spike jones

November 12, 2022November 13, 2022

Spike Jones – Phantom Dancer 15 Nov 2022

Spike Jones is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. He was a US drummer, percussionist and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells, hiccups, burps and outlandish and comedic vocals. He toured the United States and Canada as “The Musical Depreciation Revue”.

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

POTS, PANS & DRUMS

At the age of 11 Spike Jones got his first set of drums. As a teenager he played in bands that he formed himself. His first band was called Spike Jones and his Five Tacks. A railroad restaurant chef taught him how to use pots and pans, forks, knives and spoons as musical instruments. Jones frequently played in theater pit orchestras. In the 1930s, he joined the Victor Young orchestra and got many offers to appear on radio shows, including Al Jolson’s Lifebuoy Program, Burns and Allen and Bing Crosby’s Kraft Music Hall.

From 1937 to 1942, Jones was the percussionist for the John Scott Trotter Orchestra,which played on Bing Crosby’s first recording of “White Christmas”.

He was part of a backing band for songwriter Cindy Walker during her early recording career with Decca Records and Standard Transcriptions. Her song “We’re Gonna Stomp Them City Slickers Down” provided the inspiration for the name of Jones’s future band.

PARODIES

Jones became bored playing the same music each night with the orchestras. Spike Jones found other like-minded musicians and they began playing parodies of standard songs for their own entertainment.

The musicians wanted their wives to share their enjoyment, so they recorded their weekly performances. One of the recordings made its way into the hands of an RCA Victor executive, who offered the musicians a recording contract.

One of the City Slickers’ early recordings for the label was a Del Porter arrangement of “Der Fuehrer’s Face”. The record’s success inspired Jones to become the band’s leader. He initially thought the popularity the record brought them would fade. However, audiences kept asking for more, so Jones started working on more comic arrangements.

RADIO

After appearing as the house band on The Bob Burns Show, Spike got his own radio show on NBC, The Chase and Sanborn Program, as Edgar Bergen’s summer replacement in 1945.

The guest list for Jones’s 1947–49 CBS program for Coca-Cola (originally The Spotlight Revue, retitled The Spike Jones Show for its final season) included Frankie Laine, Mel Torme, Peter Lorre, Don Ameche and Burl Ives.

Frank Sinatra appeared on the show in October 1948, and Lassie in May 1949. You’ll hear Lassie’s appearance on this week’s Phantom Dancer singing ‘El Barkio’.

In 1942, the Jones gang worked on numerous Soundies, musical shorts similar to later music videos which were shown on coin-operated projectors in small nightclubs, arcades, malt shops, and taverns.

The band appeared on camera under their own name in four Soundies.

TV & MOVIES

Jones saw the potential of television and filmed two half-hour pilot films, Foreign Legion and Wild Bill Hiccup, in the summer of 1950. Veteran comedy director Eddie Cline worked on both, but neither was successful.

The band fared much better on live television, where their spontaneous antics and crazy visual gags guaranteed the viewers a good time. Spike usually dressed in a suit with an enormous check pattern and was seen leaping around playing a washboard, cowbells, a suite of klaxons and foghorns, then xylophone, then shooting a pistol.

The band starred in variety shows, such as The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951, 1955) and their All Star Revue (1952) before being given his own slot by NBC, The Spike Jones Show, which aired early in 1954, and Club Oasis on NBC, in the summer of 1958; and by CBS, as The Spike Jones Show, in the summers of 1957, 1960, and 1961.

Spike Jones and his City Slickers also appeared on NBC’s The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford in the episode which aired on November 15, 1956.

In 1940, Spike Jones had an uncredited bandleading part in the Dead End Kids film Give Us Wings, appearing on camera for about four seconds.

