Hop Into March With Live Music At the Rumba Room

The Red Hot Lindy Hop lessons and sessions continue at the Rumba Room this Friday night with live music from Sweet Megg and the Wayfarers.  Free beginner lesson at 7:00 p.m.  Admission is $5 before 7:00 p.m. and $7 thereafter.   

Dress like you are going out!

Rumba Room

303 South Main

Memphis, TN 38103

Sunrise Serenade: Fairy Tales

Today's Sunrise Serenade was "Fairy Tales" by the Mills Brothers with Ella Fitzgerald.  Enjoy the video from YouTube.

Sunrise Serenade: Bumble Boogie

This morning's Sunrise Serenade was "Bumble Boogie" by Freddie Martin and His Orchestra.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line. 

Nursery Scandal

Mother Goose and company escape from a book for a little fun in the woods.  From Van Buren Studios and the Internet Archive, here is the 1932 animated short, Nursery Scandal. 

Sunrise Serenade: A Porter's Love Song To A Chambermaid

This morning's Sunrise Serenade was "A Porter's Love Song To A Chambermaid" by Fats Waller and His Rhythm.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line. 

Playlist For February 22, 2017

The playlist for the February 22, 2017 broadcast of the Swing Shift Shuffle has now been added to the playlist filing cabinet.  

LA Then And Now

Boing Boing posted this split screen video, produced (ironically) by The New Yorker, showing the same car trip around Los Angeles 70 years ago and today.  Fun car spotting, especially when a car starts following the camera in both screens.  No Audis in the 1940's.  Lincoln Zephyrs and Packards ruled.  Also amusing is when the modern trip is thwarted by construction detours. 

Sunrise Serenade: You Can't Get That No More

Today's Sunrise Serenade was "You Can't Get That No More" by Louis Jordan and His Tympani Five.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line. 

Last February Hop

The Red Hot Lindy Hop lessons and sessions continue at the Rumba Room this Friday night.  Free beginner lesson at 7:00 p.m.  Free admission before 7:00 p.m. and $5 thereafter.  Lesson by Phil and Joy with music by DJ Joy.

Live music next week with Sweet Megg and the Wayfarers. 

Dress like you are going out!

Rumba Room

303 South Main

Memphis, TN 38103

Sunrise Serenade: Boogie Woogie Piggy

Today's Sunrise Serenade was "Boogie Woogie Piggy" by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, with Tex Beneke on vocals.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line.

Senorita Rio

According to Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine, this 1945 Senorita Rio story featured a glamorous female action hero drawn by a 20 year old female artist.  In this episode, Senorita Rio foils an attempted coup d'etat. 

Sunrise Serenade: It's Great To Be Alive

This morning's Sunrise Serenade was "It's Great To Be Alive" by Jo Stafford and Johnny Mercer.  Enjoy the video from YouTube.

Sunrise Serenade: The Lady's In Love With You

Today's Sunrise Serenade was "The Lady's In Love With You" by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line. 

Playlist For February 15, 2017

The playlist for the February 15, 2017 broadcast of the Swing Shift Shuffle has now been added to the playlist filing cabinet.  

Color Footage Of 1934 World's Fair

I have seen amateur color footage from the 1939 World's Fair in New York on the Internet Archive, but Boing Boing pointed me to this commercially produced color short of the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago.  Since most existing footage or photos from the 1930's are in black and white, it never occurs to some people that, yes, color existed before 1950.  This short shows its commercial purpose when it becomes a Chrysler ad.

Sunrise Serenade: Smoke Rings

This morning's Sunrise Serenade was "Smoke Rings" by the Casa Loma Orchestra.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line. 

Hop Into Presidents Day Weekend

The Red Hot Lindy Hop lessons and sessions continue at the Rumba Room this Friday night.  Free beginner lesson at 7:00 p.m.  Free admission before 7:00 p.m. and $5 thereafter.  Lesson by Martin and Bethany with DJ Bethany.

Dress like you are going out!

Rumba Room

303 South Main

Memphis, TN 38103

Sunrise Serenade: Chant Of The Jungle

Today's Sunrise Serenade was "Chant Of The Jungle" by the Casa Loma Orchestra.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line.

Kinks Mason And His Trained Seal (No, Seriously!)

