hired him as a harmonica player to tour Australia for three months from November 1937.

He started his tour in Tasmania and broadcasting on radio, which he preferred to concert halls as his effects are “concentrated in the one volume of sound, and not thinned by the spread of sound in a hall.”

In February 1938 he joined ABC-sponsored Jim Davidson’s Dance Band alongside hillbilly comedian Bobby Dyer on “an extended tour of capital cities and provincial centres.”

Some tour performances were broadcast on local radio stations.

Dargie’s first recording was with Davidson’s orchestra in 1938, issued via Columbia Records, which you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

After the tour Dargie moved to Sydney where he studied clarinet and orchestration, before starting his own harmonica school there.

With Henry “Doc” Bertram on bass harmonica; Alec Lois, Ron Metcalfe and George Williamson on chromatics and Roy Shea on chords he formed a harmonica group, the Rockin’ Reeds.

The group released six recordings by 1941.

From early March to late April 1942 Horrie Dargie and His Rockin’ Reeds played a weekly programme on ABC radio.

DARGIE

Dargie enlisted in the Australian Army’s Entertainment Unit on 13 November 1942, where he became a Warrant Officer Class 2.

He served in New Guinea (December 1943–September 1944), Darwin (May–July 1945) and in the occupational forces in Japan (March 1946–February 1947). He was discharged in March 1947 and returned to Sydney.

He formed the Horrie Dargie Quintet (also known as the Horrie Dargie Harlequintet) in 1949.

By 1952 the Quintet had risen in popularity and played their farewell concert at the Sydney Town Hall in November 1952 before leaving for England. The line-up of the quintet was Dargie on clarinet, harmonica, vocals; Bertram on bass, harmonica, vocals; Reg Cantwell on piano; Joe Hudson on drums, harmonica, vocals; Vern Moore on guitar, harmonica, vocals.

By chance, a recording was made on a wire recorder using just one microphone – the 10-inch record of the performance, Horrie Dargie Concert (1953) became Australia’s first gold record, selling 75,000 copies.

While in England they appeared several times on BBC television via BBC from 1953.

The quintet’s line-up, in January 1955, was Dargie (harmonica, clarinet, saxophone, vocals), Bertram (bass, harmonica), Cantwell (piano), Hudson (drums, harmonica) and Moore (saxophone, guitar, trombone, harmonica). One of their numbers “The Green Door” (1956) become a hit.

While performing in London in late 1955 Dargie contracted polio and was hospitalised. The disease affected his diaphragm and legs, at the time he was told he would not be able to play a wind instrument again.

He once described the illness as a “bit of a problem” – he was paralysed except for his right arm and he could swallow. With persistence he recovered and returned to his music career by June of the following year.

Upon their return to Australia in 1958 they performed at the Tivoli, Sydney.

The quintet appeared on the Stan Freberg TV Show in June 1959, which was filmed at ATN-7 studios, Sydney.

Dargie took up positions at the then-affiliated TV stations ATN-7 (Sydney) and GTV-9 (Melbourne), where he was in charge of the talent division – variety was popular at the time – he worked on four or five shows a week.

He compèred BP Super Show (1959–1962), Personally Yours (1962) and The Delo and Daly Show (1963–1964) and organised on-air talent and guests. The latter programme was produced by DYT Productions, which had been established by Dargie with Arthur Young and Johnny Tillbrook.

Dargie compèred the first nationwide-edition of The Price Is Right in 1963 on Seven Network, which had previously had rival versions in Melbourne (1958) and Sydney (1957–1958). By 1963 ATN-7 was affiliated with HSV-7 (Melbourne).

DYT Productions also produced The Go!! Show (1964–1967) for ATV-0 (Melbourne).[27] It was a pop music show, which regularly featured solo entertainers Johnny Young, Ian Turpie and Olivia Newton-John. DYT Productions established the related Go!! Records in 1964 to promote artists, which appeared on the show; with distribution by Astor Records. In August 1967, ATV-0 abruptly cancelled The Go!! Show and the loss of its promotional outlet led to the demise of the Go!! label in the following year.

Dargie provided musical arrangements for film Crocodile Dundee and TV series The Leyland Brothers. Under the musical directorship of Sven Libaek, he also participated in the background music in the 1960s TV show Nature Walkabout (hosted by Vincent Serventy). Dargie played background music for TV series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. One of Dargie’s last recordings was for pop music group the Reels’ third studio album, Beautiful (May 1982).

2 April PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #647
107.3 2SER Tuesday 2 April 2024 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) 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 7RPH Hobart Monday 3 – 4pm 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	Stan Kenton
Open + Walkin’ Shoes	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘Concert in Miniature’ George Auditorium CBU CBC Vancouver BC Canada 3 Feb 1953
Gone With the Wind	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘Concert in Miniature’ George Auditorium CBU CBC Vancouver BC Canada 3 Feb 1953
Works	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘Concert in Miniature’ George Auditorium CBU CBC Vancouver BC Canada 3 Feb 1953
Over the Rainbow	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘Concert in Miniature’ George Auditorium CBU CBC Vancouver BC Canada 3 Feb 1953
Set 2	Frank Sinatra DJ
Theme + You Must’ve Been a Beautiful Baby	Frank Sinatra	‘To Be Perfectly Frank’ AFRS re-broadcast 26 Jan 1954
Dancing in the Darkayman	Ray Anthony	‘To Be Perfectly Frank’ AFRS re-broadcast 26 Jan 1954
Ruby + I’ll Never Change Partners Again	Richard Hayman + Dinah Shore	‘To Be Perfectly Frank’ AFRS re-broadcast 26 Jan 1954
A Hundred Years From Today + Close	Frank Sinatra	‘To Be Perfectly Frank’ AFRS re-broadcast 26 Jan 1954
Set 3	Horrie Dargie
Intro and Singing Ad	Horrie Dargie Quartet (voc) Quartet	‘BP Super Show’ HSV 7 TV Melbourne 1961
She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain	Bob Dyer and his Mountain Men	Comm Rec Melbourne 5 Sep 1940
There’s a Gold Mine in the Sky	Jim Davidson’s Dandies	Comm Rec Sydney 18 May 1938
Open + The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker	Bob Dyer and his Mountain Men (voc) Bob Dyer and Band	‘The Last of the Hillbillies’ 3DB Melbourne 1940
Way Fer Down in the Holler	Bob Dyer and his Mountain Men (voc) Bob Dyer & Band	Comm Rec Melbourne 23 Aug 1940
I’m An Old Cowhand	Bob Dyer and his Mountain Men (voc) Bob Dyer and Band	‘The Last of the Hillbillies’ 3DB Melbourne 1940
Set 4	Charlie Barnet
Open + You Always Hurt the One You Love	Charlie Barnet Orchestra (voc) Kay Starr	‘Spotlight Bands’ Bridgeport Conn. AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Oct 1944
Time Waits for No-one	Charlie Barnet Orchestra (voc) Bill Barton	‘Spotlight Bands’ Bridgeport Conn. AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Oct 1944
Rockin’ in Rhythm	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Bridgeport Conn. AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Oct 1944
I’ll Walk Alone	Charlie Barnet Orchestra (voc) Kay Starr	‘Spotlight Bands’ Bridgeport Conn. AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Oct 1944
Straighten Up and Fly Right	Charlie Barnet Orchestra (voc) Peanuts Holland	‘Spotlight Bands’ Bridgeport Conn. AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Oct 1944
Drop Me Off in Harlem + Close	Charlie Barnet Orchestra (voc) Bill Barton	‘Spotlight Bands’ Bridgeport Conn. AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Oct 1944
Set 5	Duke Ellington 1920s-30s Sides
East St Louis Toddle-oo	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Comm Rec 29 Nov 1926
Baby When You Ain’t There	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Comm Rec 4 Feb 1932
Creole Love Call	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Adelaide Hall	Comm Rec 26 Oct 1927
Bugle Call Rag	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Comm Rec 9 Feb 1932
Set 6	Swinging Years
No Name Jive	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra. MC: Ronald Reagan	‘Ford Startime: The Swinging Years’ NBC TV Hollywood 9 Feb 1960
Tangerine	Bob Eberly and Helen O’Connell	‘Ford Startime: The Swinging Years’ NBC TV Hollywood 9 Feb 1960
Caldonia	Woody Herman Orchestra (voc) Woody Herman	‘Ford Startime: The Swinging Years’ NBC TV Hollywood 9 Feb 1960
St Louis Blues March	Ensemble	‘Ford Startime: The Swinging Years’ NBC TV Hollywood 9 Feb 1960
Set 7	Count Basie
I Never Knew	Count Basie Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WABC CBS NYC 5 May 1944
Baby Won’t You Please Come Home	Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Rushing	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WABC CBS NYC 5 May 1944
My, What a Fry	Count Basie Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WABC CBS NYC 5 May 1944
Jumping at the Woodside	Count Basie Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WABC CBS NYC 5 May 1944
Set 8	Lester Young
Lullaby of Birdland (theme) + Three Little Words	Lester Young Quintet	Birdland WABC ABC NYC 5 Sep 1956
How High the Moon	Lester Young (voc) Ella Fitzgerald	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WMCA NYC 27 Nov 1948

