Oct. 24, 2025

Make Believe Ballroom - 10/24/25 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: Two Bandleaders are better than one, some bands that performed at the legendary Onyx Club, tracing a Glenn Miller song, plus many more great records and stories to cherish and enjoy on this week's broadcast.

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It's make Believe ballom time. 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 Belief ballroom time and free to everyone. It's

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no time to friend your Dalis said bombs. Close your

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eyes and visual lize in your solitude.

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Your favorite bands are on this stance, and mister Miller

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w you in the boot.

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It's make Believe Ballroom time.

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We are a sweet romance as you make.

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Come on, Jos dast.

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Hello world, I'm Jeff Presler, turning on the lights of

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the Make Believe Ballroom me and welcoming you into my

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Crystal studio for another program of classic big band hits

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from the nineteen thirties and forties. Please get ready as

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I play for you some amazing big band jazz, swing, blues,

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and boogie woogie favorites. Folks, you're listening to the Make

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Believe Ballroom, broadcasting almost continuously since nineteen thirty five. My friends,

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and thanks for joining me in the Crystal studio today

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for another show featuring seventy eight RPM recordings along with

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fascinating stories of legendary band leaders, musicians, composers, and vocalists.

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Well at least I think they're fascinating, but I'll leave

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that up to you. Why don't we start with one

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one of those fascinating stories? Why did I even say that?

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There was an interesting collaboration that took place between nineteen

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thirty five and thirty eight when an orchestra was formed

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by lyricist Eddie DeLange. Eddie started the band and then

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quickly realized he needed help with arranging, so he turned

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to composer and arranger Will Hudson. And what Eddie did

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was offer him a full partnership in the orchestra in

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return for his arrangement services. And that partnership and the

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way it was structured, resulted in great popularity for the duo.

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They recorded more than fifty records and they appeared at

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over two hundred ball dates in addition to hotel appearances.

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So let's play a couple of records from this dynamic

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swing duo that became known as the Hudson Delaang Orchestra

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on Brunswick Records. We just heard Magnolia by the Hudson

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Delang Orchestra, recorded in New York City, made the twenty seventh,

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nineteen thirty seven. So as you heard Hudson Delang. Well,

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they had what could be best described I guess you

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would describe them as a gentle swing band, very nice sound,

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two talented band leaders and songwriters, and Will as an arranger.

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So with that combination you would figure the band would

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have had greater longevity than the four years that they

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were in existence. Well, unfortunately, the partnership between Hudson and

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de Lang began to strain due to differences in personality

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and direction, so eventually, in early nineteen thirty eight, they

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dissolved the Hudson Delang Orchestra. There was a big blow

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to fans, but both guys, Will Hudson and Eddie Delang

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after the split, remained successful, equally successful both songwriters and bandleaders.

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Let me play one more from Will and Eddie sa

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via Brunswick Records. Midnight at the Onyx, written and arranged

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by Will Hudson, performed by the Hudson Delang Orchestra, recorded

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in New York City, November the twenty third, nineteen thirty six.

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So the title of the song I just played Midnight

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at the Onyx refers to Manhattan's famed a nineteen thirties

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and forties jazz spot, The Onyx Club, which was a

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former well, it was a former speakeasy, located a few

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different areas of Manhattan, but finally settling on West fifty

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second Street. Now, I discussed on past programs the history

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of fifty second Street, where both sides of the street

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were packed with jazz clubs. The street was nicknamed Swing

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Street as a matter of fact, come to think of it,

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if you were with us last week, I played a

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song by Dolly Dawn and her Dawn Patrol which was

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an homage to fifty second Street. Now, I can only

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assume but probably Will Hudson and Eddie DeLange while working

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in New York. They recorded in New York and often

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played at the Terrorist Room of the New York Or Hotel.

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Probably one night after a recording session or after a

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hotel gig, Will and Eddie might just have headed over

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to the Onyx Club to get something to eat, eaton,

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listen to some fine music. And that is why they

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paid homage to the Onyx Club with Midnight at the Onyx. Now,

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Larry Clinton and I told this story on a previous show,

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wrote his very popular song Dipsy Doodle on an Onyx

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club menu one night when he was at the club.