This comic, posted on Four Color Shadows, interested me for several reasons:  1) the name "Kinks" Mason 2) a trained seal sidekick, and 3) a story about stopping seal poachers from the 1940's.  The story does not really get into the moral or environmental issues about clubbing baby seals to death for their fur.  Instead, it has more of a law and order vibe, like "poaching is illegal and we should stop it."  Of course, it could just be that the writers wanted to give "Battler," our hero's trained seal, the opportunity to enlist his fellow aquatic mammals' help in capturing the bad guys. 

Sunrise Serenade: Huckleberry Duck

This morning's Sunrise Serenade was "Huckleberry Duck" by Raymond Scott.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line.

Popeye: Spinach Fer Britain

Here is a new one for me.  Our favorite squinty-eyed, swollen-forearmed, pipe-smoking sailor becomes part of the Lend Lease program, and sails a cargo of spinach to the UK.  After dealing with a Nazi U-Boat, Popeye delivers his cargo - and the U-Boat - to No. 10 Downing Street.  I especially like the V for Victory toot (dot dot dot daaaaaaaaaaaaaaah) on his pipe at the end.  From the Internet Archive, here is the 1943 animated short, Spinach Fer Britain. 

Sunrise Serenade: And The Angels Sing

This morning's Sunrise Serenade was "And The Angels Sing" by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra featuring Martha Tilton on vocals.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line. 

Memphis Roller Derby 1939

As this post on Ask Vance points out, roller derby goes back to at least the 1930's, and apparently Leo Seltzer was the man who invented the sport.  Vance posted this 1939 program from a Seltzer Memphis roller derby event.  I never knew much about the game/race/sport, but after reading Vance's posting of the rules, I know even less.

Sunrise Serenade: That's A Plenty

Today's Sunrise Serenade was "That's A Plenty" by the Andrews Sisters.  Enjoy the video from YouTube.

Playlist For February 8, 2017

The playlist for the February 8, 2017 broadcast of the Swing Shift Shuffle has now been added to the playlist filing cabinet.  

Pre-Valentine's Day Hop

The Red Hot Lindy Hop lessons and sessions continue at the Rumba Room this Friday night.  Free beginner lesson at 7:00 p.m.  Free admission before 7:00 p.m. and $5 thereafter. 

Dress like you are going out!

Rumba Room

303 South Main

Memphis, TN 38103

Sunrise Serenade: Safe, Sane And Single

Today's Sunrise Serenade was "Safe, Sane And Single" by Louis Jordan.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line. 

Yorkie Hero Of World War II

Boing Boing posted this video about Smoky, a Yorkshire Terrier who served with U.S. Army Corporal William A. Wynne, in World War II, and who went on to television fame.  Wynne got Smoky in 1944, and she went with him through the Pacific Theater for the next two years.  The video mentions her leading him away from a site where an enemy shell landed shortly thereafter, and her work as a therapy dog in Army hospitals, but it leaves out one of her most impressive achievements.  Her diminutive stature allowed her to run a telegraph wire through a 70 foot long pipe with a diameter of only 8 inches, in only a few minutes.  Without Smoky, it would have been necessary for servicemen to dig up the pipe and run the wire, which would have taken three days, all while disrupting operations at the airfield. 

Sunrise Serenade: It's A Pity To Say Goodnight

This morning's Sunrise Serenade was "It's A Pity To Say Goodnight" by Ella Fitzgerald with the Delta Rhythm Boys.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line. 

Small Fry

Taking its title and background music from the song of the same name, this cartoon features a fish that does not want to school.  From the Internet Archive, Fleischer Studio's 1939 animated short, Small Fry.

Sunrise Serenade: Paper Doll

This morning's Sunrise Serenade was "Paper Doll" by the Mills Brothers.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line.

Sunrise Serenade: Daddy

Today's Sunrise Serenade was "Daddy" by the Andrews Sisters.  Enjoy the video from YouTube.

Playlist For February 1, 2017

The playlist for the February 1, 2017 broadcast of the Swing Shift Shuffle has now been added to the playlist filing cabinet.  

TCM In February

Time for the monthly preview of programming on Turner Classic Movies, brought to you by The Hollywood Revue.  As always, February is "31 Days of Oscar" month, so all the movies presented won or were nominated for an Academy Award.  Those who are hyper-organized will appreciate that all of the movies will be shown in alphabetical order, so February 1 starts with Adam’s Rib at 8:00 AM, followed by The Adventures of Robin Hood at 12:15 PM, After the Thin Man at 2:00 PM, All About Eve at 8:00 PM, etc.

Sunrise Serenade: Anvil Chorus

This morning's Sunrise Serenade was "Anvil Chorus" by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line.