Australian Jazz 1920s-50s – Phantom Dancer 13 June 2023

Australian Jazz 1930s-50s is your Phantom Dancer feature this week. I’ll be giving a talk on jazz in Sydney in the 1930s-50s as part of ‘Send for Nellie’ by playwright Alana Valentine about singer Nellie Small at the State Library of NSW 6-8pm, Thursday 15 June.

TIX and More Info: Send for Nellie

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

GEORGE ASSANG

George Assang (1927–1997) was an Australian jazz and blues singer and actor from Thursday Island, Queensland.

He performed under his own name and the stage name Vic Sabrino.

Assang was of Aboriginal, Pacific Islander and Asian descent.

As Vic Sabrino, he may have made the first Australian Rock’n’Roll recording. A single he recorded with French-born jazz artist Red Perksey and his Orchestra included a version of “Rock Around the Clock”. This single may have been recorded in 1955, some three years before Johnny O’Keefe’s recording of “Wild One” in 1958. On this week’s Phantom Dancer you’ll also hear Assang’s version of Blue Suede Shoes, recorded in 1956.

As an actor, Assang featured in TV and film. He had a major role in the TV series Barrier Reef (1971–1972), appeared in episodes of Skippy and Hunter (1968), Spyforce (1971), Boney (1972 and Number 96 (1974).

He had roles in the movies The Intruders (1969) and And Millions Will Die (1973). He was one of the voices in the animated movie Dot and the Kangaroo (1977).

He had a short-lived television series in 1958 called Vic Sabrino Sings.

PORT JACKSON JAZZ BAND

BAND PROTESTS AT DANCE COLOR BAN
Sydney Daily Telegraph, 29 July 1947

An ex-servicemen’s band refused last-night to play at a dance in Air Force House because the house committee had imposed a color ban.

The band is The Port Jackson Jazz Band (founded in 1944 with this line-up in 1947: Ray Price (guitar, banjo), Ken Flannery (trumpet), James (Jimmy) Somerville (piano), Johnny Rich (trombone), Bob Cruikshanks (clarinet), Clive Whitcombe (drums), Marie Harriett (vocals).

The band manager and organiser of the dance (Mr. Ray Price, who went on to study double bass at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, played bass in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO), then was kicked out of the SSO in 1956 amidst much publicity when the orchestra discovered his jazz activities) said last night:

“The Air Force House manager (Mr. Cox) told me this afternoon that no colored persons would be allowed on the premises.”

“Negroes have been admitted to previous dances held at Air Force House and no explanation was given for the sudden ban.”

“The band, which consists of seven ex-servicemen, all professional musicians, unanimously agreed, as a protest, not to play tonight.”

“Our band has. a regular following, including about 12 colored boys.”

“Negroes who attend our dances are mostly seamen on leave.”

“They are all ex-servicemen, and many of them were entertained inService hostels in Australia during the war.”

Mr. Cox said: “The committee ruled that no colored people would be admitted tonight and I must enforce its ruling.”

Eddie Hudson, lightweight Negro boxer, who will fight Ken Bailey at Sydney Stadium on August 11, was one of those banned.

Hudson said: “I attended the dance at Air Force House last Monday night and thoroughly enjoyed myself.”

“No drunks attend the dance, just a bunch of kids who want to have a good time.”

FRANK COUGHLAN

He first learned to play trombone in his father’s brass band. He was inspired by Miff Mole.

At 19, Frank Coughlan moved to Sydney, New South Wales. He began playing at the Bondi Casino in Will James’s dance band.

In 1924, he joined the Californians, the first jazz group to come to Australia (who you can hear in this YouTube clip below)…

He went to England in 1929, and played at the Kit Kat Club, Savoy Hotel and Claridges, recording with Fred Elizalde, Arthur Rosebery, Jack Hylton’s Band, and the New Mayfair Orchestra. He returned to Australia because of the Depression.

1n April 1936, Frank Coughlan became band director at Sydney’s newest jazz and dance club, the Trocadero.

Coughlan remained at the Trocadero until 1942 whent he was drafted into the Australian Militia for World War II. From 1942 to 1946, he was active in the Militia and Australian Imperial Force. He was promoted to sergeant in 1945. While in the military, Coughlan entertain troops.

He returned to the Trocadero in 1946 and had a residency there until the ballroom closed in 1970.

ABE ROMAINE

Adrian August Bussy de Saint-Romain was an Australian jazz saxophone & clarinet player, bandleader & songwriter, born in New Zealand.

He first heard live jazz in San Francisco after working his passage as a cabin boy on the “Tahiti”.

Romaine came to Australia in 1920 and worked with the orchestras of Cec Morrison & Merv Lyons.

He went to London in 1930 and worked with Herman Darewski & Jack Hylton (toured Europe with the Hylton Orchestra).

