Aug. 15, 2025

Make Believe Ballroom - 8/15/25 Edition

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Show Notes
Transcript

This week's Make Believe Ballroom with Jeff Bressler brings you Classic Big Band Hits from the 30s and 40s -Frank Sinatra turned down for a job, a song that became a gold record 43 years after it was written, World War II tunes, plus many more great songs and stories to cherish and enjoy on this week's program.

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It's make Believe ballroom 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 visualize in your solitude. Your favorite bands are

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on this dance And.

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Mister Miller, what's you're in the mood?

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It's make Believe ballroom time.

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We are a sweet romance is to make the lead bottom.

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Come on, Jill, the last dance Last.

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I'm Jeff Bresler, turning on the lights of the Make

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Believe Ballroom and welcoming you into my Crystal studio for

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another program of classic big band hits from the nineteen

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thirties and nineteen forties. Please get ready as I play

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for you some amazing big band jazz, swing, blues, and

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

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broadcasting almost continuously since nineteen thirty five. Hi, folks, and

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welcome once again this week into the Crystal Studio. I

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have fired up the turntable and I'm going to shall

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we say ignited with well, how about a little jitterbug.

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Dubbed the Jitterbug just a silly look, young and wild

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but lots of style. Is dub the Jitterbug just a

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crazy mug drinks liquor. By the joke, he's alive with

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lots of jive. Dubbed the Jitterbug. They threw him out

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of school because all he learned was tiger ray.

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He never knew the Golden rule.

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The boy how he can shame? Dug the Jitterbug cuts

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a wicked rug.

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It ain't no shame.

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He's not the blame. He's dubbed the j s.

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Blo.

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He studied to be a lawyer, but he never got

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a kiss. Every time they look for that cat and court,

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he'd be do win the Paddy Weiss. It's gonna talk

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about it. Dub the Jitterbug cuts a wicked rugg. It

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ain't no shame. He's not to blame. He's Doug the Jitterbug.

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On Decca Records from March the twenty ninth, nineteen thirty nine,

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Doug the Jitterbug, Louis Jordan and his Timpany five Let

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me play one more then, Perhaps the greatest crooner of

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all time turned down by one of the greatest big

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band Leaders of All Time did from Decca Records. For

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Dancers Only, written by Cy Oliver and performed by Jimmy

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Lunceford and his orchestra, recorded in New York City, June

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the fifteenth, nineteen thirty seven, and No Friends, You're Not

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Crazy for Dancers Only does share a thematic link with

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the song Christopher Columbus because a portion of that tune,

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I guess was indeed inspired by or derived from the

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swing tune hit Christopher Columbus. I'm not Christopher Columbus but

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Jeff Bressler, and you're listening to the weekly edition of

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The Make Believe Ballroom. Dave Garaway Nay might sound familiar

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to you. He was a brilliant radio and TV announcer

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and host. Well actually, if I'm not wrong, Dave was

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the first ever host of NBC's Today Show. He was

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also the first host of NBC Radio network's program Monitor.

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Some of you might recall the program Monitor was a

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national weekend show being by NBC Radio to their affiliates,

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and each week it featured news, sports, human interest stories,

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a lot of celebrity in political interviews. So the cut

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I'm about to play, I think was just pre Monitor

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but it featured Dave garviewing Frank Sinatra, who on the

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radio made a rather startling admission.

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Glenn Miller's band was touring across the country big one

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night stands one after another. When they were doing that,

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there was a young fellow named Frank Sinatra who was

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also beginning to get a whole on the nation's hut. Frank,

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where were you when you first heard the Miller band? Well, Davis,

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as best I can.

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Remember, I first had the.

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Middle Band sometime between thirty eight and thirty nine, and

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I was in New Jersey at the time. I was

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segueing between trying to make a buck here and there

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and Glenn first out of that new sounding band that

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he had, and I believe at the time he was

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at the Glen Island Casino. Yeah, what were you doing

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yourself professionally? About the professionally, I used the word loosely.

