A film noirish video promoting "The Night We Called it a Day" and Shadows in the Night. The other male lead in the video is Robert Davi, who interestingly, released an album of Sinatra covers in 2011 (corrected ~ fhb). His album "Davi Sings Sinatra: On the Road to Romance," is on Spotify, and well worth the listen.
It's always fun to see if the locations used in the video can be pinpointed. With "The Night We Called It a Day,", the opening scene was shot in front of Màs Malo, an east-LA-style Chicano resturant located at 515 W. 7th Street.
Mr. D walks past the Màs Malo storefront to the door you can see in the alley on the right. The neon "Club" sign shown in the video apparently came from the prop department.
A post in the EDLIS Café Facebook page relates that the other notable location for the video shoot was The Ardmore Wilshire at 722 Ardmore Avenue in Korea Town Los Angeles on January 12th of this year.
A member of the café posted the color photo below of the building's atrium, which was featured in a wide-angle shot in the video.
Frank rehearsed constantly for the next three weeks, afternoons at the Palladium nightclub, in Los Angeles, before Tommy showed up, just Frank and Lyle (Skitch) Henderson or Joey Bushkin on the piano behind him, in the quiet stillness of the huge, empty dance hall. He knew exactly which songs he wanted to wax. They were all ballads, naturally, all dripping with romance: there was “The Night We Called It a Day,” by these new kids Matt Dennis and Tom Adair, who’d written “Let’s Get Away from It All” and “Violets for Your Furs.” There was a sweet Hoagy Carmichael number that hadn’t been recorded much, “The Lamplighter’s Serenade.” And then two classics: Kern and Hammerstein’s “The Song Is You” and Cole Porter’s equally immortal “Night and Day,” whose lyrics he’d once blown in front of the great man himself when Porter stopped by the Rustic Cabin...
The recording session, which took place at RCA’s Los Angeles studios on the afternoon of Monday, January 19, 1942, went off perfectly. Pointedly, there was no drummer. Nor did Dorsey attend the session—both of the singles that resulted (released on RCA’s discount Bluebird label) were credited to Frank Sinatra with “Orchestra conducted by Axel Stordahl.” ~ Frank: The Voice
We did have a new Halloween show scheduled, o gentle readers/listeners, but other things got in the way, as they have for the past month or so.
But, what's good enough for Mr. D. and Eddie G. is good enough for Dreamtime too, and so we present our first ever re-run. From October, 2007, Episode 44 - The 1st 2nd Annual Dreamtime Halloween Show.
We're hoping things will steady down in the next few weeks and we can get the Dreamtime podcast back on a regular schedule. But in the meantime, enjoy this ah, classic, encore presentation, and have a spooky and safe Halloween. ~ fhb
Welcome to your other home for Halloween schemes, ghostly themes, and Kandy-Korn dreams. It's Dreamtime's 1st 2nd Annual Halloween Show, the one time of the year where we get to let down our hair and pretend to be our favorite monster, superhero, actor, or deejay...
... and we all know who that would be, don't we?
Playing in the background, Haunted House, from Leon Redbone's first album. A dead man's party is where we're headed to first on tonight's musical Halloween tour. Here's Oingo Boingo with Dead Man's Party. See you on the other side, and make sure to leave your body at the door.
[Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo]
Oingo Boingo was founded in 1972 as the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, later changing their name to Oingo Boingo, and then to Boingo. If the band had stayed together they might have shortened it down even further to just Boing, but they broke up in 19 and 95.
The original Oingo Boingo appeared on Chuck Barris' The Gong Show in 19 and 76, getting a score of 24 points out of a possible 30 with an act that featured both a rocket ship and a dragon, and winning them $500 to boot. You can see that appearance on YouTube. Go check it out. As Chuck Barris says, "[They're] an act who may first shock you, but once you get to know them, they'll boggle your mind."
We all know Lord Invader from TTRH. Well, there was another calypso lord - Lord Intruder - who wrote a song called Jumbie Jamberee back in 19 and 53. "Jumbies" were spirits in the song who danced "back to back, belly to belly" in a Trinidad graveyard. Intruder published Jumbie Jamberee, but it would take some other groups to make the song popular in the United States. And they changed "jumbies" to "zombies" and the graveyard location to New York along the way. The Kingston Trio had a big hit with Zombie Jamboree in the mid-'50s, and Harry Belafonte liked the song so much he recorded it three times during the `60s and `70s. One of those versions is what we're going to listen to right now: Harry Belafonte and Zombie Jamboree.