As the band’s fame grew, Hollywood producers hired the Slickers as a specialty act for feature films, including Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), Meet the People (1944), Bring on the Girls (1945), Breakfast in Hollywood (1946) and Variety Girl (1947). Jones was set to team with Abbott and Costello for a 1954 Universal Pictures comedy, but when Lou Costello withdrew for medical reasons, Universal replaced the comedy team with look-alikes Hugh O’Brian and Buddy Hackett, and promoted Jones to the leading role. The finished film, Fireman Save My Child, turned out to be Spike Jones’s only top-billed theatrical movie

15 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #562
107.3 2SER Tuesday 15 November 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am 2YYY Young Monday 3 – 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 – 7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Buddy Moreno
You’re the Top (theme) + Who Cares?	Buddy Moreno (voc) Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
Miserlou + Take the A Train	Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
Careless	Buddy Moreno (voc) Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
The Glory of Love + Close	Buddy Moreno (voc) Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
Set 2	Dixie Swing from ‘The Voice of Labour’ WCFL Chicago
Open + Chinatown My Chinatown	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
My Melancholy Baby	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
Exactly Like You	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
Tangerine + Runnin’ Wild + Theme	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
Set 3	Count Basie
Open + Blue Room	Coleman Hawkins	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 19 Jun 1963
All the Things You Are	Coleman Hawkins	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 19 Jun 1963

Set 4	Spike Jones
El Barkio	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) Eileen Gallagher and Lassie.	‘Spike Jones Show’ KNX CBS LA 28 May 1949
Our Hour	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) The Sportsmen Quartet (Bill Days, Max Smith, Marty Sperzel and Gurney Bell)	Comm Rec Los Angeles 1947


Set 5	Selling Coffee
Open + I’m Breezin’ Along with the Breeze	Skip Farrell (voc) The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
Now is the Hour + Pennies From Heaven	Skip Farrell (voc) The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
When Day is Done	The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
My How the Time Goes By + I Just Kissed Your Picture Goodnight + Close	Skip Farrell (voc) The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
Set 6	Martha Tilton
If It’s The Last Thing I Do	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 16 Nov 1937
Gotta Get Some Shuteye	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 7 Feb 1939
Hurry Home	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 3 Jan 1939
A Home in the Clouds	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 14 Feb 1939
Set 7	Tommy Dorsey
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (theme) + You’re Driving me Crazy	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) The Sentimentalists	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network 29 Jan 1945
Hawaiian War Chan	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (d) Buddy Rich	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 26 Nov 1944
Song of India	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network 12 Feb 1945
Losers Weepers	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘For the Record’ WEAF NBC NY 17 Apr 1944
Set 8	Dave Brubeck
Perfume Counter	Dave Brubeck	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WJZ ABC NYC Dec 1953
Intro + The Duke	Dave Brubeck	Basin Street WCBS CBS NYC Feb 1956
Love Walked In	Dave Brubeck	Basin Street WCBS CBS NYC Feb 1956

June 5, 2022November 13, 2022

Spike Jones – Phantom Dancer 7 Jun 2022

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

POTS, PANS & DRUMS

At the age of 11 Spike Jones got his first set of drums. As a teenager he played in bands that he formed himself. His first band was called Spike Jones and his Five Tacks. A railroad restaurant chef taught him how to use pots and pans, forks, knives and spoons as musical instruments. Jones frequently played in theater pit orchestras. In the 1930s, he joined the Victor Young orchestra and got many offers to appear on radio shows, including Al Jolson‘s Lifebuoy Program, Burns and Allen and Bing Crosby‘s Kraft Music Hall.

From 1937 to 1942, Jones was the percussionist for the John Scott Trotter Orchestra,which played on Bing Crosby’s first recording of “White Christmas“.

PARODIES

Jones became bored playing the same music each night with the orchestras. Spike Jones found other like-minded musicians and they began playing parodies of standard songs for their own entertainment.

One of the City Slickers’ early recordings for the label was a Del Porter arrangement of “Der Fuehrer’s Face“. The record’s success inspired Jones to become the band’s leader. He initially thought the popularity the record brought them would fade. However, audiences kept asking for more, so Jones started working on more comic arrangements.

