Garwood Van is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. Songwriter of ‘Time to Dream’ and dance band leader from 1936, Garwood Van also was an actor in ‘Love on Tap’ (1939).

Garwood Van held long residencies at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, the Trocadero, Ciro’s and Florentine Gardens in Los Angeles. The band’s theme song was Poinciana. Featured vocalists included Gail Storm, Wally Ruth and Maxine Conrad. After giving up the band scene, he operated a successful record shop and music store in Las Vegas.

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GARWOOD VAN

From the ‘Las Vegas Sun’, Wednesday, April 28, 1999

Headline: Former big-band leader, community activist Van dies
by Jace Radke

In the early 1940s and ’50s visitors to the Las Vegas Strip were dancing to the big-band sound, and many were tapping away to the orchestra of Garwood Van “the Music Man.”

Van, who worked with the likes of Sammy Davis Jr., Vic Damone, Andy Williams and Liberace, died at the age of 88 on Sunday. He gave Redd Foxx his first gig.

Van first played Las Vegas in 1942 at the Hotel El Rancho Vegas and later conducted orchestras at the Last Frontier, Flamingo, Thunderbird, Dunes and New Frontier hotels.

G. Barney Rawlings, a former Strip performer and singing emcee who logged more than 3,000 consecutive performances at the Thunderbird, remembers Van’s talents and his distinctive voice.

“He was one of the last big-band leaders in the old days, and he always had the top players,” Rawlings said. “I must have met him the first week after he moved to town, and I still remember his low, scratchy voice.

“He always talked like he had a sore throat, but he sure knew how to lead that band.”

In 1952 Van met his wife, Joan, in Lake Tahoe where she was working as a dancer. They were married and moved to Las Vegas the same year.

Joan Van saw her husband play his style of music for many, including President Ronald Reagan.

“His band just had a sweet dance sound,” Van said of her husband. “It was melodic and maybe a little like the sound of Lester Lannon’s band.”

In 1959 the Vans opened Garwood Van’s Musicland, and quickly built it into one of Nevada’s largest music stores.

Van took time away from his business and music to give to his community, Rawlings said.

“We were cut from the same pattern of becoming part of the community that we were performing in,” Rawlings said. “He didn’t just go to work and forget about the community when he was done performing.

“He didn’t just ride along. He was out supporting the city.”

In 1976 Van, a Republican, unsuccessfully ran for the County Commission. He had touted his business experience and sensitivity to issues.

“One promise I can make right now is to run an entirely open campaign and, if elected, serve my constituents with integrity and dedication,” Van said in an August 1979 Sun story.

Van held several administrative positions in various Las Vegas groups and organizations.

He served as a director and song leader for the Las Vegas Rotary Club, was a member of the Civilian Military Council, a president of the Merchants Bureau of Greater Las Vegas and a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

Van, who was an avid golfer, was a member of the Las Vegas Country Club and was vice president of the Desert Inn Country Club.

“He loved to golf and was out on the course as much as he could be,” Joan Van said. “He wasn’t able to get out as much after he had a hip operation a couple years ago, and he missed golf.”

Van was also a member of the Musicians Locals 47 and 369.

Van is survived by his wife and son, Gary Van, both of Las Vegas.

A PERSONAL STORY

From a site called Audiokarma, a Musicland employee in 2019 wrote the following personal reminiscence about her employer, Garwood Van…

“I worked at Garwood Van’s Musicland in the late 60s/early 70s while attending college at what is now University of Nevada at Las Vegas but was then named Nevada Southern University. Musicland was a large record and stereo component shop located at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue, where the Bonanza Shopping Center is now.

This is back in the day when records were arranged in alphabetical order in waist-level bins according to genre.

Garwood was in his sixties when I knew him, but he had been a well-known band leader in Las Vegas since he started at the old El Rancho in 1942.

He and his ex-dancer wife Joan owned and managed the shop. Sometimes his son Gary Paul Van (also deceased) would work, too.

Garwood was a very nice man, and I would give him a ride home in my ’54 Pontiac when needed, and he would tell me stories about Las Vegas. Several entertainers would stop in and shop at his store when they were in town, including Paul Anka. I think I waited on George Harrison once, unfortunately trying to steer him to an album by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, when he had asked about the popularity of his own latest album, but I really loved “Lucky Man” more than “My Sweet Lord” — He had asked my preferences and each to their own?

I remember how eagerly anticipated new music was, and we used to play the newest tunes, which were piped outside, and one morally irate gentleman roared into the store to violently object to our first spin of Paul Simon’s “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.”

It was an interesting time – Vietnam, civil rights, great music, various experimentations, etc., all in a town which was such a strange mixture of Mormons and mob.

