Happy Birthday, Phantom Dancer. Bob Crosby is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist, in broadcasts from 1937 – 41. You’ll also hear live 1950 radio featuring Afro-Cuban jazz by Machito. And this is the 500th national Phantom Dancer heard across Australia over stations of the Community Radio Network. See the play list below.

I’ve brought you The Phantom Dancer, mostly live, every week since 1985. It’s been heard across Australia over the Community Radio Network since 2013. Though I wanted this week to be live, this week’s show is a re-broadcast of the 17 November 2020 Phantom Dancer as Sydney is in Covid lockdown.

Bob Crosby is an unusual figure in the history of show business. While he had a brother, Bing, who was one of the biggest names in the business, (the first multimedia star, leader in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture grosses from 1930 to 1954), Bob was both similar enough and different enough not to be overshadowed. They could even work together sharing the same self-effacing and laid-back wit.

Hear how Bob and Bing’s voices and personalities blend in this 1950 aircheck of ‘Let’s Do It Again’…

Hear all Phantom Dancers with Greg Poppleton, Tuesdays 12:04-2pm and Saturdays 5-5:56pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney and online at 2ser.com

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BAND

Bob Crosby started singing in the early 1930s with the Rhythm Boys, which included vocalist Ray Hendricks and guitarist Bill Pollard, and with Anson Weeks (1931–34) and the Dorsey Brothers (1934–35).

He led his first band in 1935 when the former members of Ben Pollack‘s band elected him leader.

Crosby’s “band-within-the-band,” the Bob-Cats, was a dixieland octet with soloists from the larger orchestra, many from New Orleans.

The Bob-Cats included at various times Ray Bauduc, Yank Lawson, Billy Butterfield, Charlie Spivak, Muggsy Spanier, Irving Fazola, Nappy Lamare, Jack Sperling, Joe Sullivan, Jess Stacy, Bob Haggart and Bob Zurke.

In the spring of 1940, during a performance in Chicago, teenager Doris Day was hired as the band’s vocalist.

For its theme song, the band chose George Gershwin‘s song “Summertime.” The band’s hits included “South Rampart Street Parade”, “March of the Bob Cats”, “In a Little Gypsy Tea Room”, “Whispers in the Dark”, “Day In, Day Out”, “Down Argentine Way”, “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby“, “Dolores”, and “New San Antonio Rose” . A bass-and-drums duet between Haggart and Bauduc, “Big Noise from Winnetka“, became a hit in 1938–39.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTq4BaFhCng

RADIO

During World War II, Bob Crosby spent 18 months in the Marines touring with bands in the Pacific. His radio variety series, The Bob Crosby Show, aired on NBC and CBS in different runs from 1943 – 1950. This was followed by Club Fifteen on CBS from 1947 -49, then 1950 – 53. A half-hour CBS daytime series, The Bob Crosby Show, followed from 1953 to 1957. Bob introduced the Canadian singer Gisele MacKenzie to American audiences and subsequently guest-starred in 1957 on her NBC television series, The Gisele MacKenzie Show.

In 1952, Bob replaced Phil Harris as the bandleader on The Jack Benny Program, remaining until Benny retired the radio show in 1955 after 23 years.

TV

Bob Crosby starred in his own afternoon variety show, The Bob Crosby show, that aired from 1953 to 1957. He also fronted a TV program in Australia in the 1960s. He was one of two featured singers (himself and Dennis Day) in mid-1950s episodes of The Jack Benny Program.

13 JULY PLAY LIST – 500th National Phantom Dancer Radio Show

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #500
107.3 2SER Tuesday 13 JULY 2021 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 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 – 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Anson Weeks 1932 Radio
Theme + Let’s Fly Away	Anson Weeks Orchestra (voc) Bill Moreling	Radio Transcription San Francisco 1932
Medley	Anson Weeks Orchestra	Radio Transcription San Francisco 1932
Who’s Your Little Who Zis?	Anson Weeks Orchestra (voc) Bill Moreling	Radio Transcription San Francisco 1932
Set 2	Duke Ellington 1952 Radio
Theme + Bensonality	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 30 Jul 1952
All of Me + Bakiff	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Bette Roche	Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 30 Jul 1952
Set 3	Early Cab Calloway Records
Jitterbug	Cab Calloway Orchestra (voc) CC	Comm Rec NYC 22 Jan 1934
Lady With a Fan	Cab Calloway Orchestra (voc) CC	Comm Rec NYC 1933
Doin’ The Rhumba	Cab Calloway Orchestra (voc) CC	Comm Rec NYC 3 Mar 1931
Set 4	Bob Crosby
Theme + Boogie Woogie Maxixe	Bob Crosby Orchestra	Blackhawk WGN Mutual Chicago 29 Apr 1940
Theme + In A Minor Mood + Dogtown Blues	Bob Crosby Orchestra	Swing Concert Congress Hotel WMAQ NBC red Chicago 18 May 1937
It’s You, You, Darling	Bob Crosby Orchestra (voc) Marian Mann	Terrace Room Hotel New Yorker WOR Mutual NY 25 Mar 1940
Smokey Mary + Close	Bob Crosby Orchestra	Aircheck 23 May 1942
Set 5	African Rhythms
Field Recordings	Various	‘Biography in Rhythm’ WRCA NBC NY Jun 1955
Afro-Cuban Suite	Machito and his Afro-Cuban Band	‘Biography in Rhythm’ WRCA NBC NY Jun 1955
Set 6	Machito
Theme + Carambola	Machito and his Afro-Cuban Band (voc) Machito & Graziella	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 1951
Cao Cao	Machito and his Afro-Cuban Band (voc) Graziella	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 1951
Tanga	Machito and his Afro-Cuban Band with Zoot Sims	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 1951
Set 7	Leonid Utesov
Komsommol	Leonid Utesov and the RSFSR Orchestra	Melodia Records Moscow 1942
Mishka Odesset	Leonid Utesov and the RSFSR Orchestra	Melodia Records Moscow 1942
Baron von der Pshek	Leonid Utesov and the RSFSR Orchestra	Melodia Records Moscow 1943
Aosha	Leonid Utesov and daughter and the RSFSR Orchestra	Melodia Records Moscow 1943
Set 8	1940s Bop Radio
Low Ceiling	Beryl Booker	‘Jazz Club USA’ Voice of America 1951
I Wished on the Moon	Beryl Booker	‘Jazz Club USA’ Voice of America 1951
Mischevious Lady + The Moors	Melba Liston	‘Jazz Club USA’ Voice of America 1951
I’ve Got The World on a String + Close	Hazel Scott	‘Jazz Club USA’ Voice of America 1951