RADIO

After appearing as the house band on The Bob Burns Show, Spike got his own radio show on NBC, The Chase and Sanborn Program, as Edgar Bergen‘s summer replacement in 1945.

Frank Sinatra appeared on the show in October 1948, and Lassie in May 1949.

In 1942, the Jones gang worked on numerous Soundies, musical shorts similar to later music videos which were shown on coin-operated projectors in small nightclubs, arcades, malt shops, and taverns.

The band appeared on camera under their own name in four of the Soundies including “Pass the Biscuits, Mirandy”…

TV & MOVIES

Spike Jones and his City Slickers also appeared on NBC‘s The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford in the episode which aired on November 15, 1956.

In 1940, Spike Jones had an uncredited bandleading part in the Dead End Kids film Give Us Wings, appearing on camera for about four seconds.

7 JUNE PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINECommunity Radio Network Show CRN #548
107.3 2SER Tuesday7 June 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am 2YYY Young Monday 3 – 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 – 7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Buddy Moreno
You’re the Top (theme) + Who Cares?	Buddy Moreno (voc) Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
Miserlou + Take the A Train	Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
Careless	Buddy Moreno (voc) Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
The Glory of Love + Close	Buddy Moreno (voc) Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
Set 2	Dixie Swing from ‘The Voice of Labour’ WCFL Chicago
Open + Chinatown My Chinatown	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
My Melancholy Baby	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
Exactly Like You	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
Tangerine + Runnin’ Wild + Theme	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
Set 3	Count Basie
Open + Blue Room	Coleman Hawkins	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 19 Jun 1963
All the Things You Are	Coleman Hawkins	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 19 Jun 1963

Set 4	Spike Jones
Clink, Clink Another Drink	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) Del Porter and the Boys in the Backroom. Hiccups by Mel Blanc.	Comm Rec Los Angeles 12 Jan 1942
Der Fuehrers Face	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) Carl Grayson (birdophone) Willie Spicer	Comm Rec Los Angeles Sep 1942
Cocktails for Two	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) Carl Grayson	Comm Rec Los Angeles 29 Nov 1944
Our Hour	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) The Sportsmen Quartet (Bill Days, Max Smith, Marty Sperzel and Gurney Bell)	Comm Rec Los Angeles 1947
Set 5	Selling Coffee
Open + I’m Breezin’ Along with the Breeze	Skip Farrell (voc) The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
Now is the Hour + Pennies From Heaven	Skip Farrell (voc) The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
When Day is Done	The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
My How the Time Goes By + I Just Kissed Your Picture Goodnight + Close	Skip Farrell (voc) The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
Set 6	Martha Tilton
If It’s The Last Thing I Do	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 16 Nov 1937
Gotta Get Some Shuteye	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 7 Feb 1939
Hurry Home	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 3 Jan 1939
A Home in the Clouds	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 14 Feb 1939
Set 7	Tommy Dorsey
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (theme) + You’re Driving me Crazy	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) The Sentimentalists	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network 29 Jan 1945
Hawaiian War Chan	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (d) Buddy Rich	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 26 Nov 1944
Song of India	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network 12 Feb 1945
Losers Weepers	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘For the Record’ WEAF NBC NY 17 Apr 1944
Set 8	Dave Brubeck
Perfume Counter	Dave Brubeck	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WJZ ABC NYC Dec 1953
Intro + The Duke	Dave Brubeck	Basin Street WCBS CBS NYC Feb 1956
Love Walked In	Dave Brubeck	Basin Street WCBS CBS NYC Feb 1956

April 14, 2019April 16, 2019

She Was Almost Sold To A Brothel – The Zhou Xuan Story – Phantom Dancer 23 April 2019

CHINESE

Zhou Xuan singing jazz influenced ‘Mandopop’ is your feature artist on this week’s Phantom Dancer with Greg Poppleton.

