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The 1945 #1 hits

Les Brown, Bing Crosby, Harry James

Here are the 1945 #1 hits, when World War II finally ended. Because there were multiple charts, there were 73 weeks of recordings. I recognize many songs, though I hadn’t been born yet.

Rum and Coca-Cola – Andrews Sisters (Decca), 10 weeks at #1, gold record

Till The End Of Time – Perry Como, the orchestra conducted by Russell Case (Victor), 10 weeks at #1, gold record. Based on Chopin’s Polonaise.

Sentimental Journey – Les Brown and his orchestra with Doris Day (Columbia), nine weeks at #1. gold record

On The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe – Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers with Paul Weston and his orchestra (Capitol), eight weeks at #1. From the MGM picture Harvey Girls.

My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time – Les Brown and his orchestra with Doris Day, (Columbia), seven weeks at #1, from In Society.

There! I Said It Again – Vaughn Monroe, his orchestra, and the Norton Sisters (Victor), six weeks at #1, gold record. The song went to #1, covered by Bobby Vinton, early in 1964; the next #1 was I Want To Hold Your Hand by some British Invasion group.

I Can’t Begin To Tell You – Bing Crosby with Carmen Cavallaro at the piano (Decca), six weeks at #1, gold record

A very goofy song

Chickery Chick – Swing and sway with Sammy Kaye with Nancy Norman, Billy Williams, and the Kaye Choir (Victor), four weeks at #1

It’s Been A Long, Long Time – Harry James and his orchestra with Kitty Kallen (Columbia), three weeks at #1. Written by Sammy Kahn and Jule Styne

I’m Beginning To See The Light – Harry James and his orchestra with Kitty Kallen (Columbia), 2 weeks at #1—Co-written by Duke Ellington, James, and two others.

Ac-Cent-Tch-Ate The Positive – Johnny Mercer and The Pied Pipers, orchestra conducted by Paul Weston (Capitol), two weeks at #1. Written by Mercer-Harold Arlen, from the film Here Come The Waves

It’s Been A Long, Long Time – Bing Crosby with Les Paul and his trio (Decca), two weeks at #1. Written by Jule Styne-Sammy Cahn

White Christmas – Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby Singers, orchestra conducted by John Scott Trotter (Decca), two weeks at #1. This is the 1942 version which was #1 for 11 weeks that year and a week in 1946. After that, the 1947 version predominated in recordings and airplay.

Candy – Johnny Mercer with Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers, and Paul Weston and his orchestra (Capitol)

Dream – The Pied Pipers with Paul Weston and his orchestra (Capitol). Written by Johnny Mercer

Theater: Rosie is Red And Everybody is Blue

playwright John Spellos

Rosie is Red And Everybody is Blue, the new play at Capital Rep in Albany through May 18, is a situation comedy or a dramedy. It is not meant as a putdown. Rosie is a woman who was widowed a year earlier and drives the local school bus. Her brother-in-law (Montae Russell) moved in to tend to his sick brother and never left, driving her crazy. To make things more complicated, her depressed adult son (Chris Blunt) has moved back home. She appears to be the glue that holds everything together. But is that true?

Not only does it look and feel like a Norman Lear sitcom from 50 years ago, as the Times Union review suggests, but I also heard the Sanford and Son theme in the lead-in to a scene. It’s more “familiar than fresh,” but solid, with some witty banter.

Rosie is played by Inga Ballard, who was in the great Cap Rep production of Sweat in 2024. Maya Jackson plays a young woman from her past.

The local kid

Rosie was written by Capital Region native and Christian Brothers Academy alum John Spellos. He’s written screenplays and stage plays before producing and directing documentaries. He returned to writing in 2021. “Rosie” was the play selected from theREP’s 2023 Next Act! New Play Summit to receive further development with the theatre, and ultimately lead to this world premiere production.

The most entertaining part of the afternoon of April 26, though, was during the intermission. There were a whole bunch of folks sitting immediately behind me who were old friends of the playwright.

As my wife briefly left the row, I stood up. Spellos saw his compatriots, so he came into the row and started talking to them, telling him about some sort of neurological difficulty that he had had before the production. They had not heard about it.

He was involved in the casting, but he was pumped up on pain medicine. Watching a bunch of videos, he was having trouble making any kind of discernible distinction. He did want Inga Ballard, though, because he had seen her before and wanted her in this show. It was a bit surreal

Movie review: 1946

What if the word “homosexual” was never meant to be in the Bible?

