26 July 2022

Jones and Hare 1920s – Phantom Dancer 26 Jul 22

Greg Poppleton's Phantom Dancer swing jazz radio show

Jones and Hare, Billy Jones and Ernie Hare, were a vocal duo who sang novelty songs, popular on radio in the 1920s and continuing on radio up to 1939. Billy Jones (1889-1940) was a tenor and Ernie Hare was a bass/baritone (1883-1939).

Here’s the 1924 recording of Jones and Hare’s radio theme, ‘How Do You Do?’…

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 19 July) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

RADIO

Jones and Hare began on radio October 18, 1921 on WJZ (Newark, New Jersey), where they were sponsored by the chain of Happiness Candy stores. Listeners mailed in their comments about the singers on cards supplied to retailers by Happiness Candy. They were billed as the ‘Happiness Boys’.

Beginning August 22, 1923, the Happiness Boys broadcast on New York’s WEAF, moving to NBC from a run from 1926 to 1929.

The Jones and Hare duo sang popular tunes, mostly light fare and comic songs, and they engaged in humorous repartee between numbers.

Their theme song was “How Do You Do” (1924). However, only the words to this song were new at that time. The melody had been used for a variety of other songs in the past and is still used in the camp favorite “If You’re Happy and You Know It (Clap Your Hands)”.

By 1928, Jones and Hare were the highest paid singers in radio, earning $1,250 ($20,000 today) a week. They also made highly successful personal appearances in the United States and Europe. (They mention the European tour fondly in their recording of “We Don’t Like It, Not Much”.)

Radio’s “Happiness Boys” changed their identities and allegiance whenever they changed sponsors. For Taystee Bread, for example, Jones and Hare became “The Taystee Loafers”, and for Interwoven Socks they became “The Interwoven Pair.” Regardless of their affiliation, they continued with their songs and jokes through the 1930s.

SONGS

Jones and Hare specialized in comic songs that commented on trends and popular culture.

When the song “Collegiate” swept the country and prompted a host of similar tunes, Jones and Hare countered with “We Ain’t Never Been to College”. Gracious living and social propriety were skewered in Jones and Hare’s “Etiquette Blues”.

America’s fascination with radio triggered the parody “Twisting the Dials”, maybe the first comedy sketch of its kind. Billy and Ernie simulate tuning a radio and getting snatches of random radio programs.

One of their most pointed satires, recorded with full orchestra, was “We Can’t Sleep in the Movies Anymore”. Jones and Hare demonstrate how talking pictures have changed a restful evening in a theater into a noisy onslaught of “sneezes, squawks, and squeals”. The lyrics also note that the actors’ voices seldom matched their silent screen images:

HARE: The sheik is from the ghetto. I thought he came from Spain.
JONES: His voice is high falsetto! And he sounds like he’s in pain!

Jones and Hare kidded the “talkies“, but were featured in A Movietone Divertissement (MGM, 1928) and Rambling ‘Round Radio Row #4 (Warner Brothers/Vitaphone, 1932), both sound short subjects.

The partnership ended with Ernie Hare’s death on March 9, 1939. Hare’s 16-year-old daughter, Marilyn Hare, joined Jones at the microphone, allowing the act to continue as “Jones and Hare” for about a year, until she left to pursue a movie career in Hollywood. You will hear her on this week’s Phantom Dancer in a Saks Furniture Store program from WMCA NYC in 1939.

Two selections from Jones and Hare’s 1934 Taystee Loafers radio series…

19 JULY PLAY LIST