Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
An American entertainer who made more records than any other artist and starred in nearly 100 films.
On the island
Eight records
South Rampart Street ParadeFavourite
I'd open up with something lively, and one of the most lively records I know of. It's a record that was made by my brother Bob's band, the Bob Crosby Bobcat. And uh it's called South Rampart Street Parade. And I think this is a wonderful arrangement and it's very, very exciting to me to hear this record.
London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Stanley Black
I've always been a great listener, although I don't know anything about classical music of practically everything that Claude Debussy wrote. But I think the one that's most listenable to me and and the most easily understood, and it's a record that creates a good deal of peace. If I'm a little upset, a little restless. It's his guardaloon.
Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
It's one of the great arrangements I've ever heard. and played superlatively well. And by one of the Marvelous band leaders, Benny Goodman. This record the It's a tremendous hit. When it came out, it had a wonderful vocal by Martha Tilton. My way of thinking is an excellent example of how to arrange a popular song and play it.
Glenn Miller and His Orchestra
Oh, well, record number four is a very natural selection. Uh not only because it's by the great uh Glenn Miller band, And because it's a great song, but It always reminds me of. A beautiful ballroom. Full of Nicely dressed young people, dancing too. Some marvelous music. And the opening bar is a Moonlight Serenade. Right away, I'm I'm. in that environment and I love it.
Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy
Oh, another record to take to the Adaf. Where's this island going to be? Where would you like it to be? Oh, I think the South Pacific, where you can swim, you know. Right. bathe, have a good beach. Maybe fashion a hook and catch a fish now and then. Uh a little strong. Mm-hmm. The Ormondi always has a marvelous or Let's listen to that.
Famous record by a famous clarinetist. Good friend of mine. He made wonderful success out of the music business because He's a super musician. And this is his record of the Begin the begin, Arisha.
Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra
Seventh record is another example of a marvelous arrangement for a dance band. It's Tommy Dorsey's great disc of The Song of India.
Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana
Orchestra of La Scala Milan, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
Well, for a closer, I thought uh Roy and I ought to choose something peaceful and Relaxing. It's um intermit, so from Cavalieria Rusticana. The reason I chose this, it's a beautiful, beautiful piece of music. And I know if I'm going to be alone in this island. For uh In a definite period of time I'm going to want to pray once in a while. And to close with this music might impel me to bend a pious knee, and that's why I've chosen it for the closer.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:03Could you endure loneliness?
If you have oh yes, I can get along by myself quite well, entertain myself. I love to ruminate like all old cadges do, you know.
Presenter asks
4:45Was your family musical?
All of them, yeah. Father played the guitar, my mother the piano. They appeared in a lot of amateur productions like Gilbert and Sullivan and things of that nature. And we always had music in the house.
Presenter asks
4:59You were going to be a lawyer, were you not?
I was studying law here when I finished uh two years college. Yes, and then the musical activities became more important. Well, I had a little band. We were playing for dances. It was a college town and uh Also had a job a little later on while I was still in school at a dance hall and then uh at a Chinese restaurant. So we were making enough of an income to justify me forgetting about the study of law, I thought.
Presenter asks
5:23How did you envisage [making your fortune], in Vaudeville or with bands?
The keepsakes
The book
Peter Mark Roget
I'd like to take Rogius the Source out there and see. I think with that I could maybe do some useful writing.
The luxury
guitar with an inexhaustible supply of strings
I imagine out there alone I'd get to be very good at it.
We are in Terribly keen about bands. We had the first records that were available in Spokane, my hometown. When they arrived at the music store, we'd be there waiting. The bands that were then popular, like Whiteman and Rodemick and Jack Drake and the Cotton Pickers. And we had all their records and we imitated them. We copied their arrangements and that's what we played.
Presenter asks
7:08Why did the rhythm boys break up? Why did you start off on your own?
Well, Paimon let us go after. We've been with him two or three years. He was going into a different kind of a band, different kind of singing. He wanted to get some girl singers. And he let us go in Osangler. So we got a job there in the coconut grove, then the most popular. but in Hollywood, Beverly Hills for Pasadena for A nice dine-and-dance room. And we were there about a year. We're on the air. I think two or three times a week up and down the coast. A good uh exposure for the material. Yes.
Presenter asks
12:01You've always had this superbly relaxed manner. How much of that has been a pose? Are you ever a nervous man?
No, not really a number.
“I love to ruminate like all old cadges do, you know.”
“I played the same guy in every picture. You know, uh, trying to win a girl and the mother disapproved'cause I was a crooner and had no apparent source of livelihood. What you might call almost a vagrant in her mind and I had to prove my worthiness.”
“I never leave a hat on a bed. That's a new one. I never heard of that. That's an old show business. Never put a never leave a hat on a bed. I don't know why. I can't think of anything else.”