Aug. 29, 2025

Make Believe Ballroom - 8/29/25 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 - a second string band that was anything but second best, a crooner of the 1930s whose life ended much too soon, Lester Young's clarinet, a strange radio remote - plus many more great records and stories to cherish and enjoy on this week's program.

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It's make Believe Ballroom 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.

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And vis you lie in your solitude.

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Your favorite bands are on this dance and mister Miller,

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but you're in the wood.

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It's make Believe Ballroom time.

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We are a sweet romance. You make Bob, Come on

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Jo Last Das Last, Hello World.

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I'm Jeff Presler, 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. Get ready as I play for

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

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

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broadcasting almost continuously since nineteen thirty five and high folks,

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welcome once again into my Crystal studio for another edition

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of the Make Believe Ballroom. And to get the festivities underway,

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how about one of the greatest drummers of all time.

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There's a boy down on a street, plays the drums

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wids that you feet. You cannot control a feat when

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you heel and drummer boy in the morning.

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When you wait, you can't hear him.

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Take a break till the whole street starts to shake

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when they heel and drum.

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Boy ing bang, ding dang.

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He don't nimble all the stimble ping bangs ing bang

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when he played them, he just slays them.

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All your troubles fly away.

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Every day is a happy day.

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Everything will be okay when you hear the drummer bar play.

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Gather round all you chumps, watch the cats, pillows, drums,

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swing it brother, beat that hide, take us on a

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divon ride.

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This is what the doctorscribes for case of chips and

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umber boy, please give out.

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On the.

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From Okay Records an aptly named song drummer Boy by

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Gene Krupa and his orchestra vocal by Irene Day, recorded

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in Chicago, August six, nineteen forty. Let me take a

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few minutes here to talk about the lyricist of that song,

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drummer Boy. He was a gentleman named Arthur Freed, and

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he had the unique professional role in his life.

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It was a dual role.

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He was both an accomplished lyricist as we just heard,

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and also a high powered movie producer. Arthur, early in

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his career, met Minnie Marx name might sound familiar to you.

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That's because she was the mother of the Marx Brothers.

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She took a liking to Freed the first time she

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ever met him, and as also mother and manager of

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the Marx Brothers, she hired Arthur Freed to sing as

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part of the Brothers Vaudeville act. He also wrote quite

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a bit of both comedy and musical material for the

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Marx Brothers. Now, the brothers were huge in vaudeville at

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the time, and in the audience at one of their

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shows a vaudeville shows was an executive from Metro Goldwyn

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Mayer and he spoke to Minnie and Freed in the

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dressing room after the performance, and he was hired at

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that point by MGM to write songs for them. So

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for years he wrote lyrics for numerous films, many set

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to music by the legendary Nazio Herb Brown. In nineteen

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thirty nine, author Freed earned the role of associate producer

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on The Wizard of Oz and The executives at MGM

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was so impressed with Freed that they promoted him after

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the making of The Wizard of Oz to head a

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film musical department within the studio. The first film he

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made as a solo producer was Babes in Arms, which

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was really least only a few months after The Wizard

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of Oz, so Freed at MGM rolled up his shirt

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slaves and got right to work that film. Babes and

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Arms starred Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, and it was

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so successful that it introduced the long series of what

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did they call him the Mickey Judy movies? Let's you

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know a quote unquote, let's put on a show type movies.

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Freed went on to win two Academy Awards. He also

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produced Singing in the Rain. In all, he produced close

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to fifty musicals for MGM during his career. Why don't

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we listen to Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney from Babes

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in Arms Freed's first MGM effort.

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Good morning, good morning. We've danced the whole life through.

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Good morning, good morning to you, good morning, good morning.

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It's great to stay a plate. Good morning, good morning

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to you. When men get the flame, stars were shining round.

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Not the milkman's on his way. Instillac to say good

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Night's so.

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Good morning, good morning, sun bans On Sma through good morning,

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my darling.