Returned to Australia in 1933 and worked with various Sydney bands, but decided to go back to London and left 2 May, 1936 where he worked with Harry Roy (including a tour to South America) but returned again to Australia in 1940.

After a short time he was appointed bandleader at the Trocadero where he stayed for over 5 years (1941-1946).

After a holiday in the U.S. (1946/47) he worked as a disc jockey at 2GB radio until the beginning of 1948 when he was appointed musical director of the State Theatre Orchestras in Melbourne & Sydney (1948-1951).

He led bands in Sydney until appointed musical director of the Jack Davey Show on Radio 2GB in 1954.

13 June PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #602
107.3 2SER Tuesday 13 June 2023 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 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 2RDJ Burwood Wednesday 12 – 1pm 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	Chanpagne Music
Open + Champagne Music (theme) + Anything Goes	Lawrence Welk Orchestra	Aragon Ballroom Ocean Park Ca KECA ABC LA 1956
I Don’t Know Enough About You	Lawrence Welk Orchestra (voc) Alice Long	Aragon Ballroom Ocean Park Ca KECA ABC LA 1956
By the Fountains of Rome	Lawrence Welk Orchestra (voc) Jim Roberts	Aragon Ballroom Ocean Park Ca KECA ABC LA 1956
Glowworm + Love Me Tender + My Little Red Wagon + It’s Delightful to Be Married + Theme	Lawrence Welk Orchestra (voc) Quintet & Bob Lido	Aragon Ballroom Ocean Park Ca KECA ABC LA 1956
Set 2	Rhythm & Blues
Mop Mop (theme) + I Was Born To Rock	Smilin’ Smokey Lynn	‘Midnight Matinee’ Olympic Auditorium KFVD Los Angeles 28 Sep 1951
Telephone Blues	Slide Dixon	‘Midnight Matinee’ Olympic Auditorium KFVD Los Angeles 28 Sep 1951
Elevator Boogie	Betty Washington	‘Midnight Matinee’ Olympic Auditorium KFVD Los Angeles 28 Sep 1951
Dry Bones	The Golden Keys	‘Midnight Matinee’ Olympic Auditorium KFVD Los Angeles 28 Sep 1951
Set 3	Australian Swing
St Louis Blues	Abe Romaine Orchesta	Aircheck Trocadero sydney 1943
Trocadero Promotion + Grace Brothers Ad + Sweet Lucy Brown	Frank Coughlin Orchestra	Featureadio Transciption Sydney Apr 1936
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love	Port Jackson Jazz Band (voc) Marie Harriot	Comm Rec Sydney 25 Jun 1947
Blue Suede Shoes	Red Perskey Orchestra (voc) Vic Sabrino	Comm Rec Sydney 1956
Set 4	Easy Listening
Body & Soul	Harry Zimmerman Orchestra (voc) Pat Russo	‘California Melodies’ KHJ Mutual LA 1946
I’ve Got Rhythm	The Flexible Five	‘California Melodies’ KHJ Mutual LA 1946
Somebody Loves Me + Close	The Little Sisters	‘California Melodies’ KHJ Mutual LA 1946
Set 5	Benny Goodman 1937
Boy Meets Horn	Benny Goodman Quartet	Camel Caravan WABC CBS NYC 16 Nov 1937
Sailboat in the Moonlight	Benny Goodman Trio	Camel Caravan KNX CBS LA 10 Aug 1937
Nagasaki	Benny Goodman Quartet	Camel Caravan WABC CBS NYC 16 Nov 1937
Liza	Benny Goodman Quartet	Camel Caravan KNX CBS LA 17 Aug 1937
Set 6	Harry James 1940
Cirribirribin (theme) + Tuxedo Junction	Harry James Orchestra	Southland Ballroom WNAC NBC Red Boston 19 Mar 1940
How High the Moon	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Dick Haynesl	Southland Ballroom WNAC NBC Red Boston 19 Mar 1940
Too Romantic	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Dick Haynesl	Chatterbox Mountainside NJ Aircheck 1940
Feet Draggin’ Blues + Close	Harry James Orchestra	Chatterbox Mountainside NJ Aircheck 1940
Set 7	1926 Records
Sunday	Jean Goldkette Orchestra (voc) Keller Sisters	Comm Rec 15 Oct 1926
Oh, If I Only Had You	Ted Weems Orchestra (voc) Band	Comm Rec 19 Jul 1926
Flamin’ Mamie	Coon-Sanders Nighthawks (voc) Joe Sanders	Comm Rec 21 Dec 1925
Chick, Chick, Chick, Chick Chicken	Ted Weems Orchestra (voc) Dusty Rhodes & Parker Gibbs	Comm Rec 13 Sep 1926
Set 8	Lester Young
Too Marvelous	Lester Young	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 1948
Lullaby of Birdland (theme) + Lester Leaps In	Lester Young	Birdland WABC ABC NYC 7 Aug 1956

Phil Harris – Phantom Dancer 17 August 2021 Feature Artist

Phil Harris is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. Wonga Phil Harris was a drummer, band leader, singer, comedian, actor, Academy Award winner and voice-over artist. Because of the continuing Sydney lockdown, this show is a re-broadcst of the 23 Feb 2021 Phantom Dancer

His first name, Wonga, is a Cherokee word meaning fast messenger.

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton. Hear past Phantom Dancer online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

This show will be online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 17 August at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

PHIL

Phil Harris’ parents were circus performers. Phil started playing in his father’s tent band as a drummer at age 9.

He began his dance band career as a drummer in San Francisco, first in 1925 with the Henry Halstead Orchestra, which toured Australia in 1927. In the late 20s he formed an orchestra with Carol Lofner which had a three year engagement at the St. Francis Hotel.

The Lofner-Harris orchestra recorded for Victor, Columbia, Decca, and Vocalion.

MOVIES

In 1933, he made a short film for RKO called So This Is Harris!. It won the Academy Award for best live action short subject. He followed with a feature-length film, Melody Cruise. 

He starred in I Love a Bandleader (1945) with Leslie Brooks. He appeared in The Wild Blue Yonder a.k.a. “Thunder Across the Pacific” (1951), alongside Forrest Tucker and Walter Brennan. He made a cameo appearance in the Warner Bros. musical, Starlift, with Janice Rule and Dick Wesson, and was featured in The High and the Mighty with John Wayne in 1954.

He made many TV appearances guesting on the Ed Sullivan Show and Dean Martin Show in the 1960s

As a singer, he had a #1 hit in 1950 with the novelty record, “The Thing”.

He was an avid golfer and won many amateur golf tournaments. Took over managing the Bing Crosby Golf Tournament after Crosby’s death

RADIO

 

On this week’s Phantom Dancer you’ll hear Phil Harris from a radio transcription simulating a broadcst from the Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel where his band was resident in 1933-34.

In 1936, Harris became musical director of The Jell-O Show Starring Jack Benny singing and leading his band.

When Harris showed a knack for giving snappy one-liners, he joined the cast.

