"So I fell in love with the Mills Brothers and naturally the Boswell Sisters, and I just cracked the Manhattan phone book and she wasn't listed as Connee Boswell, I think the phone listing was under her husband's name, Harry Leedy. I went to her apartment on Fifth Avenue, brought my cassette player and we sat down for a couple of hours and we just talked. And she talked about growing up in New Orleans and working with her sisters and some of her recollections of working with the Dorsey's and Joe Venuti, and it was a wonderful afternoon."


Yowza, Yowza, Yowza. This is Brian Marcus Decker, for the Jolson and Friends blog located on the web at www.JolsonBlog.com, which is the first tech-nostalgic blog dedicated to the musical influences of Al Jolson and Friends.

Well folks, we now continue with Part III of my interview with Rich Conaty from WFUV. He has been the host of the Big Broadcast radio program for over 30 years. This spectacular Sunday night radio show features only classic songs from the '20s and '30s. He will be sharing his thoughts on Al Jolson, Cab Calloway, Connee Boswell, tips on buying 78's, the upcoming DVD release of the Jazz Singer, the Ziegfeld Follies, Vince Giordano's Nighthawks and more.

Free Jolson and Friends Podcasts

After collecting audio assets for five Jolson related interviews, in the last few months I launched the First Jolson Podcast and you can listen to the entire series of interviews including my current seven-part interview with the Rich Conaty of the Big Broadcast radio show, Asa, the Magnificent Minstrel, the Vaudeville series with author Trav S.D. and Sybil Jason.

To listen to the free Jolson and Friends Blog Podcast published audio files, just click on the podcast icon below:

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Jolson and Friends Blog Podcast: Jolson and The Big Broadcast Part III

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"The Jazz Singer premiered at Warner's Strand in New York City on October (23), 1927, a date enshrined in film history, with all the dread decisiveness of Waterloo, Sarajevo, and Pearl Harbor. On this date the death knell of the silent movies was sounded, and the talkies were born. It had died one night in a theater when people were mesmerized by a Mammy singer. According to film historians, however, it was not Jolson the singer who shook the medium to its foundations, but Jolson the talker." - Andrew Sarris (Great quote, wrong date)

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Jolson Blog: The Big Broadcast Interview with Rich Conaty Part III

"I was looking not long ago at a collection of radio magazines from the early to mid 1930's, and there were really big singing stars in the 1930's, big singing stars on radio, and in some cases I may have heard the name but they didn't record. And this also applies in the case of somebody like Rudy Vallee, who had a strong recording career early on, but he was huge in radio."

Brian Marcus Decker: There are many popular artists of their day who did become relatively obscure compared to some of their contemporaries. For example, Mildred Bailey, as compared to the more popular Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday. Bob Crosby as compared to his brother Bing, the Boswell Sisters as compared to the Andrew Sisters.

Rich, how do you explain why time was not as kind to some of these artists and who are some of these other obscure artists who you've really have spent a lot of time promoting?

Rich Conaty: Well, in some cases it may just be luck, in some cases they didn't get the network radio gig, they may not have come across well in the movies. Marion Harris is a singer that I just think is absolutely wonderful, had a pretty strong career throughout the 1920's and then it sort of peters out. You have somebody like Annette Hanshaw who pretty much voluntarily gave up her career in the mid 1930's.

Of course, there was a whole generation of artists who came up in the early 1920's and I think they more or less got forced out by the younger singers. And the other thing, I was looking not long ago at a collection of radio magazines from the early to mid 1930's, and there were really big singing stars in the 1930's, big singing stars on radio, and in some cases I may have heard the name but they didn't record. And this also applies in the case of somebody like Rudy Vallee, who had a strong recording career early on, but he was huge in radio. But people don't remember him, other than Palm Beach Story and How to Succeed in Business, because those broadcasts went out into the air, millions of people listened to him, he brought dozens and dozens, maybe hundreds of talent to the microphone, and yet he's not remembered because where he was the most successful in radio during the Depression, unless you're a collector of old broadcasts, you have no way of knowing how big some of these people actually are.

I mean, when I approach putting a show together, and again, it's usually driven by composers, I'll just track down who made a record by so and so, and if it's Gene Austin, who again was big in the period, or Scrappy Lambert, it's usually more, and, of course, when you're dealing with stuff that's 70, 80 years old, how popular they actually were at the time doesn't mean as much as it used to because people that are hearing it on my show, it's all new to them.