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To here we are together a couple of stirrupers. A

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day's don at breakfast time and starts it with our suppers.

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Here we are together, are but the best of friends,

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bust party. So let me sing this parting song from

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the bottom of my hearty good morning.

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It's a lovely morning morning, What wonderful day, dan all

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a good morning, good morning, tell you.

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Hunter you do the day?

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Good Morning Saint Son is signed.

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Good to the morning.

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HiT's purty scene.

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It's great to stay on play good morning.

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Good morning?

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Do you.

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When the man began to play the stars for shining bride.

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Now the milkman's on his way, It's to lay it

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to say good.

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Night, good morning, good morning, sun bez soon smiles, good morning.

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Good mon, selling Marcelle.

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Good morning, my doll, Good Morning. Performed by Judy Garland

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and Mickey Rooney from the film Babes in Arms, released

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in nineteen thirty nine, with the lyrics by Arthur Freed

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and author used that song again. It was either nineteen

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fifty or fifty one when he produced Hanging in the Rain.

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So a little about the lyricist, producer author freed on

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British deca streamline strut Ambrose and his orchestra recorded in

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London March the twentieth, nineteen thirty five. 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. And if you were with us last week, folks,

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I told a story about the great Major League baseball

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pitcher Carl Hubble, and how will pitch that Carl throw

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was a screwball pitch that he called the Dipsy Do,

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And how that pitch inspired the composer and bandleader Larry

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Clinton to write a song about it that he titled

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Dipsy Doodle. Well, let's head back to the baseball diamond

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again this week. For the uninitiated, a utility baseball player

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is It's the best way to describe a utility player.

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He's like a versatile team member. He could fill in

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at different positions in the field. A good utility player

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can pinch hit or a pinch run, or do just

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about anything offering their team. I guess flexibility and depth.

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They're essentially versatile backup players. Now, there was a band

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back in the nineteen thirties that was not only full

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of utility players, but the whole band was like a

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utility team. Let me play one of their records. Then

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their story.

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Got the Jennies half Paris got that Genies. But but

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the lam Semish Butler, that's the Jimmies of Paris. The

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bus that damis Mom got you Jimmy?

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That's Boules.

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Do you Jimmy Die?

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From Victor Records. He be GB's Mills Blue Rhythm Band

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with a George Morton vocal recorded on June which went

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the sixth, nineteen thirty one. So why, folks, was the

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Mills Blue Rhythm Band like a utility baseball player. Well,

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the band was formed in New York City in nineteen

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thirty by drummer Willie Lynch, who called his group the

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Blue Rhythm Band. In nineteen thirty one, a gentleman named

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Irving Mills became the band's manager. Now, Mills was a

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music publisher. He wrote the lyrics to a number of

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songs like Minnie the Moocher, and he was also one

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of the more prominent jazz promoters and managers in the

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nineteen thirties. Now Mills was impressed with the Blue Rhythm Band,

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and as a promoter and manager, he signed them to

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a contract, a contract with a specific purpose.

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You see.

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Mills was also the manager of band leader greats like

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Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway, so Irving House, the Blue

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Rhythm Band, and the Cotton Club in Harlem, and he

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changed the group's name to the Mills Blue Rhythm Band.

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The band was never featured attraction, but often opened for Ellington,

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Calloway and some other big bands that Mills managed. The

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Mills Blue Rhythm Band also picked up day at venues

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that wanted a Mills managed band, but were not on

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the scale of a ballroom worthy of an Ellington or

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a Callaway. So, in essence, to Mills Irving Mills the

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band was like a utility baseball player. He used them

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when they were needed and they always got the job done.

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So the band had a number of leaders, including Edgar Hayes,

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Eddie Mallory and Dave Nelson. Then in nineteen thirty four,

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Lucky Millander permanently took over as band leader and the

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group eventually became the Great Lucky Millander Orchestra. Now, even

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with the stigma of being in the shadows of Calloway

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and Ellington, an understudy band, so to speak, they went

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on to record over one hundred and fifty sides. Let

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me play for you one of their best selling hits.