[Zombie Jamboree - Harry Belafonte]
Did you hear that line about Bridget Bardot? Back in the '60s she probably been voted as the girl you'd most want to dance belly-to-belly with. At least, I would have voted for her.
You're listening to the Dreamtime podcast - where every show we do is an encore for somebody somewhere.
If you're a regular Dreamtime listener you already know our love of all things witchy, and what better time to do some more witch songs than our Halloween Special?
Kip Tyler and the Flips recorded She's My Witch way back in November of 19 and 58. Although you don't hear much about Kip these days, he and the Flips were a major California rockabilly force and the pride of the legendary El Monte Legion Stadium rock shows back in the `50s. Kip never made it to the big time, but members of The Flips would later work with Gene Vincent, Duane Eddy, and the Beach Boys. Spooky, sexy, and pure rockabilly: Kip Tyler and the Flips with She's My Witch.
[She's My Witch - Kip Tyler & The Flips]
Louis Armstrong had his first big movie break with this Johnny Burke tune from 19 and 36 we're going to play next. Satchmo originally recorded it with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, and he and the song were featured in a spooky nightclub scene complete with dancing skeleton in the Bing Crosby musical comedy, Pennies from Heaven.
[The Skeleton in the Closet - Louis Armstrong]
We get all sorts of email in at Dreamtime, and I gotta tell you, I've fallen way behind in answering them. But, when you think that the Dreamtime team is just me, two cats and a couple of honky-tonkin' good-time gals, I'm lucky to get anything done. Anyway, here's an old email from last Halloween that I'm just getting around to answering. It's from a Peggy B. of New Harbor, Maine:
Dear Dreamtime: Love the show, although Jailbait and Joyride Jones aren't on enough. They should do their own show! But that's not why I'm writing. I was watching The Simpsons' Halloween Special and Bart Simpson said that Casper was the ghost of Richie Rich! I never thought of it before, but they do look a lot alike. Any truth to the story?
Thanks for writing, Peggy, but I think you need to get out more if you're starting to believe what a cartoon says.
No, there's no truth to the urban legend that the Friendly Ghost, Casper, is really the spirit of Richie Rich, even though it is a bit suspicious that you never see the two together. However, there's always been a question about whether Casper ever died or not, and whether he's a real ghost. Casper started his career in the early 1940s as the ghost of a little boy, but by the 1960s he had ghost parents, who apparently had ghost sex, and Casper was the result. But by 1995 and the Casper movie he was the spirit of a dead person again.
A very confusing situation, and we haven't even gotten into the question about how The Ghostly Trio became his uncles.
The Dreamtime podcast - answering all your ghostly trivia questions whether you asked them or not.
Two more witchy songs are coming on the turntable. You heard this first one last Halloween on Theme Time, with Screamin' Jay Hawkins doing the honors. Jay first cut the song back in 19 and 49, and it was the first single he ever released under the name Screamin' Jay. Nina Simone would cover it about 20 years later, in 19 and 65, and use it for the title of her autobiography: You already know what song I'm talking about, so let's get going.
[I Put a Spell on You - Nina Simone]
Nothing more needs to be said about our next artist or the song except this: here's Ol' Blue Eyes with the classic, Witchcraft.
[Witchcraft - Frank Sinatra]
[Trivia: Halloween around the World]
[Poetry reading: Halloween (excerpt) - Robert Burns, spooky poet]
We were just talking about that fender-bender of a poet, Edgar Allan Poe. Bob Dylan read his Annabel Lee on the Women's Names show back in Season One. So I don't need to, which you're probably all relieved to hear.
Poe wrote Annabel Lee in 18 and 49, and was his last complete poem before his death that same year. A lot of good artists have put Annabel Lee to music over the years, including this pretty version by Joan Baez, who included the song on her 1967 album Joan.
[Annabel Lee - Joan Baez]
Joan Baez and Annabel Lee on the Dreamtime podcast Halloween Special.
You might be familiar with Gene Simmons' - the other Gene Simmons, not the guy from Kiss - version of Haunted House from 19 and 64. We're not going to play that one, but the original from Johnny Fuller, which has a faster beat and a more interesting sound, I think. Listen to that wild guitar plucking to understand what I mean.
