The Phantom Dancer – a weekly radio mixtape of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV produced and presented by authentic 1920s-30s singer, Greg Poppleton.

Greg has presented the multi-award winning Phantom Dancer on 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985. It is now heard on 23 radio stations and online.

Check it out https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

See the play list for this week’s Phantom Dancer below. This week’s mixtape has a special broadcast recording by Spike Jones and his City Slickers of ‘F-B-Aida’ a send-up of Verdi’s famous opera.

SPIKE JONES

Was a U.S drummer, percussionist and bandleader most famous for his parodies of popular tunes on record, radio and TV in the 1940s and 1950s.

These parodies were performed by his City Slickers. He also ran a serious orchestra playing lush arrangements of pop songs called the ‘Other Orchestra’.

Spike Jones took up drums at age 11. A railway restaurant chef taught him how to use objects like pots and pans as percussion. This skill got him onto popular radio shows in the 1930s as a comic percussionist. But he was also a dance band drummer and studio musician.

In fact, he was the drummer on the original version of the biggest selling record of all time, ‘White Christmas’ sung by Bing Crosby.

BORED

Tired of playing the same music every night for radio orchestras, Jones and like-minded musicians got together playing send-ups of popular ditties which they recorded to amuse their wives. One recording found its way to the offices of RCA Victor which offered the parody band a contract.

Their first record was Der Fuehrer’s Face which became a huge hit.

They starred in their own radio show between 1945 and 1949, and in their own NBC and CBS television shows from 1954 to 1961.

Spike Jones ponders the two-headed man

On this week’s Phantom Dancer, we hear Spike Jones and his City Slickers live on 1949 radio.

And for your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week, marvel at the City Slickers live on 1950s TV sending up ‘That Ol’ Black Magic’.

Bill Barty, who performed in film and TV up until his death in 2000, sings in the style of James Cagney, Jimmy Durante and finishes with Johnny Ray.