In 1946, after serving in the US Navy during WW2, Harris and wife Alice Faye began co-hosting The Fitch Bandwagon, a comedy-variety program that followed the Jack Benny show on Sunday nights.

On The Fitch Bandwagon and its later incarnation as The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, Harris played a vain, stumbling husband, while Faye played his sarcastic but loving wife.

The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show ran until 1954. Harris was concurrently on Jack Benny’s show from 1948 to 1952.

VOICE ACTOR

Harris was a popular voice actor for animated films – he played Baloo in The Jungle Book (1967), Thomas O’Malley in The Aristocats (1970), Little John in Robin Hood (1973), and Patou in Rock-a-Doodle (1991). 

17 AUGUST 2021 PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #507
107.3 2SER Tuesday 17 August 2021 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 4RPH Brisbane Sunday 3 – 4am 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	1945 Radio Dance Bands
Moonlight Serenade (theme) + Sun Valley Jump	Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Cedar Rapids Iowa Blue Network 1945
I’m Beginning To See The Light	Ray Noble Orchestra (voc) Trudy Irwin and the Smart Set	‘By Request’ KNX CBS LA 13 Jun 1945
Dark Eyes + Close	Jimmy Joy Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Hartigan TX Blue Network 6 Jan 1945
Set 2	1940s-50s Mod Jazz Bands
Open + Who’s Sorry Now?	Ray Anthony Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 1952
Old Man Bebop	Dizzy Gillespie	AFRS Radio Transcriptions 1946
El Greco + Let’s Dance (theme)	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 1949
Set 3	Phil Harris
Young and Healthy	Phil Harris Orchestra (voc) Phil Harris and The Three Ambassadors	Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1933
The Girl in the Little Green Hat	Phil Harris Orchestra (voc) Lee Norton	Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1933
Come On, Get Up	Phil Harris Orchestra (voc) Leah Raye	Cocoanut Grove Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1933
Set 4	Women on Radio
Theme + 24 Hours of Sunshine	The Andrew Sisters, Dick Haymes, Jerry Gray Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 8 Jan 1950
If I Loved You + Lady Be Good (close)	Georgia  Gibbs (voc) Paul Whiteman Orchestra	Madhattan Room Pennsylvania Hotel AFRS Re-broadcast 22 Jul 1945
That Ol’ Black Magic + Close	Jo Stafford, The Starlighters, Paul Weston Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 22 May 1949
Set 5	1940s Australian Swing
Don’t Sweetheart Me	George Trevare Orchestra (voc) Joan Blake	Comm Rec Sydney 1944
Let’s Have One For The Road	George Trevare Orchestra (voc)	Comm Rec Sydney 1944
Long Ago and Far Away	George Trevare Orchestra (voc) al Royal	Comm Rec Sydney 1944
Set 6	Radio Trad
Back to Coajingolong	George Trevare Orchestra	Comm Rec Sydney 1945
September in the Rain	Eddie Condon	‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 21 Oct 1944
Levee Blues	Jimmy Dorsey Dorseyland Band (voc) Charlie Teagarden	Radio Transcription 1950
Gin Mill Blues + Close	Bob Crosby Orchestra	‘Swing Concert’ Congress Hotel WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 18 May 1937
Set 7	Lseter Young 1950s Radip
Lullaby of Birdland (theme)	Lester Young Quintet	Birdland WABC ABC NY 5 Sep 1956
Three Little Words	Lester Young Quintet	Birdland WABC ABC NY 5 Sep 1956
Lullaby of Birdland (theme)	Lester Young Quintet	Birdland WABC ABC NY 7 Aug 1956
Lester Leaps In	Lester Young Quintet	Birdland WABC ABC NY 7 Aug 1956
Set 8	Benny Goodman Small Groups
Oh, Baby!	Benny Goodman Sextet	Meadowbrook Gardens Culver City Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 26 Jan 1946
Limehouse Blues	Benny Goodman Sextet	Meadowbrook Gardens Culver City Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 26 Jan 1946
Sweet Georgia Brown	Benny Goodman Quintet	‘Spotlight Bands’ Springfield Mass Mutual Network 29 Sep 1943
Sweet Lorraine	Benny Goodman Trio	Meadowbrook Gardens Culver City Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 26 Jan 1946

Lester Young Genius Killed By Alcohol – 13 March 2021 Phantom Dancer

Lester Young, jazz tenor saxophonist called ‘The Prez’, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist from live 1940s-50s broadcasts. Young was one of the most influential saxophonists, playing “a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike”. Alcohol killed him.

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

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

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

 

1920s-30s

Lester Young grew up in a musical family. His brother, Lee, was a drummer. (You’ll hear a broadcast by Lester and Lee on this week’s Phantom Dancer). His father lead the family band in which he played trumpet, alto sax, drums and violin.

Joining Walter Page’s Blue Devils Orchestra, Lester switched saxes from alto to tenor. He also doubled clarinet, until his clarinet was stolen at a gig in 1939. (He was given a replacement clarinet in 1957).

One of Young’s key influences was Frank Trumbauer, who was famous in the 1920s Paul Whiteman Orchestra and who played the C-melody saxophone (between the alto and tenor in pitch)

Young moved to Kansas City in 1933 to play in the Count Basie Orchestra. During the 1930s he also played in the bands of Andy Kirk and Fletcher Henderson. He also played in small groups that included pianist Teddy Wilson and singer Billie Holiday who gave him the nickname, Prez.

1940s

Young left the Basie band in late 1940. He played in small groups often with his brother, drummer Lee Young, including more studio sessions with Billie Holiday and Nat “King” Cole in June 1942. 

In December 1943 Young returned to the Basie Orchestra for a 10-month stint before he was drafted into the army during World War II.

PLASTIC REEDS

Lester Young was beginning to make much greater use of a plastic reed in the early 1940s. They gave his playing a heavier, breathier tone. He never abandoned the cane reed, but used the plastic reed a significant share of the time from 1943 until the end of his life. His tone also thickened from this time with a change in saxophone mouthpiece from a metal Otto Link to an ebonite Brilhart. In August 1944 Young appeared alongside drummer Jo Jones, trumpeter Harry “Sweets” Edison, and fellow tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet in Gjon Mili’s short film Jammin’ the Blues.

In 1946 Young joined Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP), touring regularly with them over the next 12 years. He made many studio recordings under Granz’s supervision, including more trio recordings with Nat King Cole. Young also recorded extensively in the late 1940s for Aladdin Records (1946-7) and for Savoy (1944, ’49 and ’50), some sessions of which included Basie on piano.

 

KILLED BY PLONK

The quality and consistency of Lester Young’s playing ebbed gradually in the latter half of the 1940s.

And from 1951, his playing declined precipitously as his drinking increased. 

He began to rely on a small number of clichéd phrases and reduced creativity and originality, despite his claims that he did not want to be a “repeater pencil” (Young coined this phrase to describe the act of repeating one’s own past ideas. Young also coined the hipster words, ‘cool’ for good and ‘bread’ for money). 

