Jan Savitt and his Top Hatters – Phantom Dancer 1 Dec 2020

Jan Savitt, child prodigy classical violinist and popular dance band leader is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. You’ll Jan Savitt and his Top Hatters in broadcasts from 1937-39.

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The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV which I’ve been bringing you every week on 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985. Listen here

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From his IMDB Bio and other sources,
“Jacob Sarvetnick was a child prodigy on the violin, destined to become Jan Savitt, leader of a popular swing band. Of Russian-Jewish ancestry, his father had variously worked as a motor mechanic and as a drummer in Tsar Nicholas II‘s Imperial Regimental Orchestra. In the U.S. from the age of fifteen, Jan became the youngest musician to play in the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, and, from there, he advanced to concert master for the great Leopold Stokowski.

In the wake of multiple scholarships and being recipient of the Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal Award, he was soon leading his own string quartet.

In 1935, after graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music with a B.A., Jan suddenly decided to forsake classical for popular music and organise a dance band. He was eventually engaged by Philadelphia radio station KYW as musical director.

In 1938, Jan Savitt & His Top Hatters broadcast from 5–5:30 pm every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as the KYW staff orchestra at KYW/NBC in Philadelphia. Saturday’s weekly broadcast was one hour, coast-to-coast. The group also played at the Earl Theatre and performed with The Andrews Sisters and The Three Stooges.

The resulting national broadcasts proved popular with audiences and ‘Jan Savitt & His Top Hatters’ (so named, because their ensemble uniform consisted of white tie, tails and top hat) soon became one of the most highly rated big bands in America, playing the swank hotels, theatres and ballrooms. The band featured a unique beat called ‘shuffle rhythm’ (which may, or may not, have been originated by another bandleader, Henry Busse).

The ‘Top Hatters’ comprised between fifteen and eighteen musicians, plus vocalists. Famous sidemen included trombonist and future television composer Earle Hagen, drummer Nick Fatool and trombonist Urbie Green. Among the vocalists were Carlotta Dale, future movie actress Gloria DeHaven and Bon Bon (aka George Tunnell), the first black musician to work long-term in a white orchestra.

Jan’s theme song was “Quaker City Jazz”. Other unique compositions for the band included the swinging “720 In the Books” (by arranger Johnny Watson), “Meadowbrook Shuffle”, “It’s a Wonderful World” and “Now and Forever”. Jan also had noteworthy hits with his interpretation of “Tuxedo Junction” and “Make Believe Island”.

By the early 1940’s, he added swing versions of classical compositions (mostly arranged by Jack Pleis), such as “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, “Prelude to Carmen” and Claude Debussy‘s “Afternoon of a Faun” to his repertoire. The band was featured in several B-movies, released by Warner Brothers and Columbia.

After World War II, Jan was forced to reduce the size of his band (now based on the West Coast) to eight musicians, due to tax debts. In 1948, on his way to a one-nighter in Sacramento, he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and later died in a local hospital at the age of just thirty-six.

Savitt was married to model Barbara Ann Stillwell from 1940 until his death in 1948, and had two daughters with her, Devi Marilyn and Jo Ann. Jo Ann was married to Joel Douglas, son of Kirk, from 2004 until her death in 2013.

Credits on IMDB

Soundtrack (5 credits) 

2015Stalker (TV Series) (writer – 1 episode) – Love Hurts (2015) … (writer: “It’s a Wonderful World” – uncredited) 
1995The Immortals (“It’s a Wonderful World”)
1995The Bridges of Madison County (writer: “It’s A Wonderful World”)
1947That’s My Gal (music: “720 in the Books”)
1946Jan Savitt and His Band (Short) (performer: “I’ll Always Love You”, “Some Sunday Morning”, “Too Marvelous for Words”, “Dearest Darling”, “Avalon” – uncredited) 

Actor (4 credits) 
1947That’s My Gal Jan Savitt (uncredited) 
1946Betty Co-Ed Orchestra Leader Jan Savitt (as Jan Savitt and His Orchestra) 
1946High School Hero Jan Savitt 
1942Jan Savitt’s Serenade in Swing (Short) Orchestra Leader

Music department (2 credits) 
1946King of the Forest Rangers (composer: stock music – uncredited)
1945Rough Riders of Cheyenne (composer: stock music – uncredited)

Self (2 credits) 
1946Jan Savitt and His Band (Short) Self – Band Leader 
1946Swing High, Swing Sweet (Short) Self- Orchestra Leader

1 DECEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream Community Radio Network Show CRN #444
107.3 2SER Tuesday 1 December 2020 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program  5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm  1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Women on 1940s Radio
Theme + Down By The Riverside	Sister Rosetta Tharpe (voc) Lucky Millinder Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 2 Aug 1943
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love	Rose Murphy ‘The Chi-Chi Girl’	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 18 Jan 1945
Sweet Georgia Brown	The International Sweethearts of Rhythm	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945
Prelude in C#m + One O’Clock Jump (close)	Dorothy Donnegan	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 5 Jun 1944
Set 2	Paul Whiteman 1936
Theme + Cosi Cosa	Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc) The King’s Men	‘Musical Varieties’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 12 Jan 1936
The Music Goes Around	Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc + tb) Jack Teagarden	‘Musical Varieties’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 12 Jan 1936
More Than You Know	Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc) Morton Downey	‘Musical Varieties’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 12 Jan 1936
Soap Ad and Station ID	Paul Whiteman Orchestra	‘Musical Varieties’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 12 Jan 1936
Set 3	Midday Music 1945
News + My Dog Has Fleas	Dave Rose Orchestra	WOR Mutual NY 10 Aug 1945
Lady of the Evening	Dave Rose Orchestra	WOR Mutual NY 10 Aug 1945
Holiday for Strings	Dave Rose Orchestra	WOR Mutual NY 10 Aug 1945
Fascinating Rhythm	Piano Duo	WOR Mutual NY 10 Aug 1945
Time On My Hands + Close	Unidentified Orchestra	WOR Mutual NY 10 Aug 1945
Set 4	Jan Savitt
Quaker City Jazz	Jan Savitt and the Top Hatters	Arcadia Restaurant KYW NBC Philadelphia 2 Dec 1938
Monday Morning	Jan Savitt and the Top Hatters (voc) Carlotta Dale	KYW NBC Philadelphia Studios 17 Oct 1938
On The Road to Mandalay	Jan Savitt and the Top Hatters (voc) Bon Bon	Radio Transcription New York City 1939
Old Man Moon + Rigamarole + Close	Jan Savitt and the Top Hatters	KYW NBC Philadelphia New Studio Opening 14 Sep 1937
Set 5	Spotlight Bands
Open + Hallelujah	Ina Ray Hutton Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network Fort Monroe Va 13 Apr 1943
Taboo	Tommy Tucker Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network Biloxi Miss. 15 Feb 1945
Rose of the Rio Grande	Hal McIntyre Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network Miami Beach Fl 20 Nov 1943
Dark Eyes + Close	Jimmy Joy Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network Harlingen Tx 6 Jan 1945
Set 6	Trad Jazz Radio
Basin Street Blues	Jimmy Dorsey’s Dorseyland Band	Radio Transcription Los Angesles 1950
Riverside Blues	Muggsy Spanier	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 18 Apr 1953
Maryland, My Maryland	George Lewis Jazz Band	‘Dixieland Jambake’ WDSU ABC New Orleans 20 Apr 1951
Set 7	1930s-40s British Dance Bands
Ellingtonia Medley	Jack Hylton Orchestra	London 18 Nov 1933
My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean	Johnny Claes Claepigeons (voc) Irene King	London 1941
Here Lies Love	Ambrose Orchestra (voc) Sam Browne	London 8 Nov 1932
It’s a Pair of Wings for Me	Nat Gonella Orchestra (voc) Nat Gonella	London 1940
Set 8	1950s Mod Radio
The Duke	Dave Brubeck	Basin Street WCBS CBS NY Feb 1956
Move	Miles Davis	‘Stars of Modern Jazz Concert’ Carnegie Hall Voice of America 25 Dec 1949
Night in Tunisia	Dizzy Gillespie	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ NY 31 Mar 1951

Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor – Phantom Dancer 15 September 2020

Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor, influential 1940s jump and 1950s rock tenor saxophonist, is this week’s Phantom Dancer non-stop swing jazz feature artist. You’ll hear him from two 1956 Rock ‘n’ Roll Dance Party broadcasts on this week’s mix.

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

Hear The Phantom Dancer online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 15 September at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/ where you can also hear two years of archived shows.

The finyl hour is vinyl.

SAM ‘THE MAN’ TAYLOR

Taylor was born in Lexington, Tennessee. He attended Alabama State University, where he played with the Bama State Collegians. He later worked with Scatman Crothers, Cootie Williams, Lucky Millinder, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Buddy Johnson, Louis Jordan and Big Joe Turner. Taylor was one of the most requested session saxophone players in New York recording studios in the 1950s. He also replaced Count Basie as the house bandleader on Alan Freed’s radio series, Camel Rock ‘n’ Roll Dance Party, on CBS, from where this week’s Phantom Dancer Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor tracks originate.

Taylor played the saxophone solo on Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll”. He also played on “Harlem Nocturne”; on “Money Honey”, recorded by Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters in 1953; and on “Sh-Boom” by the Chords.

During the 1960s, he led a five-piece band, the Blues Chasers. In the 1970s, he frequently played and recorded in Japan.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor’s hit 1955 recording on the 1930s jazz standard, Harlem Nocturne. The song was written by Earle Hagen when he was a teenager! He later gave us some of the greatest TV themes ever: “Andy Griffith Show”, “Dick Van Dyke Show”, “Gomer Pyle USMC”, “Danny Thomas Show”, “That Girl”, “I Spy”, “Mod Squad”

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!

