The Cities Service Concerts were musical broadcasts which had a long three-decade run on radio from 1925 to 1956, encompassing a variety of vocalists and musicians sponsored by Cities Service.
The concerts began with trial broadcasts in the New York area during 1925 and 1926. Graham McNamee was the announcer and the Goldman Band conducted by founder Edwin Franko Goldman performed when the hour-long program began February 18, 1927, on NBC; it changed to a symphonic sound with Rosario Bourdon conducting a 30-piece NBC house orchestra that summer along with the Cavaliers Quartet. [1]
On January 3, 1930, Jessica Dragonette brought her repertoire of 500 songs to the series, often doing duets with Frank Parker and generating top ratings during the 1930s. She was replaced by soprano Lucille Manners in 1937. Other performers during this period were Robert Simmons and James Melton. Along with the Cities Service Singers, baritone Ross Graham (1905-1986) arrived in 1939. Graham was also heard on Show Boat. Maestro Dr. Frank Black headed the show from at least 1938 [2] to 1942 along with Manners and Graham.
The title changed to Highways in Melody in 1944 when Paul Lavalle was the orchestra leader. Lavalle continued after the show was retitled yet again as The Cities Service Band of America which experimented with simulcasting (audio broadcast separately over the radio) in 1949 and 1950. [3] The series came to an end on January 16, 1956. [1]
Benjamin David Goodman was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing".
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Symphony performed weekly radio concert broadcasts with Toscanini and other conductors and several of its players served in the house orchestra for the NBC Radio Network.
Ferdinand Rudolph von Grofé, known as Ferde Grofé was an American composer, arranger, pianist and instrumentalist. He is best known for his 1931 five-movement symphonic poem, Grand Canyon Suite, and for having orchestrated George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue for its 1924 premiere.
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his eidetic memory. He was at various times the music director of La Scala in Milan and the New York Philharmonic. Later in his career, he was appointed the first music director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra (1937–1954), and this led to his becoming a household name through his radio and television broadcasts and many recordings of the operatic and symphonic repertoire.
Your Hit Parade was an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1953 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During its 24-year run, the show had 19 orchestra leaders and 52 singers or groups. Many fans inaccurately referred to the show as The Hit Parade.
Edwin Franko Goldman was an American composer and conductor. One of the most significant American band composers of the early 20th century, Goldman composed over 150 works, but is best known for his marches. He founded the renowned Goldman Band of New York City and the American Bandmasters Association. Goldman's works are characterized by their pleasant and catchy tunes, as well as their fine trios and solos. He also encouraged audiences to whistle/hum along to his marches. He wrote singing and whistling into the score of "On the Mall".
The Blue Network was the on-air name of a now defunct American radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945.
Carmen Dragon was an American conductor, composer, and arranger who in addition to live performances and recording, worked in radio, film, and television.
Benjamin Anzelwitz, known professionally as Ben Bernie, was an American jazz violinist, bandleader, and radio personality, often introduced as "The Old Maestro". He was noted for his showmanship and memorable bits of snappy dialogue, being part of the first generation of "stars" of American popular music, alongside other artists such as Paul Whiteman, Ted Lewis and Al Jolson.
The A&P Gypsies is a musical series broadcast on radio beginning in 1924. With the opening theme of "Two Guitars," the host and band leader was Harry Horlick, who had learned gypsy folk music while traveling with gypsy bands in Istanbul.
Paul Lavalle was an American conductor, composer, arranger and performer on clarinet and saxophone.
The American Album of Familiar Music is a radio program of popular music broadcast from October 11, 1931, to June 20, 1954, first on NBC, then on ABC and then on local stations. Directed by James Haupt, the show was produced by Frank and Anne Hummert, better remembered today for creating Ma Perkins and numerous other soap operas.
Josephine Antoine was a coloratura soprano, who sang at the Metropolitan Opera from 1936 through 1948 in 76 appearances, and was well known in "Un ballo in maschera", "Il barbiere di Siviglia", "Les contes d'Hoffmann", "Le Coq d'Or", "Don Giovanni", "Lucia di Lammermoor", "Mignon", "Parsifal", "Rigoletto", and "Die Zauberflöte."
Elliott Lawrence Broza, known professionally as Elliott Lawrence, was an American jazz pianist and bandleader.
The Standard Hour, also known as The Standard Symphony Hour, was a weekly radio broadcast by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Opera first heard in 1926. The series was carried on the NBC Pacific radio network on Sundays at 8:30 p.m. Pacific time.
The Quad City Symphony Orchestra (QCSO) is a United States symphony orchestra based in Davenport, Iowa, and representing the Quad Cities area. The current music director and conductor is Mark Russell Smith. Established in 1916, the orchestra has a full season, performing six Masterworks series concerts, three pops concerts, and five signature series chamber concerts. The 96-member orchestra principally performs at two venues: the Adler Theater, located in Davenport, Iowa and Centennial Hall on the campus of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. The Riverfront Pops Concert in early September is held at the W.D. Petersen Memorial Music Pavilion in LeClaire Park on the Davenport riverfront. Its Holiday Pops Concert is performed at the Adler Theater. The signature series concerts are held in a more intimate setting, often at the Figge Art Museum. It also maintains four ensembles for local youth and conducts extensive outreach in area schools.
Jean-Josaphat Gagnier was a Canadian conductor, composer, clarinetist, bassoonist, pianist, arts administrator, and music educator. His compositional output mainly consists of works for orchestra and band, although he did write some choral pieces, songs, works for solo piano and organ, some incidental music for the theatre, and a work for solo harp. His compositions are written in a wide variety of styles from romanticism to impressionism to 20th century idioms.
Mac Morgan was an American bass-baritone who had an active performance career in concerts and operas from the early 1940s until the mid-1970s. The Boston Globe described him as a singer "known for his rich tone and enviable diction". After retiring from the stage, he embarked on a second successful career as a voice teacher.
The Pepsodent Show is an American radio comedy program broadcast during the Golden Age of Radio. The program starred comedian Bob Hope and his sidekick Jerry Colonna along with Blanche Stewart and Elvia Allman as high-society crazies Brenda and Cobina as well as a continuously rotating supporting cast and musicians which included, for a time, Judy Garland, Frances Langford and Desi Arnaz and his orchestra.
James Francis Burke was an American cornet soloist. He was the principal cornet soloist with the Goldman Band from 1943 to 1974. He was also the principal trumpet with The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from 1943 to 1949. Mr. Burke, who had the use of only one arm, was considered the greatest virtuoso of his time on the instrument, according to Ainslee Cox, conductor of the Guggenheim Memorial Band.