On Sunday night, May 4, I attended a showing of the 2022 film 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted A Culture. It was shown at the nearby Madison Theatre, sponsored by the Spirit Committee of the Pride Center of the Capital Region. The movie “investigates how the word ‘homosexual’ was mistakenly added to the Bible in 1946 through expert interviews, archival research, and personal stories. This documentary challenges long-held assumptions and opens the door for honest healing dialogue about scripture, sexuality, and belonging.”

The movie is part biography/autobiography. Director Rocky Roggio is “an independent filmmaker and production designer.” Rocky is also a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and “moved out of her home after coming out to her conservative, religious parents. Rocky’s father, Sal Roggio, is a non-affirming pastor who preaches that the LGBTQIA+ lifestyle is sinful.” Rocky and Sal are in conversation throughout the film.

What a find!

The film is also part investigative journalism. Ed Oxford, a Graduate of Talbot Seminary, is a gay Christian and “a researcher in how the Bible has been weaponized against LGBTQ people.” He is greatly aided by his hero, Kathy Baldock, author, LGBTQ advocate, international speaker, and educator, and Executive Director of CanyonWalker Connections. She is “a leading expert on LGBTQ issues in the United States, especially dealing with historical and current discrimination faced from the socially conservative Christian church and political sector.” Ed and Kathy have fascinating story arcs before their big find in the archives of Yale University.

Their sleuthing led them to David S. “In 1959, a young, gay seminary student named David wrote a letter to the head of the Revised Standard Version biblical translation team challenging the RSV’s use of the word “homosexual” in 1 Corinthians 6:9. David wrote: ‘I write… because of my deep concern for those who are wronged and slandered by the incorrect usage of this word./” Here’s an interview between Kathy Baldock and David S., after an intro by Ed Oxford that explains the find; a bit of the footage is in the movie.

Reviews

The ten reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes were positive. Jennie Kermode wrote: “This isn’t a film which sets itself up in opposition to Christianity – quite the opposite. Several of its participants speak of how amazed they were when they first came across the concept of gay Christians and realised that they didn’t have to choose, whether the concern was their own sexuality or their support for LGBTQ+ friends. One expresses horror at the way that a homophobic stance has driven good people away from the Church. There is a strong implication that another began questioning the Bible after finding it impossible to reconcile with the idea of a loving God.”

After the movie, there were brief discussions with people around us about how the film made us feel. At some level, it was positive. But as the film itself notes, something that was a mistranslation of the Greek a few decades ago has been baked into current conservative theology. Finding the corrections may not alter the demonization of queer people in some Christian churches, which makes it more important to stand for inclusiveness in “progressive” churches.

I understand that there will be another showing in Albany in a few months. If you do such things, you may rent or buy the movie on Amazon.

FOTUS and the WHCA dinner

“not the enemy of the people”

I watched the White House Correspondents’ Association awards on C-SPAN. It took place on April 26, and I viewed it two days later. It occurred to me that FOTUS should have attended the WHCA dinner this year because he will likely never be so kindly treated in the next three years.

Here are some of the award winners:

OVERALL EXCELLENCE: Alex Thompson, Axios. “Thompson’s aggressive reporting on Biden, especially leading up to and after the Trump-Biden debate, revealed that the president’s cognitive decline was impacting his ability to do his job, information the White House tried to conceal.” Thompson said in his brief speech that he and his colleagues initially missed the story.

EXCELLENCE UNDER DEADLINE PRESSURE, print: Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller, The Associated Press. “Madhani and Miller caught the White House press office trying to alter the official account of history — the White House transcript of Biden’s use of the word ‘garbage’ to describe supporters of Donald Trump. On deadline, Madhani and Miller captured the conflict between federal workers who document the president’s words for posterity and political appointees trying to protect their boss.”

EXCELLENCE UNDER DEADLINE PRESSURE, broadcast: Rachel Scott, ABC News. “Scott’s reporting in the chaotic aftermath of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was unflappable and authoritative. When the Secret Service tried to clear the area, Scott stood her ground and provided confirmed verifiable facts as well as eye-witness accounts of the shooting amid the mayhem after the shooting.”

JRB, Jr.

EXCELLENCE BY VISUAL JOURNALISTS: Doug Mills, The New York Times. “A somber President Joe Biden — then wrestling with historic challenges, from international crises to domestic calls for him to end his re-election campaign — is centered in the image yet surrounded and visually almost overwhelmed by the physical infrastructure and historic weight of the White House.”

Examples of the reportage are included.

