"Oh, Auntie Em! You have to believe me. This really happened."

Last night I dreamed that I was a member of the legendary vocal group the Hi-Lo's and we were in the studio recording an album, "The Hi-Lo's Meet the Four Tops." Inasmuch as the Tops had not had a chance to rehearse with us beforehand, I was meeting the group for the first time. We were just going to jam and take our chances. I shook hands all-around and was especially excited to be meeting their lead singer, Levi Stubbs, for the first time. In the dream, he had a very strong grip.

Most of the resultant CD session was also part of my dream, including the recording of a song I had never heard before entitled "Promises in a Secret Garden." But now, I can't remember how it went. We also sang "Sunrise, Sunset" in the dream.

I can just hear you saying now, "My my my, Dr. Chilledair, what a rich, full fantasy life you must lead!"

Frankie Randall alert

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On the occasion of Frankie Randall's upcoming gig at Feinstein's in New York, here is a rare "Mr. and Mrs. Chevrolet" commercial cut by Frankie and Jennie Smith back in the day. . .so to speak. As I've already noted before herein, Bring 'em back for the upcoming GM Volt ad campaign!

I'm "revised and expanded"

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Hot from Harlem: Twelve African American Entertainers, 1890–1960

Bill Reed
ISBN 978-0-7864-4467-0 ca.

20 photos, notes, bibliography, index

softcover 2009
Not Yet Published, Available Fall/Winter 2009

McFarland & Company, Inc.

Description

From the early days of minstrelsy to Black Broadway, this book is the story of African American entertainment as seen through the eyes of its most famous as well as some of its most obscure practitioners. The book forms a chronological arc that moves from the beginning of African American participation in show business up through the present age. Will Marion Cook and Billy McClain are discovered in action at the very dawn of black parity in the entertainment field; six chapters later, the young Sammy Davis Jr. breaks through the invisible ceiling that has kept those before him “in their place.” In between, the likes of Valaida Snow, Nora Holt, Billy Strayhorn, Hazel Scott, Dinah Washington, and others are found making contributions to the fight against racism both in and out of “the business.”

About the Author

Bill Reed is a journalist and writer whose articles on show business, the arts and popular music have appeared in such publications as Rolling Stone, the San Francisco Examiner and International Documentary. He is a record producer of jazz recordings for SSJ Records (Japan).

McFarland's catalogue page

Gale Storm R.I.P.

Dot Records' founder Randy Wood, who produced and recorded TV star Gale (My Little Margie) Storm is alive and well at age 91 living in Southern California as are his three kids and wife. His son John Wood is a first rate jazz pianist and a friend of mine and keeps me up date on his dad AND mom's activities. A wonderful extended family of grandparents, children and grandchildren.

I called John a couple of nights ago and told him the sad news about Storm whom he knew from the time he worked for his dad as the world's littlest recording studio timekeeper. John can even recall, when he was around five, Gale coming to Gallatin, TN where Dot was originally located and workiing out the details of her recording contract. The idea of recording Storm, according to John, was not his dad's but John's little sister who implored her father to "Make a record with [My Little] Margie." ("And a little child shall. . .") And so he did!

John says you can't imagine what it was like to be five years old and suddenly have a TV character sitting at the dinner table in what was, for all practical purposes, rural Tennessee. He can still recall his sister and himself asking Gale, i.e. "Margie," questions about "Freddie," "Mr. Honeywell," "Roberta" (Charlie Farrell's girlfriend in the series played by Hillary Brooke), "Mrs. Odetts." et al. I wonder if they asked her to do the "Margie gurgle" after dinner?

And I remember: ". . .I want a nice old comfortable father. I try to look after him, but he just won't settle down. I've got a problem. Believe me, I've got a problem!"