06 February 2024
(Until 06 February)Mysterious Eskimo Pie Orchestra on 1929 Radio | Phantom Dancer 6 Febuary 2024
Greg Poppleton's Phantom Dancer swing jazz radio show
The Eskimo Pie Orchestra is one of a number of US orchestras named for commercial products in the 1920s. These include the B. F. Goodrich Silvertown Tyre Orchestra, The Ipana Troubadours, Michelin Tyre Orchestra, and The Studebaker Champions. The Eskimo Pie Orchestra is your Phantom Dancer feature artist this week.
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 6 February) and weeks of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/
ESKIMO
The announcer names the director for the orchestra as Harold Stokes.
Harold Stokes directed some of the orchestras of Jean Goldkette, including the radio orchestra which broadcast twice nightly over WGN Chicago in 1929. That radio dance orchestra was known as Jean Goldkette and his W-G-N Dance Orchestra
PIE
Jean Goldkette spent his childhood in Greece and Russia, where he studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory as a child prodigy.
The family emigrated to the United States in 1911.
He performed in a classical ensemble in Chicago at the age of 18, later joining one of Edgar Benson’s dance orchestras.
He leased a ballroom in Detroit and formed a band which grew to success, and was the foundation for a business empire acting as an agency for twenty orchestras and owning many dance halls
Goldkette led many jazz and dance bands. The most popular was his Victor Recording Orchestra of 1924–1929.
The band defeated Fletcher Henderson in a battle of the bands contest. The head arranger was Bill Challis and the musicians included Bix Beiderbecke, Steve Brown, Hoagy Carmichael, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Eddie Lang, Chauncey Morehouse, Don Murray, Bill Rank, and Spiegle Willcox.
Rex Stewart, a member of Henderson’s band, wrote that “It was, without any question, the greatest in the world…the original predecessor to any large white dance orchestra that followed, up to Benny Goodman.”
Goldkette was music director for the Detroit Athletic Club for over 20 years and co-owned the Graystone Ballroom in Detroit with Charles Horvath, who performed with the Goldkette Victor Band in its early years.
He owned his own entertainment company, Jean Goldkette’s Orchestras and Attractions, working out of the Book-Cadillac Hotel in Detroit.
In 1927, Paul Whiteman hired most of Goldkette’s better players due to Goldkette’s inability to meet payroll for his top-notch musicians.
Goldkette helped organize McKinney’s Cotton Pickers and Glen Gray’s Orange Blossoms, which became popular as the Casa Loma Orchestra.
In the 1930s, he left jazz to work as a booking agent and classical pianist.
In 1939, he organized the American Symphony Orchestra which debuted at Carnegie Hall.
Singer, Frankie Laine, worked as Goldkette’s librarian
6 February PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #639 | ||
107.3 2SER Tuesday 6 February 2024 | ||
Set 1 | Kay Kyser | |
Bugle Call Rag | Kay Kyser Orchestra | Trianon Ballroom WGN Mutual Chicago 25 Mar 1937 |
I Can’t Lose That Longing For You + I’ll Sing You a Thousand Love Songs | Kay Kyser Orchestra | Trianon Ballroom WGN Mutual Chicago 25 Mar 1937 |
| I Don’t Want to Get Well | Kay Kyser Orchestra (voc) Sully Mason | Trianon Ballroom WGN Mutual Chicago 25 Mar 1937 |
| Like the Wind You Are Gone + Thinking of You (theme) | Kay Kyser Orchestra | Trianon Ballroom WGN Mutual Chicago 25 Mar 1937 |
Set 2 | Clint Noble | |
I’m Grateful to You | Clint Noble Orchestra | WENR NBC Blue Chicago 3 Jul 1936 |
Cross Patch | Clint Noble Orchestra (voc) Juile Land | WENR NBC Blue Chicago 3 Jul 1936 |
Without a Shadow of a Doubt + Shoeshine Boy | Clint Noble Orchestra (voc) Band | WENR NBC Blue Chicago 3 Jul 1936 |
The More I Know + Robins & Roses Evening Program Announcements | Clint Noble Orchestra (voc) Trio (ann. Milton J Cross) | WENR NBC Blue Chicago 3 Jul 1936 |
Set 3 | Eskimo Pie Orchestra | |
I’m Just a Vagabond Lover | Eskimo Pie Orchestra | Radio Transcription 1929 |
What a Day | Eskimo Pie Orchestra | Radio Transcription Jul 1929 |
Junior | Eskimo Pie Orchestra | Radio Transcription Jul 1929 |
Yours Sincerely | Eskimo Pie Orchestra | Radio Transcription Jul 1929 |
Set 4 | Selling Shoes and Aeroplanes | |
I’ve Got Five Dollars (theme) + It’s the Girl | Freddie Rich and the Friendly Five Orchestra (voc) Freddie Rich | ‘Friendly Five Footnotes’ Radio Transcription NYC 1931 |
Sweet and Lovely | Freddie Rich and the Friendly Five Orchestra | ‘Friendly Five Footnotes’ Radio Transcription NYC 1931 |
| Light Plane Talk | Casey Jones | ‘Friendly Five Footnotes’ Radio Transcription NYC 1931 |
It’s Great to Be in Love + Close | Freddie Rich and the Friendly Five Orchestra (voc) Freddie Rich | ‘Friendly Five Footnotes’ Radio Transcription NYC 1931 |
Set 5 | Frank Sinatra | |
Shine | The Hoboken Four | ‘Major Bowes Amateur Hour’ WHN NYC 1935 |
I Fall in Love Too Early + Day by Day | Frank Sinatra | ‘Songs by Sinatra’ AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Feb 1946 |
Put Your Dreams Away for Another Day | Frank Sinatra & Jimmy Durante | ‘Songs by Sinatra’ AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Feb 1946 |
Speak Low | Frank Sinatra | ‘Your Hit Parade’ WABC CBS NYC 18 Dec 1943 |
Set 6 | Dorsey and Sinatra | |
Variation of I’m Gettin’ Sentimental Over You -opening theme Swing Low, Sweet Chariot | Tommy Dorsey Orchestra | Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NYC 11 Feb 1941 |
Everything Happens to Me | Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Frank Sinatra | Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NYC 11 Feb 1941 |
Swanee River | Tommy Dorsey Orchestra | Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NYC 11 Feb 1941 |
Oh! Look at Me Now | Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Frank Sinatra, Connie Haines and The Pied Pipers | Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NYC 11 Feb 1941 |
Set 7 | Glen Gray | |
It’s Mellow | Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra | Aircheck Hotel New Yorker NYC May 1944 |
Blues Rhapsody | Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra | ‘One Night Stand’ Columbus OH AFRS Re-broadcast 19 Nov 1943 |
Blackberry Jam | Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra | ‘One Night Stand’ Columbus OH AFRS Re-broadcast 19 Nov 1943 |
The Lion and the Mouse | Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra | Aircheck Hotel New Yorker NYC May 1944 |
Set 8 | Louis Armstrong | |
| That’s A’Plenty | Louis Armstrong All-Stars | ‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription NYC 7 May 1950 |
| Fine and Dandy | Louis Armstrong All-Stars | ‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription NYC 7 May 1950 |
| You Rascal You | Louis Armstrong All-Stars | ‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription NYC 7 May 1950 |
