Through An 'Old Timer's' Eyes
By Howard 'Mac' McDonald

"Singing In the Rain" would be a popular song for all of us to sing, especially if you have a lot of lawn to cut. Gene Kelly made this song a hit in one of his movies. That title takes some of us back quite a ways and gets juices flowing remembering the music from the big band era.

Informercials hawk CDs promising hours of enjoyable listening. They are usually called "The Golden Oldies." Most of these songs came out in the seventies and eighties and even though I like the music, it's really not old music. Holy cow, I have underwear older than that.

I became hooked on the big band sound when I was in high school. The radio was the king of hill as far as listening to the music of the day and my Aunt Gwen had bought me a portable radio for my birthday. Compared to the radios of today, its size was like comparing a stretch limo with an old VW Beetle.

The reception was better at night, but KDKA and WWVA came in strong all day long. WWVA didn't play much big band music, but they sure had a repertoire of the old tear jerking hillbilly mountain songs. KDKA was more sophisticated and when Slim Bryant and the Georgia Wildcats were not singing the Iron City Beer jingle, you might hear a song from Fred Waring and The Pennsylvanians.

About 10 miles south of Pittsburgh, on Rt. 51 is Pleasant Hills. There was a swanky night club there that had an outside ballroom named Bill Green's Casino and they booked nothing but big star acts. I was a senior in high school and not old enough to get in legally.

They were advertising on the radio that the "Ink Spots" would be there. they had so many hit songs going at the time that I couldn't count them all. My friend and I hitch-hiked to Pleasant Hills. It was ten at night, dark as a sack of black cats, and we stole garbage cans from the kitchen area and carried them to the wall of the outside ballroom.

Standing on the cans, we could just see over the wall. The people were at their tables wining and dining, dressed in their best bib and tucker. All at once, the lights dimmed and a spot light came on illuminating the Mater of Ceremonies. I can remember his words like it was yesterday. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, from the outdoor ballroom, Bill Green's Casino welcomes you to our floor show tonight."

The stage light came up and the M.C. said, "lets give a big hello to the Ink Spots." For two solid hours, except for a 10minute break, these guys sang everyone of their hits. My favorite song of theirs was "If I Didn't Care", and they didn't disappoint me. Just at the end of the show one of the bouncers spied me and Carson and in a couple of minutes he told us to hit the bricks.

Tried to see Frank Sinatra there but the Pleasant Hill's police force patrolled the area and we never got a free show after the Ink Spots. A lot of head liners came through that club. One big band at the time was Vaughn Monroe and his theme song was "Racing With The Moon."

I remember that Duke Ellinton, Cab Calloway and Lionel Hampton headlined at Bill Greens. Every noon hour at good old Elizabeth High, we had a sock hop. The Gym was open and you could dance, but only in your stocking feet. A lot of high school romances were born at these sock hops.

Many years later when I was in the Air Force and was visiting Hill AFB, I got to see Duke Ellington as he was playing at the Officers Club. He was in a limo and the driver was lost, I was on a crew bus headed to our aircraft and they flagged us down to ask directions.

Chesterfield cigarettes sponsored a radio show called "Smoke Rings". The show came from the ballroom at the Hollywood Plaza Hotel and featured Les brown and His Band of Renown. On the East coast, Lucky Strike sponsored a program from the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and when they came on the air the dialog went like this, "From The Ballroom At the Waldork Astoria Hotel, Lucky Strike Cigarettes presents "The Three Sons". Not long after that, Lucky Strike Green went to war.

"Hi Ho everyone", this is Rudy Valley singing off for the night. Glenn Miller cost me a lot of money because I wore out two pairs of shoes "Jitter Bugging" to his song called "In The Mood." Tex Beneke was his male vocalist and took over the band after Glenn came up missing on a U.S. Army Air Corp Flight from England to Spain during WW II. Margaret Whiting also sang with the Glenn Miller Band.

Tommy Dorsey played the sweetest Slide Trombone and his theme song was "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You." His brother Jimmy also had a band and toured all over the world. The Trumpet of harry James could make your hair stand on edge when he would play "Cherrie, Cherrie Be." On Sunday afternoon you could Swing and Sway, with Sammy Kay. What the heck would New Years Eve been like if Guy Lombardo didn't play Auld Lang Sang?

The Big Band Era spawned a lot of top notch crooners like, Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, Nat King Cole, Connie Francis, Jo Stafford, Kate Smith, The Andrew Sisters, Pearl Bailey, Sara Vaugh and the list could go on and on.

One of my all time favorite ballads is "Star Dust" and it was written in 1929 by a guy who couldn't carry a tune in a wash tub. His name was Hogie Carmichael. Earl garner wrote Misty and couldn't read a lick of music. He sat on a phone book when he played the piano.

Most of these people that I named are dead and gone, but their music lives. I would bet my last dollar that the many socalled musicians of today will not leave memories that will last as long as these have endured.

Louis Armstrong said it all when he said, "music is the international language."