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The Onyx actually got its name due to its black

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onyx colored bar. The club, as I mentioned, began as

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a speakeasy during Prohibition, but it went legitimate in nineteen

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thirty four and became a jazz club, and unlike Ballroom's,

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performances at the Onyx were more small group, intimate, jazz oriented,

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and the club quickly became and remained a magnet for

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musicians hanging out in midtown after a big your band

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gigs like Hudson DeLange and Larry Clinton did frequent visitors

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to the Onyx Club. Why don't we take some time

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to listen to a few of the better known small

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jazz performers who graced the Onyx Club with their music.

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Why don't we start. Let me pull up my Onyx

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playlist here. Why don't we start with one of my favorites,

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stuph Smith.

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It ain't right to do what you do with me.

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It ain't right, so don't be a true me. It

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ain't right, So bad, mama, I'm talking. It ain't nothing

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that you handed out to me.

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It ain't not not don't start you shout to me.

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It ain't love so bad? Fi fair well, Oh goodbye?

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Now I go on, but what the news?

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You have killed my dole and goose from my amor

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mothers come to devil, do nothing for me.

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It ain't fined, bay tho, it ain't fight.

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No, no, Mama, don't do that.

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You know where they right there?

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Go for it.

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As we just heard, it ain't right one of a

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string of records that Stuff and his Onyx Club Band

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recorded for Vocalian Records Back in nineteen thirty six, when

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the Onyx Club became a jazz venue after Prohibition, Stup

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Smith became one of the featured headliners, and his group

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Stup Smith and his Onyx Club Boys that we just heard,

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served for a time as the official house band. I'm

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Jeff Presler and you're listening to the one, the only,

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the original Make Believe Ballroom, and I'm currently playing the

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seventy eight RPM records of some jazz greats of the

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thirties and forties who were regulars on the stage at

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the Onyx Club on fifty Second Street in Manhattan. Here

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now is a record from one one of the greatest

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jazz pianists of all time, and he found his first

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regular work at the old Onyx Club. Many art Tatum

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and his swingsters Body and Soul, recorded in Los Angeles

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back in nineteen thirty seven. Art Tatum during his early

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Onyx Club appearances. Believe it or not, Art Who, as

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I mentioned earlier, was to go on to be one

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of the greatest jazz pianists of all time back then,

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was only sometimes brought in as an intermission pianist and

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heat play between the sets of these Spirits of Rhythm,

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one of the club's early headliner groups. And why were

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they a headliner group because they had a lot of talent.

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And you can hear this talent on the record. I

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am about to play.

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I've got rhythm, You've got rhythm. I've got my gam

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who laughs.

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Plenty that on.

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I've got Daisy in green Pastor. I've got my.

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Gal who las.

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Old man fellow.

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I don't find him.

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You won't find him round my door. I've got dark lights,

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I've got sweet trees.

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I've got my gam who laugh at anything anything more.

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I don't let me try.

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I didn't mean not to dry.

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I don't never cry.

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Not that's not nothing.

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Letter h that's nothing, nothing better, something dr that's not

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not better, nothing that I nothing A little at not

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how do you go?

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How do I go?

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Get a guy I love not th I I let him,

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let him, let him better, let him, no, let let

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up the little let us, but let let that learn,

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not learn other letter.

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Perfect, I said I. I tut not loud. Why should

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I stud.

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Old man trouble?

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I don't mind him. You won't mind him, no, miele,

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I said I.

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On Parlophone Records recorded in New York City, October twenty fourth,

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nineteen thirty three, the Five Spirits of Rhythm with I

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Got Rhythm, and that was the first record ever recorded

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by the Five Spirits of Rhythm. And you heard Leo

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Watson as the lead vocalist and scat master on that one.

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I might not be a scat master or have great rhythm,

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but I am Jeff Bresler, and I have records to

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play due to the fact that I am the host

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of the Make Believe Ballroom, and that is what we

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do here each week, play the music of the legends

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of the Big Band. Arin. Thanks for joining me today

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in the Crystal studio where I am playing. Well, it's

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really turning into a little mini alumni reunion of sorts.

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I'm playing some wonderful small group jazz musicians who played

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frequently at the Onyx Club on fifty Second Street in

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New York City. Now, how about a little trumpet.

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Lazy y y me.

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On Decca Records, recorded in New York City on November

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the eleventh, nineteen forty. We just heard Hot Lips Page

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in his band with the song titled South Now. Hot

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Lips Page made his mark on the Onyx Club in

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the nineteen forties. Hot Lips loved all the clubs on

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fifty second Street, and he loved them so much, and

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he hung out on the street so frequently that musicians

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said you could almost pick a night any night and

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hear Hot Lips somewhere on the block playing his trumpet.

