Tag: 1930s

Joe E. Brown, with Just a Touch of Marx Madness

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We’ve dedicated ourselves to watching a few Joe E. Brown pictures of late, to see if he perhaps will grow on us (after seeing one or two of his films years ago, we had written him off).

Broadminded (1931), which we watched today, is our favorite so far, perhaps not surprisingly given that it was written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, who did stellar work with the Marx Brothers.

Another thing this picture also has going for it (in addition to the presence of the always-welcome Thelma Todd—another Marx Brothers connection)? Béla Lugosi as something of a foil for Brown’s misadventures. Best of all, Lugosi plays a character named Pancho Arango who, when asked what country he’s from, responds, “South America!”

A movie poster from Broadminded, featuring Joe E. Brown and Thelma Todd

Ad-Free Listening, at a Savings of 25%!

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A banner advertising a bargain price on VIP memberships

Do you ever wish you could listen to the toe-tapping tunes of Cladrite Radio without the commercials? We don’t mean the vintage ads that we share with you every hour or so, but the other ones—the commercials our streaming provider, Live365, adds to the mix.

By becoming a VIP member at Live365, you get to avoid hearing those ads, leaving more time to enjoy the great music of the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s. And right now, Live365 is offering a special deal that we think is worth telling you about.

Sign up now for a year of VIP membership, and you’ll receive an extra four months for free, a 25% savings! Usually, a year’s membership comes to right around $5 a month, but with this special offer, you’ll pay just $3.75 per. And best of all (from our point of view, anyway), you’ll be showing your support for Cladrite Radio. That’s right, we’ll receive a percentage of your VIP membership fee, which helps us to keep the music streaming.

To participate, all you have to do is sign up for the 12-month VIP membership by July 4th! That’s just around the corner, so don’t delay!

Happy birthday, Kitty Kallen!

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Kitty Kallen quoteSadly, there aren’t terribly many performers still with us who enjoyed success during the Cladrite Era—all the more reason, then, to celebrate songbird Kitty Kallen‘s 93rd birthday.

Kallen, born Katherine Kalinsky in 1922 in Philadelphia, sang on the radio as a child on a program called The Children’s Hour, which was sponsored by Horn and Hardart, the Automat people, and as a teenager, she had occasions to sing with the big bands of Jan Savitt (in 1936), Artie Shaw (in 1938), and Jack Teagarden (in 1940).

At 21, she replaced Helen O’Connell as the singer for the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, primarily performing duets with Bob Eberly. After Eberly entered military service in 1943, Kallen joined the Harry James Orchestra, with whom she sang on several hit songs, including two—“I’m Beginning To See the Light” and “It’s Been a Long, Long Time”—that reached #1 on the charts.

But Kallen’s career didn’t end when the big band era did. Her 1954 hit, “Little Things Mean a Lot,” was number one in the U.S. for nine weeks and remained on chart for nearly seven months, selling more than two million copies in the process. She had many more hits throughout the 1950s and early ’60s

She also appeared frequently on television, on Broadway in Finian’s Rainbow, in many of the world’s top nightclubs and in at least one motion picture. On her final album, Quiet Nights, she sang in the bossa nova style. A lung ailment would eventually force her retirement, but Ms. Kallen is still with us and we sincerely hope she enjoys a wonderful birthday today.