In November 1955 he was admited to hospital a ‘nervous breakdown’.

On December 8, 1957, Young appeared with Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, and Gerry Mulligan in the CBS television special ‘The Sound of Jazz’, performing, ‘Fine and Mellow’. You’ll hear this reunion with Holiday, with whom he had lost contact over the years, on this week’s Phantom Dancer. Young’s solo was brilliant, acclaimed by some observers as an unparalleled marvel of economy, phrasing and extraordinarily moving emotion. Nat Hentoff, one of the show’s producers, later commented, “Lester got up, and he played the purest blues I have ever heard…in the control room we were all crying.”

Young made his final studio recordings and live performances in Paris in March 1959 with drummer Kenny Clarke at the tail end of an abbreviated European tour during which he ate almost nothing and drank heavily. On a flight to New York City, he suffered from internal bleeding due to alcoholism and died in the early morning hours of 15 March, 1959, only hours after arriving back in New York. He was only 49.

13 APRIL PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE   Community Radio Network Show CRN #485
107.3 2SER Tuesday 13 April 2021 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 4RPH Brisbane Sunday 3 – 4am 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	ONS Swing Bands
Theme + Sunday	Charlie Spivak Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast Oct 1943
Every Time	Sonny Dunham Orchestra (voc) Mary Ann	‘One Night Stand’ Terrace Room Hotel New Yorker NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 16 Jul 1945
All Or Nothing At All + Close	Boyd Raeburn Orchestra (voc) Ted Travers	‘One Night Stand’ Roosevelt Hotel Washington DC AFRS Re-broadcast Apr 1944
Set 2	Jimmy Grier
Tired	Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Loyce Whiteman	Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel TRANSCO Radio Transcription 1932
Time Alone Will Tell	Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Donald Novis	Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel TRANSCO Radio Transcription 1932
What Did You Do With It? + Music in the Moonlight (theme)	Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Margaret Lawrence	Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel TRANSCO Radio Transcription 1932
Set 3	Glenn Miller Radio
Wham Re Bop Boom Bam	Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Marion Hutton	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ NBC Blue NY 7 Jan 1940
The Man With The Mandolin	Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Marion Hutton	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WJZ NBC Blue NY 5 Dec 1939
Tuxedo Junction	Glenn Miller Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ NBC Blue NY 5 Apr 1940
Set 4	Lester Young
Benny’s Bugle	Lester and Lee Young Orchestra	Club Capri KHJ Mutual-Don Lee Los Angeles 2 Dec 1941
These Foolish Things	Lester Young with Nat King Cole Trio and Buddy Rich	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 20 Mar 1946
Be Bop Boogie	Lester Young	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 4 Dec 1948
Intro + Fine and Mellow	Lester Young (voc) Billie Holiday	‘Seven Lively Arts’ The Sound of Jazz CBS TV 1957
Set 5	Swing Band Radio Transcriptions
I’ve Had This Feeling Before	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Helen Ward	Radio Transcription 1943
I’m Gonna Lock My Heart and Throw Away the Key	Dick Jurgens Orchestra (voc) Ron Kemper	Radio Transcription 1938
Sentimental Jorney	Les Brown Orchestra (voc) Doris Day	Radio Transcription 1944
I’ll See You In My Dreams	Jan Garber Orchestra	Radio Transcription 1938
Set 6	Eddie Condon
Love Nest	Eddie Condon Group	‘Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 9 Sep 1944
Yesterdays	Eddie Condon Group	‘Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 21 Oct 1944
Keep Smiling at Trouble	Eddie Condon Group	‘Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 30 Sep 1944
Sister Kate	Eddie Condon Group	‘Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 10 Feb 1945
Set 7	Jubilee
Rockin’ in Rhythm	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945
Mister Beebe	Erskine Hawkins Orchestra (voc) June Richmond	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1943
Save Your Sorrows	Eddie Heywood Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945
Blues in the Night	Larry Adler	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1943
Set 8	Charlie Parker
Wahoo	Charlie Parker	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 30 Jun 1951
Groovin’ High	Charlie Parker	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 29 Jan 1949
Confirmation	Charlie Parker	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 12 Feb 1949
Fine and Dandy	Charlie Parker	‘Bands for Bonds’ WOR Mutual NY 13 Sep 1947

Django Reinhardt on 1945 Radio – Phantom Dancer 28 Jan 2020

The Tuesday 28 January Phantom Dancer on radio and online has 1942-45 Django Reinhardt as your feature artist.

The Phantom Dancer with actor and 1920s-30s singer Greg Poppleton is your two hour non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio.

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

The last hour is all vinyl.

DJANGO WWII

Belgian-born Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer, Django Reinhardt returned to Paris from London as soon as war broke out in Septemeber 1939.

Though he continued recording, Nazi-occupied France was a dangerous place for Reinhardt, as both a Romani and a jazz musician.

During the Holocaust an estimated 600,000 to 1.5 million Romani throughout Europe were eventually killed.

Additionally, the Nazi attitude towards jazz was antagonistic, labeling it ‘degenerate music’.

Official policy towards Jazz was much less strict in occupied France, with jazz music frequently played on both Radio France, the official station of Vichy France, and Radio Paris, controlled by the Germans.

Reinhardt was the most famous jazz musician in Europe at the time, working steadily during the early war years and earning a great deal of money, yet always under threat.

AMPS

Reinhardt expanded his musical horizons during the war. By amplifying his guitar he was able to work in in large ensembles with horn sections. He also experimented with classical composition, writing a Mass for the Gypsies and a symphony. Since he did not read music, Reinhardt worked with an assistant to notate what he was improvising. His modernist piece Rhythm Futur was also intended to be acceptable to the Nazis.

One of his songs, Nuages, became an unofficial anthem in Paris to signify hope for liberation. The single sold over 100,000 copies.

Reinhardt’s first attempt at escape from Occupied France led to capture. Fortunately for him, a jazz-loving German, Luftwaffe Officer Dietrich Schulz-Köhn, allowed him to return to Paris. Reinhardt made a second attempt a few days later, but was stopped in the middle of the night by Swiss border guards, who forced him to return to Paris again.

In 1943, Reinhardt married Sophie “Naguine” Ziegler in Salbris. They had a son, Babik Reinhardt, who later became a respected guitarist in his own right.

Django survived the war to be later killed by tobacco companies. Their poison killed him by brain haemorrage in 1953

Here is The Phantom Dancer Video of the Week, Django Reinhardt playing Komm Zuerruck with Stephane Grapelli and the Hot Club of France in an American short from early 1939.

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!