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I was working in a place called the Rustic Cabin.

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It was a little saloon on the Route nine W

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in New Jersey, just beyond the George Washington Bridge out

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still there, we had a good look at the riviera

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where all the big stars were working.

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And I was getting in.

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Those days what is commonly known as coffee and cake money,

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except that the cake was getting very expensive in those days,

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so I settled for cream, cheese and nothing date sandwiches. Rag,

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Do you remember any interesting bits and connections.

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With the band?

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The first time I heard the Glenn Miller band, I.

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Walk up to him.

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I said, Glenn, I want a job. I really did,

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but he was busy hiring a ray Ebie at the time,

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and he said.

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You'll call me.

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I'll call you in essence, I mean, not seriously. But

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I did get to meet Glenn quite early in my career,

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and we became great friends as a matter of fact,

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and there was no particular incident really that's too exciting,

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except that every time I heard the band, I got

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a big boot out of it. And I still do

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want to hear some of the records that they made

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in those days.

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I mean so.

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In this brief nineteen fifty four radio segment with Dave Garaway,

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Frank Sinatra revealed that he was turned down for a

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job as vocalist by Glenn Miller when Miller was forming

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his new band in nineteen thirty eight. That is something

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not included to my knowledge, in many of the biographies

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written about Sinatra. Shortly after Frank got dissed, Harry James

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asked him to join his band. And I'm going to

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discuss that in just a moment. But during the Sinatra

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interview the Garaway piece, Frank mentioned the Glen Island Casino

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and Miller playing there. Glenn was very fond of the

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Glen Island Casino, which was located in New Rochelle, New York,

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and he honored the venue with this tune.

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Anything Anything, the.

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Things from Bluebird Records, Glen Island Special written and arranged

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by Eddie Durham, Glenn Miller and his orchestra, recorded in

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New York City, July the twenty sixth, nineteen thirty nine. So,

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as I mentioned earlier, Sinatra, after getting dissed so to speak,

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by Miller, landed his first Sinatra's first big job as

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a vocalist with Harry James. Back in nineteen sixty eight,

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Harry was interviewed on the radio by a DJ well

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a DJ that many of our Philadelphia listeners might recall,

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and I'm talking about Ken Garland who was on WIP Radio.

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And during that interview, Harry James reminisced about how he

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discovered Frank and why he allowed Sinatra to leave his

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band in order to join the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, where Frank,

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as we all know, really made his mark.

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The legend girl was talking about hearing people that you

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were lying in a hotel room and turned on the

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radio and herd a remark from the rustic Cabin trip

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in Englewood something, or rather New Jersey, and a singer

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you liked pretty good had hired for the band, and

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he was doing fairly well. And one day he came

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to you and said, Harry, I got an offer from

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Tommy Dorsey and I want to go, And you said,

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go with my blessings. What do you think would have

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happened to the history of the world if you would have.

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Said no the flanks or not?

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Well, I tell you this is quite a story, because

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it is true that we were playing at the Paramount Theater,

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New York, and I heard this remote and I went

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out the next night and I went out to hear him,

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and the manager I didn't want to let him sing

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because he said he's the MC's I just let him

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sing a song once in a while, But actually he's

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there's the MC and Arson show. And he came over

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to the table and sat down. The next day, came

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down to the Paramount Theater and came with us and

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unpeteen dollars a week. And unfortunately, most of the weeks

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we couldn't afford to pan the seventy five because we

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weren't making that much money. Yeah, and at the time,

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his wife was just about two or three months await

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and having the child, Nancy, And he said, as it's

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kind of tough, he's in the hospital, bills and everything.

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He said, I got a chance to go with Tommy.

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He's gonna pay me one hundred and fifty dollars a week.

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Wow.

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So I said, well, that sounds wonderful to see if

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you can get me on with you. But he still

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owes me five months at seventy five hours a week.

