Podcasts about rudy vallee

I'd like to know what's buzzin', cousins, as I bring you the 716th podcast on Have You Ever Seen. Preston Sturges was making a lot of hay in the early '40s, releasing The Lady Eve AND Sullivan's Travels the year before The Palm Beach Story came out. Palm Beach isn't as classic or as funny as THOSE two are, but it's an effectively zany, fast-talkin' rom-com. Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea make for a compelling married NYC couple. She tries to divorce him (you'll never guess where), so she can marry a rich man like Rudy Vallee...and then help her ex out by getting him some money out of the deal. If you think THAT'S whacky, wait until the out-of-deep-left-field ending! But The Palm Beach Story IS a fun time and I've got all kinds of stories to tell about it. Subscribe to this channel and you'll never miss an episode. I'm doing more shows lately...and posting on various days of the week. Rate and review the podcast in your app too. Letterboxd: RyanHYES. Email: haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com. Twi-X: @moviefiend51. And Bluesky: ryan-ellis.

Rudy_Vallee

One week after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the combined radio networks broadcast a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights on December 15, 1791.  The all-star broadcast cast was impressive --  Edward Arnold, Lionel Barrymore, Bob Burns, Walter Brennan, Walter Huston, Marjorie Main, Edward G. Robinson, Jimmy Stewart, Rudy Vallee, and Orson Welles, and scripted by Norman Corwin.  For a few hours, there was doubt the long planned program would not air because of Pearl Harbor.  But a one sentence reply from President Roosevelt's office said it all -- "The President thinks it's more important now than ever to proceed with the program."Enjoy this celebration of America.  

Welcome to Glenn Robison's Rapidly Rotating Records, bringing you vintage music to which you can't not tap your toes, from rapidly rotating 78 RPM records of the 1920s and '30s. Once again, for about the 15th time, Rita and I were in Rancho Cordova, California the week-end before Thanksgiving for the 39th Annual West Coast Ragtime Festival, put on thanks to the tireless efforts of many volunteers from the West Coast Ragtime Society. We had a fabulous time as always, seeing old friends, musicians and non, making new friends, listening to wonderful music performed by some of the finest musicians in the world, and enjoying plenty of fine food and drink. There was almost 120 hours of music over three days, and this show represents less that 1% of that music. It’s primarily 78 RPM records of tunes played at the festival along with several vintage piano rolls performed by the composers. There's lots of great music and interesting information so set aside an hour with your favorite beverage and prepare to be transported back to a different–and we think better–musical era. Just click the link above to listen streaming online and/or download for listening at your convenience. THANKS FOR LISTENING! ENJOY THE SHOW! Here’s the complete playlist: Pep – Deauville Dozen Jubilee Stomp – Nisse Lind’s Hot Kvartett Novelette In Fourths – George Gershwin Rialto Ripples – George Gershwin You’ll Do It Someday (So Why Not Now) – Bolton & Cipriano’s Westchester Biltmore Orchestra, Rudy Vallee, Leader Under The Tents – Charles N. Daniels You’ll Come Back – Miss Morris & Mr. Murray Whoa You Hefier – Al Verges Saskatoon Rag – Phil Goldberg Chicken Reel – Kessinger Brothers Pearl Of The Haren – Fred Van Eps Blue Turning Grey Over You – Ambrose AHO / Sam Browne, v. I’m Alabama Bound – Prince’s Orchestra Rambling In Rhythm – Arthur Schutt Bye, Bye Blackbird – Dick Beeson AHO (Nathan Glantz) / Unidentified, v. The post A “WCRF” Edition of RRR # 1,326 December 14, 2025 appeared first on Glenn Robison's Rapidly Rotating 78 RPM Records.

Variety on a WednesdayFirst, a look at the events of the day.Then, The Big Show starring Tallulah Bankhead,  originally broadcast December 10, 1950, 75 years ago.  Tallulah and Charles Boyer appear in, "All The Sad Young Men," by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Joe Bushkin plays his own composition, "Portrait Of Tallulah."  Clifton Webb, Jimmy Durante, and Imogene Coca are featured.  Followed by The Chase and Sanborn Hour starring Rudy Vallee, originally broadcast December 10, 1939, 86 years ago. Edgar Bergen is out sick! Charlie McCarthy reports on his condition from his bedside at St. Vincent's Hospital, Los Angeles. Guest Joan Blondell and Fred MacKaye appear in "After The Party's Gone," by Winston Miller and Michael Jackson. Vera Vague complains that Chivalry is dead. Bergen does two routines from the hospital. Charlie's Christmas shopping service is broke. Lansing Hatfield also appears.  Finally, Claudia, originally broadcast December 10, 1947, 78 years ago, The Joyous News. Breaking the BIG news to Poppa David. Kathryn Bard and Paul Crabtree star.Thanks to Bill B. for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamCheck out Professor Bees Digestive Aid at profbees.com and use my promo code WYATT to save 10% when you order! If you like what we do here, visit our friend Jay at http://radio.macinmind.com for great old-time radio shows 24 hours a day

Variety on a WednesdayFirst,  a look at this day in History.Then, The Big Show starring Tallulah Bankhead, originally broadcast December 3, 1950, 75 years ago.  Douglas Fairbanks Jr. does a scene from "State Secret." Margaret Truman matches wits with Tallulah. The cast does "The Margaret Truman Program," with a funny commercial for banks and money. Phil Silvers (sounding very hoarse) does a satire on the movies he's starred in. Followed by The Chase and Sanborn Hour with Rudy Vallee, originally broadcast December 3, 1939, 86 years ago.  Charlie McCarthy has started a Christmas shopping service. Guest Maureen O'Hara, John Archer and Charlotte Treadway appear in, "Rendezvous With Tomorrow," by Hilda Lawrence. Arthur Treacher appears as the perfect butler, who is now a "swingster." Charlie and Maureen do a scene from, "Jamaica Inn...Long Island.".Finally,  Claudia, originally broadcast December 3, 1947, 78 years ago, Through Claudia's Eyes.  Mama and Claudia are going to paper the closet shelves. A visit to Julia (Claudia's sister-in-law) in a beauty parlor.  Kathryn Bard and Paul Crabtree star.Thanks to Richard G for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamCheck out Professor Bees Digestive Aid at profbees.com and use my promo code WYATT to save 10% when you order! Find the Family Fallout Shelter Booklet Here: https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_family_fallout_shelter_1959.pdfhttps://wardomatic.blogspot.com/2006/11/fallout-shelter-handbook-1962.htmlAnd more about the Survive-all Fallout Sheltershttps://conelrad.blogspot.com/2010/09/mad-men-meet-mad-survive-all-shelter.html

A Mixed Bag on a WednesdayFirst, a look at the events of the day.Then, Escape, originally broadcast November 12, 1950, 75 years ago,  Earth Abides part 2.  The conclusion of the dramatization of the George R. Stewart novel on the end of the old world and the beginning of a new world. Followed by Jimmy Durante, originally broadcast November 12, 1947, 78 years ago with guest Dorothy Lamour.  Jimmy meets guest Dorothy Lamour on the Super Chief and dreams that he's on a tropical island with her—football predictions by Tommy Harmon. Then, The Chase and Sanborn Hour with host Rudy Vallee, originally broadcast November 12, 1939, 86 years ago, with guest Jean Arthur.   Charlie McCarthy wants his old job back with Edgar Bergen. Guests Jean Arthur and Alan Marshall appear in The Artist by A. A. Milne. Vera Vague lectures about American history. Mortimer Snerd tells Jean Arthur about life back home in Snerdville.Finally, Claudia, originally broadcast November 12, 1947, 78 years ago, The Kittens.  The nurse gets a kitten surrogate: Kathryn Bard and Paul Crabtree star.Thanks to Laurel for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamCheck out Professor Bees Digestive Aid at profbees.com and use my promo code WYATT to save 10% when you order! If you like what we do here, visit our friend Jay at http://radio.macinmind.com for great old-time radio shows 24 hours a day

November 26, 1944 - Comedian Joe E. Brown hosts the program "Stop Or Go" with guest stars Orson Welles, Hedda Hopper, Rudy Vallee, Dorothy Lamour and Jack Benny.

When a prized debutante makes her debut, one heir is determined not to miss it.November 1933, one of the most prized debutantes of this season Virginia Kent has her first coming out ball. To not miss out, John Jacob Astor VI, aka “Jakey,” charters a vehicle to bring a crew to the party. Will a love match be made?Other people and subjects include:Princess Barbara Hutton Mdivani, Doris Duke, James H.R. Cromwell aka “Jimmy,” Eva Stotesbury, “Jakey” John Jacob Astor VI, Daisy Van Alen, William “Sam” Van Alen, Elizabeth “Betty” Kent, Woolworth “Woolie” Donahue, “Alfy” Alfred Vanderbilt, Jr., Atwater “Atty” Kent, Jr., Virginia “Ginnie” Kent, Atwater Kent, Mabel Lucas Kent, Jonathan Kent, George Vanderbilt, Mrs. Margaret Emerson Vanderbilt Baker Amory, Raymond Guest, Winston Guest, Dorothy “Dottie” Fell, Louise Brooks Howard, Pola Negri, Elsa Maxwell, Virginia “Birdie” Graham Fair Vanderbilt, Helen Dinsmore Astor, Isabel Dodge Sloane, Margaret “Peggy Dorrance, Charlotte Dorrance, Jane Johnson – future Mrs. Heminway, Mademoiselle Louise Millet of Paris, Mrs. Donner, Mrs. Barklie – the Barklies, the Houstons / the Hustons / the Houstons, the Lorimers, Pierre Barbey, Jr., Screven Lorillard, Richard “Dick” deRahm, Joseph Earle Stevens Jr., Ludlow Stevens, Eleanor “Ellie” Gould, Caroline Astor, British Queen Mary, Prince Albert – Duke of York – future King George VI, colorful debutante fashion trends, study abroad, Fermata school, Veiled Prophet Queen, bow at Court of St. James, Africa big game trip, African hunting expedition, polo, horse races, scavenger hunt, gag gift, Waldorf-Astoria, Bridlespur Hunt Club, Deer Creek Country Club, Barclay Hotel, Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Aquitania oceanliner, Kenya Colony, New York City, Philadelphia, Paris, Africa, St. Louis, Missouri, Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer, St. Louis Dispatch, Atwater Kent Radio, Amos & Andy, Rudy Vallee, Ellie Kemper, Phillips Carlin, President Harry Truman, United Nations, costume parties, Halloween, fresh vegetables appetizer – celery & carrots with dip, Metropolitan Opera, Atwater Kent Radio Hour, NBC & CBS radio stations, Veiled Prophet Parade and Ball, Veiled Prophet Queen of Love and Beauty, post Civil War – Reconstruction era, John G. Priest, Suzanne “Suzie” Slayback, parade floats, Jinn, Bengal lancers, Louisiana Purchase, Mother Goose, racial tensions, Percy Brown, ACTION (the Action Council to Improve Opportunities for Negroes), robber Russell Hayes, historian Thomas Spencer, protests, Mexican entourage, Irish immigrants, African American Veiled Prophet Queen, Veiled Prophet – Grand Oracle, American Birthday Parade, class warfare, trade unions, St. Louis Republican – Missouri Republican newspaper, socialist newspaper St. Louis Labor, secret society, secret organization, Ku Klux Klan – KKK, Joseph Dacus, Frank James, Jesse James, misappropriation of image, photography, printing images, woodcut, idea of perfection, stress of perfections, cracks, pressures, scandal, 1958 film The Reluctant Debutante, Vincent Minelli, Sandra Dee, Rex Harrison, Queen Elizabeth II, Edward McLean, Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, Amazon, red flags, the need of friends and family,…--Extra Notes / Call to Action:Charisma on Command, YouTube Episode: $120,000 Was Stolen From Me… It Was My “Friend”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VPfz49JqrIShare, like, subscribe --Archival Music provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, www.pastperfect.com.Opening Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance BandsSection 1 Music: Sweet Sixteen And Never Been Kissed by Blue Mountaineers, Albums The Great Dance Bands & Play Hits of the 30sSection 2 Music: As Time Goes By by Adelaide Hall, Album – Elegance 2Section 3 Music: I've Got An Invitation To Dance by Roy Fox, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30sEnd Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands--https://asthemoneyburns.com/X / TW / IG – @asthemoneyburnsX / Twitter – https://x.com/asthemoneyburnsInstagram – https://www.instagram.com/asthemoneyburns/Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/asthemoneyburns/

Today we have The Abbott and Costello Show from February 15, 1945, from Armed Forces Radio, with special guest Rudy Vallee. This is a typical slapstick radio comedy, with lots of hysterical Abbott and Costello wordplay and wacky characters popping in and out (notably Mel Blanc as Vallee's personal assistant and Sid Fields as Professor Melonhead). They make plenty of jokes about Vallee's reputation as a supreme megalomaniac, and do a radio version of Jack and the Beanstalk, a bit of a foreshadowing of the Abbott and Costello film from 1952. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/881779245938297 Our theme music is "Why Am I So Romantic?" from Animal Crackers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KHJKAKS/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MK8MVCY4DVBAM8ZK39WD

Variety on a SundayFirst,  a look at this day in History.Then, The Fleishmann's Yeast Hour starring Rudy Vallee, originally broadcast August 17, 1933, 92 years ago.  Bobby Gilbert plays an amazing "talking" violin (it even recites, "Mary Had A Little Lamb")! Nora Lehman does a radio version of her "national best-selling record," "Seven Years With The Wrong Man." Rudy sings, "Learn To Croon," and imitates Bing Crosby! Dorothy Gish appears in a scene from, "Autumn Crocus." Tom Howard and George Shelton do the routine they did in the 1925 "Greenwich Village Follies," titled, "No News."Followed by Front and Center starring Dorothy Lamour, originally broadcast August 17, 1947, 78 years ago with George Burns and Gracie Allen.  Guests George Burns and Gracie Allen try to convince Dorothy to use George as her next leading man...in a sarong! Guest Ronald Reagan appears in a dramatic skit with Dorothy Lamour about love and romance. Then, The CBS Radio Workshop, originally broadcast August 17, 1956, 69 years ago,  Colloquy Two: 'Dissertation On Love' or 'Boy Meets Girl'.  An amusing look at love, from an American, British, and French point of view.Finally. Lum and Abner, originally broadcast August 17, 1942, 83 years ago, Cedric President of Gold Mine?  Who will be president of the gold mine? An election is held...several of them in fact!Thanks to Richard G for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamFind the Family Fallout Shelter Booklet Here: https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_family_fallout_shelter_1959.pdfhttps://wardomatic.blogspot.com/2006/11/fallout-shelter-handbook-1962.html