28 JANUARY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #421
107.3 2SER Tuesday 28 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 and Jazz on 1949 Radio
Oye Negra	Adrian Rollini Trio	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 1949
Flying Home (theme) + Empty Glass	Lionel Hampton Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Aquarium Restaurant New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 1949
One For My Baby + Lovely To Look At (Close)	Eddie Duchin Orchestra (voc) Bea Wain	‘Eddie Duchin Show’ Radio Transcription 1949
Set 2	Dance Bands
Isn’t It Romantic (open) + We Belong Together	Matt Dennis Trio	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Chi-Chi Club WRCA NBC NY 13 Jun 1955
Cirribirribin	Whitey Berquist and the NBC Symphony Orchestra Chicago	‘Monitor’ WRCA NBC NY 19 Jun 1955
Medley: Easter Parade / You’ll Never Know / Stars Fell on Alabama / The Best Things In Life Are Free / Close	Chuck Cabot Orchestra (voc) Lynn Avalon	Empire Room Rice Hotel CBS Houston Apr 1953
Set 3	Gypsy Jazz on 1945 Radio
Improvisation No. 6	Django Reinhardt	‘Beaucoup de Music’ AFN Paris 1 Dec 1945
Bei Dir War Es Immer So Schoen	Django Reinhardt with the Fud Candrix Orchestra	Comm Rec Brussels 16 Apr 1942
Honeysuckle Rose	Django Reinhardt Quintet	‘Beaucoup de Music’ AFN Paris 1 Dec 1945
Set 4	Jazz and Schmaltz on 1947-48 Radio
Theme + The Great Lie	Dodo Marmarosa	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1947
Poor Butterfly	Bobby Troup Trio (voc) Bobby Troup and Trio	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1 Mar 1948
Medley: The Egg and I / I Can’t Believe It Was All Make-Believe + Hawaiian War Chant (Close)	Jack Barrow Orchestrad	‘One Night Stand’ Aragon Ballroom Ocean Park Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 1947
Set 5	1937 Radio Bands
I’d Do Anything For You	Seger Ellis and his Choirs of Brass	Radio Transcription New York City 1937
Swing, Benny, Swing	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Bloch and Sully, Martha Tilton, Alexander Chorus	‘Camel Caravan’ KNX CNS Los Angeles 10 Aug 1937
Never In A Million Years	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Bob Allen	‘Chesterfield Show’ WABC CBS NY 1937
Blue Skies	George Hall Orchestra	Radio Transcription New York City 1937
Set 6	Eddie Condon’s Blue Network Jazz Concerts 1944-45
Pee Wee’s Town Hall Stomp	Eddie Condon Group (cl) Pee Wee Russell	‘Eddie Condon’s Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 1944
Blues ‘Round My Head	Eddie Condon Group (cl and voc) Woody Herman	Eddie Condon’s Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 27 Jan 1945
Wherever There’s Love	Eddie Condon Group (voc) Lee Wiley	Eddie Condon’s Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 23 Sep 1944
I Got Rhythm	Eddie Condon Group	Eddie Condon’s Town Hall Jazz Concert’ AFRS Rebroadcast 14 oct 1944
Set 7	Bop Vocals on 1948-50 Radio
Embraceable You	Charlie Parker Quintet (voc) Chubby Newsome	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WMCA NY 30 Jun 1950
Salt Peanuts	Charlie Parker Quintet (voc) Band	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 22 Jan 1949
I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles	Jackie Cain and Roy Kral	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 1949
Body and Soul + Close	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘All Star Parade of Bands’ Bordland WNBC NBC NY 20 Jun 1953
Set 8	Great Women Jazz Singers on The Air 1944-45
What More Can A Woman Do?	Sarah Vaughan	Comm Rec New York City 25 May 1945
Summertime	Mildred Bailey	‘Music Till Midnight’ WABC CBS NY 12 Jan 1945
No Love No Nothin’	Dinah Washington	‘One Night Stand’ Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 16 Jun 1944
Deed I Do	Lena Horne	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1944

I Can’t Give You Anything But Love – Phantom Dancer 9 Oct 2018

‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love’ was a 1928 hit for composer Jimmy McHugh and lyricist Dorothy Fields. This week’s Phantom Dancer, presented by authentic 1920s-30s singer Greg Poppleton, features an ‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love’-a-thon.

SHOW

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1929 – 65 radio.

Mixed live-to-air by 1920s – 1930s singer and actor, Greg Poppleton, on radio 2SER 107.3 Sydney since 1985, The Phantom Dancer is re-broadcast on 23 radio stations of the Community Radio Network and online at 2ser.com.

You can hear lots of past Phantom Dancers, too, at 2ser.com.

PLAYLIST

A countdown of Australian Jazz from recordings made in 1930, 1940, 1950 and 1960, the ‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love’ feature feature and a whole mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-50s radio. Read the full play list below.

And remember the ALL VINYL FINYL HOUR.

Lyricist Dorothy Fields

I

‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love’is now a jazz standard. Music by Jimmy McHugh, lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Introduced in Januray 1928 by Adelaide Hall at Les Ambassadeurs Club in New York for Lew Leslie’s Blackbird Revue.

CAN’T

The revue opened later in 1928 on Broadway and was a hit with 518 performances.

GIVE

‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby’ is 24th in the 100-most recorded songs from 1890 to 1954.

YOU

Producer Lew Leslie wanted a hit tune for his Blackbirds revue. McHugh and Fields had already written the revue’s score. They were scratching their heads about coming up with a hit song.

ANYTHING

The story goes that Fields and McHugh were strolling along Fifth Avenue in New York City when they saw a young couple window-shopping at Tiffany’s. They heard the man say to his girlfriend, “Gee, honey I’d like to get you a sparkler like that, but right now, I can’t give you nothin’ but love!”

BUT

On hearing this, Fields and McHugh, came up with lyrics and music for Lew Leslie’s requested hit within an hour while as they sat on a train.

LOVE

Fats Waller’s son reported that his composer, piano playing father would always angrily switch off the song when he heard it on the radio. Waller believed that he had sold the melody to McHugh in 1926.

SONG

Here’s a link to my own version of the song from the album ‘Sweet Sue’ on Bandcamp, CDBaby and iTunes https://gregpoppleton.bandcamp.com/track/i-cant-give-you-anything-but-love

Sweet Sue digital download album, including ‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, at Bandcamp