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And so I tease him and I say, okay, Frank,

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come on, you're gonna sit in the bend. And says, okay, boss,

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anytime you want it, let's go.

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I gotta high have the quote here. It says I'm

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ready anytime, just call me and I'll be there on

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the stand.

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That's a right, wouldn't I tell you. He's just the

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kind of a guy who would do it too. Believe me, really, yes, sir,

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He's a great.

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Man, great story, and now a great tune by Harry

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James and Frank Sinatra.

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In the moon hangs low, there's a handsome gone every night.

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He seems so happy, So his lady love came here.

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In a manner, so buffy, sable.

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He repee Ti sadany, and his heart beat so forty samore.

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When she raises herbanies and the shade.

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Chur Rabin, chiverrabin, chiriverribin, cheery rabin.

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He waits for her, eats nighe beneath her balcony.

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Chiverybin.

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He begged to hold her tide, but nor'es she all agreed.

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Chur ribin. She throws a rose and blows a kid

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from up a bar.

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Chur birby, chur bby, churre burbon. There's so in law,

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churburb chur verb, churre verb, there's song in law.

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On Columbia Records, cheer a vera Ben by Harry James

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and his orchestra, vocal by Francis Albert Sinatra, recorded in

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Los Angeles, November the eighth, nineteen thirty nine. I'm Jeff Bresler,

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and you're listening to the one, the only, the original

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Make Believe Ballroom broadcast almost continuously since nineteen thirty five.

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Let me play another record, then we will go to

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a listener's email.

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Yeah, the man in the bad.

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M Boom boom boom b.

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M sayle.

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From the.

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Rose from Columbia, Northwest Passage by Woody Herman and his orchestra,

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recorded March the first, nineteen forty five. A few weeks

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back on the show, I discussed how Fletcher Henderson, the

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great band leader, pianist, arranger and composer, hooked up with

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Benny Goodman to sell him arrangement when Benny was in

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need for a radio program, the radio show Let's Dance

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that he was doing at the time, and that sale

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of arrangements ultimately formed a great collaboration between Benny and Fletcher.

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I also mentioned that, to my knowledge, Fletcher Henderson, who

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I said played the piano, never appeared on a record

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or radio program with the Goodman Band. So our avid listener,

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Max Kitani, who lives in Italy, he did his magic

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and he sent me this email. It reads hi, Jeff.

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During the last edition of the Ballroom, I heard a

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listener asking if Benny Goodman and Fletcher Henderson ever played together.

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I found a radio program from nineteen thirty nine in which,

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according to what is announced, Fletcher was at the piano.

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So on one file I put the two tracks sent

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for you Yesterday and pick a Rib. Henderson makes the

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arrangements and plays the piano. I hope it satisfies the

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curiosity of all of the listeners. Thank you very much

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for your kind attention and pest regards from Max. Well,

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Thanks Max, I have downloaded the file you sent me

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two back to back Goodman and Henderson's from a radio program,

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a program that I don't know the name of. The

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two songs featured are sent for you Yesterday and pick

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a Rib.

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The next number you'll hear the band play is an

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old blue sent to you yesterday, and here you come today.

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Hey Benny. If that's the blues, what happened to the

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words on it?

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Well?

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In our version of sent for you Yesterday, we've we've

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loved the words bert and concentrated on the tune. And

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now you'll hear Pletcha Henderson at the piano cuts Mondelo saxophone.

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Diggy Ellman is the comped a seat and so yesterday, Hey,

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here we go.

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The Acha Henderson's piano introduction is a signal for the

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joint to start jumping as the band moves into pick

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a rib a real stop tune of courses by Jimmy

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Maxwell on the trumpet, puts my Dulla on the Sackson

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Benny on clarinet, pick a rib.

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As different.

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The fack.

