Original air date - Phantom Dancer :: 12:00pm 22nd Sep 2020

Ray Noble, English band leader and composer who found a career as a band leader and actor in the US, is this week's Phantom Dancer feature artist. Greg Poppleton brings you The Phantom Dancer, your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week. On-air since 1985. Catch The Phantom Dancer online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 22 September at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/ where you can also hear two years of archived shows. The finyl hour is vinyl.

RAY NOBLE

Raymond Stanley Noble was an English bandleader, composer, arranger, radio comedian, and actor. Noble wrote lyrics and music for many popular songs during the British dance band era, notably for his longtime friend and associate Al Bowlly. These include "Love Is the Sweetest Thing", "Cherokee", "The Touch of Your Lips", "I Hadn't Anyone Till You", and his signature tune, "The Very Thought of You". Noble also played a radio comedian opposite American ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's stage act of Mortimer Snerd and Charlie McCarthy, and American comedy duo Burns and Allen, later transferring these roles from radio to TV and popular films.

ENGLISH ORCHESTRA

Noble studied at the Royal Academy of Music and in 1927 won a competition for the best British dance band orchestrator that was advertised in Melody Maker. In 1929, he became leader of the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, an HMV Records studio band that featured members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day. The most popular vocalist with Noble's studio band was Al Bowlly, who joined in 1930. During this time Noble co-wrote "Turkish Delight", "By the Fireside" and "Goodnight, Sweetheart". The latter song was a number one hit for Guy Lombardo in the United States charts. It was also used (with vocals by Al Bowlly) on the original television series Star Trek episode The City on the Edge of Forever.

U.S ORCHESTRA

Noble moved to New York City in 1934. The Bowlly/Noble recordings with the British New Mayfair Dance Orchestra on HMV had achieved popularity in the United States and Noble had several number one hits on the US pop singles charts: "Love is the Sweetest Thing", 1933, #1 for five weeks; "Old Spinning Wheel", 1934, #1 for three weeks; "The Very Thought of You", 1934, #1 for five weeks; "Isle of Capri", 1935, #1 for seven weeks; and with the American band: "Paris in the Spring", 1935, #1 for 1 week. Noble took Al Bowlly and his drummer Bill Harty to the US. The myth is he asked Glenn Miller to recruit American musicians to complete the band. The truth is, Noble has already booked his orchestra members from London before he left for the U.S. Miller played the trombone in the Ray Noble orchestra which included many other future US band leaders including Claude Thornhill, Bud Freeman and Will Bradley. Noble and his orchestra appeared in the 1937 film A Damsel in Distress with Fred Astaire, Joan Fontaine, George Burns and Gracie Allen. Noble played a somewhat "dense" character who was in love with Gracie Allen. Al Bowlly returned to England in 1938 but Noble continued to lead bands in America, moving into an acting career portraying a stereotypical upper-class English idiot. Ray Noble provided music for many radio shows such as The Chase and Sanborn Hour, The Charlie McCarthy Show, Burns and Allen and On Stage with Cathy and Elliott Lewis and also guest-appeared in some of their films. He worked with Bergen for nearly fifteen years, playing the foil to McCarthy and the slow-witted Mortimer Snerd, and his orchestra appeared with Edgar Bergen in the 1942 film Here We Go Again. He also provided the orchestration for the 1942 Lou Gehrig biopic The Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper. Noble's last major successes as a bandleader came with Buddy Clark in the late 1940s.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Linda, sung by Buddy Calrk with Ray Noble's Orchestra. Linda was written about 6-year old Linda Eastman who famously married Paul McCartney https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynyn3UQPlWU Make sure you come back to this blog, Greg Poppleton's Radio Lounge, every Tuesday, for the newest Phantom Dancer play list and Video of the Week!