9 OCTOBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #336
107.3 2SER Tuesday 9 October 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 24 other stations.
Set 1	Spotlight Bands 1945-46 Radio
Open + Cool Breeze	Buddy Rich Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Phoenixville PA AFRS Re-broadcast 24 Dec 1945
I’ll Never Be The Same	Charlie Venyura (ts) Gene Krupa Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 1946
Dark Eyes + Close	George Olsen Music (voc) Judith Blair, Sherman Hayes and Chorus	‘Spotlight Bands’ Waukegan, Ill. Blue Network 17 Mar 1945
Set 2	Your Hit Parade
Open + So Long As You’re Not In Love With Anyone Else + Brazil	Mark Warnow Orchestra (voc) Barry Woods and The Hit Paraders	‘Your Hit Parade’ AFRS Re-broadcast 23 Jan 1943
I’m Gonna Love That Guy	Mark Warnow Orchestra (voc) The Hit Paraders	‘Your Hit Parade’ AFRS Re-broadcast 29 Sep 1945
I’ve Got a Pocketful of Dreams + Close	Al Goodman Orchestra	‘Your Hit Parade’ WABC CBS NY 22 Oct 1938
Set 3	Stan Kenton 1952 Radio
Artistry in Rhythm + Francesca	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘Concert in Miniature’ CBC Canada / NBC Palace Pier Toronto ON 3 Jun 1952
Opus in Pastels	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘Concert in Miniature’ Devine’s Million Dollar Ballroom WTMJ NBC Milwaukee WI 10 Jun 1952
Jump For Joe + Close	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘Concert in Miniature’ Club Harlem KYW NBC Philadelphia 30 May 1952
Set 4	Miles Davis 1950s Radio
Move	Miles Davis	Birdland WJZ ABC NY 16 May 1953
Deep Sea Blues	Herbie Fields & Miles Davis	Comm Rec New York City 24 Apr 1945
Nature Boys + Anthropology	Miles Davis	‘ABC Dancing Party’ Birdland WABC ABC NY 30 Oct 1957
Set 5	Australian Jazz Through the Decades
I’m Sailing on a Sunbeam	Des Tooley (voc) Frank Coughlan (tb) Beryl Newell (piano)	Comm Rec Sydney Mar 1930
Cuckoo in the Clock	Trocadero Dance Orchestra (voc) Olive Lester	Comm Rec Sydney 10 Jan 1940
Katzenjammers Ball	Jack Allen’s Original Katzenjammerd	Comm Rec Sydney 23 Feb 1950
Dream Lover	Graeme Bell (voc) Kerrie Neilson	Comm Rec Sylvania Hotel Sydneu Jan 1960
Set 6	I Can’t Give You Anything But Love
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love	Joe Turner (voc) Joe Sullivan and his Cafe Society Orchestra	Comm Rec New York City 9 Feb 1940
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love + Close	Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) LA	‘Jubilee’ AFRS NYC 1943
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love	POrt Jackson Jazz Band (voc) Marie Harriot	Comm Rec Sydney 25 Jun 1947
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love	Claude Thornhill Orchestra (voc) Gene Williams	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRS Re-broadcast 24 Aug 1956
Set 7	1940s Radio ‘Jubilee’ Swing Bands
Jeep Rhythm	Fletcher Henderson Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Vine Street Boogie	Jay McShann Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Benny’s Original	Benny Carter Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS NYC 1943
Cuban Jam	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945
Set 8	1940s-1950s Mod Radio
C-Jam Blues/div>	Stan Hasselgard	AFRS Hollywood 1948
Koko + Hot House	Barry Ulanov’s All-Stars	‘Bands for Bonds’ WOR Mutual NY 9 Mar 1947
Bebop Boogie	Lester Young	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal roost WMCA NY 4 Dec 1948

‘Behind the Scenes’ 20s Clip: The Phantom Dancer Live

How The Phantom Dancer looks in the studio.

Filmed for Radio 2SER. I’m introducing the 18 September Phantom Dancer feature set of Lester Young from live 1940s-50s radio.

Hear the full 18 September show and a whole year of past Phantom Dancers, presented by me, Greg Poppleton, since 1985. Australia’s longest-running swing DJ show.

Lester Young – Phantom Dancer Radio Show 18 September 2018

Lester Young started playing jazz in the family band. He became one of the most influential tenor saxophonists in jazz. He also coined a lot of hipster words. Lester Young is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist.

SHOW

The Phantom Dancer is a non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio.

Mixed live-to-air by Greg Poppleton on radio 2SER 107.3 Sydney since 1985.

The Phantom Dancer is re-broadcast on 23 radio stations of the Community Radio Network and online at 2ser.com.

And 2ser.com is where you can hear lots of past Phantom Dancers, too.

PLAYLIST

The Lester Young feature and a whole mix of swing and jazz from live 1930s-50s radio. Read the full play list below. ALL VINYL FINYL HOUR.

LESTER YOUNG

Known as ‘Prez’, Lester Young was one of the most influential tenor saxophonists in jazz.

Reams have been written about Lester Young’s cool, fluid style so I won’t wax lyrical about that here.

Better you hear it first hand from live 1950s broadcast recordings on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

HIPSTER

Less known about Lester Young, is that he coined or popularised a lot of the hipster jargon that came to be associated with jazz.

‘Bread’ for money is a Lester Young original. ‘Bread’ became a Lester Young feature song in the 1956 Count Basie Orchestra. He’d ask, “How does the bread smell?” to mean what does the gig pay? He popularised the word ‘cool’, meaning ‘in vogue’.

FAMILY

Lester came from a musical family. His father was a band leader and Lester commenced his music career touring with the family band. His brother, Lee, was a drummer. In earler Phantom Dancers you would have heard the Lee and Lester Young band broadcasting from Los Angeles over KHJ.

CLARINET

Lester occasionally doubled on clarinet in the 1930s Walter Page Blue Devils Band and in the Count Basie Orchestra. It was stolen in 1939 and he didn’t pick up a licorice stick again until jazz promoter Norman Granz bought one for him in 1957.

INFLUENCE

Young wasn’t influenced by an earlier tenor sax player, but by Frankie Trambauer from Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra. FT played C-Melody Sax, the main sax played in the 1920s and pitched between alto and tenor.

BLUES

DB Blues is a Lester Young original you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer from a 1945 ‘Jubilee’ Armed Forces Radio broadcast.

Drafted into the army in 1944, Young was caught with marijuana and alcohol and dishonourably discharged. He was held in a DB ‘dentention barracks’ for one trauma filled year.

SOLO

Alcoholism, with symptoms of malnutriton and liver disease, affected his playing in the 1940s and 1950s, but there were also many moments of brilliance.

The most famous, which you can find online in an earlier Phantom Dancer, is his economic and emotive solo on ‘Fine and Mellow’, backing Billie Holliday in an all-star band on the CBS TV special, ‘The Sound of Jazz’.

VIDEO

Lester Young and that famous Lester Young solo on ‘The Sound of Jazz’, CBS TV, in 1957.