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Sing something to Shun Such.

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We had to have something new that I had to

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do up here in all of Saul.

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Someone saw it.

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Trucking as soon as the news got around about downtown.

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Came out to a hall of tall everybody trucking. It

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didn't take long, people, I had to doing it. Walk

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Avenue and it all over town. You'll see them coupling, chuckling,

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trucking along. It's been like a boris place became a

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grave and back to a hall of now.

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Everybody trucking, bugging down your man, bugging up down your man.

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I'm talking about on Columbia Records, recorded in New York City, August,

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the first nineteen thirty five Truckin' the Mills Blues Rhythm

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Band under the direction of Lucky Millinder. So a little

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about the Mills Blue Rhythm Band here on the Make

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Believe ball Room. I have a listener's email or to

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read in just a few minutes. But first I mentioned

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that the great pianist Edgar Hayes once led the Mills

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Blue Rhythm Band. Many of you might not know that Edgar,

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when he led his own orchestra, had the distinction of

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recording this song for the first time.

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Ever see.

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Species Anything Again Everything.

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On Decca Records. In the Mood by Edgar Hayes and

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his orchestra, the first time that song was ever recorded. No,

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Glenn Milher was not the first to record it. This

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one recorded in New York City, February seventeenth, nineteen thirty eight.

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I'm Jeff Presler, and thanks so much for being a

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part of today's broadcast of the Make Believe Ballroom. I

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can be reached at Jeff at MakeBelieve Ballroom Radio dot com.

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That's Jeff at MakeBelieve Ballroom Radio dot com. And one

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person who reached out to us this past week was

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Fred Jacobs, who writes into the Ballroom I guess a

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few times a year, two three times a year. Fred,

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though in this email, neglected to remind me where he

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listens from. I think he's part of our Sarasota Gang,

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Sarasota Gang of Listeners, not one hundred percent sure, but

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if you send us an email, folks, please let us

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know what station you are listening to. But nevertheless, Fred

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writes hello Jeff and Lenny. Oh, by the way, for

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the third week in a row, Lenny from down the

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block is not with us with his record pick of

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the week. He and his wife Cookie are still on

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their RV caravan trip to Texas, so along with I

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don't know how many RV's follow each other, but they're

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on that trip to Texas. I think he's due back

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this coming week. But back to Fred Jacobs, who writes,

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hello Jeff and Lenny, I am always pleasantly surprised when

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you play records featuring Bing Crosby. I enjoyed the duets

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with Bing and the Andrew sisters, as well as Connie Boswell.

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In the late twenties and into the early thirties, there

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were three Krooners, a trinity so to speak, who were

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equally beloved in America. They were Bing Crosby, Rudy Valley

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and Russ Colombo. As a longtime listener, I know you

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won't play Rudy Valley on your show, So how about

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one from Russ Colombo, who died much too young. That

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signed Fred and Fred, It's true. I won't play Rudy

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Valley on the show because he was a miserable, violent,

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fighting bully to his band members and everyone around him.

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So he is banned for life even though he is dead.

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His music is banned for life. But I will play

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Russ Colombo for you, Fred, it is true, as you

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wrote to us. Really, from nineteen thirty one until thirty four,

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Russ Colombo, Bing Crosby and Rudy Valley were crooning rivals

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for the public's attention, both on records and on the radio.

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Colombo was incredibly talented as a vocalist, violinist, radio star,

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and ultimately he was on the brink of becoming a

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film star. He dated the movie actress Harrol Lombard. Unfortunately,

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Russ died at just twenty six years of age. He

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was the victim of an accidental shooting in his home by,

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tragically enough, his closest friend. We don't have time today,

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but if you have a chance, I encourage you to

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read about Russ, his career and his untimely death and

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the circumstances that surrounded that shooting. Ben Crosby getting back

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to Russ as a vocalist. Ben Crosby himself once said

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that had he lived, Russ could have become a bigger

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star than he. Crosby himself was quite an accolade for Russ.

