Spike Jones and his City Slickers enjoyed perhaps their finest hour in March 1948, when they performed in Washington, DC at the request of President Harry Truman. They do a slam-bang up job on “I’m Just Wild About Harry” on the opening show in this volume, in anticipation of their visit. Getting The Spike Jones Show on the air took a lot of advance planning from week to week, with schedule and location dictated by the band’s lucrative road show and its cross-country tours of one-night stands. Though most of the fall/winter episodes were broadcast from Chicago, the shows on this volume originated from Buffalo, Pittsburgh, New York City, Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Omaha. They beefed up the City Slickers with extra musicians in every locale for the big band numbers. Guests heard here include the fabulous Mills Brothers (doing their evergreen “Paper Doll”), Burl Ives, Mel Torme, Vic Damone, Eddy Arnold, and Frankie Laine. Among the forgotten treasures in this time capsule are trios led by organist Milt Herth, and jazz pianists Eddie Heywood and Page Cavanaugh.
2/6/48 w/ The Mills Brothers; 2/13/48 w/ Vic Damone; 2/20/48 w/ Buddy Clark; 2/27/48 w/ Eddy Arnold; 3/12/48 w/ Jack Smith and the Clark Sisters; 3/19/48 w/ The Milt Herth Trio; 3/26/48 w/ Jan August; 4/2/48 w/ The Harmonaires; 4/9/48 w/ Mel Torme; 4/16/48 w/ The Dinning Sisters; 4/23/48 w/ Vic Damone; 4/30/48 w/ The Page Cavanaugh Trio; 5/7/48 w/ Burl Ives; 5/14/48 w/ Eddy Heywood Trio; 5/21/48 w/ Ken Griffin; and 5/28/48 w/ Frankie Laine
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