New York! This job proved to one and all, who had the greatest dance band of this era.
The program says that one of the selections is "Washboard Blues". 1926? Gotta look that one up.
So the boys did well on "Gay Broadway"! How nice, but I think that Don & Howdy really got carried away with the whole thing. -------->
Somehow, the description given of what Don & Howdy are doing, just doesn't fit the pose.
I sure hope it wasn't something that he picked up from Howdy!
Pretty soon a good deal of the mid-west and the east would be saying, "There goes that cornet again."
I think Spiegel needed Chauncey for that joke.
A great photo of a great band. 1927
Charlie Horvath at this time was also firming up the deal for the boys to play at the Million Dollar Pier in Atlantic City.
Whitey Kaufman sure got that one right! You know, you just don't meet too many people named "Whitey" these days. Did you ever notice that? Hmm.
RUBY KEELER
During the summer of 1927 when Bix and the boys were at the Million Dollar Pier, a few blocks away at the Apollo Theater there was a show. What made this show different was a young girl who is listed there in the third column, second from the top. Could this have been when they first met? Some have said that she really went for Bix in a big way. He must have bought her some Kazoo Lips CD's! I had to put this in here somewhere...
For several years I had an apartment on the corner of Arkansas Ave. & the Boardwalk. The Million Dollar Pier was right outside of my window. It was the best time of my life. It was known as "The World's Playground", and it truly was. I gathered many stories from folks who heard the Goldkette band at the Pier that will be in the book. In the late 1970's, the casinos came in and destroyed the heart of Atlantic City. I don't even want to visit it now.
The Million Dollar Pier job came to an end. It was off to the Roseland next, and into the history books after the Roseland ended. And every man in that band claimed it was the best time and the best music of their lives. They spent hundreds of hours recalling every moment they could for Phil Evans to record for history. The detail is nothing short of amazing. But the overall feeling from hearing and reading all of the interviews, is how much fun they all had as members of the Jean Goldkette Victor Recording Orchestra. They were the best, and they knew it!