The best of China’s ‘Seven Great Singers’, you’ll hear her in three Pathe recordings she made in Hong Kong in 1994 and 1946, including the song that became Shanghai’s unofficial anthem before 1949, ‘Ye Shanghai’.

See the full Phantom Dancer play list below of swing and jazz mixed by Greg Poppleton from live 1920s-60s radio below.

PHANTOM DANCER

This week’s Phantom Dancer will be online right after the 23 April 2SER live mix at 2ser.com.
Hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney

ZHOU XUAN

whose name is also romanised as Chow Hsien was an international diva popular from Shanghai to Singapore.
She was China’s top singing movie star with a life full of professional triumphs and personal tragedies. She was in over 40 movies and recorded more than 200 songs.

She was the illegitimate and abandoned child of a Buddhist nun and raised by an opium addicted foster father who was about to sell her to a brothel at age 13 when fate led her to join Li Jinhui’s Bright Moon Song and Dance Troupe.

GOLDEN VOICE

When she was fourteen, she won second prize in a singing contest in Shanghai and was given the nickname “Golden Voice” (金嗓子) for her effortless high-pitched melodies.

ANGELS OF THE STREETS

The 1920s-1930s were a time of change in Chinese music when traditional opera and folk music melded with jazz and Western rhythms to create the first generation of Mandopop.

Zhou began her film career in 1935. She achieved stardom in 1937 when director Yuan Muzhi cast her as one of the leads as a singing girl in Angels of the Streets. In that 1937 movie she sang in traditional Chinese song a song still popular in China today, The Wandering Songstress.

1940s

Zhou rapidly became the most famous and marketable popular singer in the gramophone era up to her death, singing many famous tunes from her own movies. You’ll hear three of her most famous Mandopop movie songs on today’s Phantom Dancer. These songs incorporate Latin rhythms, Western opera and jazz dance music into traditional Chinese forms. There’s even a snatch of Mrs Hills’ 1936 ‘Happy Birthday to You’.

Between 1946 and 1950, she often went to Hong Kong to make films such as “All-Consuming Love” (長相思), “Hua wai liu ying” (花外流鶯), “Sorrows of the Forbidden City”, and “Rainbow Song” (彩虹曲). After introducing “Shanghai Nights” (夜上海) in 1949, Zhou returned to Shanghai. She spent the next few years in and out of a mental institutions owing to frequent breakdowns. Through the years, Zhou led a complicated and unhappy life marked by her failed marriages, illegitimate children, and suicide attempts. Zhou’s first husband was the composer Yan Hua (严华, 1912-1992), who wrote and sometimes also performed songs with her. She died in a mental institution aged 39 in 1957.

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week is from 1947 – Zhou Xuan’s waltz, “Goodnight Serenade”. It was used as a station closer by Rediffusion TV Hong Kong in the early 1960s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCqfJKKzNB0

You can also see the video of Zhou Xuan’s most famous song, Ye Shanghai (Shanghai Nights) in a 2017 post on this blog at https://gregpoppleton.wordpress.com/2017/03/29/18-april-phantom-dancer-1946-%E5%91%A8%E7%92%87-zhou-xuan-%E5%A4%9C%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7-ye-shang-hai-nightlife-in-shanghai/

