Durium 4

HIT OF THE WEEK Discography

Hans Koert

SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES

March - May 1930

HOW 1050 - HOW 1066

In a Downbeat interview (c 1958) Pee Wee Russell remembers a recording for Hit of the week with the Don Voorhees Orchestra. “We did an experiment. The saxes faced a wall and played against it. We had to turn around to get the beat from Don. These records were slipped into newspapers or given away. But I don’t think they were very succesful”

Matrix number	Titel	Band name	Rec. date:	Records
	Wake Up a Dream	DON VOORHEES' ORCHESTRA [2tp-2tb-2cl as-cl ts-2v-p-banj-tu-dm]: Don Voorhees dir. Fred "Fuzzy" Farrar tp, Charlie Butterfield tb, Bill Throne tb	New York City, Mar. 22 1930	rejected
	Have a Little Faith In Me Beside An Open Fireplace	DON VOORHEES' ORCHESTRA [2tp-2tb-2cl as-cl ts-2v-p-banj-tu-dm]: Don Voorhees dir. Fred "Fuzzy" Farrar tp, Charlie Butterfield tb, Bill Throne tb	New York City, Mar. 22 1930	rejected rejected



Unsold records were shipped to Europe and sold overthere. If records were released in France, the labels were partial cleaned and supplied with a new label name like SEFONO, MP or DANCING. In some cases the complete label was cleaned and titles were translated in French. Sometimes cleaned labels are found.

Matrix number	Titel	Band name	Rec. date:	Records
1050 B	SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES Waltz Woolsey Sauer Taggart - Scrappy Lambert vo	VINCENT LOPEZ ORCHESTRA [2tp-tb-2 cl as-cl ts-2v-p-banj-tu-dm-vo]: Scrappy Lambert vo	New York City, Mar. 22 1930 first released ca. 22 May 1930	HOW 1050 IAJRC CS1002-1 / ARCH 3002
1053 C	THE SONG WITHOUT A NAME Fox-Trot Russell - Bill Coty vo The Song Without A Name (UNE CHANSON POUR TOI) Foxtrot Russell - BC vo	PHIL SPITALNY'S MUSIC [2tp-tb-2cl as-cl ts-2v-p-banj-tu-dm-vo]: Phil Spitalny dir. Bob Effros tp, Tommy Thunen tp, Bill Coty vo.	New York City ca Mar 1930 first released ca. 29 May 1930	HOW 1053 MP 1053 IAJRC CS1002-1 CD202-1 / ARCH 3002
1056 D	GIVE YOURSELF A PAT ON THE BACK Fox-Trot Butler Wallace - vo3 <tu>	PHIL SPITALNY'S MUSIC [2tp-tb-2cl as-cl ts-p-banj-2v-tu-dm-vo3 ]. Phil Spitalny dir. Bob Effros tp, Tommy Thunen tp.	New York City,ca. Apr. 1930 first released ca. 5 Jun. 1930	HOW 1056 IAJRC CS1002-1 / ARCH 3002

HOW 1050 - HOW 1066

A greater mystery than the "St. James" soloist exists in Hit-of-the-Week 1061, "Mysterious Mose" by Bobby Dixon's Broadcasters. Bobby Dixon is a pseudonym for Dick Robertson, who re-recorded "Mose" in the 1930s with his regular orchestra. This version is certainly the rarest of all Hit-of-the-Weeks, with only one or two copies known to exist. The reason for this rarity is unknown, but there are several theories. Mysterious Mose was a character introduced in a 1930 Betty Boop cartoon, along with the song.

Was there some kind of licensing dispute with Fleischer Studios? Considering that other bands also recorded the tune, this does not seem likely. A more probable scenario is that after the record was pressed Durium exec's realized that, entertaining as it was, it was not danceable! The Charleston-ish tempo and feel of "Mose" are inconsistent with the rest of the early HOW catalog. It is much too fast to be used for the tame, popular Fox Trots of the 1930s. Perhaps the decision was made to pull the records from stock and release something else that week.

One other possibility is that despite its 'regular' catalog and matrix numbers, "Mose" was simply never intended for release. Could it have been a 'personal' or advertising record of some sort? Whatever the reason, the few copies that remain make for fun listening and folklore. Special thanks goes out to Mr. John Little for making his original copy of "Mysterious Mose" available for this first-ever commercial release! (Doug Benson 2004)

Matrix number	Titel	Band name	Rec. date:	Records
1061 C	MYSTERIOUS MOSE Fox-Trot Doyle - Dick Robertson vo <slide whistle TD tb MK tp PWR cl >	BOBBY DIXON'S BROADCASTERS [2tp-tb-2 cl as-cl ts-slide whistle-v-p-banj-tu-dm-vo]. Mannie Klein tp, Tommy Dorsey tb, Pee Wee Russell (?) cl ts, Bobby Dixon ( = Dick Robertson ) vo.	New York City Apr. 1930	HOW 1061 C (IAJRC CS1002-1) /* ARCH 3002 * The first issue of this cassette was published without this title

Matrix number	Titel	Band name	Rec. date:	Records
1063 E	SONG OF THE DAWN Fox-Trot Yellen Ager - Scrappy Lambert vo	PHIL SPITALNY'S MUSIC [2tp-tb-2cl as-cl ts-2v-p-banj-tu-dm-vo] Phil Spitalny dir., Bob Effros tp, Tommy Thunen tp, Scrappy Lambert vo.	New York City,Apr. 1930 first released ca. 12 Jun. 1930	HOW 1063 ?SEFONO 1063 IAJRC CS1002-1 / ARCH 3002 / CD202-1

Matrix number	Titel	Band name	Rec. date:	Records
1066 B	“GET HAPPY” Fox-Trot Koehler-Arlen – vo3	HAPPY-ROSE ORCHESTRA [3tp-tb-2 cl as-cl ts-2v-p-g-tu-dm-vo3] ?"Get Happy" ?dir, Tommy Dorsey tb.	New York City ca May 1930	nn ARCH 3002
Prob. made as an advertisement for the Happy-Rose Orchestra,. Complete text in black lettering on the label: < COMPLIMENTS OF THE HAPPY-ROSE ORCHESTRA., 1650 BROADWAY, NEW YORK CITY CIRCLE 6484 “GET HAPPY” and HIS ORCHESTRA FOR YOUR PARTY. > This is not a regular Hit-of-the-week. The label seems to be CIRCLE and the issue number 6484. Rust gives as label < DURIUM SPECIAL >. CIRCLE 6484 could refer to a telephone number.

Records from the collection of Hans Koert (The Netherlands), John Little (USA), Stewart Marsh (USA) . Thanks to Jerry Priessen (The Netherlands)

Source: Hit of the week Discography 6+-edition (p.o.d.) Hans Koert

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last update 1 Nov. 2006

© Hans Koert (2004-2010)