National waterparks day. Entertainment from 2014. WW1 began, plane hit Empire state building, Foxtrot invented, Todays birthdays - Rudy Vallee, Earl Tupper, Jim Davis, Sally Struthers, Georgia Engal, Lori Laughlin, Elizabeth Berkley, Soulja Boy. Johann Sebastian Bach died.Intro - God did good - Dianna Corcoran     https://www.diannacorcoran.com/Fun fun water park - Juny TonyWild Wild West - Will Smith   Dur Hill   Kool Moe DeeAmazed - LonestarBirthdays - In da club - 50 Cent http://50cent.com/Ha Cha Cha - Rudy ValleeAll in the family TV theme songSaved by the bell TV theme songCrank that Soulja boy - Soulja boyExit - Wrecks me - Stephen Carey     https://www.stephencareymusic.com/countryundergroundradio.com

A Funny MondayFirst a look at the events of the dayThen Fred Allen, originally broadcast May 26, 1946, 79 years ago, King for a Day with Mary Livingston's husband.  Allen's Alley Question: "Do you have any trouble sleeping, and if you do, what are you doing about it?" Fred and guest Jack Benny are heard on Fred's new quiz show, "King For A Day."Followed by The Royal Desserts Hour starring Rudy Vallee, originally broadcast May 26, 1938, 87 years ago with guest Judy Canova. "No More Battles," a Memorial Day comedy. Rudy interviews a beloved Yale professor of English literature. The Canova family sing and yodel, "The Ballad Of Jesse James."Then The CBS Radio Workshop, originally broadcast May 26, 1957, 68 years ago, I Have Three Heads.  A study of the techniques, the possibilities, and the improbabilities of tape recording. An absolutely fascinating exploration of some of the tricks possible with tape recorders, as narrated by an Ampex Tape Recorder. Put together by CBS engineer Mort Goldberg (later an executive), it features a band playing "Tea of Two" forwards and backwards at the same time. Finally, Lum and Abner, originally broadcast May 26, 1942, 83 years ago, Phantom Author's Manuscript.  The Edwards and Edwards Publishing Company receives a "manuscript" from "The Phantom Author."Thanks to Adele for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamIf you like what we do here, visit our friend Jay at http://radio.macinmind.com for great old time radio shows 24 hours a day

A Funny MondayFirst a look at this day in History.Then Mr. and Mrs Blanding starring Cary Grant and Betsy Drake, originally broadcast May 5, 1951, 74 years ago, Rebuilding the Barn.   Mr. Blandings decides to rebuild the barn...not an easy job!Followed by My Friend Irma starring Marie Wilson, originally broadcast May 5, 1953, 72 years ago, Irma Wants an Older Man.  It's Irma's birthday, but after Al cancels her birthday lunch, she decides she needs an older man.  Then The Royal Gelatin Hour starring Rudy Vallee, originally broadcast May 5, 1938, 87 years ago with guest Boris Karloff. Rudy interviews Washington Lumpkin, a sandhog working on the new 6th Avenue subway in New York City. Mr. Lumpkin loses his place in the script. Tommy Riggs and "Betty Lou" appear on the show for the 40th time of 49 appearances.  Boris Karloff and Harold Vermilyea appear in an Arch Oboler drama titled, "Danse Macabre."Finally. Lum and Abner, originally broadcast May 5, 1942, 83 years ago, Lum gets ckeck from Squire!  Lum gets the last laugh!Thanks to Sean for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamFind the Family Fallout Shelter Booklet Here: https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_family_fallout_shelter_1959.pdfhttps://wardomatic.blogspot.com/2006/11/fallout-shelter-handbook-1962.htmlAnd more about the Survive-all Fallout Sheltershttps://conelrad.blogspot.com/2010/09/mad-men-meet-mad-survive-all-shelter.html

A Funny ThursdayFirst a look at this day in History.Then Joan Davis Time, originally broadcast April 17, 1948, 77 years ago with guest Rudy Vallee.  Guest Rudy Vallee proposes marriage to Joan, so he can adopt a little girl. During a dream sequence, after they've been married, Joan can't read one of her lines. Followed by the news from 77 years ago, then Mr. Ace and Jane, originally broadcast April 17, 1948, 77 years ago, Quiz Show. "Jane gets on a quiz program and she answers so many questions and she's winning so much money until Mr. Ace discovers how she's doing it and puts out the fires of this atomic bombshell of the quiz program. Or, as Mr. Ace puts it, 'How to stop radio-activity'.Then The Martin and Lewis Show, originally broadcast April 17, 1952, 73 years ago with guest Boris Karloff.  Jerry fills in for the first guest, a food expert.  Boris plays Jerry's father in a sketch called, “Just Plain Dracula”.Followed by The Jack Benny Show, originally broadcast April 17, 1949, 76 years ago, A Walk through the Easter Parade.  Jack and Mary stroll down the boulevard for the Easter Parade and run into a lot of their friends. Finally Lum and Abner, originally broadcast April 17, 1942, 83 years ago, Wonderful World Apartments. Mousey's idea is to build apartments with Pine Ridge's $10,000. Thanks to Sean for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamFind the Family Fallout Shelter Booklet Here: https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_family_fallout_shelter_1959.pdfhttps://wardomatic.blogspot.com/2006/11/fallout-shelter-handbook-1962.htmlAnd more about the Survive-all Fallout Sheltershttps://conelrad.blogspot.com/2010/09/mad-men-meet-mad-survive-all-shelter.html

Some weddings might be grand, but nothing catches more attention than a good divorce scandal.August – September 1933, the marriage of Prince Alexis Mdivani and heiress Barbara Hutton has caused a lot of press attention on the couple as well as those around them. His two older brothers, Prince Serge Mdivani and Prince David Mdivani are in the papers again for their divorces and issues around their oil company. While youngest brother Prince Alexis and Barbara enjoy positive coverage, Prince Serge finds himself in a bitter press battle with soon to be ex-wife, opera singer Mary McCormic.Other people and subjects include: Franklyn Hutton, Louise Van Alen (referenced, not mentioned), Cobina Wright, Pola Negri, Princess Mae Murray Mdivani, Princesss Roussadana “Roussie” Mdivani Sert, Prince David – Prince of Wales – future King Edward VIII – Duke of Windsor, Lady Thelma Morgan Furness, Princess Marquesa de Portago, Lily Damita, Janet Snowden, Prince Caravita, John de Braganza, Lord Nicholas “Dickie” Mountbatten, Archpriest Jacob Smirnoff, Samuel Insull, Insull energy empire, Pacific Shore Oil Company, Charles Lindbergh, Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Marion Campbell, Nipo Strongheart, Mary Garden, Chester MacCormic – Macomic – Macormac, Kenneth Rankin, Reba McCormic, Harold McCormick, Edith Rockefeller, Ganna Walska, terrible singer, Cowgirl soprano, opera career advice, protégé, Chicago Civic Opera House, Russia, Soviet state Georgia, Biarritz, Moscow, Paris, Los Angeles, Liberty Magazine, Good Housekeeping, new Mdivani source, Tallulah Bankhead, Maurice Chevalier, Mistinguett, Yvonne Vallee, Rudy Vallee, divorce, remarriage, Orson Welles, Citizen Kane, Susan Alexander, William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Pulitzer, Florence Foster Jenkins, Meryl Streep, Enrico Caruso, Cole Porter, Lily Pons, cult musical camp, Alexander Winton, Winton automobile, Bobby Franks, Richard Loeb, Nathan Leopold, Clarence Darrow, Eva Stotesbury, Massie Rape Trial, Los Angeles Olympics, 1932 events, Amelia Earhart, Al Capone, circular connections, reconstructing & reconnecting the past, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Queen Victoria, Prince Philip, Prince Charles – Princes of Wales – King Charles III of Great Britain, Faith Baldwin, romance writer, female novelist, What Is Wrong With American Marriages syndicated news article series – Part 6th Pitfalls of International Marriage, Mademoiselle Dollars - American dollar princess, Adele Astaire, Fred Astaire, Lord Charles Cavendish, Boni de Castellane, Anna Gould, Duke of Marlborough, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Gladys Deacon, Sally Rand, risque striptease dance, messy divorces, too public, chaos, high passion, burnout, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, divorce book,…--Extra Notes / Call to Action:Hollywood Mysteries, YouTube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/@HollywoodMysteries#61 – Louise Brooks, The Girl Who Had The World In Her Hands and Lost It Allhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg8D-KNHNZcCheck out and answer polls for As The Money Burns via social mediaX / Twitter – https://x.com/asthemoneyburnsInstagram – https://www.instagram.com/asthemoneyburns/Share, like, subscribe--Archival Music provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, www.pastperfect.com.Opening Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance BandsSection 1 Music: Did You Mean It? By Jack Hylton, Album The Great British Dance BandsSection 2 Music: Stars Fell On Alabama by Lew Stone, Album The Great British Dance BandsSection 3 Music: This Is The Missus by Sidney Kyte & His Piccadilly Hotel Band, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30sEnd Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands--https://asthemoneyburns.com/X / TW / IG – @asthemoneyburnsX / Twitter – https://x.com/asthemoneyburnsInstagram – https://www.instagram.com/asthemoneyburns/Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/asthemoneyburns/

Drama and Variety on a TuesdayFirst a look at the events of the dayThen Lux Radio Theater, originally broadcast March 25, 1940, 85 years ago, Remember the Night starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck.   An adaptation of the 1940 movie about a prosecutor who winds up taking a beautiful thief with him on a Christmas visit to his mother.Followed by the Royal Gelatin Hour starring Rudy Vallee, originally broadcast March 25, 1937, 88 years ago.  The show features three songs from, "Shall We Dance?" The first is, "Beginner's Luck," sung by Rudy. Rudy also sings, "Never In A Million Years," "Little Old Lady," "I Can't Lose That Longing For You" and "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off." Edgar Bergen tells Charlie the story of "Robinson Crusoe." Tyrone Power and Muriel Kirkland appear in, "Shadow Play" by Noel Coward. Florence Desmond impersonates Katharine Hepburn (while she's singing!), Marlene Dietrich and the ficticious Gladys Potts (the first woman pilot to fly over the North Pole with her baby). Rudy interviews Tony Sarg, a puppeteer who is credited with inventing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade giant balloons. Finally, Claudia, originally broadcast March 25, 1949, 76 years ago, The last program of the series. A walk in the rain to the top of the hill. Thanks to Honeywell for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamIf you like what we do here, visit our friend Jay at http://radio.macinmind.com for great old time radio shows 24 hours a day

This episode was originally released on 3/1/2018. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes beginning with this episode on the birth of radio. —————————— In Breaking Walls Episode 77 we pick up our story on the history of American radio broadcasting, as a few ramshackle radio stations become large national networks, giving rise to an entire generation of entertainment giants during the roaring 1920s. Highlights: • July 2, 1921— Jack Dempsey defends his heavyweight boxing title in front of 80,000 fans as RCA broadcasts the event Closed Circuit to over 300,000 fans. Its the first broadcast of its kind. • The Radio Craze begins as almost 600 stations sign on in 1922 • Herbert Hoover tries to better organize the radio dial and put small stations out of business • AT&T's attempt to monopolize radio broadcasting • The formation of the National Broadcasting Company • The Radio Act of 1927 • William S. Paley buys The Columbia Broadcasting System and turns it into a 2nd major network • Rudy Vallee becomes radio's first mega-star • Chicago becomes radio's 2nd capital • Hollywood's radio recording rise in the late 1930s • The Mutual Broadcasting System is formed—The Shadow debuts • War, once again, comes to Europe The reading material for today's episode was: • The Rise of Radio, From Marconi through The Golden Age by Alfred Balk • Inventing American Broadcasting 1899-1922 by Susan J. Douglas • The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio by John Dunning • A Pictorial History of Radio's First 75 Years by B. Eric Rhoads • Hello Everybody! The Dawn of American Radio by Anthony Rudel & • The Network by Scott Woolley Featured on today's show were interviews conducted by Dick Bertel and the late Ed Corcoran and numerous others for Westinghouse, CBS, and NBC. Harold Arlin's was interviewed by author J. Fred McDonald for his book Don't Touch That Dial.

GGACP continues the celebration of Women's History Month with this ENCORE of the first part of a two-part interview with Emmy-winning actress Sally Struthers. In this episode, Sally joins Gilbert and Frank for a laugh-filled conversation about the aloofness of Rudy Vallee, the eccentricities of Sam Peckinpah, the versatility of Bill Dana, the unexplainable existence of “The Phynx” and the recent 50th anniversary of “All in the Family.” Also, Jack Nicholson shops at Tiffany's, Steve McQueen romances Ali MacGraw, Rod Steiger gives Sally the heebie-jeebies and Bob Hope visits the “Planet of the Shapes.” PLUS: Jack Benny! Ned Glass! “Five Easy Pieces”! “The Tim Conway Comedy Hour”! The many faces of Sammy Davis Jr! And Sally remembers friends and co-stars Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sitcom: My Favorite Husband 3/4/49 CBS / AFRS, Duffy's Tavern (guest: Rudy Vallee) 9/15/44 NBC Blue.