15 SEPTEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #430
107.3 2SER Tuesday 15 September 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Swing on 1930s Radio
Open + Star Dust	Eliot Lawrence Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WOR Mutual NY 1951
Take the A Train (theme) + Koko	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Town Casino NBC Cleveland OH 1952
GI Jive + Close	Raymond Scott Orchestra (voc) Dorothy Collins	‘The Raymond Scott Show’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1944
Set 2	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band
Open + Push It	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 4 Sep 1956
Flag Waver	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 11 Sep 1956
Taylor Made + Close	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 4 Sep 1956
Set 3	Hillbilly Radio
Theme + Sugar Foot Rag	Skip Skipper Quartet	‘Stokely Hi Noon Roundup’ WMPS Memphis 1952
I Found It In Mother’s Bible	Skip Skipper Quartet (voc) Miss Sally Carter	‘Stokely Hi Noon Roundup’ WMPS Memphis 1952
I’ve Got A Gal Up On My Mind + Rainbows End + Close	The Plainsmen	‘Call of the Range’ KNX CBS Los Angeles 1946
Set 4	Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney
Enchanted	Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Shine On Harvest Moon	Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Deed I Do	Bing Crosby (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Baby, Baby + Close	Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Set 5	Louis Armstrong
Open + I Never Knew	Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Spotlight Bands’ Dallas Tx Blue Network 17 Aug 1943
You Rascal You	Louis Armstrong All-Stars (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 7 May 1950
Basin Street Blues	Louis Armstrong All-Stars (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 12 Dec 1954
Skeleton in the Closet + Close	Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Norge Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1937
Set 6	1930s Australian Dance Orchestras
Marmelade	Jim Davidson and his ABC Dance Band	Comm Rec Sydney 24 Jan 1938
Cosmopolitan Blues	Maurice Gilman Orchestra (voc) Noel Judd	Comm Rec Sydney 8 Jan 1935
Annie Laurie	Jim Davidson and his ABC Dance Band (voc) Alice Smith	Comm Rec Sydney 24 Jan 1938
Harlem Heat	Dudley Cantrell and his Grace Grenadiers	Comm Rec Sydney 22 Nov 1937
Set 7	1940s Dance Band Singers
I Dream of You	Bob Allen (voc) Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘For The Record’ Carnegie Hall WEAF NBC NY 17 Apr 1944
Playmates	Lorraine Benson (voc) Ray Herbeck and his Music with Romance Orchestra	Trianon Ballroom WGN Chicago 24 Nov 1947
Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby?	Betty Martin and Randy Ryan (voc) Bob Strong Orchestra	Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY WOR Mutual NY 5 Aug 1944
Old Fashioned Love	Eddy Howard (voc) Eddy Howard Orchestra	Aragon Ballroom WGN Mutual Chicago 5 Dec 1948
Set 8	Charlie Parker’s 100th Birthday
Repetition / Interview / They Can’t Take That Away From Me	Charlie Parker and Strings	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 7 Apr 1951
52nd Street Theme	Charlie Parker and Miles Davis	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 4 Sep 1948
Night in Tunisia	Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WJZ ABC NY Birdland 31 Mar 1951
Ornithology	Charlie Parker and Kenny Dorham	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 1 Jan 1949

Bob Effros 1920s-30s Trumpet Star – 28 July Phantom Dancer

Bob Effros, jazz trumpeter and composer, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. His recording career began in the 1920s and he made over 200 recordings.

His granddaughter, Barbara Effros is writing a book about this 1920s jazz trumpet great.

Her book is titled, ‘Bob Effros: The Laughing Trumpeter’.

Barbara writes, “He is known for his ‘maniacal laughter’ in Fleischer cartoons and songs recorded with Ben Selvin like, ‘Sing You Sinners’ and other Selvin and Harry Reser hits; ‘Ice Scream, You Scream, (We All Scream For Ice Cream)’ and others.”

Barbara adds some important background to this week’s blog about her grandfather whose trumpet you’ve heard probably hundreds of times maybe without even knowing.

You’ll definitely know when you hear his trumpet on this week’s Phantom Dancer mix. It’s in a 1930 cardboard Hit of the Week recording in which he takes a solo. And it’s in an extended solo on his own composition, ‘Tin Ear’, backed by Arthur Schutt on piano, recorded in 1929. It’s your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week.

Listen to The Phantom Dancer non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week. Presented and produced by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton, The Phantom Dancer’s been on-air over 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985.

You can enjoy The Phantom Dancer online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 28 July at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/ where you can also hear two years of archived shows.

The finyl hour is vinyl.

BOB BOOK

Bob Effros’ granddaughter, Barbara, is writing a book about her jazz trumpeter grandfather, ‘Bob Effros: The Laughing Trumpeter’.

Maybe you can help her fill in the gaps about his tours of Australia and South America?

Barbara wrote to me about where the book is at right now, “Still working on book – it’s a labor of love. I’ve become immersed in jazz history, personalities, Black/White cultural issues in USA/UK. I’ve yet to fully research Grandpa’s performances in Australia and South America. I have passports, ship manifestos galore. Perhaps you can direct me regarding Australian music magazines of the 1930s and 40s?”

If you have any info about Bob Effros, please contact Barbara for her book at EffrosMusic@gmail.com.

Read more about Bob Effros at,
https://www.facebook.com/BobEffros
www.BobEffros.blogspot.com

BOB BEGINNINGS

Barbara wrote a short biography of Bob Effros published in The Syncopated Times, 1 January 2017 https://syncopatedtimes.com/jazz-trumpeter-bob-effros-a-granddaughters-appreciation/

She writes that Bob was born in London in 1900 and moved with his parents to Memphis when aged three. He ran away from home at 11 and worked on the riverboats where he heard jazz and picked up the cornet, listening to Joe ‘King’ Oliver. From 1917-19 he was a bugler in the US Army.

“After the war ended, he settled down in Baltimore playing in a band led by dancer and vocalist Bee Palmer. When Bob Effros arrived in New York, his only friend was from Memphis: W.C. Handy, ‘Father of The Blues.’ Mr. Handy sent the young trumpeter to Sam Lanin for his first gig, and was hired to play at the Roseland Ballroom.”

1920s

Bob soon became in-demand trumpeter on the New York scene. He was in the Vincent Lopez Orchestra from 1921-27, being paid the huge weekly salary of $500-$1000 over this period. “That’s why grandpa stayed with Lopez,” writes Barbara Effros. “Paul Whiteman couldn’t match that amount.”

Bob was playing for the Whiteman band in 1929 and sat in for Bix Beidebecke (more on that further on). That same year, 1929, he was also leading his own orchestra.

In the meantime he toured Europe frequently with Lopez with whom he remained a life-long friend.

Bob Effros recorded about 20 sides with Annette Hanshaw (my favourite singer) in NY on hits like ‘You’re the Cream in My Coffee’.

Other famous singers on whose recordings he played in the 1920s include Bessie Smith, the Boswell Sisters, Libby Holman, Ruth Etting, Ethel Waters, Mae Questal and Fanny Brice.

He played with Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson, Sam Lanin, Vincent Lopez, Red Nichols, Harry Reser and Ben Selvin.

He made recordings alongside such famous sidemen as Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Cab Calloway, Xavier Cugat, Al Jolson, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, Jimmy Durante, Washboard Sam, W.C. Handy, Scrappy Lambert, Red Nichols, and Fats Waller.

Paul Whiteman chose Bob effros to fill in for the legendary trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke. Beidebecke had left the Whiteman Orchestra in 1929 because of health issues due to alchoholism. While he was away, Whiteman famously kept Bix’s chair open in Beiderbecke’s honour, in the hope that he would occupy it again. However, when he returned to New York at the end of January 1930, Beiderbecke did not rejoin Whiteman and performed only sparingly.

About this, Barbara adds,

“Paul Whiteman chose Bob Effros to fill in for legendary trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke during one of Bix’s final radio performances. Whiteman was known to leave an empty seat hoping Bix could return. However, Whiteman did need a trumpeter for the show and designated a separate seat for Bob Effros to fill in for Bix.”

COMPOSER

Bob wrote over a dozen hit songs including ‘Why The Twenties Roared,’ ‘Tin Ear’ (this week’s Phantom Dancer video), ‘Cornfed’, and ‘Why Don’t You Get Lost?’. ‘Sweet and Hot’ was his ode to Chinese soup.

1930s AND BEYOND

According to German wiki, in 1929, Bob started a family and got steady employment as a studio musician for Vitaphone, recording music for the Betty Boop, Popeye and Felix the Cat cartoons.

He also worked in radio orchestras, including the orchestra (where he was featured trumpeter) put together for the 1930 and 1931 season of ‘The Philco Hour’ recorded at WABC (CBS) NY.

On 27 August 1929 he recorded, under his own name for Brunswick (#4620), his own composition ‘Tin Ear’ (this recording is this week’s video, below) and ‘Sweet and Hot’, which was composed by his friend, the trumpeter, Mike Mosiello.

Bob remained active in the studios into the 1940s.

Barbara writes, “[He also] Spent a couple years in Los Angeles with Max Roach Studios recording for Little Rascals Shows, Buster Keaton, Marx Brothers, and more.” You hear Bob on those great Little Rascals and Laurel and Hardy comedy short soundtracks.

Photos from: https://www.facebook.com/BobEffros
Read more: www.BobEffros.blogspot.com

If you have any info about Bob Effros, please contact Barbara for her book at EffrosMusic@gmail.com.

