The public wanted it. In a 1922 poll of some 500 newspapers nationwide, Harry

Wills was selected as the the boxer that people most wanted to see heavyweight

champ Jack Dempsey fight. He got 131,073 votes; second place was 6,000. The

problem was, Dempsey had drawn the “color line” in 1919 after winning the title,

citing deadly riots after the Jack Johnson – James J. Jeffries fight in 1910.

In 1925, the New York State Athletic Commission gave Dempsey an ultimatum:

fight Wills, or find another state to fight in. He chose the latter. Another match

fell through in 1926. When Dempsey lost to Gene Tunney that year, and Wills,

then 37, lost as well, talks of the match ended, as did Wills’ shot at the title. A

month later Howell, Horseley and Bradford recorded this song on a Columbia 10 inch 78.

Image: Black Boxing Gloves, taken by Airman First Class Kerelin Molina as part of official duties. As a work of the

U.S. federal government, the image or file is in the public domain in the United States.

So impressed was Beethoven that when he composed his Symphony Number 3 in E Flat Major, he dubbed it “Bonaparte”. But as the story goes, he became enraged when Napoleon named himself Emperor of the French. Scratching out the title, he renamed it “Eroica”, Italian for “heroic”. You’re listening to Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in a Victor recording from 1950.

Time seems to heal all wounds though…when Napoleon died in exile in the early 1820’s, Beethoven remarked that he had “already composed the proper music for that catastrophe”, a nod to the Symphony that once bore the man’s name.

Fans of historical trivia, and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, remember Napoleon as a little guy. (Napoleon was 5’6, Beethoven 5’5).

No matter what your line of work..it’s always good to have a back-up plan. Just ask James Kokomo Arnold.

The 18th Amendment ushered in Prohibition in the United States, outlawing the manufacture, transportation and sale of alcohol from 1920 to 1933. During this time, James Arnold was a whiskey bootlegger, who… got the occasional itch to pick up his guitar and play around town. But in 1933 the Amendment was…amended, ending prohibition, and putting Arnold out of work. He turned towards music full-time. In 1934, he recorded Old Original Kokomo Blues. And the name stuck…here’s Kokomo Arnold in 1937 with Red Beans and Rice.

LaRosa probably wished he’d followed his own advice on his last night of work. You see, he was one Arthur Godfrey’s protégés and lead singer on the Arthur Godfrey show. Thing is, he learned his final performance was his “swan song” at the same time as the shocked audience.

At the time, Godfrey’s various shows accounted for 12% of CBS’s nightly business. But the gasps of dismay from the audience were harbingers of change…after firing the red-hot crooner, his popularity plummeted. So why the firing in the first place? Apparently Godfrey took issue with Larosa’s hiring of an agent. Public opinion favored Larosa, so much so that singer Ruth Wallis recorded a song in 1955 entitled “Dear Mr. Godfrey”. Want to hear it?

Vernon Dalhart, one of the founding fathers of country music, got his start in…New York City opera halls?

You’re listening to Vernon Dalhart with Wreck of The Old 97.  He may have started his career in NYC, but he was all cowboy.  Born Marion Slaughter, he took his stage name from the Texas towns he used to drive cattle between: Vernon and, you guessed it, Dalhart.  When he recorded this song in 1924, it became the best-selling single of its time.  Not only that; it was the best-selling non-holiday record in the first 70 years of recorded music.

The opera/country connection isn’t a … traditionally strong one.  Just imagine: Toby Keith is… Don Giovanni.  Dalhart made the leap, though. He’s a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Harry the Hipster Gibson was discovered by fellow pianist Fats Waller, and his frantic, inventive stride/boogie-woogie, proto-rock blend would pave the way for players like Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. Club pianist by night, Juilliard graduate fellow by day, Gibson claimed to have coined the phrase “hipster” sometime in the 30’s and would take it on as his own nickname soon after.

“Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy’s Ovaltine?”, was released by Musicraft in 1944. It’s a little play on the Irish folk song “Who Put the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder”. But that tune never got anyone blacklisted, which this one did for Gibson that year. He’d recover, but it would take time. Over a quarter century, actually, when he’d resurface in the 1970s playing blues rock.

Read more.

Living up to Ma Rainey’s version of a song is no small feat. But Wee Bea Booze did just that, so much so that it earned her the nickname “The See See Rider Blues Girl” after this 1943 recording. Ok, it’s not the most imaginative nickname, but the song reached number one on the “Harlem Hit Parade” charts. Bea would play guitar on her recordings and on stage; pretty rare for a female at the time.

The song has been recorded by scores of other performers you might have heard of…Elvis, Ray Charles, Janis Joplin and the Who, to name a few.

Valentine’s Day is the one day of the year where even the most restrained of suitors demonstrate their affection, wearing their hearts on their sleeves, if you will. Hey, where does that saying come from, I wonder? (Excellent segue.) Some say it comes from medieval Valentine’s Day celebrations. A town’s young and available singles (sorry, maidens and bachelors) would draw names to select their Valentine, and would pin, or whatever the medieval equivalent of a pin was) to their sleeve, for all to see.

Think Hallmark invented the holiday? Blame Henry the VIII  who made it official in 1537, and the exchange of gifts began then. It’s the biggest day of the year for florists, accounting for about 1/3 of their annual business. And about 3% of Americans will buy Valentines gifts for…their pets. So… yeah.

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From high school proms to the hit parade…

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You’re listening to the Merry Macs with Mairzy Doats, a Decca 78 from 1943. The group was made up of 3 brothers McMichael, and was formed with the lofty goal of…playing local high school dances.

The song would be the Merry Mac’s biggest hit, hitting number one in . It features Marjory Garland, the third in a line of female vocalists to sing with the group. She was a natural fit with the Macs…so much so that she became one after marrying band member Judd McMichael.

By Agronom (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

On July 19th 1966, a 50 year-old Frank Sinatra wed a (polite cough) 21 year-old Mia Farrow. It was Frank’s third wedding, and it would not be his last.  Shortly after the nuptials, Farrow reneged on an agreement to costar in the upcoming Sinatra flick “The Detective”. She had a conflict with a little film called “Rosemary’s Baby”. Sinatra’s response: he had Farrow served with divorce papers on the set.

Songwriting duo Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen created “Love and Marriage” for a musical based on Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” in 1938. Sinatra sang it then, and in this recording, a Capitol 78 from 1956.