Oct. 17, 2025

Make Believe Ballroom - 10/17/25 Edition

Show Notes
Transcript

The Make Believe Ballroom with Jeff Bressler brings you Classic Big Band Hits from the 30s and 40s.

On this week's program: A song from the 1700s that was swingin in the 1930s and 40s, a questionable Fats Waller tale, Frank Sinatra's first record with Tommy Dorsey - plus many more great records and stories to cherish and enjoy on this week's broadcast.

WEBVTT

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It's make believe ballom time.

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Put all your cares away.

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All the bands are here to bring good cheer your way.

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It's make believe ballroom time and free to everyone.

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It's no time to friend your Dalis.

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Said bombs, close your eyes and visual lie in your solitude.

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Your favorite bands are on this stance, and mister Miller,

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what you in the wood?

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It's make believe ballroom time.

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We are a sweet romance.

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As you make room.

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Come on, Jo, last dance, last, Hello world. I'm Jeff Bresler,

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turning on the lights of the make Fully Ballroom and

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welcoming you into my Crystal studio for another program of

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classic big band hits from the nineteen thirties and forties.

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Get ready as I play for you some amazing big

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band jazz, swing, blues, and boogie woogie favorites. Folks, you're

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listening to the Make Believe Ballroom, broadcasting almost continuously since

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nineteen thirty five. Hi friends, thanks for joining me in

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the Crystal studio today for another show featuring seventy eight

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RPM recordings. Fascinating story He's of legendary band leaders, musicians, composers,

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and vocalists of the big band era, as well as

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listeners emails and re quests along the way and speaking

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up along the way. Let's boogie on down the road

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and stop along the way to listen to this.

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In Harlem, there's a little place where everyone goes to

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see the way I wash a woman washes her clothes.

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If you like boogie woogie rhythm, she's gotta be let

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the boogie woogie wash a woman give you a treat.

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On every afternoon, I won the sessions begin and all

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the bus from all the bands come.

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Down and sit in.

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They sit around and knock each other out when.

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They play it while the boogie woogie wash.

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A woman washes all day.

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Roughly ub dub.

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That's just the way she rubs.

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Roughly ub dub.

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That's just the way she scrubs.

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Roughly up dub.

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She wears out all her touch. She rubs and rubs

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her knuckles right on down to the nubs.

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Roughly ub dub.

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That's how she kicks it off.

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Roughly ub dub. She keeps it nice and soft.

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Roughly ub dub.

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Because someone hollers, all scrub me, mama, with a booget beat.

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You really ought to visit there. If you've never been

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it doesn't cost a penny.

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Just come down and walk in.

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If you like boogie woogie rhythm, you'll get a tree.

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He'll let the buget will get wash a woman give

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you the beat.

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It exploded, exploring.

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Leading ing.

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Lady Lady.

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On Columbia Records from nineteen forty one, Scrub Me Mama

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with a boogie beat, written by Don Ray and performed

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by Will Bradley and his orchestra, vocal by drummer Ray McKinley. Now,

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the song we just heard was well. It was a

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follow up to another Don Ray composed Will Bradley and

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Ray McKinley, jem that reached number two on the Billboard Charts.

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Daddy Ain't to the.

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Bar and a little honky Donkey village in Texas. There's

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a guy who plays the best, being by ball. He

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can play, and I ain't the way you like it.

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You part the kandy, Please the best.

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He ain't to the bar.

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Whenny jams, it's the ball.

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He's a daddy of them. All the people gather.

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Brown when he gets on the stand, and when he plays.

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He gets a hand. The rhythm heat places, put the

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cats in the tram. Nobody there, Father's dude dance and

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Wendy jams with the basic guitar.

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They all old, feat Me Daddy into the Bar, A.

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Blink a blank a blank blank blank blank, plunking on

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the kids, A rip a rap a riff, rap rip rap,

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ripping out with ease and Wenny Cham, I'm with the

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basic gutchall that all the world.

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Beat me that into the bar, Oh.

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Beat it ready into the barn.

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Also on Columbia Records, beat Me Daddy Ate to the

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Bar by Will Bradley and his orchestra featuring a Ray

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McKinley vocal with the great Freddy Black playing the eighty eights,

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And that was an extended tune took up both the

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A and B side of that Columbia record, and a

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little boogie woogie to get things underway today on the

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Make Believe Ballroom, Let's play another record, then a listener's email.

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Like a Masters in his chestra present Alice bluegown.

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In my sweet little linest blue gold.

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When I first.

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Wandered down and too time, I was both drown and

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shiny as I felt every eye.

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But in every shop window, my drink passing by than

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in manner on bashom My Raw and the word seemed

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to smile.

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Till I always.

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Adorn my sweet little Ey spoke of was Sweet Little U.

