Original air date - Phantom Dancer :: 12:00pm 14th Jul 2020

Brunswick Brevities, the 1929 weekly radio series advertising Brunswick electrical records,  Brunswick radio and the Brunswick Panatrope with Radio  is this week's Phantom Dancer feature. You'll hear 1920s Brunswick artists Frank Black, Libby Holman and Red Nichols with his Five Pennies from 1929 radio transcriptions. The Phantom Dancer is produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton. The show has been on-air over 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985. You can hear The Phantom Dancer  online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 14 July at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/ The finyl hour is vinyl.

BRUNSWICK

Quoting research on the Brunswick Brevities radio series by John Newton at vjm.biz, "By the summer of 1929 radio had become firmly established as the primary entertainment vehicle in the USA and it had already begun making a significant impact upon the record industry in the form of lower sales. The reasoning then was “why buy phonograph records when similar entertainment could be had for free via radio - including the very same performers. Record sales peaked in the early 1920s and declined through much of the decade, though there was a slight bump in the 1927-8 period. With that in mind, and with radio reaching more and more households, executives of the Brunswick Balke Collender Co., hit upon the idea of using radio to advertise its products - phonographs and records and radio receivers.

BREVITIES

In mid-1929 the Brunswick decided to use its own resources of contract talent and facilities to produce their own series of broadcasts, to advertise Brunswick talent and, especially to produce Brunswick records and Brunswick radio-broadcast combinations. Instead of “live” programs, Brunswick pre-recorded its programs for future or varied time slots. In many cases these recordings for radio purposes could be made while the talent was at hand in the studios for regular recording sessions. Brunswick called its own series of broadcast programs Brunswick Brevities and produced about 26 of the shows, each containing almost 30 minutes of entertainment and advertising. Ultimately this format would be copied by others, particularly Columbia a year or so later in the fall of 1930. The Columbia offerings were called Tele-Focal Radio Series and used dubbings from commercial recordings with added announcers and advertising. Brunswick, however, did not use dubbings. The broadcast series therefore often contained performances that were very different from the commercially-released versions of the selections. Additionally - and significantly - the Brunswick artists occasionally did their own announcing and sometimes performed selections that they did not record for commercial release.

FIRST

The premier Brunswick Brevities went on the air, August 19, 1929 and were broadcast weekly until February 1930. Al Jolson, then Brunswick’s top artist, was featured on the first program. Jolson’s recordings for the program had been made during his July 25, 1929 recording session which produced Liza (Brunswick 4402). It was therefore no coincidence this same number was one he recorded for the broadcast. It is believed the Colonial Club Orchestra recorded the non-vocal parts of the program as they were in the studio nine days earlier. That session included a medley of songs made famous by Jolson as well as an instrumental version of There’s a Rainbow `Round My Shoulder, another Jolson hit. Brunswick advertising in its own publications shortly after the series began listed the 28 stations that carried the weekly programs. Trade advertisements later stated that 32 stations, blanketing the country, were airing the programs every week. These advertisements for Brunswick Brevities - Radio’s Greatest Entertainment” proclaimed such “Stars of the First Magnitude” as Al Jolson, Belle Baker, Red Nichols, Abe Lyman, Nick Lucas, Ben Bernie and Zelma O’Neal. This is the 14 September 1929 radio listing for Brunswick Brevities over WSM Nashville

VIDEO

In this week's Phantom Dancer Video of the Week see 'exclusive' Brunswick artist, Red Nichols and his Five Pennies'in a 7 minute musical short from 1929. Red Nichols plays "Ida", "Whispering", "Nobody's Sweetheart", "Who Cares" and "China Boy". The musicians are Red Nichols (cornet), Tommy Thune and John Egan (trumpet), Herb Taylor (trombone), Pee Wee Russell (clarinet), Irving Brodsky (piano), Eddie Condon (banjo and vega lute) and George Beebe (drums). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsBJcSLIu5k