16 APRIL PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #382
107.3 2SER Tuesday 23 April 2019 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm 2ARM Armidale Friday 12:04 – 1pm and early morning on 24 other stations.
Set 1	Big Bands on 1946-51 Radio
Open + Star Dust	Eliot Lawrence Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WOR Mutual NY 1951
Open + The Best Things in Life are Free	Buzz Adlam Orchestra (voc) Kay Starr	‘Music by Adlam’ KECA ABC LA 27 Dec 1947
El Greco + Let’s Dance (theme)	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Hollywood Palladium AFRS Re-broadcast 22 Mar 1949
Set 2	Thrasher Sisters on the Radio
Shoo Shoo Baby	Thrasher Sisters	‘Fountain of Fun ‘ WLW Cincinati 21 Nov 1943
Massachusetts	Thrasher Sisters	‘Fountain of Fun ‘ WLW Cincinati 1 Nov 1942
Tuesday at Ten	Thrasher Sisters	‘Fountain of Fun ‘ WLW Cincinati 28 Nov 1943
Set 3	1935-36 Radio
Open + By The Sea	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) Trio	‘Corn’s A-Poppin” Los Angeles AFRS Re-broadcast 21 May 1949
The Barber of Seville	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) Sir Frederick Gas	‘Corn’s A-Poppin” New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 1948
Carolina Moon + Close	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) Prof. Beetlebaum	‘Corn’s A-Poppin” Charlotte NC AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Feb 1949
Set 4	Zhou Xuan 1944-46
Ye Shanghai	Zhou Xuan	Comm Rec Hong Kong 1946
The Blossom Youth	Zhou Xuan	Comm Rec Hong Kong 1944
Stop Singing	Zhou Xuan	Comm Rec Hong Kong 1946
Set 5	Artie Shaw
Nightmare (theme) + Out of Nowhere	Artie Shaw Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WEAF NBC Red NY 19 Oct 1939
I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me	Artie Shaw Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WEAF NBC Red NY 25 Nov 1938
My Heart Stood Still	Artie Shaw Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WEAF NBC Red NY 21 Oct 1939
I Won’t Tell a Soul + Nightmare (theme)	Artie Shaw Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WEAF NBC Red NY 2 Dec 1938
Set 6	Fats Waller
Ain’t Misbehavin’ (theme) + Hold My Hand	Fats Waller	WEAF NBC Red NY 16 Jul 1938
My Best Wishes	Fats Waller	WEAF NBC Red NY 5 Jul 1938
What’s The Matter With You?	Fats Waller	WEAF NBC Red NY 16 Jul 1938
Sheik of Araby + Ain’t Misbehavin’ (theme)	Fats Waller	WEAF NBC Red NY 5 Jul 1938
Set 7	1930s Australian Dance Bands
Forty-Second Street	Jim Davidson and his Palais Royal Orchestra (voc) Cantrell Brothers	Comm Rec Sydney 6 Jun 1933
Harlem Heat	Dudley Cantrell and his Grace Grenadiers	Comm Rec Sydney 22 Nov 1937
Says My Heart	Jim Davidson and his ABC Orchestra	Comm Rec Sydney 17 Aug 1938
Cosmopolitan Blues	Maurice Gilmore Orchestra (voc) Jack Davey	Comm Rec Sydney 8 Jan 1935
Set 8	Slim Gaillard
Tutti Frutti + Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen	Slim Gaillard and Slam Stewart (Slim and Slam)	‘Rudy Vallee Show’ WEAF NBC NY 14 Jul 1938
Slim’s Jam	Slim Gaillard Orchestra	Comm Rec New York City 14 Dec 1945
Sabroso	Slim gaillard Quintet	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 7 Jul 1951

July 21, 2018December 19, 2020

Spike Jones and his City Slickers – Phantom Dancer 24 July

The Phantom Dancer – a weekly radio mixtape of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV produced and presented by authentic 1920s-30s singer, Greg Poppleton.

Greg has presented the multi-award winning Phantom Dancer on 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985. It is now heard on 23 radio stations and online.

Check it out https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

See the play list for this week’s Phantom Dancer below. This week’s mixtape has a special broadcast recording by Spike Jones and his City Slickers of ‘F-B-Aida’ a send-up of Verdi’s famous opera.

Was a U.S drummer, percussionist and bandleader most famous for his parodies of popular tunes on record, radio and TV in the 1940s and 1950s.

These parodies were performed by his City Slickers. He also ran a serious orchestra playing lush arrangements of pop songs called the ‘Other Orchestra’.

Spike Jones took up drums at age 11. A railway restaurant chef taught him how to use objects like pots and pans as percussion. This skill got him onto popular radio shows in the 1930s as a comic percussionist. But he was also a dance band drummer and studio musician.