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Colombo from Ben Crosby. Let me play a Colombo's song

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for you, Fred Jacobs, This one recorded back in nineteen

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thirty one.

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All of me? Why not take all of me? And

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you see I'm no good with all?

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You take my lisses.

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I want to lose that h take my eyes. I'll

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never you that you're a good bye? Love me with oyes?

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That girl?

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How can I go on? Do with all you? You

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00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:05.960
took the ball that on was my heart?

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So wan to take on.

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Of me?

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You took my kisses and you took my love. You

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told me how to care? Am I to be just

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a randomber on one side of love of heir?

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Are you talk?

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I gladly gain? There's nothing left for me to say,

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mothery moldy loddy modd Take my eyes.

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I'll never be your good bay. Let me with eyes

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that brow?

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How can I.

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Go on with all you? You took the paw.

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That what.

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Was my heart?

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But why.

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Not take god.

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Me all of Me vocal by Russ Colombo and recorded

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on Victor Records, December the twenty ninth, nineteen thirty one.

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And thank you Fred Jacobs for your email. It was

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good to hear from you again, and I would like

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to hear from you my great listeners Jeff at MakeBelieve

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00:34:21.519 --> 00:34:26.360
Ballroomradio dot com. Jeff at MakeBelieve Ballroomradio dot Com with

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your requests, comments and questions.

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You were lovely. I was lonely on the night so

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long ago and far away. You were smiling.

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I was saying.

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I could think of nothing sweet enough.

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To say, so I kissed you. Oh. I know the

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moon was not to blame.

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I know, because I feel the same today. You will

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always be as lovely as you were so long ago

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and far.

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Away on Bluebird Records. Long Ago and Far Away. Charlie

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Barnett is Glen Island Casino Orchestra vocal by Leo Robin,

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

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Great story comes to mind about Charlie Barnett and a

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radio remote he once did from the Paramount Hotel in

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New York City. Although he was doing a three night

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a week radio show from the Paramount Hotel. Things were

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not always very well organized when it came to organizing

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each broadcast. The great actor Paul Douglas, at the time

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of this story, was a staff announcer for CBS Radio

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and assigned to announce the Barnett programs. Now, as Barnett

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told the story, I don't remember it verbatim, but it

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goes something like this. The band was scheduled to play

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I've Got the World on a String, but Paul Douglas

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inadvertently announced to the radio audience that it would be

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Avalon that was going to be played. Now being live

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on radio, the band hesitated for a minute, and then

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half the band started to play Avalon while the other

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half began I've Got the World on a String. So

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the brass section finally prevailed and Avalon won out. Charlie

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Barnett was relieve that things went back on track. Charlie

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was a laid back guy. He didn't go ballistic or

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anything like that. But over the next few days, when

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Charlie encountered other band leaders around New York, then he

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praised him for his wild introduction to Avalon. So a

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little Charlie Barnett story here on the make Believe Ballroom. Folks,

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Now a quick trivia question. What eighteen seventy nine nursery

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rhyme turned out to become a huge hit for Chickweb

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and Ella Fitzgerald. I'll play the answer in just a moment,

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but first, to hear past radio programs in this series,

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00:39:12.400 --> 00:39:18.039
please go to MakeBelieve ballroompodcast dot com. Let's MakeBelieve Ballroom

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00:39:18.239 --> 00:39:23.239
podcast dot com. After we do our regular radio broadcasts

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00:39:23.400 --> 00:39:27.000
of the Make Believe Ballroom, the shows are then archived

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and put into podcast form. In addition to MakeBelieve Ballroom

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00:39:31.480 --> 00:39:34.880
Podcast dot com, you can also hear past episodes of

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00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:40.639
the show on your favorite podcast provider. So the question was,

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00:39:40.920 --> 00:39:44.960
what eighteen seventy nine nursery rhyme turned out to become

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a huge hit for Chickweb and Ella Fitzgerald. Well, here

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is the answer.