Johnny Fuller began recording in 1954, and probably is best remembered for his single All Night Long. That one and Haunted House landed him a spot on one of the `50s package shows, where he toured with Paul Anka and Frankie Avalon. Here's the first of the two 45s he'd cut for the Speciality label: Johnny Fuller and Haunted House.
[Haunted House - Johnny Fuller]
Bruce Springsteen covered that song too, during The River tour on a Halloween show. Bruce was carried onstage in a coffin.
By 19 and 62 Johnny had more or less retired from the music business, although he'd release one more album in 19 and 74. He worked as a garage mechanic until his death in 1985. I think he might have worked on my car once.
You're listening to the Dreamtime podcast, where we've commandeered Studio B of the Abernathy Building for Halloween night.
One of the hardest things about putting together tonight's Halloween theme show was finding a good country song about Halloween. You want songs about drinking, car wrecks, and fooling around, they're easy to find. But goblins, spooks, and monsters, no. I was thinking about using Porter Wagoner's Cold Hard Facts of Life, but I want to do a Murder show later this season, and that song's too much a natural for that one. (Porter Wagoner passed away during the production of this episode: He'll be sorely missed. - fhb)
I finally settled on Eddie Noack's Dolores. You remember Eddie, we featured Eddie's Psycho back in Dreamtime 28. You can go read more about him there, but right now we're going to play his Dolores.
[Dolores - Eddie Noack]
The 100-proof Texas honky-tonk, Eddie Noack, who would drink himself to death by age 47.
Dreamtime has a lot of listeners and readers from Great Britain, and we wanted to thank you with what I think is the oldest song on tonight's playlist, recorded on October 30, 1931 by Ray Noble and the New Mayfair Orchestra. I don't have a lot more information on this one... maybe one of my listeners from Merry Olde England can help me out. A trip through yet another haunted house on tonight's Dreamtime Halloween tour, here's the New Mayfair Orchestra and The Haunted House.
[The Haunted House - The New Mayfair Orchestra]
Dreamtime has a long history with this next artist. I'm part of the crowd noise on the album Where's the Money recorded live at the Troubadour back in 19 and 71, when Your Host was all of 19 years of age. And in about a year I'd find myself at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco watching Symphony Sid Page and Papa John Creach do a burn-the-house-down duet on this song. I Scare Myself is about... it's about.... Well, it's about five minutes long.
[I Scare Myself - Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks]
Dylan told us to "go Google" Kay Starr after he played her Wheel of Fortune on the Luck episode, and Dreamtime has another Kay Starr cut for you, appropriate, as they say, to the season.
Bing Crosby originally recorded The Headless Horseman in 19 and 49 for Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad. Kay covered the song a few months after the movie. She's backed here by the Billy Butterfield Quintet and - I kid you not - The Three Beaus and a Peep. Kay Starr and The Headless Horseman.
[The Headless Horseman - Kay Starr]
Kay Starr with a pretty spooky thing. And that sounds like a cue for our last song. We couldn't let Rocktober pass without at least one Classic Rock song, and here's a good one, the Classics IV with their first national hit. From 19 and 67 on the Imperial Records label, the original (non-instrumental) Spooky.
[Spooky - Classics IV]
I hear the banging on Studio B's door, so I think it's time to get out of here before they start using the fire axes. Tex, thanks for letting me sit in The Man's Seat for this Halloween. Hope I filled his shoes in my own small way and if there's anyone from Cadillac out there - the address is dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com . I'm always available to fill in.
[Close]
Tonight's Playlist
1. Haunted Mansion - (Disney)
2. Intro (Bed Music) Haunted House - Leon Redbone
3. Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo
4. Zombie Jamboree - Harry Belafonte
5. She's My Witch - Kip Tyler & the Flips
6. Skeleton in the Closet - Louis Armstrong
7. I Put a Spell on You - Nina Simone
8. Witchcraft - Frank Sinatra
9. Annabel Lee - Joan Baez
10. Haunted House - Gene Simmons
11. Dolores - Eddie Noack
12. The Haunted House - New Mayfair Dance Orchestra
13. I Scare Myself - Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks
14. Headless Horseman - Kay Starr
15. Spooky - Classics IV
Many of the songs for tonight's show were inspired by Mark Harvey's article for the on-line Halloween Magazine.
***
You've been listening to the Dreamtime podcast – occasional commentary on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour. Dreamtime is researched and written by Fred Bals and is a Not Associated With production. As the name says, we're not associated with XM Radio, Bob Dylan, or much of anything else.