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From Vocalian Records. That was a nineteen nineteen tune revived

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in nineteen forty Alice Blue Gown by Frankie Masters and

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his orchestra with a lovely vocal by Marion Francis, And

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that was a little bit of a cool down from

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my grand boogie woogie opening to the show. Frankie Masters was,

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as you could tell by Alice Blue Gown, a proponent

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of what would you call it? I guess you would

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call it back then it was easy listening music, pleasant

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music with an agreeable vocal here provided by Marion France's

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very nice record. I really enjoyed listening to that, and

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I hope you are agreeable to listening to the rest

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of the show and to this point, enjoying the music

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I am providing for you today in the Make Believe Ballroom.

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I'm going to read the email I promised in a

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few moments, but first I forgot to mention when I

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played the opening song for the program today, scrubbed Me

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Mama with a boogie woogie beat. Don Ray, the composer

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of that piece, provided us with his boogie woogie take

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on an Irish jig called the washer Woman, which goes

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all the way back to the late seventeen hundreds. I

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want to play another song that used the theme of

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the washer Woman. But first, if you have no idea

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what the washer Woman sounds like as its original jig,

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well take a quick lesson. Oh that jack, many of

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you must be saying. Now, let's listen to the King

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sisters take.

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Sure of fine, I engish lady, the poorly and humble

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and Miss Molly O. Brady is not to do grumbles

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she sails to in Washington is just so much fun.

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She never complains when washingt ain't done to Molly in

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love with Murder dot Com when he returns farm has

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beat on the flock. Here's Molly king and over Dada

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and he swings along with.

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The robo dub dug rabada dadut rod bra rabata dab

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dab da dot d rabata dub dub dunrat fa rabata

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dub dub da blasa.

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Moll's busy ring and bugineer singing. Shoot the bo into me.

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Murphyy Boll, Molly that tight pants.

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The bells all golfers, and they ever a comes.

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To try to stop sover to Murphy dot com, shoot,

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she gets on her time because he helps her hang.

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Out the goods of the line.

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To Molly, the fell lost.

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The billy game and there is no reasons the people.

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I'll say, she hangs the Washington on at least day.

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We can't never have.

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That tabletal brain Robin love dot rod rub love dutt

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rub dub dub dut rides from rubber dub dut ba

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bah Molly's busy ring.

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And bagin here sing and look out, you get your finger.

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In the ringer.

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Celia outside Celia dut.

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Dudeli out media guys like you can't you bring around

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the ringer?

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Look be careful, was wasse do ride do rub rub rub.

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Flash flash, Oh boy, wash away you tumble turn them

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into bubble right out of.

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The key thing and I let it go wrong as

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long as you are ring And don't forget this. She's

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in a bottle all the time.

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From Bluebird Records. Back in nineteen thirty nine, the King's

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Sisters with Alvin o'ray and his orchestra with their swinging

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version of the washer Woman that they the Irish washerwoman.

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I'm Jeff Bresler, and you're listening to the one, the only,

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the original Make Believe Ballroom and to reach me, I'm

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Jeff at make Believe Ballroom Radio dot com. That's Jeff

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at MakeBelieve Ballroom Radio dot com. And one person that

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reached out to me was a longtime listener from Cleveland,

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one Dan Rockover, who sent an email that reads, Jeff,

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your show is on here now at two a m.

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I am a dedicated listener, but won't lose sleep over you.

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I now am listening to the Spotify show at my leisure. Uh,

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that's the Spotify podcast. I prefer to have listeners join

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us on the radio. But Dan, I certainly don't want

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you to lose any sleep. He goes on to write,

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on many recent programs, you have told great stories where

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you say that you don't know if it is totally

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true or not. What about a story you are not

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sure about so you don't tell it? And he signs that, Dan, Dan,

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I think I get the gist of what you're writing.

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Let me play a record first from Fats Waller, and

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then a story that probably is embellished or well, who knows.

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Be sure it's true when you say I love you.

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It's a sense you tell alive beings upon have been broken. Yes, yes, yes,

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because these words were spoken.

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You know the words that were spoken.

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It is I love you, I love you, I know you,

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I love you. Yes. But if you break my heart,

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I'll break your join then I die.

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Don't be shure.

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It's true when you say I love you. It's a

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sense to tell a lie. Now get on out there

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and tell you lie?

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What is it?

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People? He gone through?

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What an I love you? Anne?

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I'm from Victor Records. It's a sin to tell a

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lie by Fats Waller and his Rhythm Vocal by Fats,

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recorded in New York City, June the fifth, nineteen thirty six.