A Variety TuesdayFirst a look at this day in History.Then The Chase and Sanborn Hour with host Rudy Vallee, originally broadcast December 10, 1939, 85 years ago with guest Lansing Hatfield.  Lansing Hatfield sings, "Song Of The Flame." Edgar Bergen is out sick! Charlie McCarthy reports on his condition from his bedside at St. Vincent's Hospital, Los Angeles. Guest Joan Blondell and Fred MacKaye appear in, "After The Party's Gone," by Winston Miller and Michael Jackson. Vera Vague complains that Chivalry is dead. Bergen does two routines from the hospital. Charlie's Christmas shopping service is broke. This is Rudy's final appearance on the show as host. Followed by The Mel Blanc Show, originally broadcast December 10, 1946, 78 years ago, Christmas Present.  Mel tries to raise some money to buy Betty a Christmas present. Then Claudia, originally broadcast December 10, 1948, 76 years ago, Claudia Worries.   It's freezing out today. Followed by Jonathan Thomas and His Christmas On The Moon, originally broadcast December 10, 1938, 86 years ago, Getting Rubies at the Rainbow Bridge.  Whiskery Bill and Sir Algy come to "The Rainbow Bridge," but "The Keeper of the Rainbow" declines to produce the rubies needed to grow the red rose.Finally Superman, originally broadcast December 10, 1941, 83 years ago, The Pan American highway.   Jimmy Olsen uses a police whistle to summon aid from Superman. Thanks to Sean for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamFind the Family Fallout Shelter Booklet Here: https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_family_fallout_shelter_1959.pdfhttps://wardomatic.blogspot.com/2006/11/fallout-shelter-handbook-1962.htmlAnd more about the Survive-all Fallout Sheltershttps://conelrad.blogspot.com/2010/09/mad-men-meet-mad-survive-all-shelter.html

A Funny TuesdayFirst a look at the events of the dayThen The Chase and Sanborn Hour with host Rudy Vallee, originally broadcast December 3, 1939, 85 years ago, with guest Maureen O'Hara.  Charlie McCarthy has started a Christmas shopping service. Guest Maureen O'Hara, John Archer and Charlotte Treadway appear in, "Rendezvous With Tomorrow," by Hilda Lawrence. Arthur Treacher appears as the perfect butler, who is now a "swingster." He sings, "A Tisket, A Tasket." Charlie and Maureen do a scene from, "Jamaica Inn...Long Island."Followed by The Old Gold Comedy Theatre hosted by Harold Lloyd, originally broadcast December 3, 1944, 80 years ago, Take A Letter, Darling. Girl hires boy in the advertising business. She's beautiful and he's a hunk. She's a sharp businesswoman, he's an artist who hates the world of business. Then Jonathan Thomas and His Christmas On The Moon, originally broadcast December 3, 1938, 86 years ago, The Merry Go Round River. Escaping from the witch, Jonathan Thomas is given a magic word, which is needed to cross the Merry-Go-Round River. Followed by Claudia, originally broadcast December 3, 1948, 76 years ago, Mrs. Brown Meets the Dog. Getting used to Buff and Buff getting used to David and Claudia. Finally, Superman, originally broadcast December 3, 1941, 83 years ago.  The Pan-American Highway.  Clark Kent and Perry White discover one of the missing American engineers, by the name of John Craig.Thanks to Honeywell for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamIf you like what we do here, visit our friend Jay at http://radio.macinmind.com for great old time radio shows 24 hours a day

In this edition, we learn about the woman who was named one of the most important people of the 20th Century. Helen Keller was an American author, disability rights advocate, feminist, political activist and humanitarian. The Alabama native, lost her sight and her hearing due to illness when she was just 19 months old. However, Keller later learned to speak and write with the help of her first teacher and life-long companion Anne Sullivan. Keller was the first deaf-blind person in the United States to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. She became a global superstar, and a long time supporter of the NAACP and the ACLU. We will hear Helen Keller in her own words on the CBS Radio Show, This I Believe with Edward R. Murrow in the early 1950s. And on the Rudy Vallee variety show on NBC Radio in 1936. More at KRobCollection.com

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers By 1944 Rudy Vallée was one of the most famous American entertainers in history. Vallée spent much of early 1944 conducting the 11th Naval District Coast Guard Band, known as one of the best military units in the nation. He returned to civilian life, and to radio over NBC, on September 9th, 1944 with the launch of a new show, called Villa Vallée, and sponsored by Drene shampoo. It co-starred Monte Woolley. This 10:30PM eastern time episode pulled a rating of 12.3.

Lux Radio Theater "Swing High, Swing Low" February 26, 1940 CBS starring Rudy Vallee and Virginia Bruce

Rudy Vallee and John Garfield

2+ Hours of VarietyFirst a look at this day in History.Then The Fleishman's Yeast Hour starring Rudy Vallee, originally broadcast August 17, 1933, 91 years ago.  One of the oldest shows I've ever used.  The first tune is, "I'm Just A Vagabond Lover." Bobby Gilbert plays an amazing "talking" violin (it even recites, "Mary Had A Little Lamb")! Nora Lehman does a radio version of her "national best-selling record," "Seven Years With The Wrong Man." Rudy sings, "Learn To Croon," and imitates Bing Crosby! Dorothy Gish appears in a scene from, "Autumn Crocus." Howard and Shelton do the routine they did in the 1925 "Greenwich Village Follies," titled, "No News."Followed by The CBS Radio Workshop, originally broadcast August 17, 1956, 68 years ago, Colloquy Two: 'Dissertation On Love' or 'Boy Meets Girl.  A look at love, from an American, British, and French point of view. Then The Jack Parr Show, originally broadcast August 17, 1947, 77 years ago, Guest Star Jack Benny. Little Known People Who Mean Absolutely Nothing: A lady tree surgeon. Who will be Jack's winter replacement?  Perhaps guest Jack Benny will win the talent contest. Jack plays the violin.Finally Claudia, originally broadcast August 17, 1948, 76 years ago, A Day on the Town. Thanks to Sean for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamCivil defense info mentioned on the show can be found here: http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/docs.html

National Water Park day.  entertainment 1956. Bomber hit Empire State Building, WW1 beagan, US began coffee rationaing. Todays birthdays - Rudy Vallee, Earl Tupper, Jim Davis, Sally Struthers, Georgia Engel, Lori Laughlin, Elizabeth Berkley, Soulja Boy.  Johann Sebastian Bach died.Intro - Pour some sugar on me - Def Leppard   https://defleppard.com/Fun fun fun water park - Juny TonyI want you, I need you, I love you - Elvis PresleyCrazy arms - Ray PriceBirthdays - In da club - 50 Cent   https://www.50cent.com/Ha cha cha - Rudy ValleeAll in the family TV themeSaved by the bell TV themeCrank that Soulja Boy - Soulja BoyExit - Its not love - Dokken     https://www.dokken.net/Follow Jeff Stampka on Facebook and cooolmedia.com 

2 + Hours of ComedyFirst a look at this day in History.Then Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, originally broadcast May 5, 1953, 71 years ago, with guest Anne Baxter.  Anne and the boys do a sketch about an inventor and a rich schnook sntitled “The Mink Fink”.Followed by the news of the day 71 years ago, then My Friend Irma starring Marie Wilson, originally broadcast May 5, 1953, 71 years ago, Irma Wants an Older Man.  Al jilts Irma on her birthday so Irma takes a date with an older man.Then The Royal Gelatin Show starring Rudy Vallee, originally broadcast May 5, 1938, 86 years ago with guest Boris Karloff.   Rudy interviews Washington Lumpkin, a sandhog working on the new 6th Avenue subway in New York City. Mr. Lumpkin loses his place in the script. Tommy Riggs and "Betty Lou" appear on the show for the 40th time. Irving Caesar sings "A Song Of Safety" called, "Hot and Cold Water." Boris Karloff and Harold Vermilyea appear in a very well-written drama titled, "Danse Macabre." "The Sisters Of The Skillet" appear as, "The Roving Radio Reporters.".Finally Superman, originally broadcast May 5, 1941, 83 years ago, The Nitrate Shipment.  While Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen are being held prisoner, Pug is almost captured...but escapes.Thanks to Richard for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.stream

After years of struggle, a hostess gets to throw her most famous and popular annual event once again, so come and see who attends.April 1933, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus arrives in New York, but everyone is more interested in the return of Cobina Wright's Circus Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria.Other people and subjects include: James HR Cromwell aka “Jimmy,” William May Wright aka “Bill,” Prince Serge Obolensky, Elsa Maxwell, President Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Prince David – Prince of Wales, King Edward VIII – Duke of Windsor, Wallis Simpson – Duchess of Windsor, Viscountess Thelma Morgan Furness, Virginia “Birdie” Graham Fair Vanderbilt, Lili Damita, Raymond Guest, Tony Biddle, servants Bruce & Fred, William “Bill” Paley, Samuel Klein, Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, Sally Tevis, Mrs. E. Marshall Field, Mrs. James Roosevelt, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Dall, Mr. & Mrs. John Hearst, Grand Duchess Marie, Countess de Forceville, bluebloods, George Gershwin, Ed Wynn, Eva La Galliene, Jimmy Durante, Hope Williams, Noel Coward, Fred Astaire, Clifton Webb, Fanny Ward, Beatrice Lillie, Fanny Brice, Charles Winninger, Lupe Velez, Cleon Throckmorton, Peter Arno, Cecil Beaton, Rosamund Pinchot, Rudy Vallee, Erna Gilsow, Lucrezia Bori, Marilyn Monroe, giraffe women – Red Karens from Karen Hills, Burma, National Geographic magazine, the Little Season, trained seal, donkey, elephants, calliope, ball park mustard, costume themes (Paris Apaches, Siamese twin, peasants, snake charmers, harem, cowboys, Cossack rider, aerialist, tight rope, juggler, pantomime, Pierrot, Pierrete, Annie Oakley, cellophane sylph) Greatest Show on Earth, Circus Ball, Society Circus Ball, Sassiety Circus, April in Paris, Butterfly Ball, Metropolitan Opera Ball, Nineteenth Century Parisian Carnival, beer garden, Prohibition, Cullen-Harrison Act of 1933, legalizing beer & wine, ocean liners Bremen, Olympic, Ile de France, Waldorf-Astoria New York, Jade Room Basildon Room, Grand Ballroom, Madison Square Garden, Colony Club, Ritz-Carlton, memoirs, multiple events of same name, blended details, circus, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, gladiators, menagerie, amphitheater, Philip Astley, John Bill Ricketts, George Washington, Joshuah Purdy Brown, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, P.T. Barnum, James Anthony Bailey, Golden Jubilee tour, traveling circus, traveling museum, canvas tent, Soviet circus, Lenin, Moscow Circus School, gymnastics, China, acrobatics, tin type – melanotype – ferrotype, metal polaroid, Daguerrotype, Adolphe Alexandre Martin, Civil War, Wild West, World War I, World War II, animal rights, carnivals, Middle Ages, Renaissance, minstrel shows, Greek god Dionysus, Roman god Saturnalia, Germanic Nordic goddess Nerthus, Carnival of Venice, Napoleon, Carnivale international locations, Mardi Gras, Boy Scouts of America, W.D. Boyce, Scouting Movement (British), James Baden-Powell, London fog, YMCA, Ernest Thompson Seton, Woodcraft Indians, Daniel Carter Beard, Sons of Daniel Boone, resilience, hope, chaotic times, pandemic, recovery, historical footage of war times, gas masks, bunny costumes, Lebanon Civil War, women having tea, humanity, better times--Extra Notes / Call to Action:New York Adventure Club www.nyadventureclub.comMansions of the Gilded Age & The Gilded Age Society by Gary LawranceInstagram: @MansionsoftheGildedAge and @TheGildedAgeSocietyhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/mansionsofthegildedagehttps://www.youtube.com/c/MansionsOfTheGildedAgeShare, like, subscribe--Archival Music provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, www.pastperfect.com.Opening Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance BandsSection 1 Music: Eeny Meeny Miney Mo by Harry Roy, Albums The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s & Tea Dance 2Section 2 Music: Organ Grinder's Swing by Jack Payne, Album The Great British Dance BandsSection 3 Music: One Two, Button Your Shoe by Jack Hylton, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30sEnd Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands--https://asthemoneyburns.com/TW / IG – @asthemoneyburnsTwitter – https://twitter.com/asthemoneyburnsInstagram – https://www.instagram.com/asthemoneyburns/Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/asthemoneyburns/

Support us on Patreonhttps://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awr92rDP5bllDAQAM_ZXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNncTEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Ny/RV=2/RE=1707891407/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.patreon.com%2fuser%3fu%3d4279967/RK=2/RS=9LbiSxziFkcdPQCvqIxPtxIgZ7A-Jack Benny TV Videocasthttps://open.spotify.com/show/6BDar4CsgVEyUloEQ8sWpw?si=89123269fe144a10Jack Benny Show OTR Podcast!https://open.spotify.com/show/3UZ6NSEL7RPxOXUoQ4NiDP?si=987ab6e776a7468cJudy Garland and Friends OTR Podcasthttps://open.spotify.com/show/5ZKJYkgHOIjQzZWCt1a1NN?si=538b47b50852483dStrange New Worlds Of Dimension X-1 Podcasthttps://open.spotify.com/show/6hFMGUvEdaYqPBoxy00sOk?si=a37cc300a8e247a1Buck Benny YouTube Channelhttps://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrOoc1Q5bllBgQA469XNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNncTEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Ny/RV=2/RE=1707891281/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.youtube.com%2f%40BuckBenny/RK=2/RS=nVp4LDJhOmL70bh7eeCi6DPNdW4-Support us on Patreonhttps://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awr92rDP5bllDAQAM_ZXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNncTEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Ny/RV=2/RE=1707891407/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.patreon.com%2fuser%3fu%3d4279967/RK=2/RS=9LbiSxziFkcdPQCvqIxPtxIgZ7A-ReplyForwardAdd reaction

EPISODE 32 - “The Mary Astor Purple Diary Scandal” - 04/22/2024 One of the most scandalous trials in early Hollywood history involved actress MARY ASTOR, who had made a name for herself playing virginal ingenues and good girls. Mary, who had kept a diary for most of her life, found her words used as a sensationalized weapon against her in her quest to regain custody of her 4-year-old child in 1936 after her acrimonious divorce from her doctor husband. The trial made worldwide headlines. Her sexy, salacious diary entries showed the world a more sensual side to our virginal Mary, and, in many ways, helped propel her career into the stratosphere. Listen as we discuss Mary Astor, her life, her career, and her shocking purple diaries that took center stage in a Los Angeles courtroom.  SHOW NOTES:  Sources: Mary Astor: My Story (1960), by Mary Astor; Mary Astor: A Life on Film (1972), by Mary Astor;  The Purple Diaries: Mary Astor and the Most Sensational Hollywood Scandal of the 1930s (2016), by Joseph Egan; Mary Astor's Purple Diary: The Great American Sex Scandal of 1936 (2106), by Edward Sorel; IMDBPro.com; Wikipedia.com; Movies Mentioned:  Beau Brummell (1924), starring John Barrymore and Mary Astor; Dodsworth (1936), starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, and Mary Astor; Red Dust (1932), starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, and Mary Astor: The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), starring Ronald Colman, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Madeleine Carroll, Mary Astor, David Niven, Raymond Massey, and C. Aubrey Smith: The Maltese Falcon (1941), starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Lee Patrick, and Elisha Cook Jr; The Palm Beach Story (1942), starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, and Rudy Vallee; Act of Violence (1948), starring Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, and Phyllis Thaxter; Little Women (1949), starring June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor, and Peter Lawford; Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorhead, Mary Astor, Victor Buono, Cecil Kellaway, and Bruce Dern; --------------------------------- http://www.airwavemedia.com Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two + hours of Variety and ComedyFirst a look at this day in History.Then The Royal Gelatin Hour starring Rudy Vallee, originally broadcast March 25, 1937, 87 years ago with Guest star Bob Hope.  Edgar Bergen tells Charlie the story of "Robinson Crusoe." Tyrone Power and Muriel Kirkland appear in, "Shadow Play" by Noel Coward. Florence Desmond impersonates Katharine Hepburn (while she's singing!), Marlene Dietrich and the fictitious Gladys Potts (the first woman pilot to fly over the North Pole with her baby). Rudy interviews Tony Sarg, a puppeteer who is credited with inventing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade giant balloons. Followed by The Lux Radio Theater, originally broadcast March 25, 1940,  84 years ago, Remember the Night starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck.  An adaptation of the 1939 picture in which MacMurray and Stanwyck reprise their starring roles. A romance story about a prosecutor who winds up taking a beautiful thief with him on a Christmas visit to his mother. Finally Claudia, originally broadcast March 25, 1949, 75 years ago, Walk in the rain. The last program of the series. A walk in the rain to the top of the hill. The program ends with a kiss. Kathryn Bard and Paul Crabtree star. Thanks to Richard for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamIf you like what we do here, visit our friend Jay at http://radio.macinmind.com for great old time radio shows 24 hours a day. 