Some of the music on Dreamtime is provided via the Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at music.podshow.com.
Welcome to your other home for Halloween schemes, ghostly themes, and Kandy-Korn dreams. It's Dreamtime's 1st 2nd Annual Halloween Show, the one time of the year where we get to let down our hair and pretend to be our favorite monster, superhero, actor, or deejay...
Playing in the background, Haunted House, from Leon Redbone's first album. A dead man's party is where we're headed to first on tonight's musical Halloween tour. Here's Oingo Boingo with Dead Man's Party. See you on the other side, and make sure to leave your body at the door.
[Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo]
Oingo Boingo was founded in 1972 as the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, later changing their name to Oingo Boingo, and then to Boingo. If the band had stayed together they might have shortened it down even further to just Boing, but they broke up in 19 and 95. The original Oingo Boingo appeared on Chuck Barris' The Gong Show in 19 and 76, getting a score of 24 points out of a possible 30 with an act that featured both a rocket ship and a dragon, and winning them $500 to boot. You can see that appearance on YouTube. Go check it out. As Chuck Barris says, "[They're] an act who may first shock you, but once you get to know them, they'll boggle your mind."
We all know Lord Invader from TTRH. Well, there was another calypso lord - Lord Intruder - who wrote a song called Jumbie Jamberee back in 19 and 53. "Jumbies" were spirits in the song who danced "back to back, belly to belly" in a Trinidad graveyard. Intruder published Jumbie Jamberee, but it would take some other groups to make the song popular in the United States. And they changed "jumbies" to "zombies" and the graveyard location to New York along the way. The Kingston Trio had a big hit with Zombie Jamboree in the mid-'50s, and Harry Belafonte liked the song so much he recorded it three times during the `60s and `70s. One of those versions is what we're going to listen to right now: Harry Belafonte and Zombie Jamboree.
[Zombie Jamboree - Harry Belafonte]
Did you hear that line about Bridget Bardot? Back in the '60s she probably been voted as the girl you'd most want to dance belly-to-belly with. At least, I would have voted for her.
You're listening to the Dreamtime podcast - where every show we do is an encore for somebody somewhere.
If you're a regular Dreamtime listener you already know our love of all things witchy, and what better time to do some more witch songs than our Halloween Special?
Kip Tyler and the Flips recorded She's My Witch way back in November of 19 and 58. Although you don't hear much about Kip these days, he and the Flips were a major California rockabilly force and the pride of the legendary El Monte Legion Stadium rock shows back in the `50s. Kip never made it to the big time, but members of The Flips would later work with Gene Vincent, Duane Eddy, and the Beach Boys. Spooky, sexy, and pure rockabilly: Kip Tyler and the Flips with She's My Witch.
[She's My Witch - Kip Tyler & The Flips]
Louis Armstrong had his first big movie break with this Johnny Burke tune from 19 and 36 we're going to play next. Satchmo originally recorded it with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, and he and the song were featured in a spooky nightclub scene complete with dancing skeleton in the Bing Crosby musical comedy, Pennies from Heaven.
[The Skeleton in the Closet - Louis Armstrong]
We get all sorts of email in at Dreamtime, and I gotta tell you, I've fallen way behind in answering them. But, when you think that the Dreamtime team is just me, two cats and a couple of honky-tonkin' good-time gals, I'm lucky to get anything done. Anyway, here's an old email from last Halloween that I'm just getting around to answering. It's from a Peggy B. of New Harbor, Maine:
Dear Dreamtime: Love the show, although Jailbait and Joyride Jones aren't on enough. They should do their own show! But that's not why I'm writing. I was watching The Simpsons' Halloween Special and Bart Simpson said that Casper was the ghost of Richie Rich! I never thought of it before, but they do look a lot alike. Any truth to the story?
Thanks for writing, Peggy, but I think you need to get out more if you're starting to believe what a cartoon says. No, there's no truth to the urban legend that the Friendly Ghost, Casper, is really the spirit of Richie Rich, even though it is a bit suspicious that you never see the two together. However, there's always been a question about whether Casper ever died or not, and whether he's a real ghost. Casper started his career in the early 1940s as the ghost of a little boy, but by the 1960s he had ghost parents, who apparently had ghost sex, and Casper was the result. But by 1995 and the Casper movie he was the spirit of a dead person again. A very confusing situation, and we haven't even gotten into the question about how The Ghostly Trio became his uncles. The Dreamtime podcast - answering all your ghostly trivia questions whether you asked them or not.