I’m sure FOTUS would have wallowed in the Biden administration being seen in a less-than-favorable light. The awards were announced at the beginning of April.

UNLESS FOTUS’ handlers were afraid he would make an unhinged fool of himself at the dinner, as he did in recent interviews. The one with ABC News’ Terry Moran – see the Daily Show segment – shows his ignorance about the Monroe Doctrine and the Declaration of Independence.

FOTUS told NBC News’ Kristen Welker ‘I don’t know’ when asked if he must uphold the Constitution. Naturally, Red State defends him: “Of course, the president’s answer was more nuanced than they imply, and he explicitly said he would adhere to rulings by the Supreme Court.” Nuance? But the specific question is simple because he swore to uphold said Constitution. TWICE.

In April 2026, they’ll be evaluating coverage of the 2025 White House. Instead of FOTUS, they showed clips of Presidents from Reagan to Biden. But not 45, who eschewed the event thrice, and the fourth year was COVID.

Not the enemy

White House Correspondent Association President Eugene Daniels spoke about the press, saying, “We journalists are a lot of things. We are competitive and pushy, we are impatient, and sometimes we think we know everything. But we’re also human. We miss our families and significant life moments in service to this job. We care deeply about accuracy and take seriously the heavy responsibility of being stewards of the public’s trust.

“What we are not is the opposition, what we are not is the enemy of the people, and what we are not is the enemy of the state.”

If you have a strong desire to watch the event, go here. Or you can spend $20.26 and view NOT The White House Correspondents’ Dinner, recorded the same day and available until June 30.

Where does the blog go?

repost

Where does the blog go? Some say, “I really like that piece” or “I don’t enjoy that post.” I’ve never thought my blog could be fairly represented in a given blog post or even a handful, but rather the body of work.

Somebody tells me that they like the music or hate the quiz; that’s fine, I shrug. I have zero capacity for writing to the audience, except when they Ask Roger Anything. I write what I need to write.

In Februarys in the recent past, I haven’t spent much time writing about Black History Month. But, oddly enough, even though I didn’t announce as such, I probably wrote more about the topic in 2025. It was, maybe subconsciously, a reaction to the reactionary anti-DEI nonsense.

In fact, I would just as soon never write about race or politics at all, a strange thing, I suppose, for a political science major. Unfortunately, politics define the allocation of precious resources. When the political leadership is… let’s say problematic… not saying something suggests my agreement with the status quo.

Process

I’d be in real trouble if I had to look at a blank screen without knowing what I was going for. This is why I tend to lean into events: my birthday, family birthdays, anniversaries, and major holidays. That’s about 20 posts each year.

I also tend to want to do a musical piece once a week. In 2025, I will write at least one post a month for the years ending in five in the 20th century. The R&B and country charts also started in the 1940s, and the adult contemporary chart in the ’60s. So that’s a total of 28 posts. Let’s add at least 4 Christmas music posts. I throw in a few Ask Roger Anything, plus linkage, and that’s another 28 posts. All I have to do is figure out what the other 285 will be: easy peasy, right?

I’m trying to figure out how to continue the blog. Certain posts I can write quicker than others, and I can free-associate on quizzes. The music pieces need links, and opinion pieces require links to verifiable sources.

One thing that occurred to me is that I will need to write shorter pieces and maybe even use some graphics, as The Post. This violates my self-imposed rule of at least 300 words, but I need more time to work on The Project.

I might want to make a few more deliberate attempts at having a repost of a couple of items each month or so. It’s not that I’ve never done a repost before. I reposted information about being in JEOPARDY and the derivation of the word lunaversary.

I always tackle Emmett Till quinquennially. The interesting thing about Emmett, whose death was 70 years ago this year, is that there’s always new information about the event or a greater understanding of how it played out.

I repeat myself when under stress.

There are a few pieces I want to, at least one in May, because when I first started blogging on the Blogger/blogspot platform, I didn’t know how to do pictures or graphics. Yeah, there was this software – I think it was called Picasa – and I followed the instructions, but could not get the images to work regularly. So a lot of my early posts don’t have graphics at all. I was also unaware of things such as SEO. I need page breaks and descriptors. The truth is that I don’t care much about that stuff, but it’s probably good blog hygiene, whatever that means.

Writing about the daughter has gotten a bit harder because I’m trying to figure out the line between telling an interesting story and her privacy. I desire not to embarrass her too much, but I have to bug her a little because it’s the joy of parenting. I had a lot of pictures of her early on, but I haven’t used a contemporary image of her for more than a decade.