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17 October 2023

(Until 17 October)

Horace Heidt Band Leader, TV Star, Property Developer- Phantom Dancer 17 October 2023

Greg Poppleton's Phantom Dancer swing jazz radio show

Horace Heidt produced some of the best-known tunes of the Big Band Era including the 1941 international hit, The Hut-Sut Song. He is this week’s Phantom Dancer Feature artist.

The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 17 October) and weeks of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

POT OF GOLD

Horace Heidt was a showman. He hit the big time after fifteen years of running a band by producing and presenting a radio show the US broadcasting regulator, the Federal Communications Commission, called ‘a thinly disguised lottery’ and then forced off air.

“Pot of Gold” featured Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights with singing quartet, The King Sisters, playing popular songs while operators during the broadcast placed three calls to random phone numbers across the U.S.

When someone answered, announcer Ben Grauer shouted “Hold it, Horace, stop the music.” The phone answerer would automatically win $1000 – a huge amount in the late 1930s – whether they had been listening to the show or not.

The show was so popular that cinema operators complained of low movie attendances while Pot of Gold was on air. Some offered $1,000 to anyone who was called while attending their films. How you proved you got the call would have been time consuming and difficult.

NATION OF ISLAM

Heidt’s fame as a band leader came through his promotions. Before “Pot of Gold” he produced “Answers by the Dancers,” in which dancers at the Hotel Drake in Chicago were interviewed between rumbas and fox trots.

On his “Treasure Chest” show, married couples celebrating anniversaries would compete for prizes.

In the late 1940 and early 50s, as the big band era wound down and other bands couldn’t book gigs, Heidt’s band continued touring the U.S with his “Youth Opportunity” radio show.

Talented violinist and later Nation of Islam bigwig Louis Farrakhan (formerly Eugene Walcott) was a successful contestant.

BELL-RINGING DOG

Famed Jazz musicians Alvino Rey, Bobby Hackett and Jess Stacy played in the Heidt band at various times.

The band even accompanied a trained dog. “We would play ‘The Bells of St. Mary’s’ and the dog would ring the bells,” Heidt recalled at a 1982 party celebrating seven decades in show business.

Heidt’s smart showbiz sense meant his big band were still playing ballrooms while other bands were shutting down as the Swing Era came to a close after WW2.

HIGH STAKES

Heidt bought the popular Trianon Ballroom in South Gate California in the early 1940s as a base for his band.

He started a trend for big band leaders to own their own ballrooms after Billboard reported, 10 Jan 1942, that not only had Heidt recouped his $100,000 investment, but he made $40,000 profit through the ballroom in its first year.

Billboard 3 Feb 1945 reported that Heidt had ‘expanded his outside business holdings’ by buying an exclusive Beverley Hills steak house and renaming it “Horace Heidt’s”. He didn’t book any live music in the room.

He later went into housing development.

STAMMERER

Billboard 3 Feb 1945 reported that Heidt had set up a school in Los Angeles for stammerers. Horace used to stammer himself and he announced that he had developed a foolproof way to stop stammering. He put Leo Neibaur, trombonist and vocal instructor with Heidt’s band, in charge of the school.

17 October PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney
LISTEN ONLINE
Community Radio Network Show CRN #622

107.3 2SER Tuesday 17 October 2023
12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT)
National Program
5UV Adelaide Monday 2:30 – 3:30am
5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am
3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am
4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am
2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4am
2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4am
2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am
2YYY Young Monday 3 – 4am
7RPH Hobart Monday 3 – 4pm
3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm
7MID Oatlands Monday 3am – 4 and 6 -7pm
2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am
1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am
and Sunday 11pm
Reading Radio (QLD) Friday 1am – 2
2RRR Ryde Friday 11am – 12
2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm
5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm
6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Saturday 4am – 5am
Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturday 10 – 11am
Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm
7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am
3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am
3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
2SEA Sapphire Coast Eden Sunday 9 – 10pm

