22 September 2020

1930s Band Leader Ray Noble – 22 September Phantom Dancer

Ray Noble, English band leader and composer who found a career as a band leader and actor in the US, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist.

Greg Poppleton brings you The Phantom Dancer, your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week. On-air since 1985.

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The finyl hour is vinyl.

RAY NOBLE

Raymond Stanley Noble was an English bandleader, composer, arranger, radio comedian, and actor.

Noble wrote lyrics and music for many popular songs during the British dance band era, notably for his longtime friend and associate Al Bowlly. These include “Love Is the Sweetest Thing”, “Cherokee”, “The Touch of Your Lips”, “I Hadn’t Anyone Till You”, and his signature tune, “The Very Thought of You”.

Noble also played a radio comedian opposite American ventriloquist Edgar Bergen’s stage act of Mortimer Snerd and Charlie McCarthy, and American comedy duo Burns and Allen, later transferring these roles from radio to TV and popular films.

ENGLISH ORCHESTRA

Noble studied at the Royal Academy of Music and in 1927 won a competition for the best British dance band orchestrator that was advertised in Melody Maker. In 1929, he became leader of the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, an HMV Records studio band that featured members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day.

The most popular vocalist with Noble’s studio band was Al Bowlly, who joined in 1930. During this time Noble co-wrote “Turkish Delight”, “By the Fireside” and “Goodnight, Sweetheart”. The latter song was a number one hit for Guy Lombardo in the United States charts. It was also used (with vocals by Al Bowlly) on the original television series Star Trek episode The City on the Edge of Forever.

U.S ORCHESTRA

Noble moved to New York City in 1934. The Bowlly/Noble recordings with the British New Mayfair Dance Orchestra on HMV had achieved popularity in the United States and Noble had several number one hits on the US pop singles charts:

“Love is the Sweetest Thing”, 1933, #1 for five weeks;
“Old Spinning Wheel”, 1934, #1 for three weeks;
“The Very Thought of You”, 1934, #1 for five weeks;
“Isle of Capri”, 1935, #1 for seven weeks;

and with the American band:

“Paris in the Spring”, 1935, #1 for 1 week.

Noble took Al Bowlly and his drummer Bill Harty to the US. The myth is he asked Glenn Miller to recruit American musicians to complete the band. The truth is, Noble has already booked his orchestra members from London before he left for the U.S. Miller played the trombone in the Ray Noble orchestra which included many other future US band leaders including Claude Thornhill, Bud Freeman and Will Bradley.

Noble and his orchestra appeared in the 1937 film A Damsel in Distress with Fred Astaire, Joan Fontaine, George Burns and Gracie Allen. Noble played a somewhat “dense” character who was in love with Gracie Allen. Al Bowlly returned to England in 1938 but Noble continued to lead bands in America, moving into an acting career portraying a stereotypical upper-class English idiot.

Ray Noble provided music for many radio shows such as The Chase and Sanborn Hour, The Charlie McCarthy Show, Burns and Allen and On Stage with Cathy and Elliott Lewis and also guest-appeared in some of their films. He worked with Bergen for nearly fifteen years, playing the foil to McCarthy and the slow-witted Mortimer Snerd, and his orchestra appeared with Edgar Bergen in the 1942 film Here We Go Again. He also provided the orchestration for the 1942 Lou Gehrig biopic The Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper. Noble’s last major successes as a bandleader came with Buddy Clark in the late 1940s.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Linda, sung by Buddy Calrk with Ray Noble’s Orchestra. Linda was written about 6-year old Linda Eastman who famously married Paul McCartney

Make sure you come back to this blog, Greg Poppleton’s Radio Lounge, every Tuesday, for the newest Phantom Dancer play list and Video of the Week!

29 SEPTEMBER PLAY LIST