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(Jack Benny - along with Bing Crosby, American Institutions)

My guess is, you're probably looking for some relief from the family traditions right about now. Christmas is something of a minefield with a lot of people and no doubt you're looking for some escape.

In keeping with the concept of Guilty Pleasures, I thought I would post a Jack Benny radio program from Christmas 1953. As a rule, I'm not a fan of "old time radio" - I'm really not. But there are two radio comedians I am a complete fan of; Jack Benny and Fred Allen. Maybe for New Years I'll dig up a Fred Allen show, if you've never heard him before.

I am assuming most people reading this blog will know who Jack Benny is. If not, I've directed you to the Wikipedia page above so you can get some background. Also be aware that Benny, around this time was doing a completely different radio show than he was TV - so if you wonder why there is no video, there isn't any - it was radio only.

In any case, here is a Christmas show, typical of the Benny style of humor. It's also complete and a CBS Radio master, which means it has the original Lucky Strike Cigarette commercials intact. So, those of you in high-voltage anti-cigarette mode may want to skip this one - or at least you can fast forward if they offend you. Fair enough?

Enjoy.

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(Stan Kenton - his new directions in jazz puzzled a lot of people)

Something almost completely different tonight. A live broadcast from The Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 14, 1953. Stan Kenton and His Orchestra. Kenton was one of the pioneers of "New Jazz", taking the traditional big band concept and elaborating on it in a way that converted a dancing audience into a listening one. To some people it was considered strange and inaccessible (though no stranger than the experiments of Sun Ra, for example). But Kenton won a large number of followers during his two+ decades of popularity and he was responsible for helping launch the careers of several musicians, including singers Anita O'Day and June Christy.

Pretty tame by today's standards with many listeners wondering what all the fuss was about. And mostly shoved into the background by the contributions of other innovative musicians of the Jazz idiom from the period. Still, he made some interesting music during a period of time when music was heading into many different directions all at once.

And this broadcast of a live gig was a typical example.

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(A Heaping Helping of Americana today)

Since it is Thanksgiving and a traditional American holiday, I thought I would toss out a large helping of Americana by way of a concert with The Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Howard Hanson, featuring all American composers of the early 20th Century - most of whom you've probably never heard of before.

The concert (actually two concerts - one from April 1945 and the other from February 1953) features music by Quincy Porter, Bernard Rogers, John Alden Carpenter, Aron Copland, Leo Sowerby and David Diamond.

Almost an hour of unfamiliar music. I understand it goes well with stuffing and cranberry sauce.

Happy Thanksgiving from the crew at Newstalgia!

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("Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your . . . .never mind")

Since debate on the issue of our current Immigration laws should be heating up soon, this may be jumping the gun. But it's never too early to start getting some historic perspective on issues. So this post is about the debate over the McCarran/Walter Immigration Bill of 1952.

The program, American Forum Of The Air, hosted a debate on the bill with Senator Herbert Lehman (D-New York) and Congressman J. Frank Wilson (D-Texas)on May 17, 1953.

Sen. Herbert Lehman: “Aliens already in this country can be apprehended and placed in custody. In some cases they can be deported without even the benefit of a hearing. Mister Blair, the McCarran -Walter Act took over all the worst features of all the immigration laws which have been enacted over the last thirty or forty years. But it added many new provisions that were equally bad and combined the whole structure into a legal code which is anti-humanitarian, anti-foreign and, in the profoundest meaning of the word Un-American. It is a complex law and very difficult to summarize in all of its details. But if we are to keep faith with our American traditions, this law, in my opinion must be completely revised and rewritten.”

Then, as now the subject of our Immigration Laws was the object of much heated debate. In the 1950s, with the Red Scare in full bloom, the fear was mass migration of Communist subversives and assassins - however, then as now there was the racial/ethnic overtone which seems to be really what the debate is always about.

Some of it isn't so subtle.

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(Jerry Mengo - French bandleader, film composer, prolific recording artist. Doesn't ring any bells?)

Continuing our romp through French Jazz and Big Band - Jerry Mengo was a prolific band leader and film composer who was active for several decades in France. He had massive popularity throughout France and Europe and, like Jacques Helian, was widely regarded by American musicians who visited and worked in Paris during the pre-war and post-war periods.

Sadly, almost none of his material has ever been available in the U.S. and this track Un Ciel Bleu en Hiver, recorded in 1953 is one of the great instrumentals from the early 1950s. It borrows heavily from the Claude Thornhill/Gil Evans-Stan Kenton school, but it's more of a tribute to solid arranging than performing a facsimile.

A good track to break the ice with.

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(Sex, dope and not quite rock n' roll)

Gangs, binge drinking, teen pregnancies, dope, crime, dropouts - we were a mess. And that was only 1953!

Going back to the mantra "no matter how much things change, it's how much they stay the same" kind of nails it here.

The world was a frightening place in 1953. Smack in the middle of the Korean War, not to mention the Cold War with Commies everywhere - no wonder kids got a little out of control. Life Magazine called them the "lucky generation" but I wonder how lucky they were feeling at the time.

This documentary, produced by CBS Radio, featured narration by Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas and interviews with a vast group of teenagers, all slated to graduate in winter and summer 1953, from all over the country. It's a fascinating document, and a good reminder that what's going on now may seem horrible. But it's always been that way.

Strangely, we've also managed to survive.

Think of your parents and grandparents when you listen to this - they are most likely the ones the documentary is talking about.

Scary . . no?

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(Okay - admit it: When's the last time you heard Hawaiian guitars?)

I don't know about you, but here we are in the dead of summer where it's 90+ degrees with 90+ percent humidity and the only thing I want to do is go vacant in front of a large air-conditioner and imagine balmy breezes and tiki bars.

So naturally, my fingers wandered over to a stack of Hawaiian 78's, recorded in the 1950's by the great Rudi Wairata and The Mena Moeria Minstrels.

You probably haven't heard of them. And to tell you the truth, neither had I until a few years ago when I got a collection of 78's from a friend in Europe.

It seems The Mena Moeria Minstrels were a combination Dutch Indonesian and Hawaiian and were pretty big in Europe, apart from their popularity on the Islands, and these discs were put out by a Dutch company Omega Records in 1953.

Aside from the historic aspect, I was hooked on this track "Maui Moon" after the first few bars.

The 1950's were loaded with a lot of interesting (and some downright strange) music, aside from the flood of rock n' roll and R&B. Not a whole lot of it has been explored and some of it has been unjustifiably neglected.

This might be one of them.

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(The inimitable Mr. B and associates)

Somebody asked me who I thought my favorite Jazz singer was. I admit that was a really tough question because there are so many - the list is pretty endless. And to be honest, I would have to declare a six or seven way tie because, for my money to leave out Billy Eckstine would mean leaving out Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday and Johnny Hartman and Anita O'Day and Chris Connor - the list just doesn't stop.

But I remembered one of my favorite versions of "In The Still Of The Night" with Eckstine when he led an orchestra that was probably the single most amazing grouping of musicians ever assembled just post World War 2. But then I remembered the pairing of Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane. See my problem?

And then there's Bud Powell. You just can't have one single favorite when it comes to music - certainly Jazz where an artists individual point of view is probably more critical than other musical forms, because it is possible to hear the same song a thousand different ways and they all sound different. That's probably why I've never been bored with Jazz.

I ran across this live club date featuring a double bill of Bud Powell on the first half and Billy Eckstine with a small group on the second half. It all comes from the Birdland on 52nd Street in New York one July night in 1953.

Very nice stuff and a nice way to mellow out the weekend.

(Bud Powell in 1953)