MYSTERY SOLVED

On my LP copy of ‘If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight’ the liner notes query whether the trumpet solo is by Bob Effros or Red Nichols.

When I asked Barbara about this, she wrote back,

“Hi Greg, yes indeed. This is my Grandpa Bob Effros with Dick Robertson on vocals. He recorded over 50 sides on HOW Discs including songs with Rudy Vallee , Eddie Cantor and others. Am building the HOW discography. Grandpa recorded over 200 recordings and composed 13 songs. ‘Tin Ear’, ‘Cornfed’ and ‘Why Don’t You Get Lost’ are most popular from the 1920s. In 1942 he composed ‘Memr’y of this Dance’ with Ben Selvin. Also ‘A Million Reasons to Smile’ with Al Sherman recorded by Abe Lyman.”

VIDEO

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week is a beautiful trumpet solo by Bob Effros on his own composition, Tin Ear, with piano accompaniment by Arthur Schutt and recorded in 1929. The YouTube uploader puts the date as October 1929. The actual recording date is 27 August 1929. Enjoy!

When the 2SER studio opens again for live Phantom Dancer shows, I’ll play a special Bob Effros set. Stay tuned!

28 JULY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #447
107.3 2SER Tuesday 28 July 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Rhythms by the Big Bands on 1945 Radio
Open + Out Of This World	Boyd Raeburn Orchestra (voc) David Allen	Rose Room Palace Hotel KQW CBS San Francisco 27 Jul 1945
Take The A Train + Suddenly It Jumped	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood Jan 1945
Riding To Glory On A Trumpet + Body and Soul + Close	Horace Heidt Orchestra + Close	‘One Night Stand’ Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 23 Jan 1945
Set 2	1930s – 1940s Variety Shows
Open + Goody Goody	Texaco Orchestra and Chorus	‘Texaco Star Theatre’ KFI NBC Red LA 31 Mar 1936
Open (Wintergreen for President) + Change Partners + Thanks For The Memory	Bob Hope, Skinnay Ennis Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis	‘Pepsodent Show’ WEAF NBC Red NY 27 Sep 1938
Again + Close	Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Dick Stabile Orchestra	‘Martin and Lewis Show’ WNBC NBC NY 8 May 1949
Set 3	Modern Jazz On 1950s Radio
Jet Propulsion	Illinois Jacquet	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 1952
Well You Needn’t + It Never Entered My Mind	Miles Davis	‘Bandstand USA’ Cafe Bohemia WOR Mutual NY 15 Sep 1956
Set 4	Traditional Jazz Sounds on 1940s-50s Radio
Open + Kerry Dance	Henry Levine Octet	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 21 Jul 1941
Rocking Chair	Louis Armstrong All-Stars (voc) Louis Armstrong + Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Basin Street WRCA NBC NY 14 May 1955
Clarinet Marmalade + Close	Wild Bill Davison	‘This Is Jazz’ WOR Mutual New York 3 May 1947
Set 5	Hit Of The Week Cardboard Records – Bob Effros plays on ‘If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight’.
Reaching For The Moon	Sam Lanin’s Dance Orchestra (voc) Scrappy Lambert	Hit of the Week Record New York City Mar 1931
I’m Keeping Company	Hit of the Week Orchestra (voc) Scrappy Lambert	Hit of the Week Record New York City Aug 1931
Pardon Me Pretty Baby	Sam Lanin’s Dance Orchestra (voc) Paul Small	Hit of the Week Record New York City Jan 1932
If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight	Hit of the Week Orchestra (voc) Dick Robertson (tp solo Bob Effros)	Hit of the Week Record New York City Dec 1930
Set 6	Swing Bands on ‘Spotlight Bands’
Open + Sugarfoot Stomp	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Springfield Mass Blue Network 29 Sep 1943
Open + Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall	Charlie Spivak Orchestra (voc) Irene Day	Spotlight Bands’ Jamestown NY Blue Network 19 Jan 1945
It Happened In Monterey	Gene Krupa Orchestra (voc) G-Noters	‘Spotlight Bands’ Newport Rhode Island Blue Network 2 Oct 1944
The Minor Goes A Muggin’	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Mutual Network 5 Nov 1945
Set 7	‘Mickey Mouse Bands’ on 1935 – 1940 Radio
Open + Isn’t Love The Grandest Thing	Guy Lombardo Orchestra (voc) Lombardo Trio	‘Esso Boulevarde’ WABC CBS NY 7 Oct 1935
Tumbling Tumbleweeds	Jan Garber Orchestra (voc) Lee Bennett	Radio Transcription New York City 1939
The Yam	Blue Barron Orchestra (voc) Charlie Fisher	Radio Transcription New York City 1938
Sunshine Of My Heart	Chuck Foster Orchestra (voc) Dorothy Brandon	Radio Transcription Chicago 1940
Set 8	Duke Ellington’s Extended Works on ‘A Date With The Duke’ (ABC)
Diminuendo In Blue / Rocks In My Bed / Crescendo In Blue	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Joya Sherill	‘A Date With The Duke’ ABC Toledo OH 9 Jun 1945
Blue Bells Of Harlem	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘A Date With The Duke’ WJZ ABC Radio City NY 7 Jul 1945

Hal Kemp – Phantom Dancer 21 July 2020

Hal Kemp is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist in 1930s radio broadcasts and his last musical short film.

The Phantom Dancer is presented and produced by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton. It’s been on-air every week over 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985.

Listen to The Phantom Dancer online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 21 July at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The finyl hour is vinyl.

1920s

James Hal Kemp was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, composer, and arranger.

He formed his first band in high school. At age 19 he led the University of North Carolina band called the Carolina Club Orchestra. They sailed to England, where they made their first recordings.

On their return journey they made the acquaintance of the Prince of Wales who sat in with them on drums. This got the band mentioned in US press reports so that on their return they received several offers of contracts.

In 1927, Kemp formed his own jazz orchestra, which at various times featured singer Skinnay Ennis, trumpeter Bunny Berigan, and pianist John Scott Trotter.

1930s

In the 1930s, with the economic and social challenges of the Great Depression, Kemp’s band became better known for more soothing “sweet” dance music. From 1932 to 1934, they performed at the Blackhawk Restaurant in Chicago and were heard regularly on radio broadcasts. They became well-known nationally and secured a contract with Brunswick Records. Most of the vocals on their recordings were by Skinnay Ellis, whose vocal style and the arrangements by Trotter, which featured staccato triplets by the trumpeters and clarinets played through megaphones, gave Kemp’s records a distinctive sound.

Kemp and his orchestra had a number of hit records, including “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” (1933), “In the Middle of a Kiss” (1935), “There’s a Small Hotel” (1936), “When I’m With You” (1936), “This Year’s Kisses” (1937), and “Where or When” (1937).[4] From 1937, Kemp recorded for Victor Records.[4] His other recordings included “Got A Date With An Angel”, “Heart Of Stone”, “Lamplight”, “The Music Goes ‘Round And Around”, “You’re The Top”, “Bolero”, “Gloomy Sunday”, “Lullaby Of Broadway”, and many others.

In 1936, John Scott Trotter left, being succeeded as arranger by Hal Mooney and Lou Busch. Ennis left in 1938, and Bob Allen became the band’s featured singer. With the rising popularity of swing bands such as those of Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, the popularity of Kemp’s orchestra declined and there were many changes in band membership, though they continued to make film appearances…

VIDEO

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week this week is Hal Kemp playing clarinet, alto sax and conducting his tripling trumpets band in a Warner Brothers’ short filmed one day before he was killed by a car accident, December 1940.

21 JULY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #446
107.3 2SER Tuesday 21 July 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Swinging Big Bands on 1940s One Night Stand Radio
Open (Memories of You) + Blue Moon	Sonny Donham Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 1 Aug 1944
The Good Earth	Woody Herman Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania AFRS Re-broadcast 23 Aug 1945
The Man I Love + Out Of Nowhere	Gene Krupa Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Meadowbrook Gardens Culver City Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 31 Mar 1946
Set 2	Jazz on 1960s Radio
Open + The Lamp Is Low	Oscar Peterson Trio	Montreal Jazz Festival CBC Canada 1968
Just Lucky	Harry James Orchestra	El Patio Ballroom KCBS CBS San Francisco 20 May 1961
Set 3	Early 1930s Music Radio
Cool Water	RCA Victor Concert Orchestra	‘His Master’s Voice of the Air’ Radio Transcription Nov 1932
Shake Hands With A Million	Harry Richman	‘Dodge Show’ Radio Transcription 1934
Dinah	Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) The Three Cheers	Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel NBC Orange Los Angeles 1932
Set 4	Women Jazz Singers on the Air
Rockin’ Chair	Mildred Bailey	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription NY 1951
Thank Your Stars	Ella Fitzgerald with her Orchestra	Savoy Ballroom WEAF NBC Red NY 25 Jan 1940
Open + Just A Moment More	Sarah Vaughan	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 21 Apr 1953
Set 5	Ray Noble on American Radio
The Very Thought Of You (theme) + And The Angels Sing	Ray Noble Orchestra (voc) Liz Tilton	Beverley-Wiltshire Hotel KFI NBC LA 22 Oct 1939
I Never Had A Chance	Ray Noble Orchestra (voc) Al Bowlly	‘Coty Hour’ WEAF NBC Red NY 13 Mar 1935
A Fountain in Havana	Ray Noble Orchestra (piano) Claude Thornhill	‘Coty Hour’ WEAF NBC Red NY 17 Apr 1935
Comanche War Dance + Theme (Goodnight Sweetheart)	Ray Noble Orchestra	Beverley-Wiltshire Hotel KFI NBC LA 6 April 1940
Set 6	Swing Bands on 1944 Radio
Sleep	Benny Carter Orchestra	Aircheck Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca 1944
No Love, No Nothin’	Lionel Hampton Orchestra (voc) Dinah Washington	Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca KFI NBC LA 16 Jun 1944
Three Little Words	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca KECA Blue LA Oct 1944
Frantic in the Atlantic	Cab Calloway Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Club Zanzibar New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 22 Sep 1944
Set 7	Hal Kemp’s Tripling Trumpets on 1934 Radio
When Summer Is Gone (theme) + It’s Winter Again	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis	‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934
Boulevarde of Broken Dreams	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Deane Janis	‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934
Last Year’s Girl	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis	‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934
Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea + When summer is Gone (theme)	Hal Kemp Orchestra	‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934
Set 8	Jazz on 1940s-50s TV
Soft Winds + Perdido	Roy Eldridge All-Stars	‘The Today Show’ WNBC TV NBC NY 18 Jan 1957
My Funny Valentine	Helen Ward (voc)	‘Eddie Condon’s Floor Show’ WNBC TV NBC NY 26 Mar 1949
Ridin’ High	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Ella Fitzgerald	‘Texaco Show’ WNBC TV NBC NY 9 Apr 1958
Intro + Drum Boogie	Ronald Reagan MC, Gene Krupa Orchestra (voc) Anita O’Day	‘Ford Star Time’ NBC TV LA 9 Feb 1960

