With Jo Stafford gone, World War II and the Big Band era slip further away from living memory. But Jo’s recordings remain. Thanks go to D.F. Rogers for helping me compile this collection.
This Jo Stafford record is from Christmas ’42, a year after Pearl Harbor…
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/ManhattanSerenade.mp3]The year 1944 was a big one for Jo Stafford. She started it with the Pied Pipers, who recorded one version of the popular novelty tune “Mairzy Doats.”
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/MairzyDoats.mp3]Jo left the Pied Pipers to join Johnny Mercer, one of the principals behind Capitol Records, and she sang “Candy” with him.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/Candy.mp3]Hey, I’m getting better at this. I can tell this is Mercer and not Tex Beneke. Mercer didn’t have the control that Tex, let alone Jo, had.
On D-Day Jo had a song on the charts from the movie “Cover Girl,” called “Long Ago (And Far Away)”…
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/LongAgoAndFarAway.mp3]In September she could be heard on the radio singing “It Could Happen To You”…
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/ItCouldHappenToYou.mp3]After the war, Christmas ’45, when the Baby Boom started, there was “Symphony”…
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/Symphony.mp3]And in September ’46, while those babies were being born, Jo sang “There Is Always”.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/ThisIsAlways.mp3]
Years ago, when I was living in Cambridge, MA, I actually did take an evening class in ballroom dancing. Got two short-term boyfriends out of it, but never did learn to dance well. I loved the jitterbug, but couldn’t polka to save my life! That dance is HARD! Those are two things I’ve always wanted to do but can’t: sing and dance!
Ah, Petula. Darn you, Doug. Now I’m in withdrawal! If you can figure out how to combine a K-3 and Petula blog, now THAT would be interesting! har de har
Hi, Joan! 😉
Taking dancing lessons, and going to a big ballroom to hear live music is all gone now, a real loss. When I saw Petula Clark she commented on my jacket and tie and said, “nobody gets dressed up anymore for shows.” So everything that was once required of people in social gatherings is now gone.
Radio did a great job of capitalizing on the ballrooms, helping to popularize dance bands. All of that was before our time, for sure, but certainly has appeal. Suddenly I’m recalling a chapter in the “Since Yesterday” book about Benny Goodman. I’ll have to look at that again.
Sorry I kind of repeated myself. I was having trouble with my cell phone and didn’t think my first message went thru. I found out our ballroom opened in 1926 and expanded in 1931. It hosted national radio broadcasts on NBC and CBS and Tommy Dorsey was a big draw there.
Hi Doug! I’m going to read up on the history of the ballroom, since it’s listed on Yahoo, and with the way people move we may hear from people located anywhere, you never know. Maybe you’ll hear from people who saw Jo Stafford and other stars in concert somewhere. It’s nice to hear first-hand accounts-like your posts of meeting Petula.
Hi Doug! People move all the time and do research thru Yahoo so someone familiar with the ballroom may comment. It would be neat to hear about this or any other place where Big Band was performed, like the ballroom studios where music was broadcast over AM radio. I love listening to old radio shows where a live orchestra was there to perform the music
Our local AM station, WIEZ, plays ballroom stuff on the weekends, but only if there isn’t a big Penn State game. They also play “The Best of Sinatra,” which has been in syndication since we were teens, I believe.
God, she had a lovely voice. Like silk.
Ya know, I don’t have a profile of who looks at this blog. All I know is it’s accessed from 5000 different addresses and it gets about 100,000 hits per month. (May’s numbers were way above average, because of Larissa Kelly.)
With some effort, by doing a lot of traceroutes, I can determine some geography, and I have a surprising number of hits from the Netherlands, which was one reason why I felt brave about introducing K3.
But who knows? Maybe somebody with knowledge of your area and the ballroom will pop up with some information.
It’s a shame we’re losing our living history with the passing of great singers, musicians, actors, dancers, inventors, cartoonists, athletes, etc., not to mention heroes and heroines of WW2, and the stars of the Big Band era. Jo Stafford was a great singer and now that most AM Big Band stations are gone, I catch her music on the Comcast Big Band & Swing and Singers & Standards channels. Here in Pottstown, PA is the Sunnybrook Ballroom which hosted many Big Band stars in its heyday. The ballroom had closed for about 3 years but now is up and running. The Harry James Orch. is to play in August. I want to read more about the history of the ballroom, and it would be interesting if people reading your blog, Doug would comment on who they saw at the Sunnybrook in the heyday.