EPISODE 27 - “Dona Drake: What Price Fame” - 03/18/2024 Latina star DONA DRAKE, who signed a contract with Paramount Pictures in 1941, was many things — singer, dancer, actress, bandleader, musician — but one thing she wasn't, as it turned out, was Latin! While Paramount promoted their new discovery as a spitfire Latina born in Mexico City, Drake was, in fact, an African-American woman from Florida who pretended to be Latin, going so far as to learn Spanish fluently, in order to have a better chance at a Hollywood career. Listen to this fascinating story of one woman who went undercover just so she wouldn't have to play the maid.  SHOW NOTES:  Sources: Biography of Dona Drake (Paramount Contact Player), September 1942, Paramount Studios; “Dona Drake Tells Marriage,” September 9, 1944, by Hedda Hopper, The Los Angeles Times; “Daughter Born to Dona Drake,” August 8, 1951, The Hollywood Citizen-News; www.swingcityradio,com; www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com; IMDBPro.com; Wikipedia.com; Movies Mentioned:  Strike Me Pink (1936), starring Eddie Cantor, Ethel Merman, Sally Eilers, and William Frawley; Aloma Of The South Seas (1941), starring Dorothy Lamour, Jon Hall; Louisiana Purchase (1941), starring Bob Hope, Vera Zorina, and Victor Moore; Road to Morocco (1942), starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour; Star Spangled Rhythm (1942), starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, Fred MacMurray, Paulette Goddard, Dick Powell, Eddie Bracken, Alan Ladd, Mary Martin, Betty Hutton, Marjorie Reynolds, and Veronica Lake; Salute For Three (1943), starring Macdonald Carey and Betty Jane Rhodes; Let's Face It (1943), staring Bob Hope, Betty Hutton, and Eve Arden;  Hot Rhythm (1944), starring Robert Lowery, Tim Ryan, and Irene Ryan; Without Reservations (1946), starring John Wayne, Claudette Colbert, and Don DeFoe; Dangerous Millions (1946), starring Kent Taylor; Another Part of The Forest (1948), starring Fredric March, Dan Duryea, Edmond O'Brien, Ann Blyth, Florence Eldridge, John Dall, and Betsy Blair; So This Is New York (1948), starring Henry Morgan, Rudy Vallee, and Virginia Grey; Beyond The Forest (1949), starring Bette Davis, Joseph Cotten, David Brian, Ruth Roman; The Girl From Jones Beach (1949), starring Virginia Mayo, Ronald Reagan, and Eddie Bracken; Kansas City Confidential (1952), starring John Payne, Colleen Gray, and Preston Foster; The Bandits of Corsica (1953), starring Richard Greene, Paula Raymond, Raymond Burr; Son Of Belle Star (1953), starring Keith Larsen, Peggie Castle, and Regis Toomey; Down Laredo Way (1953) starring Rex Allen and Slim Pickens; Princess of the Nile (1954), starring Debra Paget, Jeffrey Hunter, and Michael Rennie; --------------------------------- http://www.airwavemedia.com Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You gotta be kidding! Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki on the “Unearthed Podcast?” Today we take a trip down memory lane and explore a unique love story. This singer and ukulele player had a top 20 hit on the Billboard charts. “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” sung in a falsetto voice. He learned to play the ukelele left-handed, using a method book and uke endorsed by Arthur Godfrey. Tiny started singing in a high voice when he heard Rudy Vallee sing in falsetto. He appeared on the premiere episode of Rowan and Martin's “Laugh-In.” Tim married Miss Vicki on the “Tonight Show,” with 40 million people watching. It was one of the most memorable moments in television history, which he will discuss.  Miss Vicki was 17-years-old when she married Tiny Tim. He was twice her age. Soon they ended up living apart and divorced after eight years. Here she talks about her controversial photo shoot in Qui magazine, her marriage to Tiny Tim and a proposal from the WOKY news and program directors.

Rudy Vallee guests

He was born Leslie Townes Hope on May 29th, 1903 in Eltham, England. The fifth of seven sons, his parents were William Henry Hope, a stonemason from Somerset, and Welsh mother Avis, a light opera singer who later worked as a cleaner. The family eventually moved to Bristol for a time before emigrating to the U.S. aboard the SS Philadelphia, passing through Ellis Island on March 30th, 1908, before settling in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned pocket money by singing, dancing, and performing, winning a prize in 1915 for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. In December 1920, Hope and his brothers became U.S. citizens when their British parents became naturalized Americans. The next year, he was assisting his brother with the electric company when a horrific accident crushed his face. The reconstruction of which led to his distinctive appearance. In the 1920s Hope formed a dance act called the "Dancemedians" with George Byrne and the Hilton Sisters, conjoined twins who performed a tap-dancing routine on the vaudeville circuit. He acted in a double with Byrne, eventually making his way to New York. The act flopped, pushing Hope to strike out on his own, changing his first name to Bob in 1929. He spent five years on the Vaudeville circuit, failing an RKO screen test in 1930, but he broke out on Broadway, first in Ballyhoo of 1932, and then opposite Tamara Drasin and Fred MacMurray in Roberta, which played two-hundred ninety-four times between November of 1933 and July of 1934. Meanwhile in 1932, he appeared on Major Bowes' Capitol Family Hour and later on Rudy Vallee's Fleischmann Yeast Hour on June 3rd, 1933 alongside Jimmy Wallington. In 1933 he married his vaudeville partner Grace Troxell. They divorced the next year and Hope was soon with another performer, Dolores Reade. Though they spent the rest of their lives together, and Hope was notoriously unfaithful, a legal record of their marriage is vague at best. The couple would eventually adopt four children. In 1934 Hope signed a six-short contract with Educational Pictures. Radio soon followed. By then, he'd developed performing chops so strong, he could sing, dance, or act in any number of ways. On Friday January 4th, 1935 over NBC's Blue Network, he debuted in The Intimate Review. This first series was short-lived: ratings were mediocre, but Hope found his first radio foil, comedienne Patricia Wilder, who, with her thick southern accent, went by Honey Chile. The Intimate Review went off the air in April, but on September 14th, 1935, Hope was back on radio over CBS with The Atlantic Family. While he was on for CBS in 1936, Hope starred on Broadway in Ziegfeld's Follies with Fanny Brice; and in Cole Porter's Red, Hot, and Blue, with Ethel Merman and Jimmy Durante. The next May 9th, 1937, Hope was back on radio for NBC's Blue Network on Sundays at 9PM with The Rippling Rhythm Revue. During this run Paramount beckoned: The Big Broadcast of 1938 was to begin filming, and Hope was offered a part. He moved to Hollywood, continuing his monologues by transcontinental wire. The Rippling Rhythm Revue was canceled in September, but three months later Hope joined The Dick Powell Variety Show on December 29th, 1937. The Big Broadcast of 1938 was released on February 11th, and suddenly, Hope was a huge star. On Tuesday, September 27th, 1938 at 10PM, The Pepsodent Show took to the air. That first season, Hope's 15.4 rating was good enough for twelfth overall. In 1939 he was up to 23.1 and fifth. In 1941 his rating was 26.6 and fourth, and finally in 1942 his Crossley rating cracked thirty points, while his Hooper cracked forty. Hope soon began a five year run as radio's top comedian.

Variety: Royal Gelatin Hour with Rudy Vallee 5/20/37 NBC.

January 3, 1943 - Broadcasting from Bangor, Maine for an audience of soldiers. Guest bandleader Abe Lyman. References include singer Rudy Vallee, boxer Lou Nova, and actresses Hedy Lamarr and Lana Turner.  

Bing Crosby Podcast 1948-11-24 Guests Dorothy Kirsten, Bert Lahr, Al Jolson 1948-11-25 (315) Guest Victor Mature, Gordon MacRae's Railroad Hour 1948-11-29 (09) Rudy Vallee in New Moon

GGACP celebrates the recent release of Illeana Douglas' book, "Connecticut in the Movies: From Dream Houses to Dark Suburbia" by revisiting this 2016 interview with the actress/film historian. In this episode, Illeana shares entertaining anecdotes about everyone from Marlon Brando to Peter Sellers to former beau Martin Scorsese. Also, Rudy Vallee soaks up applause, Melvyn Douglas dispenses advice, Robert De Niro watches the Three Stooges and Illeana mourns the loss of drive-in theaters. PLUS: Shelley Winters drops names! Buddy Hackett cops a feel! Illeana impersonates Richard Dreyfuss! Richard Dreyfuss impersonates Spencer Tracy! And Joe Pesci roughs up Don Rickles!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the 1940's, it's the bar-room situation comedy series Duffy's Tavern, starring Ed Gardner as Archie the manager of the tavern. Co-starring on the show was Eddie Green, an actor, film director, and composer, who was one of the most influential African-American artists on radio during the golden age. Green got into the entertainment business as a boy magician in Baltimore, and later transitioned to Broadway, and the silver screen. Green's film career got him noticed by famous broadcasting personality Rudy Vallee who convinced Green to move to radio. This lead to appearances on the Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, The Royal Gelatin Hour, and Sealtest Dairy Show. Green was also a prolific songwriter, his biggest hit being "A Good Man Is Hard to Find. More at http://krobcollection.com

Songs include: A Kiss To Build a Dream On, We Kiss In a Shadow, Kiss the Boys Goodbye, I Still Love To Kiss You Goodnight and Kiss Of Fire. Perfomers include: Georgia Gibbs, Bing Crosby, Rudy Vallee, Louis Armstrong, Freddie Slack and Dinah Shore.