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The Onyx Club was one of his favorite bandstands, and

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Hot Lips had said during an interview was because of

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its reputation for showcasing quote unquote both hot soloists and vocalists.

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We just heard the great Hot Lips Page. I have

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a bunch more on the playlist of Onyx Club alumni,

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but let me play. Let's see, I'll play two more

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for you, find folks. I said that Hot Lips Page

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commented on how we liked the Onyx because of their

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hot soloists and vocalists. Now, one of the greatest vocalists

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of the era appeared at the club. I'm talking about

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Mildred Bally. Mildred loved the Onyx, and the Onyx loved her.

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Having Mildred Bally there gave the Onyx added prestige. She

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was one of the most popular female jazz singers of

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the nineteen thirties. Alongside Well, I would put her alongside

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Billie Holiday and Ivy Anderson. Mildred sang at the Onyx,

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often usually with the John Kirby group in the Well

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in the late nineteen thirties. Let me choose one by

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Mildred for you. Yeah, I like this one.

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You told me that you loved me true, and I

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believe in you.

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You broke your bowel.

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Now somehow things I'm always glue. But they'll come a

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day when you're far away.

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You sit alone and cried for me.

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You say some of days that have gone by, some

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days to read heart. You may be sorry all what

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you've done, you high poor heart.

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You may regret.

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The vowel you broke, and the things you did made

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us drift apart.

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You'll having now I cast be how the weary blue.

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Will ever come to you?

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What you know?

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How shall you reap? What you read will make you weep?

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Some days sweet.

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Are come they street hears.

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You may be sorry, but what you've done with Tom

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your horror.

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You may regrets.

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The ball you.

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Rogas have, the thing you did that maye.

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Us dripped apart.

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You're happy now and you can't see how the weary blue.

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You know?

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Oh yeah, you read.

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Mildred Bailey on Vocalion Records from nineteen thirty five with

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Someday Sweetheart. I said I would play two more for you.

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We just played Mildred Bailey. So how about one from

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a frequent visitor to the Onyx Club. He wasn't a

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recurring presence like a Hot Lips page, but he was

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another pianist, certainly on the same orbit and same level

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as our Tatum, and he played at the Onyx Club

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whenever he had a chance. I'm talking about the great

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Eddie Wilson. I'm from the Keystone Transcriptions Teddy Wilson on

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the piano with his rendition of Sunday recorded in nineteen

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thirty nine. Friends, it was my pleasure during this last

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segment to talk about and play some music from some

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of the great musicians who loved to play on fifty

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Second Street in Manhattan and more specifically at the Long

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Gone Onyx Club. I'm not long gone, at least I

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hope not. But either way, I'm Jeff Wrestler and you're

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listening to the Make Believe Ballroom where I now want

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to talk about the evil Lucian of his song, specifically

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a Glenn Miller song. Back in nineteen thirty five, Glenn

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composed an instrumental piece that he called Miller's Tune. Now,

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I've talked on this program in the past about a

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gentleman named Joseph Schillinger. He was not everyone's cup of tea,

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that's for sure. He was a little strange in his

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musical thought process, to say the least. So in nineteen

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thirty five, Miller was studying with Joseph, who, by way

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of introduction, was a Ukrainian born quote unquote music theorist

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who believed you could write music strangely enough, with mathematics, Yes, mathematics,

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using geometry, permutations, charge arts, and graphics. I told you

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he was kind of weird. Now, most musicians, although some

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did become disciples of a Schillinger. Most musicians, though, thought

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it was too complicated or too strange to study with him.

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But Glenn Miller he took it to heart. So Cylinger

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taught him how to spread harmonies out like a blueprint,

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and in the instance of the song that Miller had written,

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that blueprint had clarinet's soaring on top, saxophones fanned out

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beneath all in precise intervals. Well, that's the sound you

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hear in a number of Miller tunes. So for this

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composition that Miller wrote, Miller's tune that some say was

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actually a homework assignment from Schillinger, you heard a class

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ironnett lead floating over four saxophones moving in a smooth

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parallel motion. So instead of a brassy shout, Miller, following

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the blueprint got a dreamy halo of sound, which was

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scientific calculated, but it did manufacture what would become an

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unforgettable melody. Miller was very happy with the results, so

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Glenn pitched his composition. The music he wrote was then

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used for a song titled Now I Lay Me Down

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to Weep, with the lyrics by Eddie Hayman and initially

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sung by Al Bowley. Al Bowley minus the Raynobel Orchestra.

