Giant Bottle – Phantom Dancer 26 May 2020
A giant bottle of a soft drink you’ll hear about in a 1932 ad on this week’s two hour non-stop swing jazz mix of live 1920s-60s radio, is your Greg Poppleton Phantom Dancer feature.
The Phantom Dancer has been produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton since 1985. It can be heard online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 26 May at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/
The last hour is all vinyl.
THE BOTTLE
Australia is a land of giant things as tourist attractions – the giant prawn, the big banana, the giant ram – but Alabama in the US had a big soft drink bottle. Though the bottle burnt down in the mid-1930s, its location is still called ‘The Bottle’. Here it is…
NiHi was a brand of soft drink in the US that was popular for its novelty flavours. The 1932 radio ad on this week’s Phantom Dancer praises Nihi’s ‘true fruit orange’. Fans of MASH would know that the character Radar drank Grape Nihi. Some other Nihi (pronounced Knee High) fizzy drink flavours included Chocolate, Root Beer, Lemonade, Wild Red, Blue Cream, and Peach. There were many more.
HISTORIC MARKER
The site of the giant bottle is now identified by a historical marker.
The marker reads,
“Built in 1924, and billed as ‘the world’s largest bottle’, The Bottle (also known as The Twist Inn) was built by John F. Williams, owner of the Nehi Bottling Company, in Opelika, Alabama. The Bottle stood 64 feet (19.5 m) tall, and measured forty-nine feet (14.94 m) in diameter at the base, and 16 feet (4.88 m) at the cap. The ground floor was a grocery store and service station, and the second and third floors were living quarters and storage. The neck of the Bottle had windows so as to be used as an observation tower. The bottle cap was the roof. Inside there was a spiral oak stairway. The Bottle became a gathering place for tourists and locals alike to swap yarns and have parties every Friday night on the balcony above the service station. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stopped briefly at The Bottle after visiting Auburn. The bottle burned one morning in te fall of 1936. Even though the structure no longer exists, the name survives on Alabama maps which still identify the area as ‘The Bottle’.”
Your Phantom Dancer Video(s) of the Week
Tune into band leader Griff William’s dance band show from the late 1940s / early 50s over WBKB TV (CBS) Chicago. Three clips + a fourth WKBK news from 1964 and the start of their Acuion Movie, Dragstrip Riot’ – Enjoy!!!
26 MAY PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #438 | ||
107.3 2SER Tuesday 26 May 2020 | ||
Set 1 | Modernistic 1950s Dance Bands | |
Artistry in Rhythm (theme) + Tabu | Stan Kenton Orchestra | ‘Concert in Miniature’ Lakeside Ballroom Dayton OH WLW NBC Cincinnati 16 Sep 1952 |
Savings Bonds Ad + The Stars and Stripes Forever | Ralph Flanagan Orchestra | ‘Treasury Bandstand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WCBS CBS NY 1950 |
Wending My May Back Home + Close | Eliot Lawrence Orchestra | ‘Jazz Is My Beat’ New York City AFRTS Re-broadcast 1958 |
Set 2 | Early Live 1930s Radio | |
Open + Music In My Fingers | George Shackley Ensemble (voc) Veronica Wiggins | ‘Nihi Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1931 |
Margie + Do You Ever Think Of Me? + Sweet Sue | Jimmie Grier Orchestra | Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel KFI NBC Gold Network LA 1932 |
Melancholy Moon + Pineapple Ad + It Gonna Rain No More + Aloha Oe | Wendall Hall | ‘The Pineapple Picadour’ WMAQ NBC Chicago 2 Apr 1931 |
Set 3 | Super Jive From 1937 – 38 Radio | |
Dark Forest (theme) + Limehouse Blues | Earl Hines Orchestra | Grand Terrace Room WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 3 Aug 1938 |
A Study in Blue | Larry Clinton Orchestra | Hotel Park Central WEAF NBC Red NY 7 Jul 1939 |
When It’s Sleepy Time Down South + Camel Hop | Benny Goodman Orchestra | Madhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania WABC CBS NY 20 Oct 1937 |
Set 4 | 1940s Dance Bands | |
Voglio Fischiettiare (I Like To Whistle) | Nuccia Natali and Vocal Trio with Orchestra | Comm Rec Cetra Turin 1940 |
The Sheik of Araby | Russ Morgan Orchestra | ‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast 28 Apr 1944 |
Medley | Art Kassels and his Kassels-in-the-Air Orchestra | Blackhawk Restaurant WGN Chicago 1947 |
Set 5 | Jazz and Pop on 1940 Radio | |
It Never Entered My Head | Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Hal Derwin | Radio Transcription New York City 1940 |
Open + Down For The Count | Glenn Miller Orchestra | Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ NBC Blue NY 6 Nov 1940 |
St Louis Blues | Roy Eldridge | ‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 21 Apr 1940 |
Four Beat Shuffle + Pretty Little Petticoat (theme) | Raymond Scott Orchestra | Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 1940 |
Set 6 | New Orleans Jazz on Radio | |
Open + Way Down Yonder in New Orleans | Louis Armstrong All-Stars | ‘New Orleans Movie Opening’ Wintergarden Theatre WNBC NBC NY 19 Jun 1947 |
Open + At The Jazz Band Ball | Eddie Condon Group | ‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ Town Hall WJZ Blue NY 30 Sep 1944 |
I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None Of My Jelly Roll | Bud Freeman Summa Cum Laude Orchestra | Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 20 May 1940 |
That’s A’Plenty + Relaxin’ At The Touro (theme) | Muggsy Spanier Dixieland All-Stars | Club Hangover KCBS CBS San Francisco 18 Apr 1953 |
Set 7 | Big Bands on 1947 Radio | |
Who’s Got The Ball? | Harry James Orchestra | The Click WFIL Philadelphia 22 Dec 1947 |
Kate | Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) The Town Criers | Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca KECA ABC LA 6 Dec 1947 |
Everybody Eats When They Come To My House | Cab Calloway’s Caballiers (voc) CC | ‘Guest Star’ New York City 1947 |
Passion Flower | Duke Ellington Orchestra | ‘One Night Stand’ Ciro’s Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast Jul 1947 |
Set 8 | Charlie Parker on WMCA NY 1949 | |
Chasin’ The Bird | Charlie Parker Sextet | ‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 12 Mar 1949 |
Confirmation | Charlie Parker Quintet | ‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 19 Feb 1949 |
Scrapple From The Apple | Charlie Parker Quintet | ‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 22 Jan 1949 |