Golden Age of Radio

Say Hello To- WALTER GROSS—the very busy conductor of a CBS band which provides the music for many of the network’s sustaining features. The piano is Walter’s own instrument, and on it he can perform the classics, popular dance music, hot jazz and boogie-woogie with uniform ease. He first joined CBS eight years ago, playing in a band which included Raymond Scott, Benny Goodman , Artie Shaw, Will Bradley, Bunny Berigan, and Jerry Colonna (who played trombone). That was an all-star group, although no one knew it at the time, and Walter thinks the same is probably true of his present band. When his radio schedule permits it, Walter likes to spend weekends with his wife at their new country home.

Peggy Lee __who has been singing lately on The Electric Hour and Rhapsody in Rhythm, is a “musician’s singer.” Johnny Johnston discovered her in Fargo, N.D.; Will Osborne heard her and offered her a job; Buddy Clark persuaded Benny Goodman to audition her. Benny  signed her and she married his guitarist. Dave Barbour. Together they wrote “It’s a Good Day” and “I Don’t Know Enough About You.”

Camel Caravan: Come to the Clubhouse to enjoy Fine Tobacco and Great Jazz! Memories of Navy Boot Camp. It should have felt like an extended vacation to be in sunny San Diego in January and February, but it was Boot Camp. We were learning important things like how to march, the proper way to wear bell-bottomed jeans, and how to carry a very heavy rifle that hadn't been in a firing condition since the late 1940s. Many hours were expended contemplating important issues, like whether or not there was a naked lady drawn into the front leg of the Camel on the cigarette package. One day one of our Petty Officers posed a question which kept the barracks buzzing for several days. "If you were stuck in the desert on the front of the Camel cigarette package with nothing but the camel, the palm trees, and the pyramids, how would you survive?" Us Boots came up with a number of theories and guesses; of course all wrong. Sit in the shade of the palm trees? The pyramids? Drink th...