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So as the story goes back to the nineteen twenties,

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the late nineteen twenties, Fats was working at a club

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in Chicago, so he finished his set and he headed

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out the stage door. Must have been frightening because as

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he got out the stage door, he was quickly surrounded

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by a number of really tough looking guy and pushed

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into the backseat of a car. So Fats obviously thought

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that he was in real trouble. But instead of being

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brought to a height out or something. The car pulled

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up to the very busy Hawthorne Hotel, which happened to

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be the notorious gangster al Capone's headquarters. It was located

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in Cicero, Illinois, and that's near Chicago. So Fats has

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moved inside where it's all wall of wall, gangsters, women

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in glittering dresses, you get the picture, bottles of champagne,

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all the stuff you would imagine. And at the center

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of the room there was a piano. So al Capone,

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as it ends up, was throwing a birthday party for

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himself and Fats Waller, it appeared, was the surprise guest

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of and some guest of honor, because, as the tale goes,

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at gunpoint he was pushed to the keys. But if

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anyone knew how to turn a bad break into a

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good time, it was certainly Fats Waller. He allegedly sits down,

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rolls into a stride rhythm, and suddenly everybody is captivated

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in the room is all his. The gangsters laughed, the

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crowd dances, al Capone beams and applauds, Drinks flow, money

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rains down, and Fats allegedly keeps the party swinging into

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the early hours of the morning. By the end of

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the night, this quasi kidnapping turned into the best paying

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gig of Fats Waller's life. And if Fats then is

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driven back to his hotel in Chicago, his pockets stuffed

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with cash and stories of al Capone playing in his mind.

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So Dan, the first time I heard this story, actually

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I didn't hear it. I read the story and I

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read it in a book that was written and I

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think I still have the book around somewhere. It was

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written by fat Son, and I'm trying to remember his

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first name, Maurice, Maurice Waller. And I remember, after I

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read it that story, this was a number of years ago,

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I did some research. So I searched the Chicago newspapers

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from the late twenties for a story about this, and

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I googled the police records. I remember I looked at

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the Hawthorne Hotel to see what kind of unusual stories

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came out of the hotel during that era, you know,

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stuff like that thing came up that seemed official to

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verify it that Fats was quasi kidnapped and brought to

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the Hawthorn for al Capone's birthday. Well, you know, over time,

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stories told in retold tend to grow more dramatic, comical,

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and embellished. It is indeed a great story. But on

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a scale of one to ten, i'll give it. I'll

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give it a three. But when it comes to tens,

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this song would not have been the truth in the

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late twenties because it was written by Fats Waller in

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nineteen thirty seven. But I score it a ten because

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I think it seems like something Fats would have played

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for the occasion.

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They have a new expression along old holloway that then

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you went a body at the time, all gage to

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say these things.

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The jumping leaves not.

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A single dime that everything is in for swing. But

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you hear somewhat shouting. It is the John is jumping.

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It's really jumping.

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Coming cats, and check your hats.

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I'm meeting this.

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Johnny is jumping the pianos something, the dancers up up

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and this is smart a small than the heart in fact,

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that John is jumping. Check your weapons at the door,

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be sure to pay your father, burn your leather on

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the floor, grab anybody's daughter. The roof is rocking, the

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neighbors knocking. We're all bumps when the wagon comes. I'm

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meeting Johnny is jumping. Let it see yay, there's the

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nerve bar.

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Yes, ah my, yeah, don't you hear that?

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Rick?

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That's tip wrong.

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Why'd you get that struck? H Why I knock you?

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Do your please?

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What?

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What this gut out of here?

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Get rid of that crystal?

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Get rid of that crystal.

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Yeah, he went over again.

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That's what I'm talking about it.

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I oh man, it's matty ready.

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No, maybe not now I can't come over there right now.

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Yes, they wake my mind.

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Saying now.

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Coming, we're coming.

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The Johnny's jumping's really jumping, even most honors tol us.

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I mean that Johnny's jumping. No time for topping. This

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place is walking again. Get the jumping. Cut the ruck

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I did to Johnny jumping. Listen, get your pipe pingein

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this many in the kitchens?

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Who is that that just came in?

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Just look at the way he's switching off.

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Man, don't mind, I'm in bad.

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I got playing.

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If we go to jail, I did this Johnny jumping.

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Don't maave me right name, no, no.

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No, The classic the joint is jumping. Fats Waller in

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his rhythm recorded on Victor Records back in nineteen thirty seven.

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I'm Jeff Bresler, and you're listening to the weekly edition

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of the Make Believe Ballroom and other email a little

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later on, perhaps two emails from our friend Mexicatani, who

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listens each week in Italy, and if I forgot, thank

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you Dan rock Over for your email about the veracity

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of some big band era stories. Let me play a

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record while I think about any other stories that people

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may think were true but were actually kind of fictacious.