The Boswell Sisters on 1930 Radio – 16 June Phantom Dancer

The Boswell Sisters, 1920s-30s vocal group, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature of the week with a set of radio transcriptions they made in 1930.

The Phantom Dancer is produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton. The show has been on-air over 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985.

You can hear it online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 12 June at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The finyl hour is vinyl.

 

BOSWELL SISTERS – PHANTOM DANCER PROGRAM NOTES
Martha, Connie and Vet were the 1920s-1930s harmony sensations, The Boswell Sisters.

They were yet another 1920s – 30s jazz stand-out who had classical backgrounds, having studied classical piano, cello, and violin respectively.

“We studied classical music . . . and were being prepared for the stage and a concert tour throughout the United States, but the saxophone got us,” Martha told the Shreveport Times in 1925.

The sisters’ older brother Clyde, also a classically trained musician, was the one who first got his sisters into jazz. He introduced them to cornetist Emmett Louis Hardy, who shaped the sisters’ knowledge of jazz harmony, syncopation and improvisation. Vet took up the banjo, Connie took up saxophone and Martha continued playing the piano. Hardy died of tuberculosis at age 22. Clyde died from flu at 18.

The trio played concerts and vaudeville in the early 1920s, gradually replacing their classical repertoire with jazz. They first recorded in 1925 and after arriving in Los Angeles in 1929 sang on radio shows and recorded film music.

You’ll hear a song from one of their 1930 Hollywood Continental Broadcasting Corporation transcriptions on The Phantom Dancer today.

They became nationally famous, then internationally famous, after they moved to New York City in 1930 with their own show over CBS.

They recorded for Brunswick from 1931-1935, recordings that are considered milestone in vocal jazz. Connee wrote the vocal arrangements, Glenn Miller wrote the band arrangements and engaged the best New York jazz musicians to accompany the sisters, including the Dorsey Brothers, Benny Goodman, Bunny Berigan, Fulton McGrath, Joe Venuti, Arthur Schutt, Eddie Lang, Joe Tarto, Manny Klein, Dick McDonough and Carl Kress. Connee also made more conventional solo records for Brunswick during the same period.

They had 20 hits in this time, appeared on film and experimental TV, toured Europe twice, and even made a recording released only in Australia. They influenced the Andrew Sisters in the US, the Trio Lescano in Italy, Allanovy Sestry in Czechoslovakia and the Harmony Sisters in Finland. Connie Boswell’s solo recordings were a major influence on Ella Fitzgerald.

Vet’s daughter and granddaughter published the book, The Boswell Legacy, in 2014.

And your Phantom Dancer video of the week is the Isham Jones music video, Underneath The Broadway Moon. Isham Jones was a bandleader and composer of many jazz songs including ‘It Had To Be You.’ Enjoy…

16 JUNE PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #441
107.3 2SER Tuesday 16 June 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Swing ’43
Bicycle Bounce	Erskine Hawkins Orchestra	Comm Rec New York City 1943
American Patrol	Shep Fields and his New Music	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1943
Take It Down + What Is This Thing Called Love? (Close)	Leo Reisman Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ National Press Club Blue Network Washington DC 23 Jan 1943
Set 2	Progressive Jazz from live 1952 – 1956 Radio
Open + The Dart Game	Shelly Manne Quintet	Basin Street WCBS CBS NY 21 Apr 1956
All of Me	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Bette Roche	Town Casino NBC Cleveland OH 17 Sep 1952
Lover Come Back To Me + Jumping With Symphony Sid (Close)	Stan Getz Quartet with Shelly Manne (d)	Basin Street WCBS CBS NY 21 Apr 1956
Set 3	Australian Swing from 1940s Radio
Waltzing Matilda	116th Rhythm Ensemble (voc) Gordon Andrews	Aircheck Sydney 1944
Sahara	Wally Portingale and the ‘All in Fun Revue’ Orchestra (voc) Jack White	‘Army on Parade’ 2CH AWA Network Sydney Aug 1943
Lili Marlene	Lawrie Brooks (voc) with Orchestra and Chorus	‘Montague Brierly Showman’ Sydney 1944
Set 4	The Boswell Sisters on Continental Broadcasting 1930
The Parade of the Blues	The Boswell Sisters	Radio Transcription Continental Broadcasting System Hollywood 1930
The One I Love Just Can’t Be Bothered With Me	The Boswell Sisters	Radio Transcription Continental Broadcasting System Hollywood 1930
There’s a Lull in My Life	The Boswell Sisters	Radio Transcription Continental Broadcasting System Hollywood 1930
Set 5	Swing on ’44 Radio
No Love, No Nothin’	George Trevare and his Australians (voc) Al Royal	Comm Rec Sydney 1944
Gulf Coast Blues	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	‘Downbeat’ AFRS Hollywood Feb 1944
Leap Frog (theme) + Love Is Just Around The Corner	Les Brown Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Peacock Room Baker Hotel Dallas TX AFRS re-broadcast 9 Aug 1945
One O’Clock Jump	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	‘Command Performance’ AFRS Hollywood Dec 1942
Set 6	Dance Bands on 1937 – 39 Radio
Oh, Babe, Maybe Some Day	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Cotton Club WOR Mutual New York 24 Mar 1938
Sold American	Glenn Miller Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WJZ NBC Blue NY 8 Mar 1939
Let’s Dance (theme) + That Naughty Waltz	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Madhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania WABC CBS NY 6 Nov 1937
Moonshine Over Kentucky + Heigh Ho	Bunny Berrigan Orchestra	Paradise Restaurant WEAF NBC Red NY 3 May 1938
Set 7	Cab Calloway 1930 – 1950
Got A Darn Good Reason Now (For Being Good)	Cab Calloway Orchestra (voc) CC	Comm Rec New York City 24 Jul 1930
Mississippi Mud + Minnie The Moocher (theme)	Cab Calloway Orchestra (voc) CC	KTSP Radio St Paul-Minneapolis 28 May 1938
We The Cats Shall Hep You	Cab Calloway Orchestra (voc) CC	‘One Night Stand’ Club Zanzibar NY AFRS Re-broadcast 16 Jul 1945
Ducktrot + Close	Cab Calloway’s Caballiers (voc) CC	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transciption NY 17 Sep 1950
Set 8	Modern Riffs in 1945 – 51 Radio Dance Bands
Seventh Avenue	Clyde Hart’s All-Stars (voc) Trummy Young	Comm Rec New York City Jan 1945
Hop, Skip and Jump	Artie Shaw’s Gramercy Five	‘Spotlight Bands’ San Luis Obispo Ca Mutual Network 26 Sep 1945
Elevation + Heart to Heart (theme)	Eliot Lawrence Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 2 Dec 1947
The Happening + Got To Go	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WNBC NBC NY 8 Jun 1951

Your Hit Parade – Phantom Dancer 9 June 2020

Your Hit Parade is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature of the week.

The Phantom Dancer has been produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton since 1985. It can be heard online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 9 June at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The finyl hour is vinyl.

YOUR HIT PARADE

Your Hit Parade wass a US radio and TV music program broadcast 1935 – 1953 on radio and seen on TV between 1950 – 59. During the show’s 24-year run it had 19 orchestra leaders and 52 singers or groups.

Every Saturday evening, the program offered the most popular and bestselling songs of the week. The earliest format involved a presentation of the top 15 songs. Later, a countdown with fanfares led to the top three finalists, with the number one song for the finale. Occasional performances of standards and other favorite songs from the past were known as ‘Lucky Strike Extras.’

Listeners were informed that the “Your Hit Parade survey checks the best sellers on sheet music and phonograph records, the songs most heard on the air and most played on the automatic coin machines, an accurate, authentic tabulation of America’s taste in popular music.” However, the exact procedure of this ‘authentic tabulation’ remained a secret.

ALAN JAY LERNER

Your Hit Parade began on NBC 20 April 1935, as a 60-minute program with 15 songs played in a random format. Initially, the songs were more important than the singers, so a stable of vocalists went uncredited and were paid only $100 per episode, equal to $1900 today. In 1936-37, it was carried on both NBC and CBS. Script continuity in the late 1930s and early 1940s was written by Alan Jay Lerner before he found fame as a lyricist. The first number one song on the first episode was ‘Soon’ by Bing Crosby.

