Phantom Dancer :: 12:00pm 27th Jul 2021
Rosemary Clooney was an American singer, actor and radio host. She’s this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist where you’ll hear her in radio broadcasts from the 1950s-60s. She’s also actor, George Clooney’s, aunt.
The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton. Hear past Phantom Dancer online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.
This show will be online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 27 Jul at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.
ROSEMARY CLOONEY
It’s incredible that she had the beautiful voice that she had despite the heavy smoking that eventually made the end of her life painful before killing her.
From ‘More Than a Girl Singer’, American Association for Cancer Research,
“A long-time smoker, Clooney was hospitalized in 1996 with acute respiratory failure. At that time, her doctors advised her to quit smoking, but Clooney struggled with her addiction. “Mama called me from the hospital and asked me to bring her cigarettes,” Ferrer (one of her sons) remembers. “It was so hard for her to stop, though she finally did.”
Toward the end of 2001, Clooney was on the road performing when she began to find it hard to breathe. By the time she arrived home in Beverly Hills a few days before Christmas, she was exhausted. “She could hardly get up the stairs,” says Ferrer. “After two steps, she would have to stop and rest.” Less than a month later, Clooney was diagnosed with stage IIIA non–small cell lung cancer. She died six months later, on June 29, 2002, at her home in Beverly Hills with her family beside her. She was 74.”
TALENT SPOTTED
In 1945, Rosemary Clooney’s father went out one night with friends to celebrate the end of World War II. He never came back.
Clooney, 17, and her sister, 14, found themselves in a dire situation. They collected soft drink bottles and used what little money they had to buy lunch at school. The rent was overdue, the phone disconnected and the utilities about to be turned off when their luck changed. The teenagers, who had grown up performing at political rallies for their grandfather, the mayor of Maysville, won a singing competition at WLW Cincinnati, a local radio station. The station hired them for a regular late-night spot, with each sister earning $20 a week (almost US$290 in 2021 money).
They sing with Tony Pastor’s Orchestra, broadcasting and recording with the band until 1949 (as you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer mix).
In 1950–51, she was a regular on the radio and television versions of Songs For Sale on CBS. In 1951, her record of “Come On-a My House”, produced by Mitch Miller, became a hit. It was her first of many singles to hit the charts—despite the fact that Clooney hated the song passionately. She recorded several duets with Marlene Dietrich and appeared in the early 1950s on Faye Emerson’s Wonderful Town series on CBS. Clooney also did several guest appearances on the Arthur Godfrey radio show.
HOLLYWOOD
In 1954, she starred with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen in the movie White Christmas…
Two years later she had her own half-hour syndicated television musical-variety show, The Rosemary Clooney Show. NBC re-launched the show in a prime time slot on 1957 as The Lux Show Starring Rosemary Clooney. It lasted one season. In the late 50s and early 1960s, Clooney often appeared with Bing Crosby on television and radio. You’ll hear an excerpt from a 20-minute CBS radio program they did Monday to Friday for years that aired before the midday news.
Clooney left Columbia Records in 1958, doing a number of recordings for MGM Records and then some for Coral Records. Finally, toward the end of 1958, she signed with RCA Victor Records, where she stayed until 1963. In 1964, she went to Reprise Records, and in 1965 to Dot Records.
1970s – 2000s
After a hiatus of 11 years due to pills, alcohol and depression, Clooney signed to United Artists Records in 1976 for two albums. From 1977, she recorded an album every year for the Concord Jazz record label until her death. She was also singing on other people’s albums in 70s and 80s
In 1995, Clooney guest-starred in the NBC television medical drama ER (starring her nephew, George Clooney); for her performance, she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
She received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.
Here’s Rosemary Clooney on ‘What’s My Line’,
2 FEBRUARY PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney,LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #502 |
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107.3 2SER Tuesday 27 Jul 2021 |
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Set 1
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A Date With The Duke | |
Take The A-Train (theme) + Can’t You Read Between The Lines?