Two more witchy songs are coming on the turntable. You heard this first one last Halloween on Theme Time, with Screamin' Jay Hawkins doing the honors. Jay first cut the song back in 19 and 49, and it was the first single he ever released under the name Screamin' Jay. Nina Simone would cover it about 20 years later, in 19 and 65, and use it for the title of her autobiography: You already know what song I'm talking about, so let's get going.
[I Put a Spell on You - Nina Simone]
Nothing more needs to be said about our next artist or the song except this: here's Ol' Blue Eyes with the classic, Witchcraft. [Witchcraft - Frank Sinatra]
[Trivia: Halloween around the World]
[Poetry reading: Halloween (excerpt) - Robert Burns, spooky poet]
We were just talking about that fender-bender of a poet, Edgar Allan Poe. Bob Dylan read his Annabel Lee on the Women's Names show back in Season One. So I don't need to, which you're probably all relieved to hear. Poe wrote Annabel Lee in 18 and 49, and was his last complete poem before his death that same year. A lot of good artists have put Annabel Lee to music over the years, including this pretty version by Joan Baez, who included the song on her 1967 album Joan.
[Annabel Lee - Joan Baez]
Joan Baez and Annabel Lee on the Dreamtime podcast Halloween Special.
You might be familiar with Gene Simmons' - the other Gene Simmons, not the guy from Kiss - version of Haunted House from 19 and 64. We're not going to play that one, but the original from Johnny Fuller, which has a faster beat and a more interesting sound, I think. Listen to that wild guitar plucking to understand what I mean.
Johnny Fuller began recording in 1954, and probably is best remembered for his single All Night Long. That one and Haunted House landed him a spot on one of the `50s package shows, where he toured with Paul Anka and Frankie Avalon. Here's the first of the two 45s he'd cut for the Speciality label: Johnny Fuller and Haunted House.
[Haunted House - Johnny Fuller]
Bruce Springsteen covered that song too, during The River tour on a Halloween show. Bruce was carried onstage in a coffin.
By 19 and 62 Johnny had more or less retired from the music business, although he'd release one more album in 19 and 74. He worked as a garage mechanic until his death in 1985. I think he might have worked on my car once.
You're listening to the Dreamtime podcast, where we've commandeered Studio B of the Abernathy Building for Halloween night.
One of the hardest things about putting together tonight's Halloween theme show was finding a good country song about Halloween. You want songs about drinking, car wrecks, and fooling around, they're easy to find. But goblins, spooks, and monsters, no. I was thinking about using Porter Wagoner's Cold Hard Facts of Life, but I want to do a Murder show later this season, and that song's too much a natural for that one. (Porter Wagoner passed away during the production of this episode: He'll be sorely missed. - fhb)
I finally settled on Eddie Noack's Dolores. You remember Eddie, we featured Eddie's Psycho back in Dreamtime 28. You can go read more about him there, but right now we're going to play his Dolores.
[Dolores - Eddie Noack]
The 100-proof Texas honky-tonk, Eddie Noack, who would drink himself to death by age 47.
Dreamtime has a lot of listeners and readers from Great Britain, and we wanted to thank you with what I think is the oldest song on tonight's playlist, recorded on October 30, 1931 by Ray Noble and the New Mayfair Orchestra. I don't have a lot more information on this one... maybe one of my listeners from Merry Olde England can help me out. A trip through yet another haunted house on tonight's Dreamtime Halloween tour, here's the New Mayfair Orchestra and The Haunted House.
[The Haunted House - The New Mayfair Orchestra]
Dreamtime has a long history with this next artist. I'm part of the crowd noise on the album Where's the Money recorded live at the Troubadour back in 19 and 71, when Your Host was all of 19 years of age. And in about a year I'd find myself at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco watching Symphony Sid Page and Papa John Creach do a burn-the-house-down duet on this song. I Scare Myself is about... it's about.... Well, it's about five minutes long.
[I Scare Myself - Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks]
Dylan told us to "go Google" Kay Starr after he played her Wheel of Fortune on the Luck episode, and Dreamtime has another Kay Starr cut for you, appropriate, as they say, to the season. Bing Crosby originally recorded The Headless Horseman in 19 and 49 for Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad. Kay covered the song a few months after the movie. She's backed here by the Billy Butterfield Quintet and - I kid you not - The Three Beaus and a Peep. Kay Starr and The Headless Horseman.