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Her task a tasket, a brown and yellow basket. I

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00:40:15.719 --> 00:40:19.880
send a letter to my mummy. On the way, I

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dropped it, I dropped it. I dropped it. Yes, on

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00:40:25.119 --> 00:40:26.559
the way, I dropped it.

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00:40:27.400 --> 00:40:28.559
A little girl.

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He picked it up and put it in her pocket.

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She was trucking on down the avenue, not a single

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thing to do. She went pick backpacking all around. When

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she spied it on the raft, she took it. She

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took my little yellow basket.

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And if she doesn't.

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Bring it back, I think that I will die.

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A tsket a tisket I lost my yellow basket, and

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if that girl don't return it, don't know what I'll do.

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00:41:24.199 --> 00:41:29.079
Oh d I've won due where my basket can be?

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00:41:35.800 --> 00:41:40.719
Oh gee, I wish that little girl I could see.

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00:41:47.320 --> 00:41:52.239
Oh why was that so careless with that basket of mine?

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That any fitty basket was the joy of mine?

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A tisket a tasket?

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I lost my yellow basket. Won't someone help me find

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my basket and make me happy?

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Yukin look and no no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

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no no no, Just a little yell loop basket.

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00:42:24.639 --> 00:42:30.039
Ah Ladonia Love Basket from Decca Records. A tisket a

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00:42:30.280 --> 00:42:34.360
Tasket by Chick Webb and his orchestra vocal by Ella Fitzgerald,

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recorded in New York City, made the second nineteen thirty

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00:42:39.480 --> 00:42:45.119
eight the eighteen seventy nine nursery rhyme turned hit song

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00:42:45.400 --> 00:42:51.000
for Chick and Ella. Let's flip that Decca record over

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to the B side.

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00:44:24.320 --> 00:44:25.239
For the fa.

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00:45:33.719 --> 00:45:38.480
From Decca Liza by Chick Web and his orchestra, recorded

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00:45:38.559 --> 00:45:41.400
in New York City, made the third nineteen thirty eight,

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00:45:41.599 --> 00:45:48.159
the B side to A Tisket A Tasket. Let's see

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what else we have on the agenda here, well wn

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and to go with this, many of you know that

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00:45:57.639 --> 00:46:00.599
Lester Young was one of the greatest, if not the

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greatest tenor sax player of all time, But many of

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you might not know that Young also played the clarinet,

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and in that fact is an interesting story. In the

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late thirties, Benny Goodman gave Lester Young a clarinet as

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a gift. Lester started to play the clarinet with Count

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Basi in addition to the tenor sacks. However, in the

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summer of nineteen thirty nine, while playing with Count Basie

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in Chicago, the clarinet was stolen from the bandstand during

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a break. Now, Lester Young was so upset by this

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00:46:46.159 --> 00:46:49.960
incident that he refused to get another clarinet, and he

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00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:53.719
wouldn't be heard playing the instrument again for eighteen years

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until the nineteen fifties. Fortunately, we're not going to have

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to wait for eighteen years to hear this wonderful song.

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No maybe thing maybe maybe the.

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Thing people.

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Is by.

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It me? Okay troubles.

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00:49:53.039 --> 00:49:57.480
Lester Young a k A. Pres or President playing the

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00:49:57.559 --> 00:50:02.840
clarinet with Count Basie's Can's City six, recorded in New

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York City, September the twenty seventh, nineteen thirty eight. And

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it is now time to look at the big bull

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of a clock on the wall here in the Crystal

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studio aka my digital show clock, and it shows we

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are at fifty minutes and eight seconds into the broadcast.

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Make Believe Ballroom - 8/29/25 Edition

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