Brian Marcus Decker: As I was talking about the Boswell Sisters, I read somewhere that you actually had a chance to interview Connee Boswell. I've always been a huge fan of the Boswell Sisters from the first time I ever heard a record called When I Take My Sugar to Tea, which was recorded with the Dorsey Brothers in 1931. What was that experience like and can you share with us any stories from the interview with Connee Boswell?

Rich Conaty: Sure. Well, before I even started doing the radio show, that's hard for me to remember that there was actually a time that I wasn't on the air every week, I went to the Museum of Modern Art, they used to have screenings of early films, and to see Paramount's The Big Broadcast (released in 1932). What was really neat about it is not only did I get to see the Mills brothers and Bing, and Arthur Tracy, and the Boswell Sisters, and Vincent Lopez, and Cab Calloway, and Burns and Allen, but sitting in the row behind me was Arthur Tracy.

So I fell in love with the Mills Brothers and naturally the Boswell Sisters, and I just cracked the Manhattan phone book and she wasn't listed as Connee Boswell, I think the phone listing was under her husband's name, Harry Leedy. And by that time I had just started doing the radio show, and I think it was December of '73, I went to her apartment on Fifth Avenue, brought my cassette player and we sat down for a couple of hours and we just talked. And she talked about growing up in New Orleans and working with her sisters and some of her recollections of working with the Dorsey's and Joe Venuti, and it was a wonderful afternoon. If I had knew then what I know now the interview might have gone a little differently but it was a wonderful memory and then not all that much later I had a chance to interview Vet (Helvetia) Boswell, she came up to WFUV. And I've got the sheet music from The Big Broadcast autographed by Vet, Arthur Tracy, and Cab Calloway, which is something I treasure.

Jolson Blog: The Big Broadcast Interview with Rich Conaty Part IV: December 9, 2007

• Well it does seem very obvious that you are an avid record collector. Can you tell us about your collection and share with us some tips of where to buy old 78's or Edison cylinders, how to buy them, how do you assess the value of these kinds of recordings?
• Well I happen to own a beautiful 1904 upright Victrola, but I do feel guilty every time I play a 78 on it. Even using a new needle I feel like I'm actually destroying the record every single time I play it. In fact, somebody once gave me the advice to go out and actually use cactus needles and it took me quite a while to find a collection of even potential testing cactus needles to use, and it actually did work. And supposedly they actually put no wear and tear on the records whatsoever. But where do you find an unlimited supply of cactus needles? What is your advice on how to take care of these old 78's and listen to them?
• What advice can you give to the Jolson and Friends blog community on how we can successfully transfer our old recordings to CD's or even just to digital files.

Jolson and Friends Blog Required Reading List

No Applause--Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous (Paperback) by Trav S.D.

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

My Fifteen Minutes: An Autobiography of a Child Star of the Golden Era of Hollywood (Paperback) by Sybil Jason

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

When Jolson Was King: (Paperback) by Richard Grudens

Richard Grudens has written an entertaining and informative (must read) book for anyone interested in the legendary, Al Jolson "The World's Greatest Entertainer".

"The book contains many facets of Jolson' career including those around him, his competition, employers, and comments from those he inspired enough to form their own careers, the issue of minstrel, blackface performers, fabled stories of the famed Friar's Club, a chapter of the infamous Shubert Brothers, and chapters covering Jolson's experiences in film, radio and his extensive USO travels. Covered too are vignettes of the theatres in which Jolson performed, and of those great theatrical competitors like the Barrymore's and where they were voicing their talents while Jolson was pulling them in at the Winter Garden, and a full feature on Jolson's films from the first talkie, The Jazz Singer to his famed bio-pics The Jolson Story and Jolson Sings Again." - Richard Grudens

Click here to shop and buy this book from Amazon

Changes to Jolson and Friends Blog

In the upcoming months I am looking to continue to evolve the Jolson and Friends Blog and wanted preview some upcoming changes.  I am continuing to promote the sale of Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Houdini, History of Baseball and several other unique Limited Edition T-shirt designs (featured above) and matching gift cards (all with free U.S. shipping). The sales from these items help offset the cost of maintaining this blog. Your continued support is greatly appreciated and besides they are great T-shirts.

Due to the time intensive nature of ongoing research, content development, production and maintaining and the Blog, the next blog update will happen on December 9, 2007.

I am starting to work on several future Jolson and Friends projects including:

• Jolson and Friends Recommended Reading and Viewer Lists including cost-saving shopping links to find out-of-print books, videos and more.
• Expanded global coverage of local events.
• Future podcasts of upcoming interviews and special performance-based content.

To ensure that you are automatically informed about new postings, please enter your email address at the sidebar on the left of this blog page or send an email to my attention, with the subject line "Subscribe", to: brian@JolsonBlog.com .

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