18 SEPTEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #332
107.3 2SER Tuesday 18 September 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1	Gus Arnheim 1931 Radio
Sweet and Lovely (theme) + You Don’t Need Glasses To See I’m In Love	Gus Arnheim Orchestra	‘Cocoanut Grove’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
It’s The Girl	Gus Arnheim Orchestra	‘Cocoanut Grove’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
I Got The Ritz From The One I Love + Sweet and Lovely (theme)	Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) Loyce Whiteman	‘Cocoanut Grove’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
Set 2	Modern Singers on 1950s Radio
Open + Blue Velvet	Arthur Prysock	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WRCA NBC NY 9 Sep 1952
Open + Tenderly + The Nearness of You	Sarah Vaughan	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Zardi’s KFI NBC LA 21 May 1956
Happy Birthday + Send My Baby Back To Me + Close	Billy Eckstine	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WRCA NBC NY 8 Jul 1953
Set 3	Club Hangover 1954
Relaxin’ at the Trouro + Senstation Rag	Muggsy Spanier	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 27 Nov 1954
Flying Home	Earl Hines	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 30 Jan 1954
Dardenella + Checkin’ With Chuck (theme)	Ralph Sutton	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 24 Jul 1954
Set 4	Lester Young
DB Blues	Lester Young	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 22 Apr 1956
Call Me Darling	Count Basie Orchestra, Lester Young (ts) Thelma Capenter (voc)	V-Disc New York City 27 May 1944
Polkadots and Moonbeams	Lester Young	‘Bandstand USA’ Cafe Bohemia WOR Mutual NY 22 Dec 1956
Set 5	Headline Women Singers on 1940s Radio
The Starlit Hour	Ella Fitzgerald Orchestra (voc) EF	Savoy Ballroom WEAF NBC Red NY 26 Feb 1940
Honeysuckle Rose	Lena Horne (voc) Fletcher Henderson Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Aintcha Ever Comin’ Back?	Peggy Lee (voc) Paul Weston Orchestra	‘Peggy Lee Show’ KNX CBS LA 1947
It Had To Be You + Close	Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra	‘Music Till Midnight’ WABC CBS NY 1944
Set 6	Cotton Club
Oh, Babe! Maybe Someday	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Ivie Anderson	Cotton Club WCBS CBS NY 24 Mar 1938
I’m Slappin’ on Seventh Avenue + Lost In Meditation	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Ivie Anderson	Cotton Club WCBS CBS NY 22 May 1938
The Gal From Joe’s + Riding on a Blue Note	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Cotton Club WCBS CBS NY 1 May 1938
East St Louis Toodle-oo + Jig Walk + In a Sentimental Mood	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Cotton Club WCBS CBS NY 8 May 1938
Set 7	1937 Radio
I’d Do Anything For You	Seger Ellis and his Choirs of Brass	Radio Transcription NYC 1937
Pennies from Heaven	Mills Brothers	‘Norge Program’ Radio Transcription NYC 1937
Johnny One Note	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis	‘Chesterfield Show’ WABC CBS NY 1937
Blue Skies + Closing	George Hall Orchestra	Radio Transcription NYC 1937
Set 8	Bop Big Bands on Radio
Oo-Pop-A-Da	Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra	Winter Palace Radio Sweden Stockholm 2 Feb 1948
Belvedere Bop	Chubby Jackson Orchestra	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WMCA NY 12 Mar 1949
Serenade in Sulphur-8	Slim Gaillard	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WJZ ABC NY 7 Jul 1951

1 August Phantom Dancer – Episode 5 Radar Men From The Moon

If the 25 July show is anything to go by, the 1 August Phantom Dancer is going to be the best show ever.

Your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV has been presented by myself, Greg Poppleton, over radio station 107.3 2SER Sydney, and now online, since 1985.

See the 1 August play list below.

Hear today’s show online at community radio 2ser.com

You’ll hear that set of jazz greats on 1950s-60s Tonight Shows I didn’t get to play after running out of time last week. There’s a set of women stars on 1940s-50s radio, including The International Sweethearts of Rhythm that was missed last week plus Benny Goodman on 1937-38 radio

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week this week is episode 5 of the 1940s Republic serial, Radar Men From The Moon.
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.

 

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #273 107.3 2SER Tuesday 1 August 2017 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program: 2RRR Gladesville Thurs 11am – 12 ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 22 other stations. Set 1 Benny Goodman Swings on 1937-38 Radio Let’s Dance (theme) + Minnie The Moocher’s Wedding Day Benny Goodman Orchestra Manhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania WOR Mutual NY 21 Oct 1937 Some of These Days Benny Goodman Quartet ’Camel Caravan’ WBBM CBS Chicago 7 Oct 1946 When It’s Sleepy Time Down South + Camel Hop Benny Goodman Orchestra Steel Pier ABC Atlantic City NJ 1951 Set 2 Women Vocal Groups on 1940s – 50s Radio Buttons and Bows Dinah Shore ’Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 5 Dec 1948 Motherless Child + Theme Ethel Waters (voc) Fletcher Henderson (piano) ’Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 16 Jul 1950 Set 3 The Father of Rock’n’Roll Tenor Sax – Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Right Now, Right Now (theme) + Road Runner Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Band ’Rock ’n’ Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 24 Jul 1956 You Mean Everything To Me + I Almost Lost My Mind Ivory Joe Hunter (voc and piano) Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Band ’Rock ’n’ Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 24 Jul 1956 Park Waver + Close Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Band ’Rock ’n’ Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 24 Jul 1956 Set 4 Stan Kenton Concerts In Miniature NBC 1952 Theme + Bill’s Blues Stan Kenton Orchestra ’Concert In Miniature’ WRC NBC Washington DC 15 Jul 1952 Blue Moon Stan Kenton Orchestra with Lee Konitz (as) ’Concert Encores’ NBC 30 Sep 1952 Talk Of The Town + Invention For Guitar and Trumpet Stan Kenton Orchestra with Maynard Fergusson (tp) ’Concert In Miniature’ Rustic Cabin NJ NBC 15 Jul 1952 Set 5 Dance Bands on Chicago 1940s Radio Cherokee Eddy Howard Orchestra Radio Transcription Chicago 1948 Theme + Baby Don’t Tell Me Ozzie Nelson Orchestra (voc) Rose Ann Stevens Blackhawk Restaurant WGN Mutual Chicago 30 Mar 1940 Daddy, Surprise Me Ray Herbeck and his Music with Romance Orchestra (voc) Lorraine Benson Edgewater Beach Hotel WGN Chicago 1 Nov 1948 Medley + So Long For Now (theme) Eddy Howard Orchestra (voc) EH Aragon Ballroom Mutual Chicago 5 Dec 1945 Set 6 Jazz on 1929-1930 Radio Call Of The Freaks Red Nichols and his Five Pennies ’Heat’ Radio Transcription New York 1 Aug 1930 Am I Blue? + Liza Dixie Two Steppers Radio Transcription Chicago 1929 Dancing With Tears In My Eyes Ruth Eating (voc) Ben Selvin Orchestra ’Columbia Tele-Focal Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1930 Tell Me Who + There’s No Place Like Home (theme) Ray Miller Orchestra (voc) Bob Nolan ’Sunny Meadows Program’ Radio Transcription Chicago 25 Jan 1929 Set 7 Sax Stars of the 30s and 40s Theme + Back In Your Own Backyard Charlie Barnet Orchestra ’Spotlight Bands’ Ft Devon Mass. Blue Network 15 Oct 1945 I’m Confessin’ That I Love You Lester Young ’Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 4 Dec 1948 Limehouse Blues Chu Berry WNEW Jam Session New York City 11 Nov 1938 Body and Soul (theme) + Chicago Coleman Hawkins Savoy Ballroom Aircheck 1944 Set 8 Jazz on the Tonight Show Them There Eyes Billie Holiday Tonight Show NBC Hollywood 1958 My Heart Stood Still Shorty Rogers Giants Tonight Show NBC Hollywood 1958 After You’ve Gone Roy Eldridge Tonight Show NBC Hollywood 1958 Sing, Sing, Sing Benny Goodman Tonight Show NBC NYC 1958