In fact, he was the drummer on the original version of the biggest selling record of all time, ‘White Christmas’ sung by Bing Crosby.

BORED

Tired of playing the same music every night for radio orchestras, Jones and like-minded musicians got together playing send-ups of popular ditties which they recorded to amuse their wives. One recording found its way to the offices of RCA Victor which offered the parody band a contract.

Their first record was Der Fuehrer’s Face which became a huge hit.

They starred in their own radio show between 1945 and 1949, and in their own NBC and CBS television shows from 1954 to 1961.

On this week’s Phantom Dancer, we hear Spike Jones and his City Slickers live on 1949 radio.

And for your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week, marvel at the City Slickers live on 1950s TV sending up ‘That Ol’ Black Magic’.

Bill Barty, who performed in film and TV up until his death in 2000, sings in the style of James Cagney, Jimmy Durante and finishes with Johnny Ray.

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #323
107.3 2SER Tuesday 24 July 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT)
Set 1
Theme + Manhattan Spiritual	Jerry Gray and his Band of Today	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom AFRTS Re-broadcast 30 Oct 1959
Redskin Rhumba (theme) + Murder at Peyton Hall	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jan 1947
Dancing Tambourine + Close	Henry Russell Orchestra	‘Let’s Dance’ KFI NBC LA 1948
Set 2
Rollin’ Home	Ray Anthony Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler NY AFRS Re-broadcast 11 Jan 1952
Daahoud	Max Roach – Clifford Brown Quartet	Basin Street WCBS CBS NY 6 May 1956
Lover Come Back To Me + Close	Stan Getz Quartet	Basin Street WCBS CBS NY 21 Apr 1956
Set 3
Goodbye Sue	Perry Como (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘For The Record’ WEAF NBC NY 1944
Love Is A Simple Thing	Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra (voc) Andy Roberts and Sally Sweetland	‘The All-Star Parade of Bands’ Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 12 Sep 1953
I Get a Kick Out of You + Close	Sarah Vaughan	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 21 Apr 1952
Set 4
I Found a New Baby	Ralph Sutton All-Stars	Club Hangover KCBS CBS SF 7 Sep 1954
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love + Close	Harry Sosnick and the Savings Bonds Orchestra	‘Guest Star – Dixieland Clambake’ Radio Transcription New York 1951
Runnin’ Wild + Close	Chris Barber Jazz Band	‘Traditional Jazz’ BBC Light Programme London AFRTS Rebroadcast 9 May 1955
Set 5
Forgotten	Harry James Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 1949
Oh! What a Beautiful Morning	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca KECA ABC LA 19 Sep 1946
I’ll Get By	Woody Herman Orchestra (voc) WH	‘Woody Herman Show’ Jun 1946
Daily Double	Buddy Rich Orchestra	Aircheck Los Angeles Mar 1946
Set 6
‘Buck Benny Rides Again’	Jack Benny	‘Hollywood is on the Air’ Buck Benny Rides Again Trailer Radio Transcription Hollywood 1940
F-B-Aida	Spike Jones and the City Slickers	‘The Spike Jones Show’ CBS 25 Jun 1949
Set 7
Jeepers Creepers	Paul Whiteman Orchestra	‘Paul Whiteman Show’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 7 Dec 1938
Open + Huckleberry Duck	Raymond Scott Orchestra	Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Red NY 1940
Diga Diga Doo	Bob Crosby Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 18 Jul 1939
Day In Day Out + Merry-Go-Round	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Southland Cafe WNAC NBC Boston 9 Jan 1940
Set 8
Manteca	Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra	Winter Palace Stockholm Radio Sweden 2 Feb 1948
Be Bop Boogie	Lester Young Quintet	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 4 Dec 1948
How High The Moon	Allen Eager	Birdland WJZ ABC NY Jun 1953
Bye Bye Blues	Benny Goodman Sextet	‘One Night Stand’ The Click Philadelphia AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jun 1948