Episode one hundred and sixty-seven of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “The Weight" by the Band, the Basement Tapes, and the continuing controversy over Dylan going electric. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a half-hour bonus episode available, on "S.F. Sorrow is Born" by the Pretty Things. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Also, a one-time request here -- Shawn Taylor, who runs the Facebook group for the podcast and is an old and dear friend of mine, has stage-three lung cancer. I will be hugely grateful to anyone who donates to the GoFundMe for her treatment. Errata At one point I say "when Robertson and Helm travelled to the Brill Building". I meant "when Hawkins and Helm". This is fixed in the transcript but not the recording. Resources There are three Mixcloud mixes this time. As there are so many songs by Bob Dylan and the Band excerpted, and Mixcloud won't allow more than four songs by the same artist in any mix, I've had to post the songs not in quite the same order in which they appear in the podcast. But the mixes are here — one, two, three. I've used these books for all the episodes involving Dylan: Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties by Elijah Wald, which is recommended, as all Wald's books are. Bob Dylan: All The Songs by Phillipe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon is a song-by-song look at every song Dylan ever wrote, as is Revolution in the Air, by Clinton Heylin. Heylin also wrote the most comprehensive and accurate biography of Dylan, Behind the Shades. I've also used Robert Shelton's No Direction Home, which is less accurate, but which is written by someone who knew Dylan. Chronicles Volume 1 by Bob Dylan is a partial, highly inaccurate, but thoroughly readable autobiography. Information on Tiny Tim comes from Eternal Troubadour: The Improbable Life of Tiny Tim by Justin Martell. Information on John Cage comes from The Roaring Silence by David Revill Information on Woodstock comes from Small Town Talk by Barney Hoskyns. For material on the Basement Tapes, I've used Million Dollar Bash by Sid Griffin. And for the Band, I've used This Wheel's on Fire by Levon Helm with Stephen Davis, Testimony by Robbie Robertson, The Band by Craig Harris and Levon by Sandra B Tooze. I've also referred to the documentaries No Direction Home and Once Were Brothers. The complete Basement Tapes can be found on this multi-disc box set, while this double-CD version has the best material from the sessions. All the surviving live recordings by Dylan and the Hawks from 1966 are on this box set. There are various deluxe versions of Music From Big Pink, but still the best way to get the original album is in this twofer CD with the Band's second album. Transcript Just a brief note before I start – literally while I was in the middle of recording this episode, it was announced that Robbie Robertson had died today, aged eighty. Obviously I've not had time to alter the rest of the episode – half of which had already been edited – with that in mind, though I don't believe I say anything disrespectful to his memory. My condolences to those who loved him – he was a huge talent and will be missed. There are people in the world who question the function of criticism. Those people argue that criticism is in many ways parasitic. If critics knew what they were talking about, so the argument goes, they would create themselves, rather than talk about other people's creation. It's a variant of the "those who can't, teach" cliche. And to an extent it's true. Certainly in the world of rock music, which we're talking about in this podcast, most critics are quite staggeringly ignorant of the things they're talking about. Most criticism is ephemeral, published in newspapers, magazines, blogs and podcasts, and forgotten as soon as it has been consumed -- and consumed is the word . But sometimes, just sometimes, a critic will have an effect on the world that is at least as important as that of any of the artists they criticise. One such critic was John Ruskin. Ruskin was one of the preeminent critics of visual art in the Victorian era, particularly specialising in painting and architecture, and he passionately advocated for a form of art that would be truthful, plain, and honest. To Ruskin's mind, many artists of the past, and of his time, drew and painted, not what they saw with their own eyes, but what other people expected them to paint. They replaced true observation of nature with the regurgitation of ever-more-mannered and formalised cliches. His attacks on many great artists were, in essence, the same critiques that are currently brought against AI art apps -- they're just recycling and plagiarising what other people had already done, not seeing with their own eyes and creating from their own vision. Ruskin was an artist himself, but never received much acclaim for his own work. Rather, he advocated for the works of others, like Turner and the pre-Raphaelite school -- the latter of whom were influenced by Ruskin, even as he admired them for seeing with their own vision rather than just repeating influences from others. But those weren't the only people Ruskin influenced. Because any critical project, properly understood, becomes about more than just the art -- as if art is just anything. Ruskin, for example, studied geology, because if you're going to talk about how people should paint landscapes and what those landscapes look like, you need to understand what landscapes really do look like, which means understanding their formation. He understood that art of the kind he wanted could only be produced by certain types of people, and so society had to be organised in a way to produce such people. Some types of societal organisation lead to some kinds of thinking and creation, and to properly, honestly, understand one branch of human thought means at least to attempt to understand all of them. Opinions about art have moral consequences, and morality has political and economic consequences. The inevitable endpoint of any theory of art is, ultimately, a theory of society. And Ruskin had a theory of society, and social organisation. Ruskin's views are too complex to summarise here, but they were a kind of anarcho-primitivist collectivism. He believed that wealth was evil, and that the classical liberal economics of people like Mill was fundamentally anti-human, that the division of labour alienated people from their work. In Ruskin's ideal world, people would gather in communities no bigger than villages, and work as craftspeople, working with nature rather than trying to bend nature to their will. They would be collectives, with none richer or poorer than any other, and working the land without modern technology. in the first half of the twentieth century, in particular, Ruskin's influence was *everywhere*. His writings on art inspired the Impressionist movement, but his political and economic ideas were the most influential, right across the political spectrum. Ruskin's ideas were closest to Christian socialism, and he did indeed inspire many socialist parties -- most of the founders of Britain's Labour Party were admirers of Ruskin and influenced by his ideas, particularly his opposition to the free market. But he inspired many other people -- Gandhi talked about the profound influence that Ruskin had on him, saying in his autobiography that he got three lessons from Ruskin's Unto This Last: "That 1) the good of the individual is contained in the good of all. 2) a lawyer's work has the same value as the barber's in as much as all have the same right of earning their livelihood from their work. 3) a life of labour, i.e., the life of the tiller of the soil and the handicraftsman is the life worth living. The first of these I knew. The second I had dimly realized. The third had never occurred to me. Unto This Last made it clear as daylight for me that the second and third were contained in the first. I arose with the dawn, ready to reduce these principles to practice" Gandhi translated and paraphrased Unto this Last into Gujurati and called the resulting book Sarvodaya (meaning "uplifting all" or "the welfare of all") which he later took as the name of his own political philosophy. But Ruskin also had a more pernicious influence -- it was said in 1930s Germany that he and his friend Thomas Carlyle were "the first National Socialists" -- there's no evidence I know of that Hitler ever read Ruskin, but a *lot* of Nazi rhetoric is implicit in Ruskin's writing, particularly in his opposition to progress (he even opposed the bicycle as being too much inhuman interference with nature), just as much as more admirable philosophies, and he was so widely read in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that there's barely a political movement anywhere that didn't bear his fingerprints. But of course, our focus here is on music. And Ruskin had an influence on that, too. We've talked in several episodes, most recently the one on the Velvet Underground, about John Cage's piece 4'33. What I didn't mention in any of the discussions of that piece -- because I was saving it for here -- is that that piece was premiered at a small concert hall in upstate New York. The hall, the Maverick Concert Hall, was owned and run by the Maverick arts and crafts collective -- a collective that were so called because they were the *second* Ruskinite arts colony in the area, having split off from the Byrdcliffe colony after a dispute between its three founders, all of whom were disciples of Ruskin, and all of whom disagreed violently about how to implement Ruskin's ideas of pacifist all-for-one and one-for-all community. These arts colonies, and others that grew up around them like the Arts Students League were the thriving centre of a Bohemian community -- close enough to New York that you could get there if you needed to, far enough away that you could live out your pastoral fantasies, and artists of all types flocked there -- Pete Seeger met his wife there, and his father-in-law had been one of the stonemasons who helped build the Maverick concert hall. Dozens of artists in all sorts of areas, from Aaron Copland to Edward G Robinson, spent time in these communities, as did Cage. Of course, while these arts and crafts communities had a reputation for Bohemianism and artistic extremism, even radical utopian artists have their limits, and legend has it that the premiere of 4'33 was met with horror and derision, and eventually led to one artist in the audience standing up and calling on the residents of the town around which these artistic colonies had agglomerated: “Good people of Woodstock, let's drive these people out of town.” [Excerpt: The Band, "The Weight"] Ronnie Hawkins was almost born to make music. We heard back in the episode on "Suzie Q" in 2019 about his family and their ties to music. Ronnie's uncle Del was, according to most of the sources on the family, a member of the Sons of the Pioneers -- though as I point out in that episode, his name isn't on any of the official lists of group members, but he might well have performed with them at some point in the early years of the group. And he was definitely a country music bass player, even if he *wasn't* in the most popular country and western group of the thirties and forties. And Del had had two sons, Jerry, who made some minor rockabilly records: [Excerpt: Jerry Hawkins, "Swing, Daddy, Swing"] And Del junior, who as we heard in the "Susie Q" episode became known as Dale Hawkins and made one of the most important rock records of the fifties: [Excerpt: Dale Hawkins, "Susie Q"] Ronnie Hawkins was around the same age as his cousins, and was in awe of his country-music star uncle. Hawkins later remembered that after his uncle moved to Califormia to become a star “He'd come home for a week or two, driving a brand new Cadillac and wearing brand new clothes and I knew that's what I wanted to be." Though he also remembered “He spent every penny he made on whiskey, and he was divorced because he was running around with all sorts of women. His wife left Arkansas and went to Louisiana.” Hawkins knew that he wanted to be a music star like his uncle, and he started performing at local fairs and other events from the age of eleven, including one performance where he substituted for Hank Williams -- Williams was so drunk that day he couldn't perform, and so his backing band asked volunteers from the audience to get up and sing with them, and Hawkins sang Burl Ives and minstrel-show songs with the band. He said later “Even back then I knew that every important white cat—Al Jolson, Stephen Foster—they all did it by copying blacks. Even Hank Williams learned all the stuff he had from those black cats in Alabama. Elvis Presley copied black music; that's all that Elvis did.” As well as being a performer from an early age, though, Hawkins was also an entrepreneur with an eye for how to make money. From the age of fourteen he started running liquor -- not moonshine, he would always point out, but something far safer. He lived only a few miles from the border between Missouri and Arkansas, and alcohol and tobacco were about half the price in Missouri that they were in Arkansas, so he'd drive across the border, load up on whisky and cigarettes, and drive back and sell them at a profit, which he then used to buy shares in several nightclubs, which he and his bands would perform in in later years. Like every man of his generation, Hawkins had to do six months in the Army, and it was there that he joined his first ever full-time band, the Blackhawks -- so called because his name was Hawkins, and the rest of the group were Black, though Hawkins was white. They got together when the other four members were performing at a club in the area where Hawkins was stationed, and he was so impressed with their music that he jumped on stage and started singing with them. He said later “It sounded like something between the blues and rockabilly. It sort of leaned in both directions at the same time, me being a hayseed and those guys playing a lot funkier." As he put it "I wanted to sound like Bobby ‘Blue' Bland but it came out sounding like Ernest Tubb.” Word got around about the Blackhawks, both that they were a great-sounding rock and roll band and that they were an integrated band at a time when that was extremely unpopular in the southern states, and when Hawkins was discharged from the Army he got a call from Sam Phillips at Sun Records. According to Hawkins a group of the regular Sun session musicians were planning on forming a band, and he was asked to front the band for a hundred dollars a week, but by the time he got there the band had fallen apart. This doesn't precisely line up with anything else I know about Sun, though it perhaps makes sense if Hawkins was being asked to front the band who had variously backed Billy Lee Riley and Jerry Lee Lewis after one of Riley's occasional threats to leave the label. More likely though, he told everyone he knew that he had a deal with Sun but Phillips was unimpressed with the demos he cut there, and Hawkins made up the story to stop himself losing face. One of the session players for Sun, though, Luke Paulman, who played in Conway Twitty's band among others, *was* impressed with Hawkins though, and suggested that they form a band together with Paulman's bass player brother George and piano-playing cousin Pop Jones. The Paulman brothers and Jones also came from Arkansas, but they specifically came from Helena, Arkansas, the town from which King Biscuit Time was broadcast. King Biscuit Time was the most important blues radio show in the US at that time -- a short lunchtime programme which featured live performances from a house band which varied over the years, but which in the 1940s had been led by Sonny Boy Williamson II, and featured Robert Jr. Lockwood, Robert Johnson's stepson, on guiitar: [Excerpt: Sonny Boy Williamson II "Eyesight to the Blind (King Biscuit Time)"] The band also included a drummer, "Peck" Curtis, and that drummer was the biggest inspiration for a young white man from the town named Levon Helm. Helm had first been inspired to make music after seeing Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys play live when Helm was eight, and he had soon taken up first the harmonica, then the guitar, then the drums, becoming excellent at all of them. Even as a child he knew that he didn't want to be a farmer like his family, and that music was, as he put it, "the only way to get off that stinking tractor  and out of that one hundred and five degree heat.” Sonny Boy Williamson and the King Biscuit Boys would perform in the open air in Marvell, Arkansas, where Helm was growing up, on Saturdays, and Helm watched them regularly as a small child, and became particularly interested in the drumming. “As good as the band sounded,” he said later “it seemed that [Peck] was definitely having the most fun. I locked into the drums at that point. Later, I heard Jack Nance, Conway Twitty's drummer, and all the great drummers in Memphis—Jimmy Van Eaton, Al Jackson, and Willie Hall—the Chicago boys (Fred Belew and Clifton James) and the people at Sun Records and Vee-Jay, but most of my style was based on Peck and Sonny Boy—the Delta blues style with the shuffle. Through the years, I've quickened the pace to a more rock-and-roll meter and time frame, but it still bases itself back to Peck, Sonny Boy Williamson, and the King Biscuit Boys.” Helm had played with another band that George Paulman had played in, and he was invited to join the fledgling band Hawkins was putting together, called for the moment the Sun Records Quartet. The group played some of the clubs Hawkins had business connections in, but they had other plans -- Conway Twitty had recently played Toronto, and had told Luke Paulman about how desperate the Canadians were for American rock and roll music. Twitty's agent Harold Kudlets booked the group in to a Toronto club, Le Coq D'Or, and soon the group were alternating between residencies in clubs in the Deep South, where they were just another rockabilly band, albeit one of the better ones, and in Canada, where they became the most popular band in Ontario, and became the nucleus of an entire musical scene -- the same scene from which, a few years later, people like Neil Young would emerge. George Paulman didn't remain long in the group -- he was apparently getting drunk, and also he was a double-bass player, at a time when the electric bass was becoming the in thing. And this is the best place to mention this, but there are several discrepancies in the various accounts of which band members were in Hawkins' band at which times, and who played on what session. They all *broadly* follow the same lines, but none of them are fully reconcilable with each other, and nobody was paying enough attention to lineup shifts in a bar band between 1957 and 1964 to be absolutely certain who was right. I've tried to reconcile the various accounts as far as possible and make a coherent narrative, but some of the details of what follows may be wrong, though the broad strokes are correct. For much of their first period in Ontario, the group had no bass player at all, relying on Jones' piano to fill in the bass parts, and on their first recording, a version of "Bo Diddley", they actually got the club's manager to play bass with them: [Excerpt: Ronnie Hawkins, "Hey Bo Diddley"] That is claimed to be the first rock and roll record made in Canada, though as everyone who has listened to this podcast knows, there's no first anything. It wasn't released as by the Sun Records Quartet though -- the band had presumably realised that that name would make them much less attractive to other labels, and so by this point the Sun Records Quartet had become Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks. "Hey Bo Diddley" was released on a small Canadian label and didn't have any success, but the group carried on performing live, travelling back down to Arkansas for a while and getting a new bass player, Lefty Evans, who had been playing in the same pool of musicians as them, having been another Sun session player who had been in Conway Twitty's band, and had written Twitty's "Why Can't I Get Through to You": [Excerpt: Conway Twitty, "Why Can't I Get Through to You"] The band were now popular enough in Canada that they were starting to get heard of in America, and through Kudlets they got a contract with Joe Glaser, a Mafia-connected booking agent who booked them into gigs on the Jersey Shore. As Helm said “Ronnie Hawkins had molded us into the wildest, fiercest, speed-driven bar band in America," and the group were apparently getting larger audiences in New Jersey than Sammy Davis Jr was, even though they hadn't released any records in the US. Or at least, they hadn't released any records in their own name in the US. There's a record on End Records by Rockin' Ronald and the Rebels which is very strongly rumoured to have been the Hawks under another name, though Hawkins always denied that. Have a listen for yourself and see what you think: [Excerpt: Rockin' Ronald and the Rebels, "Kansas City"] End Records, the label that was on, was one of the many record labels set up by George Goldner and distributed by Morris Levy, and when the group did release a record in their home country under their own name, it was on Levy's Roulette Records. An audition for Levy had been set up by Glaser's booking company, and Levy decided that given that Elvis was in the Army, there was a vacancy to be filled and Ronnie Hawkins might just fit the bill. Hawkins signed a contract with Levy, and it doesn't sound like he had