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Thank you Max for that MP three you put together

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featuring both Benny Goodman and Fletcher Henderson. To reach me

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from Italy or anywhere in between, I'm Jeff at Make

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

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Ballroom Radio dot com. And folks, speaking of anywhere in between,

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our beloved producer emeritus, Lenny from down the Block will

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not be here with his record Pick of the Week

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this week. He and his wife Cookie, they are literally

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somewhere in between. Lenny just got back from a cruise

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a few weeks ago, I think I mentioned that on

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the air, and he is now gallivanting with Cookie on

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their annual RV caravan tour. Each year, Lenny and a

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bunch of friends who own RV's while they hit the

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road as a group a motley crew they are, I

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guess from what Lenny told me, they are headed to

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Texas this year. So the good life for Lenny and

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Cookie as I sit in my one room basement apartment

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with a light bulb swinging from the ceiling, Well not

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really the case, but Lenny does indeed lead the good life,

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and for you, Lenny and you're caravanning? Shall I say, cohorts,

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how about Duke Ellington's caravan.

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Dent in.

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Your independent you ver?

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I mean, how about me? But don't all men me,

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I'm not a don't tell one nothing my mother.

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On Master Records, Caravan by Duke Ellington and his famous orchestra,

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recorded in New York City, May the fourteenth, nineteen thirty seven.

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How about you say I'll play one more from the Duke?

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Then the first time a song was ever recorded. I

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know you all like that segment. Then a recording from

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a listener with a cool request, gim me.

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Um meeting. I got to be a right, I gotta

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hang out in the room.

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I got to be a rod. Gotta so my job,

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will I rule?

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I was so untrusting, No, im super ducky that dangled again?

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So can I'll be you? I got to be a

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rub swing on in the room.

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He really that gooding lamp boom lam lamb rab I

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gonna be a room, Ye.

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Gotta lamboo lamb l m bad, I gotta be. We're swinging.

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I've got to be a rugcutter by Duke Ellington and

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his famous orchestra. That one from Brunswick Records, recorded in

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nineteen thirty seven. Vocal bye. I think the vocal on

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that one. I don't have it written in front of me,

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but it sounded like Ivy Anderson. I came across the

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record I am about to play last week, and well,

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it's really reaching deep into the well. As you know,

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this show, The Make Believe Ballroom is dedicated to the

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music of the nineteen thirties and forties, but occasionally I

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delve into records that are a little older, say in

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the nineteen twenties, and sometimes a little newer. Sometimes I'll

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play a song from the early fifties. So this record,

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the first time this song was ever recorded was back

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in nineteen twenty seven, And you folks know I like

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to play first time ever recorded records.

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Oohne, I'm down hornamed thought am ho we have hormimed.

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I love you dial with we on the why I'm

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so lonely? I'm writing you only to see your parafor me?

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Are your long time tonight? Do you miss me tonight?

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Are you sorry?

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We do respin up? Stop your memory? Stray upright timorday?

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When I kick you and call you sweet? To the

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chair in your parlor team empty? And the do you

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gain your doors had pig for me? He is your heart?

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Steel we pain? Shall I call them? See you're a

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far long time?

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I hold we're.

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Afection the fund recollection a romance thirties now gone by,

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And often I wonder if I'm made up? Londer fine

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letting you fit me good? Far to the car in

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your parlor seem empty? And then you gave up your

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golf Anti army is your heart? With pain?

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Trial Longe.

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From the Harmony label Are You Lonesome Tonight? Vocal by

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Charles Hart, recorded May the ninth, nineteen twenty seven. The

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are rolling Charles Hart not very famous, but the song

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certainly went on to be some forty three years later.

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As the story goes, Colonel Tom Parker, who many of

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you know was Elvis Presley's mentor and manager, well his

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wife Marion Mott her favorite song of all time was

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Are You Lonesome Tonight?

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Now?

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Parker cajoled RCA Victor to have Elvis record the tune.

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Elvis liked the song and he did record it, but

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its release was actually delayed by RCA Victor executives. They

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thought the song didn't fit Elvis's style at the time. Well,

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lo and behold, when Are You Lonesome Tonight? Was released?