14 JULY PLAY LIST

Play List - The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #445
107.3 2SER Tuesday 14 July 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 - 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 - 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 - 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 - 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 - 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 - 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 - 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 - 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 - 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 - 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 - 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 - 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 - 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 - 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 - 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 - 6am
Set 1	1940s Swing On Air
Lungo il Viale	Natalino Otto	Comm Rec Italy 1947
For The First Time	Shep Fields and his New Music	'One Night Stand' AFRS Re-broadcast Aug 1945 /div>
Instrumental + Moonlight Serenade (theme)	Glenn Miller Orchestra	'Sunset Serenade' Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ NBC Blue NY 22 Nov 1941
Set 2	Progressive Keyboards on Radio
Lullaby of Birdland (theme) + Asute	Wild Bill Davis (Hammond Organ) and Trio	'Stars in Jazz' Birland WNBC NBC NY 1952
Lullaby of Birland (theme) + Poco Loco	Bud Powell (piano) and Trio	'Stars in Jazz' WNBC NBC NY 8 Jul 1953
Blue Skies	Erroll Garner (piano)	'Guest Star' Radio Transcription New York City 14 Dec 1949
Set 3	1920s Brunswick Jazz Sides on the Wireless
I'd Walk A Million Miles	Frank Black Orchestra (voc) Unknown	Comm Rec Brunswick Records New York City Jul 1927
Moanin' Low	Libby Holman	'Brunswick Brevities' Radio Transcription New York City 1929
That's A'Plenty + Say It With Music (Theme)	Red Nichols and his Five Pennies	'Brunswick Brevities' Radio Transcription New York City 27 Aug 1929
Set 4	At The Jazz Band Ball on 1956 - 62 Radio
At The Jazz Band Ball (theme) + Sweet Georgia Brown	Al Hirt and his Jazz Band	'The Jazz Band Ball' WLW CBS New Orleans 18 Aug 1956
It's Alright + Hava Nagila	Henry Red Allen	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 30 Mar 1962
Set 5	Cotton Club on the Radio with Duke Ellington
If You Were In My Place	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Cotton Club WABC CBS NY 24 Mar 1938
Oh Babe Maybe Someday + I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Ivie Anderson	Cotton Club WABC CBS NY 8 May 1938
Caravan	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Cotton Club WABC CBS NY 18 Mar 1937
East St Louis Toodle-Oo + Jazz Pot Pourri	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Cotton Club WABC CBS NY 22 May 1938
Set 6	Big Band Swing on 'Spotlight Bands'
Contrasts (theme) + King Porter Stomp	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	'Spotlight Bands' Blue Network 11 Feb 1945
Wire Brush Stomp	Gene Krupa Trio	'Spotlight Bands' Newport, Rhode Island Blue Network 2 Oct 1944
Minnie's in the Money	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) BG	'Spotlight Bands' Cornell University NY Blue Network 25 Sep 1943
Easy	Harry James Orchestra	'Spotlight Bands' Hollywood Mutual Network 18 Oct 1946
Set 7	1920s - 1930s Radio Jazz
Cobblestones	Ted Weems Orchestra (voc) Parker Gibbs	Comm Rec Camden NJ 25 Nov 1927
Linda	Earl Burtnett Orchestra (voc) Jess Kirkpatrick	Aircheck Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles 1931
Dancing on the Ceiling	Anson Weeks Orchestra	Radio Transcription Peacock Court Hotel Mark Hopkins San Francisco 1932
You're Driving Me Crazy (1950s and 1920s version)	Paul Whiteman Orchestra	'Forever Pops' ABC Chicago 1950
Set 8	Bebop Vocal Harmonies
Deedle + What's This?	Dave Lambert and Buddy Stewart	'Symphony Sid Show' Royal Roost WMCA NY 26 Feb 1949
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles	Jackie Kane and Roy Kral	'Symphony Sid Show' Royal Roost WMCA NY 1949
Every Day	Lambert, Hendricks and Ross (voc) Buddy Rich Quintet	Birdland WJZ ABC NY 8 Nov 1958