29 SEPTEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List - The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #432
107.3 2SER Tuesday 29 September 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	Swinging Big Bands on 1940s One Night Stand Radio
The Good Earth	Woody Herman Orchestra	'One Night Stand' Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania AFRS Re-broadcast 23 Aug 1945
I Was Here Where you Left Me	Louis Prima Orchestra (voc) Lily Ann Carroll	'Spotlight Bands' Camp Shanks Blue Network NY 1945
Angelina + Brooklyn Boogie	Louis Prima Orchestra (voc) Louis Prima and Band	'Spotlight Bands' Camp Shanks Blue Network NY 1945
Set 2	Jazz on 1960s Radio
Open + The Lamp Is Low	Oscar Peterson Trio	Montreal Jazz Festival CBC Canada 1968
Just Lucky	Harry James Orchestra	El Patio Ballroom KCBS CBS San Francisco 20 May 1961
Set 3	Early 1930s Music Radio
Cool Water	RCA Victor Concert Orchestra	'His Master's Voice of the Air' Radio Transcription Nov 1932
Shake Hands With A Million	Harry Richman	'Dodge Show' Radio Transcription 1934
Dinah	Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) The Three Cheers	Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel NBC Orange Los Angeles 1932
Set 4	Women Jazz Singers on the Air
Rockin' Chair	Mildred Bailey	'Guest Star' Radio Transcription NY 1951
Thank Your Stars	Ella Fitzgerald with her Orchestra	Savoy Ballroom WEAF NBC Red NY 25 Jan 1940
Open + Just A Moment More	Sarah Vaughan	'Stars in Jazz' Birdland WNBC NBC NY 21 Apr 1953
Set 5	Ray Noble on American Radio
The Very Thought Of You (theme) + And The Angels Sing	Ray Noble Orchestra (voc) Liz Tilton	Beverley-Wiltshire Hotel KFI NBC LA 22 Oct 1939
I Never Had A Chance	Ray Noble Orchestra (voc) Al Bowlly	'Coty Hour' WEAF NBC Red NY 13 Mar 1935
A Fountain in Havana	Ray Noble Orchestra (piano) Claude Thornhill	'Coty Hour' WEAF NBC Red NY 17 Apr 1935
Comanche War Dance + Theme (Goodnight Sweetheart)	Ray Noble Orchestra	Beverley-Wiltshire Hotel KFI NBC LA 6 April 1940
Set 6	Swing Bands on 1944 Radio
Sleep	Benny Carter Orchestra	Aircheck Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca 1944
No Love, No Nothin'	Lionel Hampton Orchestra (voc) Dinah Washington	Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca KFI NBC LA 16 Jun 1944
Three Little Words	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca KECA Blue LA Oct 1944
Frantic in the Atlantic	Cab Calloway Orchestra	'One Night Stand' Club Zanzibar New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 22 Sep 1944
Set 7	Hal Kemp's Tripling Trumpets on 1934 Radio
When Summer Is Gone (theme) + It's Winter Again	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis	'Lavena Program' Radio Transcription New York City 1934
Boulevarde of Broken Dreams	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Deane Janis	'Lavena Program' Radio Transcription New York City 1934
Last Year's Girl	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis	'Lavena Program' Radio Transcription New York City 1934
Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea + When summer is Gone (theme)	Hal Kemp Orchestra	'Lavena Program' Radio Transcription New York City 1934
Set 8	Jazz on 1940s-50s TV
Soft Winds + Perdido	Roy Eldridge All-Stars	'The Today Show' WNBC TV NBC NY 18 Jan 1957
My Funny Valentine	Helen Ward (voc)	'Eddie Condon's Floor Show' WNBC TV NBC NY 26 Mar 1949
Ridin' High	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Ella Fitzgerald	'Texaco Show' WNBC TV NBC NY 9 Apr 1958
Intro + Drum Boogie	Ronald Reagan MC, Gene Krupa Orchestra (voc) Anita O'Day	'Ford Star Time' NBC TV LA 9 Feb 1960