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Finally released in November of nineteen sixty, it was an

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immediate success. It topped Billboard's Pop Singles chart, and it

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reached number three on the R and B chart. A

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month after the song's release atopped the UK Singles chart.

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Presley's version became a gold record for a million copies

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sold in the United States in nineteen eighty three, and

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it also ended up being upgraded to a two time

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platinum record for two thousand sales in nineteen ninety two.

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So a song without much fanfare from wayback in nineteen

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twenty seven, performed by a little known vocalist one Charles Hart,

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went on to become one of Elvis's most beloved hits.

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I'm Jeff Bresler and you're listening to the make Believe Ballroom,

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and I now want you to listen to a voicemail

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we received last week.

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Hello Jeff Bresler, my name is Tom and I'm originally

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from Long Island and listen to Make Believe Ballroom on

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00:45:56.119 --> 00:46:00.360
WNW back in the seventies with my mom. The host

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00:46:00.440 --> 00:46:04.760
at the time was Willy B. Greetings to Dylan, and

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I hope he continues to familiarize himself with the big

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band era of music. I think he would be surprised

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at how the big band music is threaded in and

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around World War Two. It may be worth it, Jeff

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sometime to highlight warsongs, you know, like don't Sit under

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the Apple Tree, Boogie Woogie, Bugle Boy, I'll be home

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00:46:26.280 --> 00:46:29.519
for Christmas. We'll meet again Apple Blossom time, you know,

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songs like that. Keep up the good work, guys, and

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I'll keep listening.

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Tom, thanks so much for your voicemail. I hold you

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in high esteem as one of the few brave and

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00:46:41.039 --> 00:46:45.800
bold listeners who have actually left a voicemail instead of

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00:46:45.840 --> 00:46:50.440
an email before I proceed, though, you can leave a

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00:46:50.599 --> 00:46:55.760
voicemail by going to Make Believe Ballroom podcast dot com.

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That's Make Believe Ballroom Podcast dot com That is where

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00:47:00.480 --> 00:47:04.360
I archive passed radio programs in this series. If you

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00:47:04.440 --> 00:47:06.679
go to the homepage and click on the microphone in

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the lower right corner of the screen, you can leave

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00:47:10.360 --> 00:47:14.039
a voicemail that I will certainly be delighted to read

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live on the air. Now, Tom to your request to

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edgumicate Dylan, the snotty kid who who twenty one years

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of age, is gaining an appreciation of the Big Band era. Dylan,

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as many of you know, does a gaming podcast here

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in the Crystal Studio radio complex and heard this show

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to make believe, Ballroom piped through the halls as I

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broadcast it, and he came into the studio a while

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back and told me how much he actually enjoyed the music.

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So Tom Dylan actually is away for several weeks. He's

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working in a camp as a quote unquote gaming ca counselor. Now,

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when I worked in camp, you could be a waterfront counselor,

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or a bunk counselor, perhaps or a sports or nature

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a counselor. But I don't think there was any hint

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back then that sometime in the future there would be

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a gaming counselors, unless one thought back then perhaps if

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you were a gaming counselor, you gave strategies on games

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like battleship and Monopoly. But Dylan is one a gaming counselor,

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and not to delay your request, Tom, I sent Dylan

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not a care package of candy and snacks, but an

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MP three containing the following World War Two songs, and

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I asked him to provide me with his two favorites

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to play today. I sent him a Boogie Woogie bugle Boy,

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I'll be home for Christmas. Don't sit under the apple

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tree vera Lynz will again apple blossom time. Those were

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your mentions, Tom. I also included to accentuate the positive

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by the Andrew sisters and being Crosby, sort of a

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home front morale song as well. I sent Dylan Gi

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jive and bell bottom trousers. Now Dylan must be bored

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at camp because he sent me his top two favorites

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pretty quickly. Might be snotty, but he is a responsible lad.

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And now for you, Tom and audience, World War Two

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Make Believe Ballroom - 8/15/25 Edition

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