much choice in the matter. Helm asked him “How long did you have to sign for?” and Hawkins replied "Life with an option" That said, unlike almost every other artist who interacted with Levy, Hawkins never had a bad word to say about him, at least in public, saying later “I don't care what Morris was supposed to have done, he looked after me and he believed in me. I even lived with him in his million-dollar apartment on the Upper East Side." The first single the group recorded for Roulette, a remake of Chuck Berry's "Thirty Days" retitled "Forty Days", didn't chart, but the follow-up, a version of Young Jessie's "Mary Lou", made number twenty-six on the charts: [Excerpt: Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, "Mary Lou"] While that was a cover of a Young Jessie record, the songwriting credits read Hawkins and Magill -- Magill was a pseudonym used by Morris Levy. Levy hoped to make Ronnie Hawkins into a really big star, but hit a snag. This was just the point where the payola scandal had hit and record companies were under criminal investigation for bribing DJs to play their records. This was the main method of promotion that Levy used, and this was so well known that Levy was, for a time, under more scrutiny than anyone. He couldn't risk paying anyone off, and so Hawkins' records didn't get the expected airplay. The group went through some lineup changes, too, bringing in guitarist Fred Carter (with Luke Paulman moving to rhythm and soon leaving altogether)  from Hawkins' cousin Dale's band, and bass player Jimmy Evans. Some sources say that Jones quit around this time, too, though others say he was in the band for  a while longer, and they had two keyboards (the other keyboard being supplied by Stan Szelest. As well as recording Ronnie Hawkins singles, the new lineup of the group also recorded one single with Carter on lead vocals, "My Heart Cries": [Excerpt: Fred Carter, "My Heart Cries"] While the group were now playing more shows in the USA, they were still playing regularly in Canada, and they had developed a huge fanbase there. One of these was a teenage guitarist called Robbie Robertson, who had become fascinated with the band after playing a support slot for them, and had started hanging round, trying to ingratiate himself with the band in the hope of being allowed to join. As he was a teenager, Hawkins thought he might have his finger on the pulse of the youth market, and when Hawkins and Helm travelled to the Brill Building to hear new songs for consideration for their next album, they brought Robertson along to listen to them and give his opinion. Robertson himself ended up contributing two songs to the album, titled Mr. Dynamo. According to Hawkins "we had a little time after the session, so I thought, Well, I'm just gonna put 'em down and see what happens. And they were released. Robbie was the songwriter for words, and Levon was good for arranging, making things fit in and all that stuff. He knew what to do, but he didn't write anything." The two songs in question were "Someone Like You" and "Hey Boba Lou": [Excerpt: Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, "Hey Boba Lou"] While Robertson was the sole writer of the songs, they were credited to Robertson, Hawkins, and Magill -- Morris Levy. As Robertson told the story later, “It's funny, when those songs came out and I got a copy of the album, it had another name on there besides my name for some writer like Morris Levy. So, I said to Ronnie, “There was nobody there writing these songs when I wrote these songs. Who is Morris Levy?” Ronnie just kinda tapped me on the head and said, “There are certain things about this business that you just let go and you don't question.” That was one of my early music industry lessons right there" Robertson desperately wanted to join the Hawks, but initially it was Robertson's bandmate Scott Cushnie who became the first Canadian to join the Hawks. But then when they were in Arkansas, Jimmy Evans decided he wasn't going to go back to Canada. So Hawkins called Robbie Robertson up and made him an offer. Robertson had to come down to Arkansas and get a couple of quick bass lessons from Helm (who could play pretty much every instrument to an acceptable standard, and so was by this point acting as the group's musical director, working out arrangements and leading them in rehearsals). Then Hawkins and Helm had to be elsewhere for a few weeks. If, when they got back, Robertson was good enough on bass, he had the job. If not, he didn't. Robertson accepted, but he nearly didn't get the gig after all. The place Hawkins and Helm had to be was Britain, where they were going to be promoting their latest single on Boy Meets Girls, the Jack Good TV series with Marty Wilde, which featured guitarist Joe Brown in the backing band: [Excerpt: Joe Brown, “Savage”] This was the same series that Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent were regularly appearing on, and while they didn't appear on the episodes that Hawkins and Helm appeared on, they did appear on the episodes immediately before Hawkins and Helm's two appearances, and again a couple of weeks after, and were friendly with the musicians who did play with Hawkins and Helm, and apparently they all jammed together a few times. Hawkins was impressed enough with Joe Brown -- who at the time was considered the best guitarist on the British scene -- that he invited Brown to become a Hawk. Presumably if Brown had taken him up on the offer, he would have taken the spot that ended up being Robertson's, but Brown turned him down -- a decision he apparently later regretted. Robbie Robertson was now a Hawk, and he and Helm formed an immediate bond. As Helm much later put it, "It was me and Robbie against the world. Our mission, as we saw it, was to put together the best band in history". As rockabilly was by this point passe, Levy tried converting Hawkins into a folk artist, to see if he could get some of the Kingston Trio's audience. He recorded a protest song, "The Ballad of Caryl Chessman", protesting the then-forthcoming execution of Chessman (one of only a handful of people to be executed in the US in recent decades for non-lethal offences), and he made an album of folk tunes, The Folk Ballads of Ronnie Hawkins, which largely consisted of solo acoustic recordings, plus a handful of left-over Hawks recordings from a year or so earlier. That wasn't a success, but they also tried a follow-up, having Hawkins go country and do an album of Hank Williams songs, recorded in Nashville at Owen Bradley's Quonset hut. While many of the musicians on the album were Nashville A-Team players, Hawkins also insisted on having his own band members perform, much to the disgust of the producer, and so it's likely (not certain, because there seem to be various disagreements about what was recorded when) that that album features the first studio recordings with Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson playing together: [Excerpt: Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, "Your Cheatin' Heart"] Other sources claim that the only Hawk allowed to play on the album sessions was Helm, and that the rest of the musicians on the album were Harold Bradley and Hank Garland on guitar, Owen Bradley and Floyd Cramer on piano, Bob Moore on bass, and the Anita Kerr singers. I tend to trust Helm's recollection that the Hawks played at least some of the instruments though, because the source claiming that also seems to confuse the Hank Williams and Folk Ballads albums, and because I don't hear two pianos on the album. On the other hand, that *does* sound like Floyd Cramer on piano, and the tik-tok bass sound you'd get from having Harold Bradley play a baritone guitar while Bob Moore played a bass. So my best guess is that these sessions were like the Elvis sessions around the same time and with several of the same musicians, where Elvis' own backing musicians played rhythm parts but left the prominent instruments to the A-team players. Helm was singularly unimpressed with the experience of recording in Nashville. His strongest memory of the sessions was of another session going on in the same studio complex at the time -- Bobby "Blue" Bland was recording his classic single "Turn On Your Love Light", with the great drummer Jabo Starks on drums, and Helm was more interested in listening to that than he was in the music they were playing: [Excerpt: Bobby "Blue" Bland, "Turn On Your Love Light"] Incidentally, Helm talks about that recording being made "downstairs" from where the Hawks were recording, but also says that they were recording in Bradley's Quonset hut.  Now, my understanding here *could* be very wrong -- I've been unable to find a plan or schematic anywhere -- but my understanding is that the Quonset hut was a single-level structure, not a multi-level structure. BUT the original recording facilities run by the Bradley brothers were in Owen Bradley's basement, before they moved into the larger Quonset hut facility in the back, so it's possible that Bland was recording that in the old basement studio. If so, that won't be the last recording made in a basement we hear this episode... Fred Carter decided during the Nashville sessions that he was going to leave the Hawks. As his son told the story: "Dad had discovered the session musicians there. He had no idea that you could play and make a living playing in studios and sleep in your own bed every night. By that point in his life, he'd already been gone from home and constantly on the road and in the service playing music for ten years so that appealed to him greatly. And Levon asked him, he said, “If you're gonna leave, Fred, I'd like you to get young Robbie over here up to speed on guitar”…[Robbie] got kind of aggravated with him—and Dad didn't say this with any malice—but by the end of that week, or whatever it was, Robbie made some kind of comment about “One day I'm gonna cut you.” And Dad said, “Well, if that's how you think about it, the lessons are over.” " (For those who don't know, a musician "cutting" another one is playing better than them, so much better that the worse musician has to concede defeat. For the remainder of Carter's notice in the Hawks, he played with his back to Robertson, refusing to look at him. Carter leaving the group caused some more shuffling of roles. For a while, Levon Helm -- who Hawkins always said was the best lead guitar player he ever worked with as well as the best drummer -- tried playing lead guitar while Robertson played rhythm and another member, Rebel Payne, played bass, but they couldn't find a drummer to replace Helm, who moved back onto the drums. Then they brought in Roy Buchanan, another guitarist who had been playing with Dale Hawkins, having started out playing with Johnny Otis' band. But Buchanan didn't fit with Hawkins' personality, and he quit after a few months, going off to record his own first solo record: [Excerpt: Roy Buchanan, "Mule Train Stomp"] Eventually they solved the lineup problem by having Robertson -- by this point an accomplished lead player --- move to lead guitar and bringing in a new rhythm player, another Canadian teenager named Rick Danko, who had originally been a lead player (and who also played mandolin and fiddle). Danko wasn't expected to stay on rhythm long though -- Rebel Payne was drinking a lot and missing being at home when he was out on the road, so Danko was brought in on the understanding that he was to learn Payne's bass parts and switch to bass when Payne quit. Helm and Robertson were unsure about Danko, and Robertson expressed that doubt, saying "He only knows four chords," to which Hawkins replied, "That's all right son. You can teach him four more the way we had to teach you." He proved himself by sheer hard work. As Hawkins put it “He practiced so much that his arms swoll up. He was hurting.” By the time Danko switched to bass, the group also had a baritone sax player, Jerry Penfound, which allowed the group to play more of the soul and R&B material that Helm and Robertson favoured, though Hawkins wasn't keen. This new lineup of the group (which also had Stan Szelest on piano) recorded Hawkins' next album. This one was produced by Henry Glover, the great record producer, songwriter, and trumpet player who had played with Lucky Millinder, produced Wynonie Harris, Hank Ballard, and Moon Mullican, and wrote "Drowning in My Own Tears", "The Peppermint Twist", and "California Sun". Glover was massively impressed with the band, especially Helm (with whom he would remain friends for the rest of his life) and set aside some studio time for them to cut some tracks without Hawkins, to be used as album filler, including a version of the Bobby "Blue" Bland song "Farther On Up the Road" with Helm on lead vocals: [Excerpt: Levon Helm and the Hawks, "Farther On Up the Road"] There were more changes on the way though. Stan Szelest was about to leave the band, and Jones had already left, so the group had no keyboard player. Hawkins had just the replacement for Szelest -- yet another Canadian teenager. This one was Richard Manuel, who played piano and sang in a band called The Rockin' Revols. Manuel was not the greatest piano player around -- he was an adequate player for simple rockabilly and R&B stuff, but hardly a virtuoso -- but he was an incredible singer, able to do a version of "Georgia on My Mind" which rivalled Ray Charles, and Hawkins had booked the Revols into his own small circuit of clubs around Arkanasas after being impressed with them on the same bill as the Hawks a couple of times. Hawkins wanted someone with a good voice because he was increasingly taking a back seat in performances. Hawkins was the bandleader and frontman, but he'd often given Helm a song or two to sing in the show, and as they were often playing for several hours a night, the more singers the band had the better. Soon, with Helm, Danko, and Manuel all in the group and able to take lead vocals, Hawkins would start missing entire shows, though he still got more money than any of his backing group. Hawkins was also a hard taskmaster, and wanted to have the best band around. He already had great musicians, but he wanted them to be *the best*. And all the musicians in his band were now much younger than him, with tons of natural talent, but untrained. What he needed was someone with proper training, someone who knew theory and technique. He'd been trying for a long time to get someone like that, but Garth Hudson had kept turning him down. Hudson was older than any of the Hawks, though younger than Hawkins, and he was a multi-instrumentalist who was far better than any other musician on the circuit, having trained in a conservatory and learned how to play Bach and Chopin before switching to rock and roll. He thought the Hawks were too loud sounding and played too hard for him, but Helm kept on at Hawkins to meet any demands Hudson had, and Hawkins eventually agreed to give Hudson a higher wage than any of the other band members, buy him a new Lowry organ, and give him an extra ten dollars a week to give the rest of the band music lessons. Hudson agreed, and the Hawks now had a lineup of Helm on drums, Robertson on guitar, Manuel on piano, Danko on bass, Hudson on organ and alto sax, and Penfound on baritone sax. But these new young musicians were beginning to wonder why they actually needed a frontman who didn't turn up to many of the gigs, kept most of the money, and fined them whenever they broke one of his increasingly stringent set of rules. Indeed, they wondered why they needed a frontman at all. They already had three singers -- and sometimes a fourth, a singer called Bruce Bruno who would sometimes sit in with them when Penfound was unable to make a gig. They went to see Harold Kudlets, who Hawkins had recently sacked as his manager, and asked him if he could get them gigs for the same amount of money as they'd been getting with Hawkins. Kudlets was astonished to find how little Hawkins had been paying them, and told them that would be no problem at all. They had no frontman any more -- and made it a rule in all their contracts that the word "sideman" would never be used -- but Helm had been the leader for contractual purposes, as the musical director and longest-serving member (Hawkins, as a non-playing singer, had never joined the Musicians' Union so couldn't be the leader on contracts). So the band that had been Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks became the Levon Helm Sextet briefly -- but Penfound soon quit, and they became Levon and the Hawks. The Hawks really started to find their identity as their own band in 1964. They were already far more interested in playing soul than Hawkins had been, but they were also starting to get into playing soul *jazz*, especially after seeing the Cannonball Adderley Sextet play live: [Excerpt: Cannonball Adderley, "This Here"] What the group admired about the Adderley group more than anything else was a sense of restraint. Helm was particularly impressed with their drummer, Louie Hayes, and said of him "I got to see some great musicians over the years, and you see somebody like that play and you can tell, y' know, that the thing not to do is to just get it down on the floor and stomp the hell out of it!" The other influence they had, and one which would shape their sound even more, was a negative one. The two biggest bands on the charts at the time were the Beatles and the Beach Boys, and as Helm described it in his autobiography, the Hawks thought both bands' harmonies were "a blend of pale, homogenised, voices". He said "We felt we were better than the Beatles and the Beach Boys. We considered them our rivals, even though they'd never heard of us", and they decided to make their own harmonies sound as different as possible as a result. Where those groups emphasised a vocal blend, the Hawks were going to emphasise the *difference* in their voices in their own harmonies. The group were playing prestigious venues like the Peppermint Lounge, and while playing there they met up with John Hammond Jr, who they'd met previously in Canada. As you might remember from the first episode on Bob Dylan, Hammond Jr was the son of the John Hammond who we've talked about in many episodes, and was a blues musician in his own right. He invited Helm, Robertson, and Hudson to join the musicians, including Michael Bloomfield, who were playing on his new album, So Many Roads: [Excerpt: John P. Hammond, "Who Do You Love?"] That album was one of the inspirations that led Bob Dylan to start making electric rock music and to hire Bloomfield as his guitarist, decisions that would have profound implications for the Hawks. The first single the Hawks recorded for themselves after leaving Hawkins was produced by Henry Glover, and both sides were written by Robbie Robertson. "uh Uh Uh" shows the influence of the R&B bands they were listening to. What it reminds me most of is the material Ike and Tina Turner were playing at the time, but at points I think I can also hear the influence of Curtis Mayfield and Steve Cropper, who were rapidly becoming Robertson's favourite songwriters: [Excerpt: The Canadian Squires, "Uh Uh Uh"] None of the band were happy with that record, though. They'd played in the studio the same way they played live, trying to get a strong bass presence, but it just sounded bottom-heavy to them when they heard the record on a jukebox. That record was released as by The Canadian Squires -- according to Robertson, that was a name that the label imposed on them for the record, while according to Helm it was an alternative name they used so they could get bookings in places they'd only recently played, which didn't want the same band to play too often. One wonders if there was any confusion with the band Neil Young played in a year or so before that single... Around this time, the group also met up with Helm's old musical inspiration Sonny Boy Williamson II, who was impressed enough with them that there was some talk of them being his backing band (and it was in this meeting that Williamson apparently told Robertson "those English boys want to play the blues so bad, and they play the blues *so bad*", speaking of the bands who'd backed him in the UK, like the Yardbirds and the Animals). But sadly, Williamson died in May 1965 before any of these plans had time to come to fruition. Every opportunity for the group seemed to be closing up, even as they knew they were as good as any band around them. They had an offer from Aaron Schroeder, who ran Musicor Records but was more importantly a songwriter and publisher who  had written for Elvis Presley and published Gene Pitney. Schroeder wanted to sign the Hawks as a band and Robertson as a songwriter, but Henry Glover looked over the contracts for them, and told them "If you sign this you'd better be able to pay each other, because nobody else is going to be paying you". What happened next is the subject of some controversy, because as these things tend to go, several people became aware of the Hawks at the same time, but it's generally considered that nothing would have happened the same way were it not for Mary Martin. Martin is a pivotal figure in music business history -- among other things she discovered Leonard Cohen and Gordon Lightfoot, managed Van Morrison, and signed Emmylou Harris to Warner Brothers records -- but a somewhat unknown one who doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. Martin was from Toronto, but had moved to New York, where she was working in Albert Grossman's office, but she still had many connections to Canadian musicians and kept an eye out for them. The group had sent demo tapes to Grossman's