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Recorded in New York City on the first of November

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nineteen thirty nine, Jack Tea Garden and his orchestra with

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Swinging on the Tea Garden Gate via Parlophone Records. So

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I told you before Jack Tea Garden that I would

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think of some other stories that perhaps were embellished and

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not necessarily true. I was at an event a few

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months ago and I was introduced to this guy who

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sold life insurance. And no one can feel more alone

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when you're trapped with someone you know wants to sell

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you something. Actually he wasn't a bad guy. He knew

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that or somebody told him that. I hosted to Make

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Believe Ballroom so as an icebreaker to the I guess

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prelude for his life insurance pitch to show me we

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were bros, he said that Gene Crooper was the first

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drummer to do solos and used as an example Benny

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Goodman Sing Sing Sing, which, by coincidence, I happened to

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play on a recent show. Now, this guy was not

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a big band fan, just well, you know, in the

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mood sing Sing Sing, begin the beginning the standards, that

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was sort of his knowledge of things. So I told

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the guy nicely that that wasn't true about Crouper and

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ran off the names of you know, chickweb Baby, Dodd,

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guys like that, who certainly were on recordings doing solos

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during Crooper's career. So with the theme of embellishment that

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I have been discussing, Crooper's solo in Sing Sing Sing

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certainly wasn't first, but it was the most famous and

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ultimately most commercially successful. So I guess it entered the

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annals of big band and jazz lore as the beginning

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of a drum solos And that's what this insurance guy

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had believed. But there is a happy ending to the story.

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The insurance guy's wife called him over and he said

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he would catch up with me later, which fortunately he

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never did.

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Hing and Lucky laughing and lame on.

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Columbia Records that Drummer's Band by Gene Krupa and his

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Orchestra recorded in New York City July the thirteenth, nineteen

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forty two. Wow, that was one of those late recordings

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right before the devastating musician strike took place, one of

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the first nails in the coffin that unfortunately led to

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the demise of the Big band era. And I'm thinking,

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you know, I just smacked myself on the side of

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the head. It's funny. I'm telling these stories of the

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Big band era effect versus fiction, and I just remembered

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00:40:04.440 --> 00:40:09.719
one that was about this very Make Believe Ballroom. There

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00:40:09.880 --> 00:40:14.519
was an old story that the Make Believe Ballroom, which

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started back in nineteen thirty five, as I usually mentioned

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during the show, really hit its peak in the late

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thirties into the early forties. And it's recorded and actually

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00:40:28.639 --> 00:40:34.079
verified that over twenty five percent of New York's radio

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00:40:34.599 --> 00:40:39.440
audience tuned in to the Martin Block version of this program.

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And that was quite remarkable at the time, as it

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00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:49.800
would be today, just phenomenal numbers. It turned Block into

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a major celebrity. So as the story I want to

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tell you goes, the show was so popular that New

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00:40:58.119 --> 00:41:02.559
York City traffic was said to stop while people were

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00:41:02.679 --> 00:41:05.960
listening to the broadcast of the Make Believe Ballroom. But

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00:41:07.039 --> 00:41:10.199
the image of the entire city of New York halting

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00:41:10.960 --> 00:41:16.159
is almost certainly an exaggeration. But what was true, and

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I think it was written in a Walter Winchell column

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00:41:19.760 --> 00:41:24.039
at the time that Block, Martin Block, when he entered

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00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:29.360
or left the WNW studios in New York, which at

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00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:34.920
the time was located on Fifth Avenue, traffic would slow

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00:41:35.239 --> 00:41:37.760
on the street so folks could get a good look

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at him. He was a massive star, the first true

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00:41:42.239 --> 00:41:47.199
radio disc jockey and a radio legend from the Big

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band era. So that was understandable. So another story that

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got a little bit stretched over the years. And just

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as in aside, the theme song I play each week

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to open the show is titled Make Believe Ballroom and

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it was written by Glenn Miller and Martin Block and

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performed by Glenn and the Orchestra with vocals by the Modernaires.

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It said, and this is a fact also that Glenn

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00:42:20.239 --> 00:42:26.199
Miller actually paid for the recording session of that song himself,

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recognizing the value of having his music associated with Blocks

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Make Believe Ballroom. By nineteen forty, when the song was written,

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Martin Block was so powerful on the radio that he

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could literally make or break a record, so Miller's business

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instincts knew the value of his orchestra being heard to

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open the show each week.

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Natas MMM.

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Glenn Miller and his orchestra's arrangement of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue,

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recorded for Victor Records on July the sixteenth, nineteen forty two,

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and that recording was the last commercial session for Glenn's

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civilian band before he entered the service. I'm Jeff Bresler,

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and I don't think I will ever stop traffic on

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the way out of the Crystal Studio. But I am

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your humble host of the Make Believe Ballroom, as mentioned

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first heard on the air in February of nineteen thirty five,

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and almost continuously since then, minus a few gaps over

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Make Believe Ballroom - 10/17/25 Edition

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