[The Headless Horseman - Kay Starr]
Kay Starr with a pretty spooky thing. And that sounds like a cue for our last song. We couldn't let Rocktober pass without at least one classic Rock song, and here's a good one, the Classics IV with their first national hit. From 19 and 67 on the Imperial Records label, the original (non-instrumental) Spooky.
[Spooky - Classics IV]
I hear the banging on Studio B's door, so I think it's time to get out of here before they start using the fire axes. Tex, thanks for letting me sit in The Man's Seat for this Halloween. Hope I filled his shoes in my own small way and if there's anyone from Cadillac out there - the address is dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com. I'm always available to fill in.
[Close]
Tonight's Playlist
1. Haunted Mansion - (Disney) 2. Intro (Bed Music) Haunted House - Leon Redbone 3. Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo 4. Zombie Jamboree - Harry Belafonte 5. She's My Witch - Kip Tyler & the Flips 6. Skeleton in the Closet - Louis Armstrong 7. I Put a Spell on You - Nina Simone 8. Witchcraft - Frank Sinatra 9. Annabel Lee - Joan Baez 10. Haunted House - Gene Simmons
11. Dolores - Eddie Noack 12. The Haunted House - New Mayfair Dance Orchestra 13. I Scare Myself - Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks 14. Headless Horseman - Kay Starr 15. Spooky - Classics IV
Many of the songs for tonight's show were inspired by Mark Harvey's article for the on-line Halloween Magazine.
***
You've been listening to the Dreamtime podcast – occasional commentary on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour. Dreamtime is researched and written by Fred Bals and is a Not Associated With production. As the name says, we're not associated with XM Radio, Bob Dylan, or much of anything else.
Some of the music on Dreamtime is provided via the Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at music.podshow.com.
Sgt.- Phil Silvers - Bilko? He wrote the lyrics to Nancy? Wow.
Now, this is one of the reasons I love "Theme Time." I get to hear artists I've never heard of before - people like Wanda Jackson and JB Lenoir - and I get to hear stories I've never heard before.
Dylan pretty much covers the official story of Nancy. Silvers tells it a bit differently in his 1973 biography, This Laugh is On Me,
"Frank and I were very close. Like Gene Kelly, he ran an open house of good fellowship. Just before my marriage, he celebrated his baby Nancy's birthday party. My present was "Nancy with the Laughing Face."
A few weeks before, I'd been sitting around the pool at Johnny Burke's house with Jimmy Van Heusen. Bessie, Johnny's wife, laughed at one of my jokes, and I remarked, 'Oh, Bessie with the laughing face.'
'Good title for a song,' Van Heusen said.
Burke, who'd won Oscars for his lyrics answered, 'It's my day off. You two guys do it." I did the lyrics in about twenty minutes.
For the birthday party, I changed the words to fit Nancy. Frank liked the song and presented it on his Old Gold radio show."
So, we almost had "Bessie with the Laughing Face," which I suspect wouldn't have been quite as big a hit.
I think Silvers had the radio show and sponsor wrong. All the stories consistently report that Silvers presented the song for Nancy Sinatra's 4th birthday, which would have been June 8th 19 and 44. Through most of `44, Sinatra was doing The Frank Sinatra Program, on CBS Radio on Wednesday evenings from 9-9:30, and the sponsor was Vimms Vitamins.
[Frank Sinatra Program clip]
My research indicates that Sinatra probably sang Nancy to his radio audience for the first time just six days after Nancy's birthday, on June 14th, 1944.
Lana Turner was the guest star, and Frank also sang Dancing in the Dark, and for reasons now lost to history, a song Glinda the Good Witch first sang to the Munchkins in 19 and 38, Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are.
According to a June `46 Modern Screen magazine story,
"... No one expected the song to be commercial. The boys had written it for their buddy, Frank had put it on the air for Nancy, and now it could be retired to private life.
So they go overseas and the song’s forgotten and comes time for Frank to do his request numbers. 'What’ll it be, fellas?'
Twenty thousand guys yell: 'Nancy with the Laughing Face—'
Frank looks at Phil and Phil looks at Frank and they’re both thinking: 'Wise guy! You put ’em up to this—'
But it wasn’t a rib. The Armed Forces Radio Service had taken the song off the air and recorded it on V-discs. It was No. 1 in the Stars and Stripes Hit Parade.
Those guys are America, Frank figured. If they like it, so will the folks back home. That’s why he took it out of retirement, plugged it, recorded it, had it published."