offices, and Grossman had had no interest in them, but Martin was a fan and kept pushing the group on Grossman and his associates. One of those associates, of course, was Grossman's client Bob Dylan. As we heard in the episode on "Like a Rolling Stone", Dylan had started making records with electric backing, with musicians who included Mike Bloomfield, who had played with several of the Hawks on the Hammond album, and Al Kooper, who was a friend of the band. Martin gave Richard Manuel a copy of Dylan's new electric album Highway 61 Revisited, and he enjoyed it, though the rest of the group were less impressed: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Highway 61 Revisited"] Dylan had played the Newport Folk Festival with some of the same musicians as played on his records, but Bloomfield in particular was more interested in continuing to play with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band than continuing with Dylan long-term. Mary Martin kept telling Dylan about this Canadian band she knew who would be perfect for him, and various people associated with the Grossman organisation, including Hammond, have claimed to have been sent down to New Jersey where the Hawks were playing to check them out in their live setting. The group have also mentioned that someone who looked a lot like Dylan was seen at some of their shows. Eventually, Dylan phoned Helm up and made an offer. He didn't need a full band at the moment -- he had Harvey Brooks on bass and Al Kooper on keyboards -- but he did need a lead guitar player and drummer for a couple of gigs he'd already booked, one in Forest Hills, New York, and a bigger gig at the Hollywood Bowl. Helm, unfamiliar with Dylan's work, actually asked Howard Kudlets if Dylan was capable of filling the Hollywood Bowl. The musicians rehearsed together and got a set together for the shows. Robertson and Helm thought the band sounded terrible, but Dylan liked the sound they were getting a lot. The audience in Forest Hills agreed with the Hawks, rather than Dylan, or so it would appear. As we heard in the "Like a Rolling Stone" episode, Dylan's turn towards rock music was *hated* by the folk purists who saw him as some sort of traitor to the movement, a movement whose figurehead he had become without wanting to. There were fifteen thousand people in the audience, and they listened politely enough to the first set, which Dylan played acoustically, But before the second set -- his first ever full electric set, rather than the very abridged one at Newport -- he told the musicians “I don't know what it will be like out there It's going to be some kind of  carnival and I want you to all know that up front. So go out there and keep playing no matter how weird it gets!” There's a terrible-quality audience recording of that show in circulation, and you can hear the crowd's reaction to the band and to the new material: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Ballad of a Thin Man" (live Forest Hills 1965, audience noise only)] The audience also threw things  at the musicians, knocking Al Kooper off his organ stool at one point. While Robertson remembered the Hollywood Bowl show as being an equally bad reaction, Helm remembered the audience there as being much more friendly, and the better-quality recording of that show seems to side with Helm: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Maggie's Farm (live at the Hollywood Bowl 1965)"] After those two shows, Helm and Robertson went back to their regular gig. and in September they made another record. This one, again produced by Glover, was for Atlantic's Atco subsidiary, and was released as by Levon and the Hawks. Manuel took lead, and again both songs were written by Robertson: [Excerpt: Levon and the Hawks, "He Don't Love You (And He'll Break Your Heart)"] But again that record did nothing. Dylan was about to start his first full electric tour, and while Helm and Robertson had not thought the shows they'd played sounded particularly good, Dylan had, and he wanted the two of them to continue with him. But Robertson and, especially, Helm, were not interested in being someone's sidemen. They explained to Dylan that they already had a band -- Levon and the Hawks -- and he would take all of them or he would take none of them. Helm in particular had not been impressed with Dylan's music -- Helm was fundamentally an R&B fan, while Dylan's music was rooted in genres he had little time for -- but he was OK with doing it, so long as the entire band got to. As Mary Martin put it “I think that the wonderful and the splendid heart of the band, if you will, was Levon, and I think he really sort of said, ‘If it's just myself as drummer and Robbie…we're out. We don't want that. It's either us, the band, or nothing.' And you know what? Good for him.” Rather amazingly, Dylan agreed. When the band's residency in New Jersey finished, they headed back to Toronto to play some shows there, and Dylan flew up and rehearsed with them after each show. When the tour started, the billing was "Bob Dylan with Levon and the Hawks". That billing wasn't to last long. Dylan had been booked in for nine months of touring, and was also starting work on what would become widely considered the first double album in rock music history, Blonde on Blonde, and the original plan was that Levon and the Hawks would play with him throughout that time.  The initial recording sessions for the album produced nothing suitable for release -- the closest was "I Wanna Be Your Lover", a semi-parody of the Beatles' "I Want to be Your Man": [Excerpt: Bob Dylan with Levon and the Hawks, "I Wanna Be Your Lover"] But shortly into the tour, Helm quit. The booing had continued, and had even got worse, and Helm simply wasn't in the business to be booed at every night. Also, his whole conception of music was that you dance to it, and nobody was dancing to any of this. Helm quit the band, only telling Robertson of his plans, and first went off to LA, where he met up with some musicians from Oklahoma who had enjoyed seeing the Hawks when they'd played that state and had since moved out West -- people like Leon Russell, J.J. Cale (not John Cale of the Velvet Underground, but the one who wrote "Cocaine" which Eric Clapton later had a hit with), and John Ware (who would later go on to join the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band). They started loosely jamming with each other, sometimes also involving a young singer named Linda Ronstadt, but Helm eventually decided to give up music and go and work on an oil rig in New Orleans. Levon and the Hawks were now just the Hawks. The rest of the group soldiered on, replacing Helm with session drummer Bobby Gregg (who had played on Dylan's previous couple of albums, and had previously played with Sun Ra), and played on the initial sessions for Blonde on Blonde. But of those sessions, Dylan said a few weeks later "Oh, I was really down. I mean, in ten recording sessions, man, we didn't get one song ... It was the band. But you see, I didn't know that. I didn't want to think that" One track from the sessions did get released -- the non-album single "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?"] There's some debate as to exactly who's playing drums on that -- Helm says in his autobiography that it's him, while the credits in the official CD releases tend to say it's Gregg. Either way, the track was an unexpected flop, not making the top forty in the US, though it made the top twenty in the UK. But the rest of the recordings with the now Helmless Hawks were less successful. Dylan was trying to get his new songs across, but this was a band who were used to playing raucous music for dancing, and so the attempts at more subtle songs didn't come off the way he wanted: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan and the Hawks, "Visions of Johanna (take 5, 11-30-1965)"] Only one track from those initial New York sessions made the album -- "One Of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" -- but even that only featured Robertson and Danko of the Hawks, with the rest of the instruments being played by session players: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan (One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)"] The Hawks were a great live band, but great live bands are not necessarily the same thing as a great studio band. And that's especially the case with someone like Dylan. Dylan was someone who was used to recording entirely on his own, and to making records *quickly*. In total, for his fifteen studio albums up to 1974's Blood on the Tracks, Dylan spent a total of eighty-six days in the studio -- by comparison, the Beatles spent over a hundred days in the studio just on the Sgt Pepper album. It's not that the Hawks weren't a good band -- very far from it -- but that studio recording requires a different type of discipline, and that's doubly the case when you're playing with an idiosyncratic player like Dylan. The Hawks would remain Dylan's live backing band, but he wouldn't put out a studio recording with them backing him until 1974. Instead, Bob Johnston, the producer Dylan was working with, suggested a different plan. On his previous album, the Nashville session player Charlie McCoy had guested on "Desolation Row" and Dylan had found him easy to work with. Johnston lived in Nashville, and suggested that they could get the album completed more quickly and to Dylan's liking by using Nashville A-Team musicians. Dylan agreed to try it, and for the rest of the album he had Robertson on lead guitar and Al Kooper on keyboards, but every other musician was a Nashville session player, and they managed to get Dylan's songs recorded quickly and the way he heard them in his head: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine"] Though Dylan being Dylan he did try to introduce an element of randomness to the recordings by having the Nashville musicians swap their instruments around and play each other's parts on "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35", though the Nashville players were still competent enough that they managed to get a usable, if shambolic, track recorded that way in a single take: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35"] Dylan said later of the album "The closest I ever got to the sound I hear in my mind was on individual bands in the Blonde on Blonde album. It's that thin, that wild mercury sound. It's metallic and bright gold, with whatever that conjures up." The album was released in late June 1966, a week before Freak Out! by the Mothers of Invention, another double album, produced by Dylan's old producer Tom Wilson, and a few weeks after Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys. Dylan was at the forefront of a new progressive movement in rock music, a movement that was tying thoughtful, intelligent lyrics to studio experimentation and yet somehow managing to have commercial success. And a month after Blonde on Blonde came out, he stepped away from that position, and would never fully return to it. The first half of 1966 was taken up with near-constant touring, with Dylan backed by the Hawks and a succession of fill-in drummers -- first Bobby Gregg, then Sandy Konikoff, then Mickey Jones. This tour started in the US and Canada, with breaks for recording the album, and then moved on to Australia and Europe. The shows always followed the same pattern. First Dylan would perform an acoustic set, solo, with just an acoustic guitar and harmonica, which would generally go down well with the audience -- though sometimes they would get restless, prompting a certain amount of resistance from the performer: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Just Like a Woman (live Paris 1966)"] But the second half of each show was electric, and that was where the problems would arise. The Hawks were playing at the top of their game -- some truly stunning performances: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan and the Hawks, "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (live in Liverpool 1966)"] But while the majority of the audience was happy to hear the music, there was a vocal portion that were utterly furious at the change in Dylan's musical style. Most notoriously, there was the performance at Manchester Free Trade Hall where this happened: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Like a Rolling Stone (live Manchester 1966)"] That kind of aggression from the audience had the effect of pushing the band on to greater heights a lot of the time -- and a bootleg of that show, mislabelled as the Royal Albert Hall, became one of the most legendary bootlegs in rock music history. Jimmy Page would apparently buy a copy of the bootleg every time he saw one, thinking it was the best album ever made. But while Dylan and the Hawks played defiantly, that kind of audience reaction gets wearing. As Dylan later said, “Judas, the most hated name in human history, and for what—for playing an electric guitar. As if that is in some kind of way equitable to betraying our Lord, and delivering him up to be crucified; all those evil mothers can rot in hell.” And this wasn't the only stress Dylan, in particular, was under. D.A. Pennebaker was making a documentary of the tour -- a follow-up to his documentary of the 1965 tour, which had not yet come out. Dylan talked about the 1965 documentary, Don't Look Back, as being Pennebaker's film of Dylan, but this was going to be Dylan's film, with him directing the director. That footage shows Dylan as nervy and anxious, and covering for the anxiety with a veneer of flippancy. Some of Dylan's behaviour on both tours is unpleasant in ways that can't easily be justified (and which he has later publicly regretted), but there's also a seeming cruelty to some of his interactions with the press and public that actually reads more as frustration. Over and over again he's asked questions -- about being the voice of a generation or the leader of a protest movement -- which are simply based on incorrect premises. When someone asks you a question like this, there are only a few options you can take, none of them good. You can dissect the question, revealing the incorrect premises, and then answer a different question that isn't what they asked, which isn't really an option at all given the kind of rapid-fire situation Dylan was in. You can answer the question as asked, which ends up being dishonest. Or you can be flip and dismissive, which is the tactic Dylan chose. Dylan wasn't the only one -- this is basically what the Beatles did at press conferences. But where the Beatles were a gang and so came off as being fun, Dylan doing the same thing came off as arrogant and aggressive. One of the most famous artifacts of the whole tour is a long piece of footage recorded for the documentary, with Dylan and John Lennon riding in the back of a taxi, both clearly deeply uncomfortable, trying to be funny and impress the other, but neither actually wanting to be there: [Excerpt Dylan and Lennon conversation] 33) Part of the reason Dylan wanted to go home was that he had a whole new lifestyle. Up until 1964 he had been very much a city person, but as he had grown more famous, he'd found New York stifling. Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary had a cabin in Woodstock, where he'd grown up, and after Dylan had spent a month there in summer 1964, he'd fallen in love with the area. Albert Grossman had also bought a home there, on Yarrow's advice, and had given Dylan free run of the place, and Dylan had decided he wanted to move there permanently and bought his own home there. He had also married, to Sara Lowndes (whose name is, as far as I can tell, pronounced "Sarah" even though it's spelled "Sara"), and she had given birth to his first child (and he had adopted her child from her previous marriage). Very little is actually known about Sara, who unlike many other partners of rock stars at this point seemed positively to detest the limelight, and whose privacy Dylan has continued to respect even after the end of their marriage in the late seventies, but it's apparent that the two were very much in love, and that Dylan wanted to be back with his wife and kids, in the country, not going from one strange city to another being asked insipid questions and having abuse screamed at him. He was also tired of the pressure to produce work constantly. He'd signed a contract for a novel, called Tarantula, which he'd written a draft of but was unhappy with, and he'd put out two single albums and a double-album in a little over a year -- all of them considered among the greatest albums ever made. He could only keep up this rate of production and performance with a large intake of speed, and he was sometimes staying up for four days straight to do so. After the European leg of the tour, Dylan was meant to take some time to finish overdubs on Blonde on Blonde, edit the film of the tour for a TV special, with his friend Howard Alk, and proof the galleys for Tarantula, before going on a second world tour in the autumn. That world tour never happened. Dylan was in a motorcycle accident near his home, and had to take time out to recover. There has been a lot of discussion as to how serious the accident actually was, because Dylan's manager Albert Grossman was known to threaten to break contracts by claiming his performers were sick, and because Dylan essentially disappeared from public view for the next eighteen months. Every possible interpretation of the events has been put about by someone, from Dylan having been close to death, to the entire story being put up as a fake. As Dylan is someone who is far more protective of his privacy than most rock stars, it's doubtful we'll ever know the precise truth, but putting together the various accounts Dylan's injuries were bad but not life-threatening, but they acted as a wake-up call -- if he carried on living like he had been, how much longer could he continue? in his sort-of autobiography, Chronicles, Dylan described this period, saying "I had been in a motorcycle accident and I'd been hurt, but I recovered. Truth was that I wanted to get out of the rat race. Having children changed my life and segregated me from just about everybody and everything that was going on. Outside of my family, nothing held any real interest for me and I was seeing everything through different glasses." All his forthcoming studio and tour dates were cancelled, and Dylan took the time out to recover, and to work on his film, Eat the Document. But it's clear that nobody was sure at first exactly how long Dylan's hiatus from touring was going to last. As it turned out, he wouldn't do another tour until the mid-seventies, and would barely even play any one-off gigs in the intervening time. But nobody knew that at the time, and so to be on the safe side the Hawks were being kept on a retainer. They'd always intended to work on their own music anyway -- they didn't just want to be anyone's backing band -- so they took this time to kick a few ideas around, but they were hamstrung by the fact that it was difficult to find rehearsal space in New York City, and they didn't have any gigs. Their main musical work in the few months between summer 1966 and spring 1967 was some recordings for the soundtrack of a film Peter Yarrow was making. You Are What You Eat is a bizarre hippie collage of a film, documenting the counterculture between 1966 when Yarrow started making it and 1968 when it came out. Carl Franzoni, one of the leaders of the LA freak movement that we've talked about in episodes on the Byrds, Love, and the Mothers of Invention, said of the film “If you ever see this movie you'll understand what ‘freaks' are. It'll let you see the L.A. freaks, the San Francisco freaks, and the New York freaks. It was like a documentary and it was about the makings of what freaks were about. And it had a philosophy, a very definite philosophy: that you are free-spirited, artistic." It's now most known for introducing the song "My Name is Jack" by John Simon, the film's music supervisor: [Excerpt: John Simon, "My Name is Jack"] That song would go on to be a top ten hit in the UK for Manfred Mann: [Excerpt: Manfred Mann, "My Name is Jack"] The Hawks contributed backing music for several songs for the film, in which they acted as backing band for another old Greenwich Village folkie who had been friends with Yarrow and Dylan but who was not yet the star he would soon become, Tiny Tim: [Excerpt: Tiny Tim, "Sonny Boy"] This was their first time playing together properly since the end of the European tour, and Sid Griffin has noted that these Tiny Tim sessions are the first time you can really hear the sound that the group would develop over the next year, and which would characterise them for their whole career. Robertson, Danko, and Manuel also did a session, not for the film with another of Grossman's discoveries, Carly Simon, playing a version of "Baby Let Me Follow You Down", a song they'd played a lot with Dylan on the tour that spring. That recording has never been released, and I've only managed to track down a brief clip of it from a BBC documentary, with Simon and an interviewer talking over most of the clip (so this won't be in the Mixcloud I put together of songs): [Excerpt: Carly Simon, "Baby Let Me Follow You Down"] That recording is notable though because as well as Robertson, Danko, and Manuel, and Dylan's regular studio keyboard players Al Kooper and Paul Griffin, it also features Levon Helm on drums, even though Helm had still not rejoined the band and was at the time mostly working in New Orleans. But his name's on the session log, so he must have m

