Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
2 appearances
Jazz singer who invented scat and recorded 'Creole Love Call' with Duke Ellington.
On the island
Eight records
Castaway and presenter discussed the show Shuffle Along and this song; disc not explicitly named as chosen.
Sophisticated LadyFavourite
Because I I've heard him play it so many times and uh and people sort of uh ask for it, ask me to s keep that in my programme. And uh I I did adore Duke Ellington very much. He was a very fine man.
We were always quite close. We always had a sort of a close a friendship together, you know. There was something about Pearl that I could see was very sincere and true.
We heard about this beautiful pianist that was playing in Cleveland. My husband drove over and brought him back. As soon as he touched the piano, everything stopped. All the hammering and the wiring and everything stopped, and everybody came to listen because he was so beautiful.
I've been in the show with them at the Victoria Palace. And I love them singing that together.
Because I think that was one of her favorite songs. And I enjoy her singing that.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:11What was the very first professional job you did?
Well now let's see. I think it was a shuffle along.
Presenter asks
5:11How did you feel playing on Broadway after so many years? Did you feel you wanted to stay there or had you got a kind of mid-Atlantic feeling that when you're in New York you want to be in London?
Well, uh… No, I can't say that. I enjoyed the play very much. And all and you know, with my old friends. I enjoyed it very much. But, um… No, I uh found that I had… I thought I'd lost something, you know, with America. I don't know what it was. Anyway, I was very glad to come home to my… To London.
Presenter asks
5:48What have been the highlights since Jamaica, since that Broadway trip?
Just variety, I've been doing a lot of variety. A lot of theaters all over the country.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
The book would be uh The History of uh America because I've been away so long. I've lost s touch.
The luxury
I thought if I had a huge bag of seeds for a garden, so that I could have my salads, my and my nice little patch of herbs on one side, and my vegetables on the other side, you see, that I'd be and I could catch fish, and I love fish. or seafood of any kind. And uh I think if I could have that I'd be thankful for that.
What's in the book for the future?
Well, I've heard of a musical. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that.
Presenter asks
4:55It was because of the Duke that you discovered scat, actually, wasn't it? Can you tell me what happened?
This particular time I was in Cleveland, Ohio. Duke and myself We were the top of the bill. I closed the first half and Duke Ellington opened the second and I scrambled downstairs downstairs to listen to his his uh routine in his programme. And I was sit standing in the wing and I heard this beautiful Melody of Creole of Call And I said, Oh, my goodness, isn't it beautiful? And I kept humming around the various notes. And I didn't realize that Duke was carrying on listening. And he heard this countermelody. … he came right up to the wing where I was standing and he said, Adelaide, you must keep that in. He says, That's what we want. And we're going to record it tomorrow morning. I says, Record it? I says, I don't know what I'm doing. I says, Oh no, that's all just sort of ad lib. He says, That's all right, that's what we want. And that's how it was born.
Presenter asks
8:31If your family had had their way, you wouldn't have gone into show business, would you?
No, no, I wouldn't have. Why didn't they want you to? For young girls. It was sort of like a too free a life and it wasn't just right. … Mother didn't wasn't keen on uh show business for me. But in the end she gave in.
Presenter asks
14:26There are distinct racist overtones to all these shows, did that ever worry you at all?
No, no, not really. Never worried me. I just was uh well, at the mo time, being young, you know, you just take everything that uh except the all this beautiful excitement and everything you see.
Presenter asks
15:39What about when you went to France? Was it different there?
Well, that was the theatre. It was a sort of a theatre come restaurant, you know, that sort of thing. Entirely different. Oh, the audience was beautiful. … with a mixed audience, you could have there was no prejudice of any kind in Paris. None whatsoever.
Presenter asks
29:48What is your aim when you walk out onto the stage?
That a thought that a feeling in and those that are not well that I've I've helped them to forget their illness and their troubles with their family and I just hope that it brings happiness, you know, in every way.
“Oh, yes, my father was a professor of music. Uh he could play al well almost any instrument.”
“Well, it really started from the uh Concerts in school. My sister played fairly well, and I had a nice little squeaky voice. which they enjoyed very much. And uh there was a producer. Lou Leslie. Uh happen to be in the audience. And he was uh looking for sort of new talent.”
“Well, yes, in a way. You see, it was in a uh a musical. And only it only lasts one night and closed. And then They put The song In. Blackbirds. And there was a young lady singing. It wasn't the success they wanted it to be, and they gave me the countermelody. And it seems as though the counter memory has brought happened to bring the song out and they said, well from then on I was identified as the you know of I can't give you anyone love”
“Oh yes, a beautiful costume. But beautiful, it wasn't a costume, uniform. I just loved it. … But I couldn't stand the collapse. It was very stiff for me, you know. But still you get used to anything on time.”
“No, I uh found that I had… I thought I'd lost something, you know, with America. I don't know what it was. Anyway, I was very glad to come home to my… To London.”
“I kept humming around the various notes. And I didn't realize that Duke was carrying on listening. And he heard this countermelody.”
“No, no, not really. Never worried me. I just was uh well, at the mo time, being young, you know, you just take everything that uh except the all this beautiful excitement and everything you see.”
“with a mixed audience, you could have there was no prejudice of any kind in Paris. None whatsoever.”
“I just hope that it brings happiness, you know, in every way.”