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Duke Ellington Orchestra
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‘A Date With The Duke’
AFRS Re-broadcast 1945 |
Back Home Again in Indiana
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Duke Ellington Orchestra
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‘A Date With The Duke’
AFRS Re-broadcast 1945 |
The Wish I Wish
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Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Joya Sherill
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‘A Date With The Duke’
AFRS Re-broadcast 1945 |
Cottontail
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Duke Ellington Orchestra
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‘A Date With The Duke’
AFRS Re-broadcast 1945 |
Set 2
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1950s Jazz Radio | |
Sugar Beat
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Eliot Lawrence Orchestra
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Meadowbrook Ballroom
Cedar Grove NJ WOR Mutual NY 1951 |
At Sundown
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Les Brown Orchestra
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‘Treasury Bandstand’
Hershey Park Ballroom WLAN ABC Lancaster PA 1957 |
Give Me The Simple Life
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Thelma Carpenter
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‘Jazz Arts Concert’
WNBC NBC NY 4 Oct 1952 |
Set 3
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Trad Jazz Radio | |
Bugle Call Rag
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Red Nichols
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Radio Transcription
1952 |
Open + South Rampart Street Parade
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Preacher Rollo
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‘Dixieland Club’
AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Apr 1952 |
Mama’s Gone, Goodbye + St Louis Blues
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Kid Ory
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Club Hangover
KCBS San Francisco 5 Feb 1955 |
Set 4
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Rosemany Clooney | |
‘S Wonderful
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Rosemary & Betty Clooney (voc) Tony Pastor Orchestra
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Aircheck
New York City Sep 1948 |
Tenderly (theme) + You Make Me Feel So Young
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Rosemary Clooney
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‘The Rosemary Clooney Show’
KNX CBS LA 2 Nov 1954 |
Enchanted
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Rosemary Clooney
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‘Bing Crosby – Rosemary Clooney Show’
KNX CBS LA 20 Mar 1962 |
It’s a Most Unusual Day + Something to Remember You By
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Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby
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‘The Bing Crosby Show’
KNX CBS LA 22 Nov 1953 |
Set 5
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1920s Comm Records | |
Sunday
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Jean Goldkette Orchestra (voc) Keller Sisters
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Comm Rec
Camden NJ 15 Oct 1926 |
Delirium
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Red and Miff’s Stompers
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Comm Rec
New York City 11 Feb 1927 |
Flamin’ Mamie
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Coon-Sanders Nighthawks Orchestra (voc) Joe Sanders
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Comm Rec
Camden NJ 21 Dec 1925 |
Blue Melody Blues
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Tiny Praham and his Musicians
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Comm Rec
Chicago 1 Feb 1929 |
Set 6
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Buddy Rich | |
Love Thy Neighbour (film preview)
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Henny Youngman, Jack Benny, Tommy Dorsey & more
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Paramount Theatre
WOR Mutual NY 17 Dec 1940 |
Set 7
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Mid 1940s Swing Radio | |
Theme + Hamp’s Got a Duke
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Lionel Hampton Orchestra
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Casa Manana
Culver City Ca KFI NBC LA 20 Jul 1947 |
Temptation
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Harry James Orchestra (voc) Ginny Powell
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Meadowbrook Gardens
KECA ABC LA 10 Feb 1946 |
Santa Catalina
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Raymond Scott Orchestra (voc) Dorothy Collins
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Palace Hotel
KQW CBS San Francisco 16 Sep 1947 |
Andy’s Blues
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Count Basie Orchestra
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Avadon Ballroom
Aircheck Los Angeles 1946 |
Set 8
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Women Radio Singers | |
Manhattan
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Lee Wiley
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‘Guest Star’
Radio Transcription New York City 1950 |
Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen
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Kay Starr (voc) Charlie Barnett Orchestra
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‘For the Record’
WEAF NBC NY 11 Sep 1944 |
Robin Hood
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Mildred Bailey
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‘Music Till Midnight’
WABC CBS NY 12 Feb 1945 |
I Miss Your Kiss
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Joya Sherill (voc) Duke Ellington Orchestra
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‘A Date with the Duke’
WJZ ABC NY 12 May 1945 |