Set 1
Randy Brooks
Open + It’s Been So Long
Randy Brooks Orchestra
‘One Night Stand’
Raseland Ballroom
NYC
AFRS Re-broadcast
9 Jun 1945
This Is It
Randy Brooks Orchestra (voc) Margie Wood
‘One Night Stand’
Raseland Ballroom
NYC
AFRS Re-broadcast
9 Jun 1945
Negra Consantina
Randy Brooks Orchestra (voc) Billy Usher
‘One Night Stand’
Raseland Ballroom
NYC
AFRS Re-broadcast
9 Jun 1945
Two Beats or Not Two BeatsRandy Brooks Orchestra
‘One Night Stand’
Raseland Ballroom
NYC
AFRS Re-broadcast
9 Jun 1945
Set 2
Paul Whiteman
Deep Purple
Paul Whiteman Orchestra
‘Paul Whiteman’s Musical Varieties’
WJZ NBC Blue NYC
12 Jan 1936
Goody Goody
Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc) Jarelle & Johnny
‘Paul Whiteman’s Musical Varieties’
WJZ NBC Blue NYC
12 Jan 1936
Glorious Girl
Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc) The King’s Men
‘Paul Whiteman’s Musical Varieties’
WJZ NBC Blue NYC
12 Jan 1936
Alone
Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc) Morton Downey
‘Paul Whiteman’s Musical Varieties’
WJZ NBC Blue NYC
12 Jan 1936
Set 3
Horace Heidt
Theme + Margie
Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights
‘One Night Stand’
Trianon Ballroom
Southgate Ca
AFRS Re-broadcast
23 Jan 1945
Star Dust
Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights
‘One Night Stand’
Trianon Ballroom
Southgate Ca
AFRS Re-broadcast
23 Jan 1945
One of These Days
Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights
‘One Night Stand’
Trianon Ballroom
Southgate Ca
AFRS Re-broadcast
23 Jan 1945
Brazil + Begin the Beguine
Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights
‘One Night Stand’
Trianon Ballroom
Southgate Ca
AFRS Re-broadcast
23 Jan 1945
Set 4
The Smoothies
Open + Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby
The Smoothies
‘Smoothies Music Shop’
AFRS Re-broadcast
1944
I’ll Walk Alone + A Kiss to Remember
The Smoothies
‘Smoothies Music Shop’
AFRS Re-broadcast
1944
I Found a New Baby
The Smoothies (vibraphone and piano solos)
‘Smoothies Music Shop’
AFRS Re-broadcast
1944
Pleeze Don’t Squeeza the Banana + Swinging on a Star + Close
The Smoothies
‘Smoothies Music Shop’
AFRS Re-broadcast
1944
Set 5
1935
Hot Lips (theme) + Rose Room
Henry Busse Orchestra
Radio Transcription
Los Angeles
1935
Clouds
Henry Busse Orchestra (voc) Carl Grayson
Radio Transcription
Los Angeles
1935
Honeysuckle Rose
Joe Haymes OrchestraComm Rec
12 May 1939
Midnight (theme + On the Good Ship Lollipop
Joe Haymes Orchestra (voc) Cliff Weston
Comm Rec
Paris
14 Dec 1938
Set 6
1939 Mickey Mouse Bands
It Seems Like Old Times
Gray Gordon and his Tic-Toc Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Cliff Grass
Radio Transcription
1939

The Siren’s Song
Jan Garber Orchestra
Radio Transcription
1939
Way Back in 1939 AD
Gray Gordon and his Tic-Toc Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Cliff Grass
Radio Transcription
1939
ItLady Be Good
Jan Garber Orchestra (voc) Fritz Heilbron
Radio Transcription
1939
Set 7
Eddie Condon
Yesterdays
Eddie Condon Group
‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’
AFRS Re-broadcast
21 Oct 1944
Old Folks
Eddie Condon Group (voc) Lee Wiley‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’
AFRS Re-broadcast
21 Oct 1944
Whereever There’s Love
Eddie Condon Group (voc) Lee Wiley
‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’
AFRS Re-broadcast
16 Sep 1944
Wolverine Blues
Eddie Condon Group
‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’
AFRS Re-broadcast
16 Sep 1944
Set 8
Diz
I Waited for You (theme) + Our Delight
Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra
The Winter Palace
Stockholm
Radio Sweden
2 Feb 1948
Night in TunisiaDizzy Gillespie Orchestra
Birdland
WCBS CBS NYC
Jun 1956
Jam Session
Dizzy Gillespie with Tony Proteau Orchestra
Paris Radio
Feb 1953
All Gigs
12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
2SER Radio 107.3 Sydney
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