SINATRA

Some years passed before the countdown format was introduced, with the number of songs varying from seven to 15. Vocalists in the 1930s included Buddy Clark, Lanny Ross, Kay Thompson and Bea Wain (1939–1944), who was married to the show’s announcer, French-born André Baruch. Frank Sinatra joined the show in 1943, and was fired for messing up the No. 1 song, ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ by interjecting a mumble to the effect that the song had too many words and missing a cue. An AFRS transcription survives of this show. One source says his contract was not renewed due to demanding a raise and the show being moved to the West Coast. He returned to show at a low point in his career (1947-49), when Doris Day was also singing on the show, paying the $2000 (1949 money) weekly studio costs to call in his songs from Los Angeles asthe show was transcribed in New York City.

The first half of a  Your Hit Parade TV show in 1958…

LUCKY DAY

Hugely popular on CBS through the WWII years, Your Hit Parade returned to NBC in 1947. The show’s opening theme, from the musical revue George White’s Scandals of 1926, was ‘This Is Your Lucky Day’.

Orchestra leaders over the years included Al Goodman, Lennie Hayton, Abe Lyman, Leo Reisman, Harry Salter, Ray Sinatra, Harry Sosnik, Axel Stordahl, Peter Van Steeden, Mark Warnow and Raymond Scott (1949–1957). The chorus was led by musical director Lyn Murray.

Dozens of singers appeared on the radio program, including “Wee” Bonnie Baker, Dorothy Collins, Beryl Davis, Gogo DeLys, Joan Edwards (1941–1946), Georgia Gibbs, Dick Haymes, Snooky Lanson, Gisèle MacKenzie, Johnny Mercer, Andy Russell, Dinah Shore, Ginny Simms, Lawrence Tibbett, Martha Tilton, Eileen Wilson, Barry Wood, and occasional guest vocalists. The show featured two tobacco auctioneers, Lee Aubrey “Speed” Riggs of Goldsboro, North Carolina and F.E. Boone of Lexington, Kentucky.

On this week’s Phantom Dancer you’ll hear Tommy Leonetti (singer of ‘My City of Sydney’) singing the Number 1 Song, ‘Dream, Dream, Dream’, on a 1958 Your Hit Parade. (It’s at the end of this clip)

1950s RADIO SERIES

From the summer of 1950 to the start of summer of 1951 (the first year of the Hit Parade television show), the stars of the TV show—Eileen Wilson, Snooky Lanson, and Dorothy Collins—also starred on the Hit Parade radio show. (Wilson had sung on the radio show since 1948.) Beginning in the fall of 1950, the radio show and the TV show both aired on Saturdays; the radio program was heard from 9:00-9:30 p.m., Eastern time, and the TV show was seen from 10:30-11:00 p.m., Eastern time. Both shows featured the Lucky Strike Orchestra, led by Raymond Scott.

In late 1951, the radio show moved to Thursday nights, and its personnel and format were changed. The show, still sponsored by Lucky Strike, now starred Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians. Vocalists from Lombardo’s orchestra sang on the new version of the radio show, which also featured a guest female vocalist each week; the guest vocalist was called the “Lucky Star of the Week.” Guy Lombardo was host of the show until January 16, 1953, when the Hit Parade radio program aired for the last time.

1950s TV SERIES

André Baruch continued as the announcer when the program arrived on NBC television in summer 1950 (Del Sharbutt succeeded him in the 1957-58 season), written by William H. Nichols, and produced, in its first years, by both Dan Lounsbery and Ted Fetter. Norman Jewison and Clark Jones (nominated for a 1955 Emmy Award) directed with associate director Bill Colleran. Tony Charmoli won a 1956 Emmy for his choreography, and the show’s other dance directors were Tom Hansen (1957–58), Peter Gennaro (1958–59) and Ernie Flatt (uncredited). Paul Barnes won an Emmy in 1957 for his art direction. In 1953, the show won a Peabody Award ‘for consistent good taste, technical perfection and unerring choice of performers.’ Here’s Dorothy Collins receiving her Peabody Award…

The seven top-rated songs of the week were presented in elaborate TV production numbers requiring constant set and costume changes. However, because the top songs sometimes stayed on the charts for many weeks, it was necessary to continually find ways of devising a new and different production number of the same song week after week. After the show was revamped in September 1957, the top songs were reduced to five, while extras were increased.

On the TV series, vocalists Dorothy Collins (1950–1957, 1958–59), Russell Arms (1952–1957), Snooky Lanson (1950–1957) and Gisèle MacKenzie (1953–1957) were top-billed during the show’s peak years. During this time, MacKenzie had her own hit record in 1955 with ‘Hard to Get’ which climbed to the #5 ranking in June 1955 and stayed on the charts for 16 weeks. She also starred in her own NBC variety program, The Gisele MacKenzie Show from 1957–1958, a series produced by her mentor, Jack Benny. Russell Arms also enjoyed a hit record during his stint on the show – ‘Cinco Robles (Five Oaks)’.

The line-up of the show’s other singers included Eileen Wilson (1950–1952), Sue Bennett (1951–52), June Valli (1952–53), Alan Copeland (1957–58), Jill Corey (1957–58), Johnny Desmond (1958–59), Virginia Gibson (1957–58), and Tommy Leonetti (1957–58). All were performers of standards, show tunes or big band numbers. Featured prominently were the Hit Parade dancers and the Hit Paraders, the program’s choral singers, who sang the opening commercial jingle (composed by Raymond Scott):

BOB FOSSE

During the 1950-1951 season Bob Fosse – dancer, musical-theatre choreographer, actor and theatre and film director – appeared as a guest dancer on several episodes, with partner Mary Ann Niles. From 1950 until 1957, the orchestra was led by well-known bandleader and musician Raymond Scott (who married Dorothy Collins in 1952); the show’s other music supervisors were Dick Jacobs (1957–58) and Harry Sosnik (1958–59). During the 1957-58 season, sponsor American Tobacco pitched Hit Parade filter cigarettes instead of Lucky Strikes. Alternate sponsors included Avco Manufacturing’s Crosley division (1951–54), Richard Hudnut hair care products (1954–57), and The Toni Company (1957–58).

See Bob Fosse with his wife Mary Ann Niles dance on Your Hit Parade in 1952…

The show faded with the rise of rock and roll when the performance became more important than the song. It is said that big band singer Snooky Lanson’s weekly attempts to perform Elvis Presley’s ‘Hound Dog’ hit in 1956 hastened the end of the series. The series went from NBC (where it became the first TV show to contain the living color peacock) to CBS in 1958 and expired the following year. While Your Hit Parade was unable to deal with dull, uninspired rock songs, the show’s imaginative production concepts had an obvious influence on the wave of music videos that began in the decade that followed.

Here’s Snooky Lanson on a 1956 ‘Your Hit Parade’ singing ‘Heartbreak Hotel’…

1970s – 80s

CBS also brought it back for a brief summer revival in 1974. That version featured Kelly Garrett, Sheralee and Chuck Woolery. The 1974 version of Your Hit Parade also featured hit songs from a designated week in the 1940s or 1950s. Milton DeLugg conducted the orchestra and Chuck Barris packaged this series.

During the early 1980s, André Baruch and Bea Wain hosted a syndicated radio version of Your Hit Parade, reconstructing the list of hits of selected weeks in the 1940s and playing the original recordings.

The show’s familiar closing theme was ‘So Long for A While’.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

1952 TV. Dorothy Collins, Snooky Lanson, Eileen Wilson, Raymond Scott and the Lucky Strike Orchestra. Aired 1 March 1952. Bob Fosse was a featured dancer. Enjoy!

