Spike Jones & his City Slickers (The Radio Years)

Various

(05 Episodes) Spike Jones & the City Slickers (The Radio Years): Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 - May 1, 1965) was a popular musician and bandleader specializing in performing satirical arrangements of popular songs. This is the name Spike Jones became synonymous for, with crazy music. While he enjoyed the fame and prosperity, he was annoyed that nobody seemed to see beyond the craziness. Ballads and classical works receiving the Jones treatment would be punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells, and ridiculous vocals. Through the 1940s and early 1950s, the band recorded under the title Spike Jones and his City Slickers and toured the United States and Canada under the title The Musical Depreciation Revue. RADIO: After appearing as the house band on The Bob Burns Show, Spike got his own radio show on NBC, The Chase and Sanborn Program, as Edgar Bergen's summer replacement in 1945. Frances Langford was co-host and Groucho Marx was among the guests. The guest list for Jones' 1947-49 CBS program for Coca-Cola (originally The Spotlight Revue, retitled The Spike Jones Show for its final season) included Frankie Laine, Mel Torme, Peter Lorre, Don Ameche and Burl Ives. Frank Sinatra appeared on the show in October 1948, and Lassie in May 1949. * SPIKE JONES & HIS ORCHESTRA: One of the announcers on Jones's CBS show was the young Mike Wallace. Writers included Eddie Maxwell, Eddie Brandt and Jay Sommers. The final program in the series was broadcast in June 1949. * SPIKE JONES & HIS OTHER ORCHESTRA: Determined to show the world that he was capable of producing legitimate "pretty" music, he formed a second group in 1946. Spike Jones and his Other Orchestra played lush arrangements of dance hits. This alternative group played nightclub engagements and was an artistic success, but the paying public preferred the City Slickers and stayed away. Jones wound up paying some of the band's expenses out of his own pocket. The one outstanding recording by the Other Orchestra is "Laura," which features a serious first half (played exquisitely by the Other Orchestra) and a manic second half (played hilariously by the City Slickers). Note that technically there never was an "Other Orchestra". The Other Orchestra musicians augmented the same players as the City Slickers. DEATH: Jones was a lifelong smoker. He was once said to have gotten through the average workday on coffee and cigarettes. Smoking may have contributed to his developing emphysema. His already thin frame deteriorated, to the point where he used an oxygen tank offstage, and onstage he was confined to a seat behind his drum set. He died at the age of 53, and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, CA. OTR Source: Wikipedia OTR * def gp ddh

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.

License

Chapters