There's one more story I found about Silvers, Sinatra, and Nancy, this one about Silvers playing matchmaker between Sinatra and his estranged wife, also named Nancy. This one appeared in the December, 1948 issue of Modern Television & Radio, and should probably be taken with a few of grains of salt, if not the full shaker.
1947 was a tough year for Sinatra. The rumors were going around that his voice was shot, that he was a Red, that he was too friendly with the Mob. On top of that, Frank was having a very public affair with Lana Turner, and ended up getting thrown up out of the house by Nancy.
One night the Sinatras ended up at the same Hollywood watering hole, sitting at separate tables. Silvers talked - and walked - Frank over to Nancy's table, and he ended up singing Nancy to her... and they made up right then and there. A little too pat, but it's still a nice story.
I'm closing out today's show with another version of Nancy, this one recorded at the Villa Venice nightclub in Chicago sometime between November 26 and December 2, 19 and 62.
As I mentioned in Episode 11 of Dreamtime, the Villa Venice was owned by mobster Sam "Momo" Giancana, and the Rat Pack shows put on at his club were rumored to be payment for Giacana fixing the West Virginia primary for JFK. The story goes that the Rat Pack weren't paid for the shows, but that Sinatra did record them for eventual release, and today you can find them on both bootlegs and "official" versions.
If you've heard any Rat Pack show - or seen the DVD of their only known filmed performance - you know it can be a frustrating experience, especially if you're fan of the boys' music.
Why? "If you wanna hear the song, go buy the album," Dean Martin used to say during the Rat Pack shows, because you're not going hear very many complete songs, or even very many songs done very well. It's not what the Rat Pack Summits were about, and it's not what their 1960s audiences wanted.
But, towards this end of this show, when Martin and Davis and Frank had come back for the first encore, some woman in the crowd - with a perfect Laverne and Shirley accent - shouts out to Sinatra, "We drove all the way from Milwaukee!" and asks Frank to sing Nancy.
And, sounding both amused and touched, he does. And after all the bad jokes, parody songs, and interruptions, Sinatra just nails this song to the wall... reminding everyone in the crowd, and his friends, just who he is - The Chairman of the Board.
You've been listening to the Dreamtime podcast – occasional commentary on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour.
Dreamtime is researched and written by Fred Bals, and is a Not Associated With production. As the name says, we're not associated with XM Radio, Bob Dylan, or much of anything else.
Some of the music on Dreamtime is provided via the Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at music.podshow.dot com. Our closing theme is performed by Lounge Affaire, courtesy of Christopher Murphy Studio.
["A word from our sponsor," from the Cars episode of "Theme Time"]
[Frank - Ol' MacDonald goes to Pete Epsteen's Pontiac]
So why was Ol' Blue Eyes doing a radio commercial for a Skokie, Illinois car dealership?
Why do you think? Three little letters. M.O.B.
Most of the references on the Web claim that Sinatra did the gig for Sam Giancana, boss of bosses in Chicago from the late `50s to the mid-60s, a friend - if friend is the right word - of Sinatra's since 1958, and the person who Sinatra acted as the front for in his buy into a piece of the action of the Cal/Neva Casino in Lake Tahoe.
However, it's more likely that the favor was asked by one of the Fischetti brothers, Rocco, Charlie, and Joe. Charlie Fischetti was the Mob's political fixer in Chicago, and a friend of Sinatra's since the early `40s. Sinatra, nice guy that he was, used to go along with Charlie when he visited his mother in Brooklyn. Charlie died in 1951, but Sinatra and Joe Fischetti were also close friends. He took a trip to Cuba with the brothers in 1946, the so-called "Havana Summit" held by Lucky Luciano, a trip that would haunt Sinatra for the rest of his career.
But Frank still did a lot of favors for the Fischetti brothers. He once rode along on a plane ride from Palm Springs to Vegas so the Fischettis could impress a star struck automobile tycoon from Detroit who they were romancing for an agency franchise. In fact, Sinatra helped the Fischettis set up a string of auto dealerships - including Pete Epsteen Pontiac - by lending his name to the enterprise and doing commercials free of charge, at least from a cash aspect. Sinatra reportedly received at least two Thunderbirds that became the property of Sinatra Enterprises.
Interestingly, Lee Iacocca notes in his autobiography that Sinatra offered to do commercials for the failing Chrysler for the nominal fee of a buck… plus stock options. Frank had apparently learned that some things were better than money, and should have made a bundle from those options, according to Iacocca.
