Tonight's program...

Re: the broadcast referred to in the post below.  Bad weather, I regret to say, caused my DSL to go out four or five times tonight, throwing the program off the air each time (the show is fed, via Skype, to the Maryland-based station). The last two times the DSL went out occurred during the playing of the pre-recorded interview with author Mike Sowell.  The program was then scrapped; the interview with Mike Sowell will be played in its entirety next week.  Also on next week's program:  writer Denis Ledoux, author of a book about memoir writing, "Turning Memories Into Memoirs."

"Radio Once More"

I've written, in previous posts, about the Internet radio station "Radio Once More"; the station features Old-Time Radio and nostalgia-themed programming (please see:  www.radiooncemore.com).  I've appeared regularly on the station this year, as a guest, as a guest co-host, and (for the past few months) as a weekly host.  The show I'm hosting is called, simply, the "Thursday Live Show," and it airs Thursday nights from 9 to midnight; the program focuses largely on nostalgia-oriented subjects (but focuses, too, on other matters--such as history-related subjects which are not nostalgia-related).

On tonight's program, one of the topics will be the 1920 death of Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman, after he was hit by a pitch thrown by New York Yankees star Carl Mays.  The guest will be Mike Sowell, author of the book The Pitch That Killed.

http://www.amazon.com/Pitch-That-Killed-Mike-Sowell/dp/1566635519/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313706838&sr=8-1

New York benefit show, 1952

In December of 1952, shortly before my mother’s New York television career ended, she appeared in a benefit show; it was for the War Wounded Christmas Fund of the New York Journal-American newspaper. At the time, she was singing on Morey Amsterdam’s local TV program, Breakfast with Music; the program aired weekday mornings on New York station WNBT (later renamed WNBC), and also starred musician (and bandleader) Milton DeLugg.

The benefit took place at Skouras’ Academy of Music in New York, and included appearances by Dagmar, Gene Rayburn, Skitch Henderson, Faye Emerson, Clifton Webb, Morey Amsterdam, Herb Sheldon, Jackie Robinson, Marguerite Piazza, and Ben Grauer, who served as the show’s MC.

The above Journal-American picture (rather wrinkled, unfortunately) appeared in the paper the week before the benefit, and featured Herb Sheldon, my mother, and Morey Amsterdam. The picture below (a Xeroxed image, which, one also notes, has accumulated scrapes and other imperfections, over time) was part of a feature in the newspaper after the show took place.

Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse was an immensely talented, and soulful, singer.

Here are two videos of live performances she gave;  both are of her superb song, "Rehab."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG61N6OhRWE&feature=related

The second performance is a more intimate, and more minimal, version of the song; she is accompanied by only two musicians.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tshDCsBKUU&feature=related

Kay Kyser photograph on ebay

There's a publicity photograph of bandleader Kay Kyser which is currently on sale on the auction site ebay.  The auction page includes an image of the reverse side of the photograph, on which a date is stamped:  December 1, 1949.  This is the day that Kay Kyser's weekly television program (a program profiled at length in my book about early TV) made its debut on NBC Television.  

http://cgi.ebay.com/1949-Orchestra-Leader-Kay-Kyser-Press-Photo-/260818400338?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item3cb9fcf452

July, 1951

I was recently listening (via YouTube) to Louis Armstrong’s beautiful recording of “A Kiss To Build A Dream on,” made with Sy Oliver’s orchestra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHjZQb-kGek

The song (as noted in the accompanying YouTube information) was recorded on July 24, 1951 (sixty years ago this month).  

This was during the time period with which my book is concerned (the late 1940s and early 1950s; the early years of television, but also, as well, the closing years of the big band period).  And so, because of my own particular focus upon the era (or more precisely, perhaps, my fixation upon it, and my mother’s relationship to it), I make note of the following:

The musicians who played on the Louis Armstrong recording are listed, on the YouTube page.  The bass player on the record, for example, was Sandy Block.  In 1949, Block had been the bassist on the DuMont Network TV show Teen Time Tunes, a weeknight program which featured my mother and The Alan Logan Trio.  In addition to Sandy Block, the Trio featured pianist (and Trio leader) Alan Logan, and guitarist Al Chernet.

Also playing on “A Kiss To Build A Dream On”: clarinetist/alto saxophonist Milt Yaner.  Nearly two weeks prior to this, on July 12, 1951 (according to the music publication DownBeat), Yaner played saxophone in a session with the George Siravo Orchestra. (Siravo is best remembered, today, as an arranger for Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Doris Day, and others.)

During the session with the George Siravo Orchestra—sixty years ago this week—three recordings were made.  Two of them were released as a 78 on the Mercury label:  an instrumental version of Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” and, on the reverse side, “Farewell, Farewell to Love”; the latter song (co-written by George Siravo) featured my mother as vocalist.  A week later, Frank Sinatra recorded another version of “Farewell, Farewell to Love”, arranged by Siravo, and performed with Harry James’ orchestra. It was released on Columbia Records. 

I never knew about the record my mother made with George Siravo, until several months after her death, in 2001; I found the record at my parents' apartment.  It has become one of my favorite records that she made.

Here is the recording, which was released in August of 1951:

https://andrewleefielding.com/audio-%232

One more note, about music, and television, and my mother’s career, during this period:

On July 12^th of 1951, the day my mother recorded “Farewell, Farewell To Love” with George Siravo’s orchestra, bandleader Freddy Martin’s new weekly TV show made its debut on NBC.  The show starred Martin and his orchestra, and featured singer Merv Griffin, pianist Murray Arnold, and the vocal group The Martin Men.  Each week, a guest female vocalist appeared on the show.  On July 12^th, for the debut program, the guest vocalist was Mary Mayo.  The next week, on July 19th, my mother was the guest singer.  Freddy Martin’s show was telecast through the summer, and then continued into the fall;  my mother appeared as a regular guest on the show.  The show went off the air at the end of November of that year. 

(Video images, above, made from a kinescope of Freddy Martin’s NBC-TV program. Both images are of a performance from a September of 1951 telecast:  Freddy Martin, on a telephone, sings to Merv Griffin, Sue Bennett, and Murray Arnold; they sing, in response, via another telephone.  Pictures used by permission of NBCUniversal, Inc.)

Betty Ford (1918-2011)

I always thought she was a remarkable, courageous, genuine (and wonderfully forthright) individual.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/08/betty.ford.dies/index.html