Original air date - Phantom Dancer :: 12:00pm 18th Aug 2020

Fats Waller from 1938-43 radio and recordings is this week's Phantom Dancer feature artist. You'll hear Fats Waller broadcsting live and on V-Discs. Greg Poppleton presents The Phantom Dancer every week. It's your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week. The Phantom Dancer's been on-air over 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985. Hear The Phantom Dancer online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 18 August at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/ where you can also hear two years of archived shows. As always, the finyl hour is vinyl.

THE FINAL CURTAIN

At the end Waller's career in 1943, the year he died, Fats Waller had the distinction of becoming the first African-American songwriter to compose a hit Broadway musical that was seen by a mostly white audience. Broadway producer Richard Kollmar's hiring of Waller to create the musical Early to Bed was recalled in a 2016 essay about Waller by John McWhorter, an American academic and linguist who is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he teaches linguistics, American studies, philosophy, and music history. "Even as late as 1943, the idea of a black composer writing the score for a standard-issue white show was unheard of. When Broadway performer and producer Richard Kollmar began planning Early to Bed, his original idea was for Waller to perform in it as a comic character, not to write the music. Waller was, after all, as much a comedian as a musician. Comedy rarely dates well, but almost 80 years later, his comments and timing during "Your Feet's Too Big" are as funny as anything on Comedy Central, and he nearly walks away with the movie Stormy Weather with just one musical scene and a bit of mugging later on, despite the competition of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Lena Horne, and the Nicholas Brothers. Kollmar's original choice for composer [of Early to Bed] was Ferde Grofé, best known as the orchestrator of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," whose signature compositions were portentous concert suites. But Grofé withdrew, and it is to Kollmar's credit that he realized that he had a top-rate pop-song composer available in Waller. Waller's double duty as composer and performer was short-lived. During a cash crisis and in an advanced state of intoxication, Waller threatened to leave the production unless Kollmar bought the rights to his Early to Bed music for $1,000. (This was typical of Waller, who often sold melodies for quick cash when in his cups. Waller came to his senses the next day, but Kollmar decided that his drinking habits made him too risky a proposition for eight performances a week. From then on, Waller was the show's composer only, with lyrics by George Marion, whose best-remembered work today is the script for the Astaire-Rogers film The Gay Divorcée." Six months after the premiere of Early to Bed, it was still playing in a Broadway theater. At that point newspapers reported Waller's premature death.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Two acetates of piano by Fats Waller recorded in 1943 probably in September during a private session. The first piece is 'That Does It', the second one is unknown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvecI7wi0UA

18 AUGUST PLAY LIST

Play List - The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #450
107.3 2SER Tuesday 18 August 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 Orchestras Live On-Air
Open + Whispering	Gene Krupa Orchestra	'Spotlight Bands' Blue Network 11 Nov 1944
Speak Low + Instrumental	Bob Chester Orchestra	'One Night Stand' Panther Room Hotel Sherman Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 10 Aug 1944
With My Head In The Clouds + Close	Glenn Miller AAF Orchestra (voc) Tex Beneke and The Modernaires	'Uncle Sam Presents' New York City AFRS Re-broadcast Feb 1944
Set 2	Let's Go To Town Transcriptions 1954
Open + Song In Blue	Les Paul and Mary Ford	'Let's Go To Town' Radio Transcription Hollywood 1954
Don't Get Around Much Anymore	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (voc) Patti Page	'Let's Go To Town' Radio Transcription Hollywood 1954
Man From Mars + Blue Flame (Close)	Woody Herman Third Herd	'Let's Go To Town' Radio Transcription Hollywood 1954
Set 3	Vaudeville and Music Hall on the Radio
So Is Your Old Lady	Sadie Gale (voc) Humphrey Bishop and his AWA Light Opera Company	'Songs Of The Shows' 2CH - AWA Sydney Jun 1944
Selections from 'The Girlfriend'	Royal Air Force Concert Party	'Serenade To The Stars' British Forces Radio London 1944
Have Your Chill	Coot Grant and Kid Socks Wilson	'This is Jazz' WOR Mutual NY 3 May 1947
Set 4	1930s - 1940s Pop on Your Hit Parade
As Long As Your Not In Love With Somebody Else + Brazil	Mark Warnow Orchestra (voc) Barry Wood and The Hit Paraders	'Your Hit Parade' AFRS Re-broadcast New York 23 Jan 1943
Let's Get Lost	Mark Warnow Orchestra (voc) Fran Sinatra	'Your Hit Parade' Rehearsal WABC CBS NY 9 Oct 1943
Change Partners + I've Got A Pocket Full of Dreams + Close	Al Goodman Orchestra (voc) The Hit Paraders	'Your Hit Parade' WABC CBS NY 22 Oct 1938
I'll See You In My Dreams	Greg Poppleton (voc) and the Bakelite Broadcasters	From the new album 'Back In Your Own Backyard'
Set 5	Fats Waller on the Radio
Waller Jive	Fats Waller (piano and vocal)	V-Disc New York City 23 Sep 1943
Ain't Misbehavin' (Open) + Hold My Hand	Fats Waller and his Rhythm (voc) FW	WEAF NBC Red NY 16 Jul 1938
Yacht Club (Open) + I Do, Do You?	Fats Waller and his Rhythm	Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 10 Dec 1940
When You And I Were Young + Yacht Club Swing (theme)	Fats Waller and his Rhythm (voc) FW	Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 3 Dec 1940
Set 6	Early 1930s Radio Bands
Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea	Roane's Pennsylvanians (voc) 'Snowball' and Band Chorus	Comm Rec New York City 28 Jan 1932
Do The New York	Gus Arnheim Orchestra	'Cocoanut Grove' Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1932
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes	Ruth Etting (voc) Ben Selvin Orchestra	Radio Transcription New York City 1930
When The Rest Of The Crowd Goes Home	Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Donald Novis	'Cocoanut Grove' Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
Set 7	Harry 'The Hipster' Gibson 1940s Radio
Handsome Harry The Hipster	Harry 'The Hipster' Gibson	Radio Transcription Muzak NYC 21 Apr 1944
In A Mist	Harry 'The Hipster' Gibson	'Eddie Condon Jazz Concert' Town Hall WJZ Blue NY 22 Jul 1944
Candlelight	Harry 'The Hipster' Gibson	'Eddie Condon Jazz Concert' Town Hall WJZ Blue NY 22 Jul 1944
Who Put The Benzedrine In Mrs Murphy's Ovaltine	Harry 'The Hipster' Gibson	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 8 Feb 1946
Set 8	Women Big Band Singers on 1940s Radio
'sWonderful	Betty and Rosemary Clooney (voc) Tony Pastor Orchestra	Aircheck New York City Oct 1948
It's So Peaceful In The Country	Peggy Lee (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NY 20 Sep 1941
I'd Do It All Over Again	Anita O'Day (voc) Gene Krupa Orchestra	Astor Roof, Hotel Astor WOR Mutual NY 15 Aug 1945
Beg Your Pardon	Dinah Shore (voc) Harry James Orchestra	'Dinah Shore Show' KFI NBC LA 4 May 1948