Duffy's Tavern with guest star "Louella Parsons" November 6, 1946 NBC Duffy's Tavern "George Jessel and Rudy Vallee" November 5, 1947 NBC  

Mindi Presents The Big Show from 1951-04-08 episode (023) with Tallulah Bankhead, Fred Allen, Vivian Blaine, Ossie Davis, Jimmy Durante, Rudy Vallee (Mindi)

Mindi presents The Big Show from 1951-04-08 episode (023) with Tallulah Bankhead, Fred Allen, Vivian Blaine, Ossie Davis, Jimmy Durante, Rudy Vallee, etc.

This week Mindi brings us entertainment legends Tullulah Bankhead, Gary Cooper, Danny Kaye, Ray Bolger, and Rudy Vallee!

This week Mindi brings us Tullulah Bankhead, Gary Cooper, Danny Kaye, Ray Bolger, and Rudy Vallee!

This episode is part of Pledge Week 2022. Every day this week, I'll be posting old Patreon bonus episodes of the podcast which will have this short intro. These are short, ten- to twenty-minute bonus podcasts which get posted to Patreon for my paying backers every time I post a new main episode -- there are well over a hundred of these in the archive now. If you like the sound of these episodes, then go to patreon.com/andrewhickey and subscribe for as little as a dollar a month or ten dollars a year to get access to all those bonus episodes, plus new ones as they appear. Click below for the transcript Transcript A few episodes back, we took a look at the Who's early records, and in passing we talked about the Ivy League, the studio group who sang backing vocals on their first single under that name. In this bonus episode, we're going to look at one of the biggest hits any of the members of the Ivy League were involved in -- a record that became a massive hit, won a Grammy, and changed the career direction of one of the most important comedy bands in Britain. We're going to look at "Winchester Cathedral" by the New Vaudeville Band: [Excerpt: The New Vaudeville Band, "Winchester Cathedral"] In his book Revolution in the Head, Ian MacDonald makes the point that the quintessential line in British psychedelia is from George Harrison's "It's All Too Much", where Harrison sings "Show me that I'm everywhere, and get me home for tea". Whereas American psychedelia is often angry and rebellious -- understandably, since it was often being made by people who were scared of being drafted to fight in a senseless war, and who were living through a time of great instability more generally -- British psychedelia was tinged with nostalgia, both for childhood and for a lost past of the Empire that had now ended. Now, we're going to get into that in much, much, greater detail when we look at the records the Beatles, the Kinks, the Who and others made in this period, but suffice to say that *one* of the several streams of thought that shaped the youth culture of Britain in the 1960s was a nationalistic one, partly in reaction to a perceived dominance by American culture and a belief that there were things about British culture that deserved celebrating too. And part and parcel of that was a celebration of the popular culture of the 1920s and thirties, the height of Britain's influence in the world. This nationalism, incidentally, was *not* necessarily an entirely regressive or reactionary thing, though it certainly had those elements -- there was a strong progressive element to it, and we'll be unpacking the tensions in it in future episodes. For the moment, just take it that we're not talking about the sort of flag-waving xenophobia that has tainted much of modern politics, but something more complicated. This complex relationship with the past had been evident as early as the very early 1960s, with acts like the Alberts and the Temperance Seven reviving 1920s novelty songs in what would now be considered a postmodern style: [Excerpt: The Temperance Seven, "You're Driving Me Crazy "] That had temporarily gone into abeyance with the rise of the Beatles and the bands that followed in their wake, making guitar music inspired by American Black musicians the new popular thing in British culture. But that stream of the culture was definitely there, and it was only a matter of time before music business professionals would notice it again and start to try to capitalise on it. And Geoff Stephens did just that. Stephens was an odd character, who had entered the music business at a relatively late age. Until the age of thirty he worked in a variety of jobs, including as a teacher and an air traffic controller, but he was also involved in amateur theatrics, putting on revues with friends for which he co-wrote songs and sketches. He then went on to write satirical sketches for radio comedy, writing for a programme hosted by Basil Boothroyd, the editor of Punch, and started submitting songs to Denmark Street publishers. Through his submissions, he got a job as a song plugger with a publishing company, and from there moved into writing songs professionally himself. His first hit, co-written as many of his songs were with Les Reed, was "Tell Me When", the debut single for the Applejacks, which made the top ten: [Excerpt: The Applejacks, "Tell Me When"] Many hits as a writer and producer soon followed, including writing "The Crying Game" for Dave Berry: [Excerpt: Dave Berry, "The Crying Game"] And signing Donovan and co-producing his first two albums and earliest hit singles: [Excerpt: Donovan, "Catch the Wind"] Stephens had been making hits for a couple of years when he conceived the novelty record "Winchester Cathedral", which he recorded with John Carter of the Ivy League on lead vocals, imitating the style of Rudy Vallee, one of the most popular singers of the 1920s, who sang through a megaphone -- he became popular before electronic amplification was a big thing. The record was made by session players, and released under the name "The New Vaudeville Band": [Excerpt: The New Vaudeville Band, "Winchester Cathedral"] The record immediately began to sell. It became a massive, massive, worldwide hit, selling three million copies and inspiring a cover version by Rudy Vallee himself: [Excerpt: Rudy Vallee, "Winchester Cathedral"] Oddly, this wasn't the last time in the sixties that a major hit would be inspired by the sound of Rudy Vallee... But Stephens had a problem. People wanted the New Vaudeville Band to tour, and he didn't actually have a touring act. So he turned to the next best thing. The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band were a band of dadaist comedy performers who had a wonderful stage act, which among other things involved their lead singer Vivian Stanshall wearing a gold lame Elvis suit, their drummer Sam Spoons playing spoons and washboard, and comedy moments like band members holding up speech bubbles, so for example when someone took a solo, one of the other members might hold up a cardboard speech bubble saying "Wow! I'm really expressing myself!" Their repertoire largely consisted of novelty tunes -- some from the fifties, but mostly songs they'd learned from old 78s from the 1920s, like their first single: [Excerpt: The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, "My Brother Makes the Noises for the Talkies"] As Bonzos guitarist Neil Innes always told the story, Geoff Stephens was friends with the band's trumpet player Bob Kerr, and called him up asking if the Bonzo Dog  Doo-Dah Band wanted to be the touring New Vaudeville Band. Kerr was excited -- his band would get to be proper pop stars! But when he went to talk to the rest of the group, they were dismissive. They were conceptual artists and creative people, and didn't want to be a manufactured pop band. Bob Kerr, on the other hand, thought that being paid vastly more money to do exactly the same stuff he was doing for next to nothing sounded like a great idea, and quit the band. The next thing the rest of his bandmates knew, they were watching him on Top of the Pops, performing with a band with a spoons player, a lead singer who wore a gold lame suit, and band members holding up cardboard speech bubbles. Kerr had taken the group's entire act, and they had to reinvent themselves, turning from 1920s pastiche to modern rock music -- and the chances are very good that we'll be following them up in the future. But of course, as well as an act, the new group needed a singer, and for that Stephens turned to Alan Klein. Now, this is not the Allen Klein who we've mentioned in the main podcast, and who will be coming up again in future episodes. This Alan Klein was someone who had been on the margins of the music industry as a writer and performer for some time. He'd made records with Joe Meek: [Excerpt: Alan Klein, "Striped Purple Shirt"] and he'd co-written the musical What A Crazy World, which had been made into a film which featured his songs being sung by Joe Brown, Marty Wilde, Freddie and the Dreamers, and...Harry H Corbett: [Excerpt: Harry H Corbett: "Things We Never Had"] He'd also made a single solo album, "Well, At Least it's British", which took a satirical look at British life in the 1960s that was hugely influential on Britpop in the 1990s, though the record sold almost nothing at the time: [Excerpt: Alan Klein, "Twentieth-Century Englishman"] With Klein as the new lead singer, the New Vaudeville Band were a real band. And indeed, they had three more top forty hits in the UK, though their most successful song after "Winchester Cathedral" was a song that Stephens and Les Reed wrote for them which wasn't a hit for them: [Excerpt: The New Vaudeville Band, "There's a Kind of Hush"] That *did*, though, become a big hit for Herman's Hermits: [Excerpt: Herman's Hermits, "There's a Kind of Hush"] The New Vaudeville Band were shortlived -- they only had a handful of hits, and Bob Kerr soon left the group after falling out with their manager, Peter Grant -- another figure who we'll definitely be hearing a lot more from in future episodes of the main podcast. Kerr formed Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band with Sam Spoons and Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell, two other former members of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, and they had a quietly successful career doing the same act that the early Bonzos had -- all three men also joined in Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band reunion tours in 2006 and 2016. A revived version of the New Vaudeville Band, featuring only the drummer from the touring lineup, performed in the 70s and 80s to little success. But the group's biggest legacy remained their first hit, which actually won the Grammy for Best Contemporary (Rock & Roll) Recording in 1967, beating out a shortlist of "Eleanor Rigby", "Monday Monday", "Cherish", "Good Vibrations", and "Last Train to Clarksville". You can decide for yourselves if "Winchester Cathedral" was, in hindsight, a better record than those. But whether it was or not, it was a fun record that made a lot of people happy. Geoff Stephens, its creator, is unlikely to feature further in this podcast. He wrote many more hit records, but they were almost exclusively for artists like Dana, Tom Jones, Wayne Newton, Ken Dodd, and Mary Hopkin, whose careers lie largely outside the scope of a history of rock music, however broadly defined. He had a long and successful career, but died last Christmas Eve, aged eighty-six, from pneumonia, having been weakened by an earlier bout of covid. So as we enter a second Covid Christmas, I'd just like to say I hope you're all vaccinated, boosted, and otherwise safe. I'm hoping to get one more episode and bonus out before Xmas Eve, and I hope to see you all still here in the New Year. Vo-de-o-do [Excerpt: The New Vaudeville Band, “Winchester Cathedral”]