Garwood was pretty conservative, but he also ran the Pussycat a Go-Go with his partner Joe Yip from 64-72, a popular club where I enjoyed seeing acts like Sly and the Family Stone – Hilarious to see them roll out of their bus in a cloud of smoke, patchouli, satins, and sparkles when it was time to get on stage. (Jim Morrison was arrested there when his cigarette was mistaken for a joint in 1968. I was tossed out in 1969 for dancing with a Black man who was a great dancer, but the temporary twosome was not culturally acceptable in Las Vegas back then.) The Pussycat was located on the Strip near where the Palazzo Casino is now.

2 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINECommunity Radio Network Show CRN #516
107.3 2SER Tuesday 2 NOVEMBER 2021 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 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	1940s One Night Stand Radio
Girl of my Dreams	Randy Brooks Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Roseland Ballroom NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 17 Nov 1945
I Love Yoy	Jack Teagarden Orchestra (voc) Phyllis Lane	‘One Night Stand’ Coral Gables Weymouth Mass. AFRS Re-broadcast 24 Aug 1944
They Didn’t Believe Me + Blue Moon (close)	Eliot Lawrence Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast 26 Jul 1945
Set 2	Stan Kenton
Open + Taboo	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘Concert in Miniature’ Lakeside Ballroom Dayton OH WLW NBC Cincinati 16 Sep 1952
Impressionism	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘Concert in Miniature’ Devine’s Million Dollar Ballroom WTMJ NBC Milwaukee 10 Jun 1952
Limelight + Close	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘Concert in Miniature’ Student Union Building Teachers’ College WBOW NBC Terre Haute 16 Jun 1953
Set 3	1950s Jazz Radio
Route 66	Bobby Troup Trio (voc) Bobby Troup	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Cameo Club WRCA NBC NYC 1956
The Goof and I	Woody Herman’s Third Herd	‘Monitor’ Basin Street WRCA NBC NYC 26 Jun 1955
Sleep + Close	Buddy Hamilton Quintet	‘Jazz International’ AFRTS Hollywood 16 Jun 1960
Set 4	Garwood Van
Theme: Poinciana. Medley: Rise and Sine / I Want To Be Happy	Garwood Van Orchestra	Starlight Room Hotel Chase Mutual Network St Louis 9 Aug 1944
Just a Memory	Garwood Van Orchestra	Starlight Room Hotel Chase Mutual Network St Louis 9 Aug 1944
Fine and Dandy	Garwood Van Orchestra	Starlight Room Hotel Chase Mutual Network St Louis 9 Aug 1944
Blue Caribean Sea	Garwood Van Orchestra	Starlight Room Hotel Chase Mutual Network St Louis 9 Aug 1944
Set 5	1920s Orchestras
I’m Just Wild About Animal Crackers	Irving Aaronson and his Commanders (voc) Quartet	Comm Rec NYC 23 Jun 1926
Pardon Me, Pretty Baby	Sam Lanin Orchestra	Hit of the Week Records NYC 13 Aug 1931
Nobody’s Sweetheart	Irving Mills Hotsy Totsy Gang	‘Brunswick Brevities’ Radio Transcription Oct 1929
I Found a Million Dollar Baby	Don Voorhees Orchestra	Hit of the Week Records NYC 10 Sep 1931
Set 6	1930s Cancer Stick Radio
To You	Bob Crosby Orchestra (voc) Bob Crosby	Camel Caravan WABC CBS NYC 11 Jul 1939
Get On Board	Bob Crosby Orchestra (voc) Johnny Mercer	Camel Caravan WABC CBS NYC 27 Jun 1939
My Inspiration	Bob Crosby Orchestra	Camel Caravan WABC CBS NYC 18 Jul 1939
If I Didn’t Care	Bob Crosby Orchestra	Camel Caravan WABC CBS NYC 4 Jul 1939
Set 7	Goodman Orchestra 1946
Somebody Stole My Gal	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Benny Goodman Show’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1 Jul 1946
Swing Angel	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Meadowbrook Gardens Culver City Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 26 Jan 1946
And The Angels Sing	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Martha Tilton	‘Benny Goodman Show’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1 Jul 1946
Clarinade + Sweet Lorraine	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Meadowbrook Gardens Culver City Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 26 Jan 1946
Set 8	Miles Davis
Moose The Mooche	Miles Davis	Comm Rec Hollywood 28 Mar 1946
Groovin’ High	Miles Davis	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WMCA NYC Royal Roost 11 Dec 1948
Bigfoot	Miles Davis	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WMCA NYC Royal Roost 11 Dec 1948
Ornitholgy	Miles Davis	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WMCA NYC Royal Roost 11 Dec 1948