9 JUNE PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #440
107.3 2SER Tuesday 9 June 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Your Hit Parade
Open + Stop Beating Around The Mulberry Bush	Al Goodman Orchestra (voc) The Hit Paraders	‘Your Hit Parade’ WABC CBS NY 22 Oct 1938
So In Love	Frank Sinatra (voc) Axel Stordahl Orchestra	‘Your Hit Parade’ KFI NBC Hollywood 20 Apr 1949
Moonlight Becomes You + Love Me Or Leave Me	Mark Warnow Orchestra (voc) Barry Wood	‘Your Hit Parade’ AFRS Re-broadcast 23 Jan 1943
Set 2	Jazz Moderne from live 1952 – 1960 Radio
Open + Route 66	Bobby Troup (voc) Trio	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ The Cameo WRCA NBC NY 1956
Without A Song	Wild Bill Davis Trio	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 1952
Sleep + Close	Chico Hamilton Quintet	‘Jazz International’ AFRTS Hollywood 16 Jan 1960
Set 3	The Supper Club broadcasting from a Plane over New York
All Through The Day	Art van Damme Quintet	‘The Supper Club’ TWA Constellation 24,000′ over New York City NBC/AFRS 4 Apr 1946
Blue Skies + Got Me A Seat Upon The California Sunbeam + Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief + Temptation	Perry Como and the Satisfiers (voc) Ray Bloch Orchestra	‘The Supper Club’ TWA Constellation 24,000′ over New York City NBC/AFRS 4 Apr 1946
Sweet Georgia Brown + I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles	Art van Damme Quintet	‘The Supper Club’ TWA Constellation 24,000′ over New York City NBC/AFRS 4 Apr 1946
Set 4	1930s Swing on the Radio
Bumpy Weather Over Newark	Raymond Scott Quintette	Comm Rec New York Apr 1939
There’s a Lull in My Life	Benny Goodman Trio	‘Saturday Night Swing Club’ from Pittsburgh WABC CBS NY 12 Jun 1937
Stay in My Arms, Cinderella	Bob Chester Orchestra (voc) Stu Bradon	Mayfair Restaurant Hotel van Cleve Dayton OH 21 Sep 1939
Set 5	Swinging 1944 Radio
Blue Lou	Count Basie Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WABC CBS NY 21 Apr 1944
Hawaiian War Chant	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca KFI NBC LA Oct 1944
Oh So Good	Glenn Miller Orchestra	ABSIE (American Broadcasting Station in Europe) London 12 Oct 1944
Keep The Home Fires Burning	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	‘For The Record’ WEAF NBC Red NY 11 Sep 1944
Set 6	Shuffle Rhythm Live on 1935-45 Radio
Futuristic Shuffle	Jan Savitt and his Top Hatters	Radio Transcripotion New York 22 Jul 1938
Instrumental	Henry Busse Orchestra	Rose Room Palace Hotel CBS San Francisco 28 Dec 1944
Quaker City Jazz	Jan Savitt and his Top Hatters	Arcadia Restaurant KYW NBC Red Philadelphia 2 Dec 1938
Sidewalks of Cuba + When Day Is Done (theme)	Henry Busse Orchestra	Radio Transcription Chicago 1935
Set 7	The Dixie Revival on the Air
Winnin’ Boy	Jelly Roll Morton	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1940
Big Butter and Egg Man	Miff Mole and his Nixieland Six	Aircheck 30 Oct 1944
Yesterdays	Eddie Condon Group	‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ Town Hall NY WJZ Blue Network 21 Oct 1944
Ride Red Ride + Close	Red Allen Dixielanders	‘Doctor Jazz’ WMGM NY 1950
Set 8	Progressive Jazz Live on the Air, Daddy-o!
Perfume Counter	Dave Brubeck Quartet	Birdland WJZ ABC NY Dec 1953
Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid (theme) Perdido	Howard McGee	Birdland WMCA NY Sep 1951
Little Girl Blue	Stan Getz Quartet	Basin Street WCBS CBS NY 1956
Smoke Signals + The Gentle Art of Love	Oscar Pettiford Band	Birdland WRCA NBC NY 26 May 1957

Swing Bands on 1956 Radio Playing Rock – Phantom Dancer 2 June 2020

This week’s Phantom Dancer features a set of that rebellious ‘yoof’ music called ‘rock’n’roll’ from live 1956 was selling Savings Bonds, beer and cigarettes to kids. (I’ve cut the coffin nail ads). Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The Phantom Dancer has been produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton since 1985. It can be heard online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 26 May at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The finyl hour is vinyl.

THE ROCK MUSIC AS REBELLION MYTH

The idea that rock music, and by extension all ‘youth music’, is, and was rebellious, is a myth manufactured by big business to sell product.

In the US, UK, Canada, NZ & Australia, the Second World War forced governments to recognise the strategic importance of a better educated and healthier cohort of teenagers for the military, industry and innovation.

Legislation was passed in each of these countries to achieve these ends.

No longer could kids leave school before 15 to work for the family, in factories, on farms and down mines.

There was better health care focused on youth from babyhood.

And pocket money for kids became an expectation. Kids supporting their families as my father and grandfather did became uncommon.

So there arose in these countries a cashed-up cohort of teens.

This coincided with big shifts in the demographics of popular music in the US, which had been the growing centre of Western popular culture since ragtime and the Broadway musical.

This week’s Phantom Dancer features a set of that rebellious ‘yoof’ music called ‘rock’n’roll’ from live 1956 was selling Savings Bonds, beer and cigarettes to kids. (I’ve cut the coffin nail ads). Yeah, yeah, yeah.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

SCTV’s send up of 1980s TV rock concerts and Lee A Iacocco’s Chrysler troubles – Lee A Iacocco’s Rock Concert (sound drops out in parts – skip through). Enjoy.

2 JUNE PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #439
107.3 2SER Tuesday 2 June 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	1944 Swing Bands
Open + Jeep Jockey Jump	Glenn Miller AAF Orchestra	‘Uncle Sam Presents’ NBC 12 Feb 1945
Speak Low	Bob Chester Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Panther Room Hotel Sherman, Chicago AFRS Re-broadcastY 8 Oct 1944
How Do I Say I Love You?	Richard Himber Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Aniston, Alabama AFRS Re-broadcast 1944
Set 2	Live Rock’n’Roll on 1950s Radio
Open + The Dripper	Louis Jordan and the Tympani 5	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Zardi’s KFI NBC LA 9 Jul 1956
Cry Baby	Bonnie Sisters (voc) Count Basie Orchestra	‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Dance Party’ Paramount Theatre, Brooklyn WCBS CBS NY 1956
Ad + One O’Clock Jump + Close	King Porter Band	‘Burgie Big Beat’ KNX Los Angeles 1956
Set 3	Swing on 1938 Radio
I Want To Be Happy	Frank Coughlan’s Band	Comm Rec Sydney Dec 1938
Open + Heart and Soul	Larry Clinton Orchestra (voc) Bea Wain	International Casino WEAF NBC Red NY 15 Nov 1938
Indistinct Title shouted out by the Audience	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WBBM CBS Chicago 6 Sep 1938
Set 4	1950s All-Star Parade of Bands on NBC Radio
Cheek To Cheek	Billy Taylor Trio	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Composers Club WRCA NBC NY 7 May 1956
Love Is Just Around The Corner	George Shearing	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 11 Jul 1953
That Old Devil Me	Sarah Vaughan	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Zardi’s Hollywood KFI NBC LA 21 May 1956
Set 5	Jazz and Pop on 1945 Radio
Is There A Story	George Trevare Orchestra (voc) Joan Blake	Comm Rec Sydney 1945
Open + Back In Your Own Backyard	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Fort Devons Mass. Blue Network 15 Oct 1945
I Wish I Knew	Les Brown Orchestra (voc) Doris Day	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 16 Aug 1945
Stompin’ At The Savoy	Gene Krupa Orchestra	Hotel Astor Roof WOR Mutual NY 15 Aug 1945
Set 6	Swing Radio from 1938
Blues in D Flat	Seven Pearce Arrows	Demo Rec Sydney Sep 1938
Monday Morning	Jan Savitt Top Hatters (voc) Carlotta Dale	KYW NBC Red Philadelphia 17 Oct 1938
The Gal From Joe’s	Duke Elligton Orchestra	Cotton Club WOR Mutual NY 1 May 1938
The Dipsy Doodle	Glenn Miller Orchestra (pre-famous sound)	Paradise Restaurant WJZ NBC Blue NY 18 Jun 1938
Set 7	Tommy Dorsey on Radio 1934 – 1955
Open + Is That Religion?	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (voc) Bob Crosby	Ben Mardin’s Riviera Fort Lee NJ WEAF NBC Red NY 20 Sep 1934
Open + Losers Weepers	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘America Dances’ WABC CBS NY and BBC London 28 May 1940
Buster’s Gang Comes On	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network 29 Jan 1945
Tangerine + Close	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (voc) Tommy Mercer and Dolly Houston	Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WRCA NBC NY Dec 1955
Set 8	Bebop Reeds from 1948-49 Radio
Sax of a Kind	Lee Konitz (as)	‘Bandstand USA’ Carnegie Hall Voice of America 25 Dec 1949
Indiana	Benny Goodman (cl) Sextet	‘One Night Stand’ The Click Philadelphia AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jun 1948
Just You Just Me	Lester Young Sextet	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 27 Nov 1948

A Giant Soft Drink Bottle – Phantom Dancer 26 May 2020

A giant bottle of soft drink you’ll hear about in a 1932 ad on this week’s two hour non-stop swing jazz mix of live 1920s-60s radio, is your Greg Poppleton Phantom Dancer feature.

The Phantom Dancer has been produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton since 1985. It can be heard online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 26 May at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The last hour is all vinyl.

THE BOTTLE

Australia is a land of giant things as tourist attractions – the giant prawn, the big banana, the giant ram – but Alabama in the US had a big soft drink bottle. Though the bottle burnt down in the mid-1930s, its location is still called ‘The Bottle’. Here it is…

NiHi was a brand of soft drink in the US that was popular for its novelty flavours. The 1932 radio ad on this week’s Phantom Dancer praises Nihi’s ‘true fruit orange’. Fans of MASH would know that the character Radar drank Grape Nihi. Some other Nihi (pronounced Knee High) fizzy drink flavours included Chocolate, Root Beer, Lemonade, Wild Red, Blue Cream, and Peach. There were many more.

HISTORIC MARKER

The site of the giant bottle is now identified by a historical marker.

The marker reads,

“Built in 1924, and billed as ‘the world’s largest bottle’, The Bottle (also known as The Twist Inn) was built by John F. Williams, owner of the Nehi Bottling Company, in Opelika, Alabama. The Bottle stood 64 feet (19.5 m) tall, and measured forty-nine feet (14.94 m) in diameter at the base, and 16 feet (4.88 m) at the cap. The ground floor was a grocery store and service station, and the second and third floors were living quarters and storage. The neck of the Bottle had windows so as to be used as an observation tower. The bottle cap was the roof. Inside there was a spiral oak stairway. The Bottle became a gathering place for tourists and locals alike to swap yarns and have parties every Friday night on the balcony above the service station. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stopped briefly at The Bottle after visiting Auburn. The bottle burned one morning in te fall of 1936. Even though the structure no longer exists, the name survives on Alabama maps which still identify the area as ‘The Bottle’.”