In any case, a helpful guy to his friends, Sinatra was. And hey, your other friends should help out your friends too, right? So Sinatra wasn't the only crooner to warble for Ol' Pete. He called in the Rat Pack.
[Sammy segment]
When the Chairman called for a favor, Sammy was always there, recording not one, not two, but three separate commercials for Pete Epsteen Pontiac.
Like his explanation for freebie gigs at the Villa Venice Supper Club - which indeed were done as favors for Sam Giancana, Sammy probably would have responded if asked, "I have to say it's for my man Francis." And if pressed might have answered, "Baby, let me say this. I got one eye, and that one eye sees a lot of things that my brain tells me I shouldn't talk about. Because my brain says that, if I do, my one eye might not be seeing anything after a while."
[Dino segment]
Like Sammy, Dino probably did the shtick as a favor for Frank without a second thought. Unlike Sammy, Martin probably gave less than a flying chiavare about whether the boys were involved. While Martin knew mobsters - as Jerry Lewis says in his memoir about Dean, "Dean and Me," it was impossible to work the nightclub circuit from the `40s to the `60s without becoming involved with the mob - he mostly ignored them, and in turn they mostly left him alone.
Unlike Frank, who had this thing about impressing mobsters and liked hanging with them, and unlike Sammy, who was a black guy in a white guy's world and trying to keep his other eye, Dino was known as an "okay guy" who the arm wasn't to be put on… at least not much.
So, Pete Epsteen. What do we know about him? The Sacramento Bee newspaper once published a story entitled, "Palm Springs - Where Stars, Pols - and Mobsters - Live in Style." Although not mentioned in the article, Pete Epsteen was referred to in a photo caption as "an automobile dealer financed by the Mafia."
Represented by Sinatra's attorney, Mickey Rudin, Epsteen filed a $6 million libel suit against the newspaper. He denied any affiliation with the Mafia and demanded a retraction. The Sacramento Bee published a story reporting Epsteen's denial but did not retract the charge.
Lawyers representing the newspaper hired a former FBI agent to investigate. He later told Kitty Kelly, author of "His Way," "I flew to Chicago and met with a lower-level Mob boss and told him we were going to subpoena all the top Chicago Mafia chieftains as hostile witnesses to prove their connections with Epsteen. He told me he'd pass the word up and a few weeks later Epsteen dropped his lawsuit."
According to a Google Search, Epsteen divorced his wife in the `70s, moved to California, and opened a Honda dealership. In 1995 he was prosecuted for his role in a kickback scheme in which dealers in 30 states gave executives of American Honda up to $15 million in cash and gifts in exchange for hot-selling cars and franchises. He was also convicted of perjury in the case, fined $200,000, and sentenced to six months in prison. He died in 1997, in Palm Springs, California.
They're all gone. Giancana. The Fischettis. Sammy took his bows in 1990. Dino would follow in 1995. And Sinatra walked off stage in 1998.
All that's left is the music… and the stories.
This has been Fred Bals with the Dreamtime podcast - occasional commentary on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour weekly show. Dreamtime is not associated with XM Radio or Bob Dylan, and takes the Fifth about any association with known gangsters.
We'll be on vacation for a few weeks, so until next month, sweet dreams.
["Birth of the Blues" segment, Frank, Dean, and Sammy]
There are various articles/accounts of Sinatra's involvement with the Fischettis and other mob figures, most notably Sam Giancana, available on the Web. My primary sources were CrimeLibrary.com and AmericanMafia.com. Shirley Maclaine's remembrance of an encounter with Sam Giancana while in her role as Rat Pack mascot was also instructive.
The "Theme Time" research team appear to have used the same source as I did for Sinatra's Pete Epsteen Pontiac commercial. I sampled it from a widely-circulated bootleg, "Dean Martin at the Sands," which is regularly available on eBay. The Martin and Davis commercials I use were also taken from the same CD, which includes as "bonus tracks" those commercials, as well as Davis also doing Pete Epsteen commercials using "Come Fly with Me," and "Rubber Tree Plant" (aka "High Hopes") as the music.
The closing music was taken from another Rat Pack bootleg, "Live at Villa Venice - 1962," a two-CD set of the Rat Pack in all their political incorrectness doing two free shows for Sam Giancana's night club; one story has it as payback for Giancana delivering West Virginia to JFK in the presidential primaries.