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The tune then had a few other iterations. It was

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adapted into a song called Gone with the On with

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lyrics by George Simon. Then it moved on to become

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called The Wind in the Trees with lyrics by Mitchell Parrish.

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But in nineteen thirty nine, after writing the song in

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thirty five and having it kicked around for a few years,

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the song finally found its final home with his Glenn

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Miller's own orchestra. And what song was it? A Moonlight

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Serenade by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, recorded on Bluebird

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Wrecks April fourth, nineteen thirty nine, a song that had

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a weird beginning that went on to become Glenn Miller's

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theme and one of the most iconic songs of the

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big band era. Now. When Bluebird released the record, it

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was on the B side of a disc that featured

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this song as the premiere, a side offering.

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M can.

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Really Sunrise serenade by Glenn Miller and his orchestra. The

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Frankie Carl written to moon climbed to number two on

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the weekly Your Hit Parade charts, but Moonlight Serenade quickly

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outshone Sunrise Serenade in popularity and was reissued by Bluebird

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as the A side, with Sunrise Serenade moving over to

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the B side. And how you may wonder did Moonlight

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Serenade get its name after going through all those other

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iterations of names. Well, the powers that be at RCA

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Bluebird figured that the A side was Sunrise Serenade and

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it would only be natural to call the B side

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Moonlight Serenade. So, folks, that's how Moonlight Serenade evolved into

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one of the finding songs of the Swing era.

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Sing and Sing and then.

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Anything recorded in New York City on February fourth, nineteen

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forty Jay and Sam and his Top hatters Blues in

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the Groove from Brunswick Records. You know, during the playing

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of Blues in the Groove and talking before about Glenn

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Miller made me think of my old high school band teacher,

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band leader, mister Stein. He used to tell us this

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Glenn Miller's story. Another one of those stories where I

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really don't know if it was true or not. I've

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heard different versions, but nevertheless, if we were having a

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bad rehearsal, like a sloppy rehearsal, missing notes and stuff.

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Stein would always say that Glenn Miller demanded absolute precision.

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Miss a note, and it wasn't just embarrassing. It costs

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your money. He told us. Miller find musicians twenty five

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cents for every mistake. And I was always in fear

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Stein would find us and I'd lose my pizza money.

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We stopped with the guys for pizza after school. Certainly

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a traumatic band experience at the hands of mister Stein.

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See the pretty apple top of the dreams.

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Higher up the sweeter it drows tacking through, got to

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see up under co See the pretty penhouse.

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Compoperable, higher up the higher rent coals.

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Get that job.

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Don't be your goot Up on your toes, very climb Brook.

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To come through with her veil, but damn sing clow.

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Look up to some rail nail like that of stam Ale.

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See the pretty lady top up the cup.

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You want to know where the windows?

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Then, my boney, you'd better house under your.

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Toes up.

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From Brunswick Records, Ruby Newman and his Orchestra On your

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Toes with the Buddy Clark Vocal, recorded March the eleventh,

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nineteen thirty six. In New York City. And now as

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I peer at the big bull of a clock here

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on the wall in the Crystal Studio, I realize we are.

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Yes, we are.

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We're totally out of time. Thanks for joining me today.

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Make Believe Ballroom is broadcast to our affiliates across the

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USA and in the United Kingdom by the Public Radio

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Exchange PRX, the PACIFICA Network, and Global Community Radio, as

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well as independently distributed to many stations directly from the

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offices of the Crystal Studio. To reach me, I'm Jeff

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at MakeBelieve Ballroom Radio dot com. That's Jeff and MakeBelieve

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Ballroom Radio dot Com. And folks, Once our show's clear

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00:56:57.039 --> 00:57:01.880
our radio affiliates, they're placed in archive and podcast form.

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You could go to MakeBelieve Ballroom dot com. MakeBelieve Ballroom

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00:57:06.440 --> 00:57:11.039
dot Com to here. Over two hundred past programs in

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00:57:11.480 --> 00:57:15.760
this series, So friends, until next week. This has been

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Jeff Bresler