Lenny Herman and 1950s Lounge Music – Phantom Dancer 4 Oct 2022

Lenny Herman accordionist and xylophonist led what was dubbed ‘The Mightiest Little Band in the Land’ in the 1940s and 50s. For fans of 1950s Lounge Music albums, here’s one of those bent easy listening orchestras live on 1948 and 1957 radio as this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist.

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

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 4 October) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

LENNY

Lenny was a ‘best-seller on stereophonic tape’ (he released songs on reel-to-reel tape) and a band with bright party-like LP album covers from the 1950s beloved of record bin hunters with a penchant for the staidly wacky.

The Lenny Herman Quintet that you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer airchecks:

Lenny Herman – Accordion, Vibraphone, And Vocals
Alan Shurr – Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, And Vocals
Charles Shaw – Piano, Celeste, And Organ
Earl “Gumpy” Comfort – Violin, String Bass, And Vocals
Stan Scott – Drums

Lenny Herman’s legacy has been dumped on from great heights by contemporary music reviewers such as Eugene Chadbourne who wrote in All-Music:

“Lenny Herman is sometimes described as a jazz bandleader of the ’40s and ’50s, yet his band bus was really more of a bandwagon, using the latter word in terms of a fad or flavor of the day.

He got in early on [sic], covering “Daddy’s Little Girl” in 1947, and not with the shroud that might have really been appropriate with this anthem of treacle. Alternate publications of the sheet music for this song featured photographs of artists who recorded it; the version with the Lennie Herman Quintet describes the group as “Latin-American.” Despite this stylistic designation the small combo was also featured on a recording of “Grandfather’s Clock” the year before.

Herman also took charge of much larger groups, building a reputation as a big-band leader that eventually eclipsed that of the quintet, if a word as mighty as “eclipsed” can be used to describe something more like a radar blip than a super nova.

He recorded orchestra sides such as “When You Fall in Love” for Decca and a nifty red vinyl 45 entitled “Mightiest Lil’ Band in the Land.” During the early ’50s Herman was on the front line of the new trends in commercial children’s music, waving a diaper like a flag of surrender.

He used the quintet to cut “Percy the Pale Faced Polar Bear” in 1951 and eventually had enough tracks for tots and tykes to tote up the early-’60s Family Album LP, also featuring singer Ginny Gibson. The 1957 Dance Party showcases Herman’s talents on both accordion and xylophone, the set list consisting mostly of Tin Pan Alley hits.”

The reviewer, Eugene Chadbourne, and his Electric Rake…

HERMAN

Lenny gets a fairer review in musicbio.org:

“Although generally uncelebrated during his career being a band head, Lenny Herman made a substantial contribution towards the dance band music of NY, USA, from the first 50s onwards.

Located in hotels like the Astor, Edison, Roosevelt, Waldorf-Astoria and New Yorker, his small band, frequently dubbed ‘The Mightiest Small Music group In The Property’, etched an absolute impression over the night time dancers of these establishments with music such as for example ‘No Foolin’’.

Led by Herman’s accordion playing, the music group, which hardly ever numbered a lot more than ten and sometimes significantly less than eight, also discovered engagements additional afield in Philadelphia (the Warwick Resort), Atlantic Town (the Straymore Resort), Virginia Seaside (the Cavalier Resort) and Dallas (the Baker Resort).

With the middle-60s the music group had moved completely towards the Lake Tahoe region, where the right now five or six solid ensemble gained its living playing to combined audiences in the resort hotels.”

So now enjoy Lenny Herman on this week’s Phantom Dancer in airchecks from 1948 and 1957…