Your Phantom Dancer Video(s) of the Week

Tune into band leader Griff William’s dance band show from the late 1940s / early 50s over WBKB TV (CBS) Chicago. Three clips + a fourth WKBK news from 1964 and the start of their Acuion Movie, Dragstrip Riot’ – Enjoy!!!

26 MAY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #438
107.3 2SER Tuesday 26 May 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Modernistic 1950s Dance Bands
Artistry in Rhythm (theme) + Tabu	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘Concert in Miniature’ Lakeside Ballroom Dayton OH WLW NBC Cincinnati 16 Sep 1952
Savings Bonds Ad + The Stars and Stripes Forever	Ralph Flanagan Orchestra	‘Treasury Bandstand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WCBS CBS NY 1950
Wending My May Back Home + Close	Eliot Lawrence Orchestra	‘Jazz Is My Beat’ New York City AFRTS Re-broadcast 1958
Set 2	Early Live 1930s Radio
Open + Music In My Fingers	George Shackley Ensemble (voc) Veronica Wiggins	‘Nihi Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1931
Margie + Do You Ever Think Of Me? + Sweet Sue	Jimmie Grier Orchestra	Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel KFI NBC Gold Network LA 1932
Melancholy Moon + Pineapple Ad + It Gonna Rain No More + Aloha Oe	Wendall Hall	‘The Pineapple Picadour’ WMAQ NBC Chicago 2 Apr 1931
Set 3	Super Jive From 1937 – 38 Radio
Dark Forest (theme) + Limehouse Blues	Earl Hines Orchestra	Grand Terrace Room WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 3 Aug 1938
A Study in Blue	Larry Clinton Orchestra	Hotel Park Central WEAF NBC Red NY 7 Jul 1939
When It’s Sleepy Time Down South + Camel Hop	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Madhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania WABC CBS NY 20 Oct 1937
Set 4	1940s Dance Bands
Voglio Fischiettiare (I Like To Whistle)	Nuccia Natali and Vocal Trio with Orchestra	Comm Rec Cetra Turin 1940
The Sheik of Araby	Russ Morgan Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast 28 Apr 1944
Medley	Art Kassels and his Kassels-in-the-Air Orchestra	Blackhawk Restaurant WGN Chicago 1947
Set 5	Jazz and Pop on 1940 Radio
It Never Entered My Head	Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Hal Derwin	Radio Transcription New York City 1940
Open + Down For The Count	Glenn Miller Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ NBC Blue NY 6 Nov 1940
St Louis Blues	Roy Eldridge	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 21 Apr 1940
Four Beat Shuffle + Pretty Little Petticoat (theme)	Raymond Scott Orchestra	Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 1940
Set 6	New Orleans Jazz on Radio
Open + Way Down Yonder in New Orleans	Louis Armstrong All-Stars	‘New Orleans Movie Opening’ Wintergarden Theatre WNBC NBC NY 19 Jun 1947
Open + At The Jazz Band Ball	Eddie Condon Group	‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ Town Hall WJZ Blue NY 30 Sep 1944
I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None Of My Jelly Roll	Bud Freeman Summa Cum Laude Orchestra	Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 20 May 1940
That’s A’Plenty + Relaxin’ At The Touro (theme)	Muggsy Spanier Dixieland All-Stars	Club Hangover KCBS CBS San Francisco 18 Apr 1953
Set 7	Big Bands on 1947 Radio
Who’s Got The Ball?	Harry James Orchestra	The Click WFIL Philadelphia 22 Dec 1947
Kate	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) The Town Criers	Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca KECA ABC LA 6 Dec 1947
Everybody Eats When They Come To My House	Cab Calloway’s Caballiers (voc) CC	‘Guest Star’ New York City 1947
Passion Flower	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Ciro’s Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast Jul 1947
Set 8	Charlie Parker on WMCA NY 1949
Chasin’ The Bird	Charlie Parker Sextet	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 12 Mar 1949
Confirmation	Charlie Parker Quintet	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 19 Feb 1949
Scrapple From The Apple	Charlie Parker Quintet	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 22 Jan 1949

Johnny Green, You’ve Heard Him. Have You Heard Of Him? – Phantom Dancer 12 May 2020

Johnny Green was a U.S composer, songwriter, pianist, band leader and orchestra conductor. His most famous song is ‘Body and Soul’.

On this week’s Phantom Dancer we’ll be hearing a few of the 1930s radio orchestras lead by Johnny Green. And below, on your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week you can see a short film of the Johnny Green band in action. The short was made in 1935.

This week you’ll also hear sets with Patti Page, Johnny Ray and Erroll Garner from live 1957 TV and some of the great swing bands from the 1930s live on the 1938-39 BBC series, ‘America Dances’.

Produced and presented by Australia’s only authentic 1920s-30s singer, Greg Poppleton, The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-1960s radio and TV every week.

Hear this week’s Phantom Dancer (after 12 May) and past Phantom Dancers online at radio 2ser.com

JOHN ‘JOHNNY’ WALDO GREEN

He won four Academy Awards for his film scores and a fifth for producing a short musical film. And he went by the name of John or ‘Maestro’ in his later years.

As you’ll hear on today’s live 1930s radio broadcasts of Johnny Green and his Orchestra, Green couldn’t help but be self-assured.

He entered Harvard at age 15. You’ll hear him talk today on a 1939 aircheck about his early music schooling and his first song as a kid.

Indeed, by the time he was at Harvard, bandleader Guy Lombardo had heard Green’s Gold Coast Orchestra and hired him to create dance arrangements for his nationally famous Lombardo orchestra.

JAZZ STANDARDS

Green’s first song hit was written for the Lombardo orchestra. It was Coquette (1928), which Green wrote when he was 19.

Two years later, in 1930, Green wrote ‘Body and Soul’ which is now a jazz standard.

In the early 30s he was the radio and recording accompanist and arranger to singers James Melton, Libby Holman and Ethel Merman, and as you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer, Ruth Etting. He was also arranger and conductor for Paramount Pictures.

In this period he also wrote the standards ‘Out Of Nowhere’ (which you’ll hear in play today), ‘Rain Rain Go Away’, ‘I Cover the Waterfront’, ‘You’re Mine You’, ‘I Wanna Be Loved’ (his 1934 Oldsmobile show theme song), ‘Easy Come Easy Go’, ‘Repeal The Blues’ and the theme for Max Fleischer’s Betty Boop cartoons.

Nathaniel Shilkret and Paul Whiteman commissioned Green to write larger works for orchestra, including ‘Night Club: Six Impressions for Orchestra with Three Pianos’.

After spending 1933 in London, where he wrote the first musical comedy ever for BBC Radio, Green returned to New York City where, William S. Paley, president of the Columbia Broadcasting System and an investor in New York’s St. Regis Hotel, encouraged him to form what became known as Johnny Green, his Piano and Orchestra.

And he continued to lead his orchestra in top ranking radio shows into the 1940s, backing singers such as Fred Astaire and Alan Jones.

In the early 40s, Green moved to Hollywood. He became one of the people central to changing the overall sound of the MGM Symphony Orchestra.

ACADEMY AWARDS

He was Music Director at MGM from 1949 to 1959 and was nominated for an Oscar thirteen times. He won the award for the musical scores of Easter Parade, An American in Paris, West Side Story, and Oliver!, as well as for producing the short “The Merry Wives of Windsor Overture”, which won in the Short Subjects (One-Reel) category in 1954.

After leaving MGM, Green guest-conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Denver Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. He also continued to compose the occasional filmscore, including the critically acclaimed They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? in 1969. He conducted the orchestra for the 1961 United Artists’ film version of West Side Story, for which he won a Grammy.

Green was a chairman of the music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, leading the orchestra through 17 Academy Award telecasts.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week is a short film from 1935 of the Johnny Green Orchestra with sly dig at Johnny Green’s musical achievements. Enjoy…

