These re-engineered 1941 radio broadcasts will hopefully sound like you are in the radio studio over 80 years ago listening in person! Martha Tilton appeared as a vocalist on NBC's "Fibber McGee and Molly Show" for the first part of the 1941-42 radio season with the Billy Mills Orchestra before getting her own radio show. Enjoy these live broadcasts which were never heard with this fidelity on AM radio back in the day, as these recordings were originally sourced from transcription disc recordings made by NBC purely for archival and legal purposes - never expected to be heard again.

The collection of songs in this video include:

1. Yes, Indeed (broadcast on September 30, 1941 - NBC)
2. Easy Street (broadcast on October 14, 1941 - NBC)
3. By-U By-O - the Lou'siana Lullaby (broadcast on October 21, 1941 - NBC)
4. Blue Champagne (broadcast on November 4, 1941 - NBC)
5. I See A Million People (broadcast on November 11, 1941 - NBC)
6. Thank Your Lucky Stars And Stripes (broadcast on December 16, 1941 - NBC)
7. He's 1-A in the Army and A-1 in my Heart (broadcast on December 23, 1941 - NBC)

It should be relevant to know that on December 7, 1941, the USA was attacked by the then-Empire of Japan at Pearl Harbor - and the music choices for the remainder of 1941 were all patriotic and atypical of the popular music and lyrics written during the war years of World War 2 and "The Fibber McGee and Molly Show" would be a cornerstone of patriotism and support to the war effort, as it became the Number One show on network radio during the 1940s.

Fibber McGee & Molly
Show Count: 1104
Broadcast History: 16 April 1935 to 2 June 1935, 8 July 1935 to 7 March 1938, 15 March 1938 to 30 June 1953, 5 October 1953 to 23 March 1956, and 1 June 1957 to 6 September 1959
Sponsor: Johnson's Wax, Pet Milk, Reynolds Aluminum
Cast: Marian Jordan, Jim Jordan, Arthur Q. Bryan, Cliff Arquette, Shirley Mitchell, Hugh Studebaker, Bill Thompson, Marlin Hurt, Isabel Randolph, Ransom Sherman, Gene Carrol, Bea Benaderet, Gale Gordon, Harold Peary
Announcer: Harlow Wilcox

Billy Mills was born in Flint, Michigan, aka William Randolph Mills. In the 1920s, he was an arranger for Isham Jones. By the 1930s, he was musical director for CBS in Chicago, performing a musical radio show daily. He would replace Ted Weems as musical director for NBC radio's "Fibber McGee and Molly" show from 1938 until his last broadcast in June 1953.

The musicians in the Billy Mills Orchestra would change, as some went into the service, or retired, or moved onto other bands. Many in the orchestra in this recording had been in Artie Shaw's swing band, which broke up in 1941. Many musicians were well--known in the industry, being members in all the famous big bands such as Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, and Artie Shaw. Many also performed in other studio radio orchestras of the day such as in the John Scott Trotter orchestra.

From Wikipedia:

Martha Tilton (November 14, 1915 – December 8, 2006) was an American popular singer during America's swing era and traditional pop period. She is best known for her 1939 recording of "And the Angels Sing" with Benny Goodman.

Tilton was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, United States.[2] Her family moved to Edna, Kansas, when she was three months old.[3] They relocated to Los Angeles when she was seven years old. While attending Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, she was singing on a small radio station when she was heard by an agent who signed her and began booking her with larger stations. She dropped out of school in the eleventh grade to join Hal Grayson's band. After singing with the quartet Three Hits and a Miss, she joined the Myer Alexander Chorus on Benny Goodman's radio show, Camel Caravan. Goodman hired Tilton as a vocalist with his band in August 1937. She was with Goodman in January 1938, when the band performed at Carnegie Hall. She continued to appear as Goodman's star vocalist until the end of 1939. She had a No. 1 hit with Benny Goodman's recording of "And the Angels Sing" in 1939.

In 1941, Tilton sang on Fibber McGee and Molly and starred on Campana Serenade, a program of popular music on first NBC and then CBS in 1942–1944. (Tilton sang on the later CBS version, with the Lud Gluskin Orchestra.)

In the early 1940s, she also sang with Curt Massey starring in Alka-Seltzer Time, a 15-minute radio series broadcast on weekdays on both CBS and Mutual. Sponsored by Alka-Seltzer, this show began in 1949 as Curt Massey Time. The series ended on November 6, 1953. However, Massey and Tilton continued to appear together during the late 1950s on such shows as Guest Star and Stars for Defense.

On television, Tilton appeared as a guest star on The Jack Benny Program, on February 26, 1963 (Season 13, Episode 21) where they reminisce about their work entertaining soldiers for the USO.


#MarthaTilton #swing #oldtimeradio