4 OCTOBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #565
107.3 2SER Tuesday 4 October 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 2RDJ Burwood Wednesday 12 – 1pm 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2RRR Ryde Friday 11am -12 noon 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	Tex Beneke
Moonlight Serenade (theme) + Uncle Remus	Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Tex Beneke, Jenny O’Conner and the Mellowlarks	‘March of Dimes’ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Falling Leaves	Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra	‘March of Dimes’ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Somewhere in the Night	Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Gary Stevens	‘March of Dimes’ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Give Me Five Minutes More + Moonlight Serenade (theme)	Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Tex Beneke	‘March of Dimes’ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Set 2	Your Hit Parade
Intro + I’m Gunna Love That Guy + It’s Gotta Be This or That	Joan Edwards	‘Your Hit Parade’ AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Oct 1945
I’ll Buy That Dream	The Hit Paraders	‘Your Hit Parade’ AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Oct 1945
On The Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe	Dick Todd	‘Your Hit Parade’ AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Oct 1945
Set 3	Latin Rhythms
My Shawl (theme) + In a Little Spanish Town	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NY 1958
Rhumba	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NY 1958
Besume	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NY 1958
Rhumba	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NY 1958
Set 4	Lenny Herman
Cecilia	Lenny Herman Quintet	Golden Thread Room Hotel New Yorker WCBS CBS NYC 1957
Kisses Are Better Than Roses	Lenny Herman Quintet (voc) Alan Shurr	Golden Thread Room Hotel New Yorker WCBS CBS NYC 1957
Don’t Forbid Me	Lenny Herman Quintet (voc) The Hermanaires	Golden Thread Room Hotel New Yorker WCBS CBS NYC 1957
Noon Balloon to Rangoon + In Ol’ Kalua (theme)	Lenny Herman Quintet	Hotel Astor WNBC NBC NYC 25 Jun 1948
Set 5	Western Swing
Does My Baby Love Me, Yes Sir!	Jimmie Revard and his Oklahoma Playboys	Comm Rec San Antonio TX 14 Sep 1937
Baby Won’t You Please Come Home	W. Lee O’Daniel (voc) Texas Rose	Comm Rec Dallas TX 15 May 1938
Sam the Old Accordian Man	Adolph Hofner and His Texans	Comm Rec Dallas TX 13 Feb 1940
Get Hot	W. Lee O’Daniel	Comm Rec San Antonio TX 21 Nov 1936
Set 6	Tommy Dorsey
Swing Low Sweet Chariot	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Bob Allen	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ 11 Feb 1941
I Dream of You	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Bob Allen	‘For the Record’ WEAF NBC Red NYC 17 Apr 1944
Always in My Heart	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Frank Sinatra	‘Raleigh Show’ Capitol Theatre WJSV CBS Washington DC 18 Aug 1942
Losers Weepers	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 26 Nov 1940
Set 7	Lester Young
Lullaby of Birdland (theme) + Three Little Words	Lester Young Quintet	Birdland WABC ABC NYC 5 Sep 1956
How High the Moon	Lester Young Jam Session (voc) Ella Fitzgerald	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WMCA NYC 27 Nov 1948
Set 8	Blues & Cool
Empty Bed Blues + Love My Baby + Improvised Blues + Theme	Johnny Otis Orchestra and Jubilee All-Stars (voc) Ivie Anderson + Joe Turner	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood Oct 1945
I’ll Remember April	Dave Brubeck Quartet	Aircheck Jan 1954

San Antonio Rose Video Will Make You Smile

San Antonio Rose – need something dancey, upbeat and happy that will help the sun shine through?

Otherwise known as Rose of San Antonio, this Australian-accented homage to the signature song of the King of Western swing, Bob Wills will put a smile on your dial.

Written in 1938. Lyrics added in 1940.

Song #1 on the new album ‘Tin Pan Alley Vol. 2’.
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/album/1fWRX8EF00yiI9xYgYRVnA
APPLE MUSIC: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/152547010
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Greg-Poppleton/e/B001LI794A
WEBSITE: https://www.gregpoppletonmusic.com/20s-30s-tin-pan-alley-vol-2/

1930 Philco Hour – 3 July Phantom Dancer

Dance band music for one of America’s leading radio manufacturers in 1930 features on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV, presented by Australia’s only authentic 1920s-30s singer since 1985.

On air every Tuesday, live from 107.3 2SER Sydney from 12:04-2pm, the Phantom Dancer is recorded for re-broadcast over 23 radio stations and online.

You can hear all Phantom Dancer episodes online now at 2ser.com.

THIS WEEK’S PHANTOM DANCER MIX

– has a set of 1930s Western swing records, a set of Louis Armstrong of 1950s radio, a set of Lester Young from 1956 radio and this week’s feature – ‘The Philco Hour’ from 1930-31.

See the full mix play list below…

RISE AND FALL

On this week’s Phantom Dancer we hear the ‘Philco Orchestra’ from the ‘Philco Hour’ radio series of 1930- 31.

Beginning as a battery manufacturer, then as a battery supplier for radios, then as a power unit supplier for radio, by the mid 1920s Philco was building its own radios.

Its research and development department made many improvements in radio home receiver technology throughout the 1930s.

These improvements in combination with aggressive advertising in print and sponsored radio programming such as the ‘Philco Hour’, made Philco rise from third most popular U.S radio brand in 1929 to number one 1939.