12 MAY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #436
107.3 2SER Tuesday12 May 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	1944-46 Swing Bands on One Night Stand
Theme + Boyds Nest	Boyd Raeburn Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Club Morocco LA AFRS Re-broadcast 19 Aug 1946
New World Jump	Bobby Sherwood Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Avodon Ballroom LA AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jun 1946
Fellow on a Furlough + Blue Skies	Bob Chester Orchestra (voc) David Allyn	‘One Night Stand’ Panther Room Hotel Sherman Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 8 Oct 1944
Set 2	Johnny Green Composer and Bandleader
Open + Sweet Little Heartache	Johnny Green Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Farrell	‘Fitch Summer Bandwagon’ WEAF NBC Red NY 9 Apr 1939
In the Evening + I Wanna Be Loved (theme)	Johnny Green Orchestra	‘Oldsmobile Program’ WABC CBS NY 20 Feb 1934
So Far So Good	Johnny Green Orchestra	‘Rhymo’ WABC CBS NY 26 May 1940
Set 3	Miles Davis on 1957 Radio
	Miles Davis Quintet	‘Bandstand USA’ Cafe Bohemia WOR Mutual NY 20 Jul 1957
Set 4	The Three Ambassadors, 1931-33 TRANSCO Cocoanut Grove Radio Shows
Sweet and Lovely + Down Among The Sleepy Pines	Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) Jean Shark and The Three Ambassadors	‘Cocoanut Grove Show’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1932
I Found a Million Dollar Baby in a Five and Ten Cent Store	Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) The Three Ambassadors	‘Cocoanut Grove Show’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
Seven Little Steps To Heaven	Phil Harris Orchestra (voc) The Three Ambassadors	‘Cocoanut Grove Show’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1933
Set 5	English Dance Bands
Let’s Put Out The Lights And Go To Sleep	Ambrose and his Orchestra	Comm Rec London 26 Oct 1932
My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean	Johnny Claes and his Claepigeons (voc) Irene King	Comm Rec London 1941
Ya Got Love	Roy Fox Orchestra (voc) Al Bowlly	Comm Rec London 1932
We Shall Have Music	Jack Hylton Orchestra	AEF Programme BBC London 7 Sep 1944
Set 6	New Orleans Jazz on Radio
Running Wild	George Lewis Jazz Band	‘Dixieland Jambake’ WDSU ABC New Orleans 7 Oct 1950
Struttin’ With Some Barbeque	Red Allen Dixielanders	‘Doctor Jazz’ Stuyvesant Casino WMGM NY 1954
September in the Rain + I Got Rhythm	Eddie Condon Group	‘Eddie Condon’s Jazz Concert’ Town Hall WJZ Blue NY 25 Nov 1944
Eh, La Bas	Papa Celestin	‘Dixieland Jambake’ WDSU ABC New Orleans 1950
Set 7	A Date With The Duke on ABC 1945
Caravan + Fickle Fling	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘A Date With The Duke’ Apollo Theatre WJZ ABC NY 30 Jun 1945
Hop, Skip and Jump	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘A Date With The Duke’ Toldeo OH ABC 9 Jun 1945
C Jam Blues	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘A Date With The Duke’ Paradise Theatre Detroit ABC 19 May 1945
Blue Skies + Things Ain’t What They Used To Be	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘A Date With The Duke’ Battle Creek Michigan ABC 2 Jun 1945
Set 8	Modern Jazz on the Air
Move	Stan Getz (ts) Kai Winding (tb) Al Haig ℗ Tommy Potter (b) Roy Haynes	‘Jazz Club USA’ Carnegie Hall Voice of America 25 Dec 1949
How High The Moon	Allen Eager	Birdland WJZ ABC NY Jun 1953
Mel’s Idea + Body and Soul	Benny Goodman Sextet	‘One Night Stand’ Click Phildelphia AFRS re-broadcast 3 Jun 1948

Harry The Hipster Gibson Plays Bix – Phantom Dancer 5 May 2020

Harry ‘ The Hipster’ Gibson is your feature artist on this week’s Greg Poppleton Phantom Dancer. You’ll hear him play two of Bix Beidebecke’s famous piano compositions, In a Mist and Candlelight on live 1944 radio.

The Phantom Dancer, your non-stop 2 hour mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio, is produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton can be heard online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 5 May at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The last hour is all vinyl.

1920s-30s

Harry “The Hipster” Gibson was a jazz pianist, singer, and songwriter. Gibson played New York style stride piano and boogie woogie while singing in a wild, unrestrained style. His music career began in the late 1920s, when under his real name, he played stride piano in Dixieland jazz bands in Harlem. He continued to perform there throughout the 1930s, adding the barrelhouse boogie of the time to his repertoire.

Gibson was fond of playing Fats Waller tunes, and when Waller heard Gibson in a club in Harlem in 1939, he hired him to be his relief pianist at club dates. Between 1939 and 1945, Gibson played at Manhattan jazz clubs on 52nd Street (“Swing Street”). Harry took the name “Gibson” from brand of gin.

1940s

Gibson was known for writing unusual songs considered ahead of their time.

He recorded often but there are very few visual examples of his work. In 1944 he filmed three songs in New York for the Soundies film jukeboxes, and he went to Hollywood in 1946 to appear as himself in the feature-length film musical Junior Prom. He preceded white rock-and-rollers by a decade: the Soundies he recorded are similar to Jerry Lee Lewis’s raucous piano numbers of the 1950s.

For all his wild-man theatrics, Gibson demonstrated remarkable discipline. While working on “Swing Street” at night, he was a fellow at the Juilliard Graduate School during the day. At the time, Juilliard was strictly a classical music academy; Gibson excelled there.

Like Mezz Mezzrow, Gibson consciously abandoned his ethnicity to adopt black music and culture. Gibson grew up near Harlem in New York City and his constant use of black jive talk was not an affectation; it was simply something he picked up from his fellow musicians. In his autobiography, Gibson claims he coined the term hipster between 1939 and 1945 when he was performing on Swing Street, and he started using “Harry the Hipster” as his stage name.

1950s

He recorded “Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy’s Ovaltine?”, released in January 1946 and radio stations across America refused to play it, resulting in his being blacklisted in the music industry. Although Gibson’s mainstream movie appearance in Junior Prom was released that same year, it couldn’t overcome the notoriety of the “Benzedrine” record. Gibson’s own drug use led to his decline.

1960s-80s

In the 1960s, when Gibson saw the huge success of the Beatles, he switched to rock and roll. By the 1970s, he was playing hard rock, blues, bop, novelty songs and a few songs that mixed ragtime with rock and roll. His hipster act became a hippie act. His old records were revived on the Dr. Demento radio show, particularly “Benzedrine”, which was included on the 1975 compilation album Dr. Demento’s Delights.

His comeback resulted in three more albums: Harry the Hipster Digs Christmas, Everybody’s Crazy but Me, (its title taken from the lyrics of “Stop That Dancin’ Up There”) (Progressive, 1986), and Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy’s Ovaltine (Delmark, 1989). Those two include some jazz, blues, ragtime, and rock and roll songs about reefer, nude bathing, hippie communes, strip clubs, male chauvinists, “rocking the 88s”, and Shirley MacLaine.

Gibson may have been the only jazz pianist of the 1930s and 1940s to go on to play in rock bands in the 1970s and 1980s.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

‘Handsome Harry the Hipster’ from 1944. Enjoy.

5 MAY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #435
107.3 2SER Tuesday 5 May 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	1930s Swing on the Wireless
Back Room Romp (A Contrapuntal Stomp)	Rex Stewart and his 52nd Street Sompers	Comm Rec NYC 7 July 1937
Margie	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS New York 6 Sep 1938
Here Comes Your Pappy Down The Own Dusty Road + Close	Bob Crosby Orchestra (voc) The Freshman	‘Ford V-8 Revue’ NYC 1936
Set 2	The Songs of Juan Tizol
Zambu	Harry James Orchestra featuring Juan Tizol	Meadowbrook Gardens Cedar Grove NJ WNBC NBC NY Feb 1946
Take The A-Train (theme) + Caravan	Duke Ellington featuring Juan Tizol (tb)	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 24 Nov 1952
Perdido + Lullaby of Birdland (theme)	Sarah Vaughan	‘Stars In Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 31 Mar 53
Is There Life On Other Planets?	Various Learned Professors	‘University of Chicago Roundtable’ NBC Chicago 1948
Set 3	The Great Jazz Singers of the 1950s on Radio and Tv
Keeps On Raining	Billie Holliday	‘Eddie Condon’s Floor Show’ WPIX TV NY 1949
You’re My Thrill	Carmen McCrea	‘All-Star Parade Of Bands’ Birdland WRCA NBC NY 1956
Linger Awhile + Tenderly (Close)	Sarah Vaughan	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Sardi’s Hollywood KFI NBC LA 21 May 1956
Set 4	Cuban Rhythms – Cugie and Desi on the Radio
Open + Brazil	Xavier Cugat Orchestra (voc) Choir	‘Xavier Cugat Show’ AFRTS Re-broadcast 1944
Cachita	Desi Arnez Orchestra (voc) DA	Ciro’s Hollywood KNX CBS LA 1946
Chiu Chiu + Close	Xavier Cugat Orchestra (voc) Nita Rosa	‘Xavier Cugat Show’ AFRTS Re-broadcast 1944
Set 5	1944 – 1946 Radio Swing on One Night Stand
Cherokee	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	Radio Transcription 21 Jul 1944
Zanzi	Cab Calloway Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Club Zanzibar NY AFRS Re-broadcast 16 Jul 1945
On The Road To Mandalay	Jack Teagarden Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Joplin, Missouri AFRS Re-broadcast 18 Mar 1946
Holiday For Swing + Trinidad	Erskine Hawkins Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NY AFRS Re-broadcast 1 May 1946
Set 6	1930s Swing on the Radio
can You Take It?	Fletcher Henderson Orchestra	Comm Rec New York 18 Aug 1933
Let’s Dance (theme) + Te Object Of My Affection	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Buddy Clark	‘Let’s Dance’ WEAF NBC Red NY 1 Dec 1934
Zonky	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 17 Dec 1935
Happy As The Day Is Long + Close	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘Ford V-8 Show’ Texas Centennial Exposition Dallas Aug 1936
Set 7	Bix Beidebecke
Singin’ The Bluess	Frankie Trambauer Orchestra Orchestra, Bix Beidebecke (cnt) The 1st recorded jazz ballad?	Comm Rec New York 4 Feb 1927
In A Mist + Candlelight – both composed by Bix	Harry ‘The Hipster’ Gibson (piano)	‘Eddie Condon’s Jazz Concert’ Town Hall WJZ Blue Network NY 22 Jul 1944
You Took Advantage Of Me	Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc) Bing Crosby (cnt) Bix Beidebecke	Comm Rec New York 28 Apr 1928
Set 8	Bop Singers On The Air
What’s The Matter Now?	Clyde Hart’s All-Stars (tp) Dizzy Gillespie (voc) Rubberleg Williams	Comm Rec NYC Jan 1945
Hurry Home + Deedle + Royal Roost Bop	Dave Lambert and Buddy Stewart (voc)	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 5 Mar 1949
I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles	Jackie Kane and Roy Kral (voc) Charlie Ventura Quartet	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WMCA NY 1949
Romance Without Finance	Charlie Parker Quintet (voc) Jimmy Butts	Comm Rec NYC 15 Sep 1944