Philco developments in sound quality and the aesthetic appeal of their radio units included:

– 1930: superheterodyne tubes for clearer reception (as the Philco announcer explains in this week’s Phantom Dancer mix)
– 1930: tone control. A listener could change their radio sound to brilliant, bright, mellow, or deep frequencies.
– 1930: smaller, cheaper car radios
– 1934: the first true high fidelity radio receiver on the market
– 1936: automatic tuning – listeners could assign their favorite stations to presets.
– 1939: mystery control, the first wireless remote control made for radios.

Philco was also a pioneer in television broadcasting. It launched experimental station W3XE in 1932 and was selling Philco TVs in 1939.

But in 1960, it filed for bankruptcy.

You can hear more of the 1930s ‘Philco Hour’ here as your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week:

3 JULY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #321
107.3 2SER Tuesday 3 July 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1	Swing Ballads on 1946-47 Radio
Walking Stick	Claude Thornhill Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ ABC NY 22 Sep 1947
Come Rain Come Shine	Bobby Sherwood Orchestra (voc) Frances Glenn	‘One Night Stand’ Avadon Ballroom LA AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jun 1946
Might As Well Be Spring	Art Mooney Orchestra (voc) Johnny Darcy	‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 1946
Set 2	1950s Big Band Radio
Theme + I’m Walkin’	Johnny Richards Orchestra	‘ABC Dancing Party’ WABC ABC NY 1957
Take The A Train (theme) + Caravan	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Basin Street WCBS CBS NY 16 Apr 1956
On The Alamo	Georgie Auld (ts) Orchestra with Jud Conlon’s Rhythmaires	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 25 Dec 1952
Set 3	Philco Orchestra 1930-31 Radio
Open + Cinderella Brown	Philco Orchestra	‘Philco Program’ WABC CBS NY 1930
Boy! Oh! Boy! I’ve Got It Bad	Boswell Sisters	‘Philco Program’ WABC CBS NY 1931
I Don’t Mind Walking In The Rain	Philco Orchestra	‘Philco Program’ WABC CBS NY 1930
Set 4	1930s Radio Swing
I Can’t Get Started (theme) + O Ya Ya	Bunny Berrigan Orchestra	Manhattan Centre WNEW NYC 26 Sep 1939
Hallelujah + A Fine Romance	Johnny Green Orchestra (voc) Fred Astaire and Trudy Wood	‘Packard Hour 1936 Election Special’ KFI NBC Red LA 11 Mar 1936
Ain’t Misbehavin’	Louis Armstrong with Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WEAF NBC Red NYC 14 Oct 1939
Set 5	Louis Armstrong Trad Jazz 1940s-50s Radio
When It’s Sleepy Time Down South (theme) + Indiana	Louis Armstrong	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription 12 Dec 1954
Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?	Louis Armstrong	Wintergarden Theatre WNBC NBC NYC 19 Jun 1947
Fine and Dandy	Louis Armstrong	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription 7 May 1950
Royal Garden Blues	Louis Armstrong	‘Damon Runyon Memorial Concert’ Blue Note ABC Chicago 11 Dec 1948
Set 6	Early ’40s Dance Bands
Slow and Easy	Charlie Spivak Orchestra	Radio Transcription New York City 1941
The Lion and the Mouse	Glen Gray and the Casa loma Orchestra	Aircheck Hotel New Yorker New York City May 1944
Saturday Night	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Patti Thomas	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network 11 Feb 1945
Knock Me A Kiss + Close	Gene Krupa Orchestra (voc) Roy Eldridge	Aircheck 13 Nov 1942
Set 7	1930s Western Swing on Records
Baby Won’t You Please Come Home	Texas Rose (voc)	Comm Rec San Antonio 22 Dec 1938
Does My Baby Love Me, Yes Sir	Jimmie Revard and hos Oklahoma Playboys	Comm Rec San Antonio 14 Sep 1937
Who’s Sorry Now?	W. Lee O’Daniel	Comm Rec Dallas 30 Sep 1935
I Never Felt So Blue	Adolph Hofner and his Texans	Comm Rec San Antonio 25 Oct 1938
Set 8	Lester Young on 1956 Radio
Lullaby of Birdland + Lester Leaps In	Lester Young	Birdland WABC ABC NY 7 Aug 1956
Three Little Words	Lester Young	Birdland WABC ABC NY 5 Sep 1956