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Part 2 of the 1935 #1 hits

Rodgers & Hart

Here is Part 2 of the 1935 #1 hits.

“In 1934, two separate top 20 charts began: one for best-selling records (based primarily on the record label charts and Murrells, supplemented by other sources such as Kinkle and Ewan) and one for Your Hit Parade and radio airplay. The latter charts were based solely on radio airplay in 1934 and early 1935. Starting in April of 1935, Your Hit Parade and radio airplay rankings were weighed together for” The Century of Pop Music Charts. Thus, the charts show 77 weeks of #1 hits.

Two weeks at #1

East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon) – Tom Coakley, vocals by Carl Ravazza (Victor) From the Princeton Triangle Club’s production “Stags At Bay.”

It’s Easy To Remember – Bing Crosby with George Stoll and his orchestra (Decca), “‘Mississippi’ was one of Crosby’s finest Paramount musicals” and boasted several Rodgers & Hart songs

What’s The Reason (I’m Not Pleasin’ You)? – Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, vocals by Carmen Lombardo (Decca)

Life’s A Song (Let’s Sing It Together) – Ruth Etting (Columbia)

Lullabye of Broadway – Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, vocals by Bob Crosby (Decca) Warren & Dubin tune from “Gold Diggers of 1935”

The Object Of My Affection – Boswell Sisters with Jimmie Grier and his orchestra (Brunswick). This was also a 1934 #1 hit by Jimmie Grier with Pinky Tomlin

Let’s Swing It – Ray Noble and his orchestra, vocals by The Freshman (Victor) from Earl Carroll’s “Sketch Book of 1935”

Red Sails In The Sunset – Bing Crosby with Victor Young and his orchestra (Decca)

A Little Bit Independent – Fats Waller and his Rhythm (Victor)

A single week at #1

On Treasure Island – Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra, vocals by Edythe Wright (Victor)

Rhythm Is Our Business – Jimmy Lunsford and his orchestra, vocals by Willie Smith (Decca) Written by Sammy Cahn (his 1st credit) / Jimmie Lunceford / Saul Chaplin

Soon – Bing Crosby withn George Stoll and his orchestra (Decca), another Rodgers & Hart song from “Mississippi”

And Then Some – Ozzie Nelson and his orchestra (Brunswick). Yes, the guy from The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

Paris In The Spring – Ray Noble and his orchestra, vocals by Al Bowlly (Victor). The title song from a 1935 Paramount movie

April rambling: Beat the Broligarchs

Rod Serling documentary

Catbird: “When I viewed it again, it looked like a heart that had been run over by a tire, which reflected my yet-unrealized reaction to what DOGE had just started. My conscious mind didn’t know yet, but my hand did. What a revelation!”

Patriotic Millionaires challenge oligarch power with sweeping economic plan: How to Beat the Broligarchs

EFF’s lawsuit against DOGE will go forward. ”Sweeping and uncontrolled access by DOGE agents who were not properly vetted or trained.”

Did you hear Canadians are wearing MAGA hats? There, they mean Make
America Go Away

Working to Preserve .Gov Websites. “Web archiving is more than just preserving history—it’s about ensuring access to information for future generations. “

Tuberculosis Is Back in the Spotlight. Does the U.S. Even Care?

Buster Keaton made a silent film AND a talkie … in 1965

Lucille Ball – ‘America Alive!’ 1978 [Interview]. from that, a viral clip: When Lucy said, “Take your hands off her, David.”

Val Kilmer, An Unclassifiable Heartthrob Who Always Had an Edge

Jay North, Child Star of ‘Dennis the Menace,’ Dies at 73. He was best known for playing the towheaded Dennis Mitchell on a sitcom that ran on CBS from 1959 to 1963, which I watched.

Goodbye Park City: Sundance Film Festival Heading to Colorado

Does ginger ale really taste better on a plane?

When You’re Better Off Skipping a Court Date and The Cat That Inherited Millions and The Man Who Takes Apostrophes Very Seriously

Until then…

Appeals Court Orders Thousands of Voters to Verify Information in Contested N.C. Election. The ruling was a win for the Republican who narrowly lost a State Supreme Court race in November. The case has tested the boundaries of post-election litigation.

His order on voter policy could disenfranchise millions, but multiple lawsuits have already sprung up to challenge it.

DOGE Is Not Cutting Government Spending

Judd Legum on Popular Information: “Musk has set a goal to cut $1 trillion annually from federal spending through DOGE. But his efforts have largely ignored the DoD, according to data compiled by the Musk Watch DOGE Tracker.”

HHS Job Cuts: Entire CDC Team Focused On Infertility And IVF Is ‘Gone’

Not to mention…

States Challenge Trump’s Effort to Dismantle Library Agency. In a lawsuit, 21 state attorneys general argued that the steep cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services violate the Constitution and other federal laws related to spending. Call on Congress to Protect Federal Library Funding

Smithsonian’s Chief in the Hot Seat. The executive order demanding change at the institution presents a perilous test for Lonnie G. Bunch III, its secretary, whom the White House calls a partisan Democrat.

‘It’s a shambles’: DOGE cuts bring chaos, long waits at Social Security for seniors. “Elderly and disabled people — and those who care for them — are encountering a knot of bureaucratic hurdles and service disruptions… ‘The system, it’s broken down,’ Veronica Sanchez, a 52-year-old medical practice manager in Canoga Park, said, after calling a Social Security hotline and waiting on hold for six hours.”

FOTUS Is Trying to Axe Collective Bargaining for 1 Million Federal Employees

LA Times: Regime “has issued an order demanding that all national parks remain open amid severe staffing shortages — an action that one conservation group called ‘reckless and out of touch’ as park personnel brace for millions of visitors this summer.

‘I was a British tourist trying to leave the US. Then I was detained, shackled and sent to an immigration detention centre’

Trans Athletes and Tasers & Excited Delirium: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Another rupture: Keystone pipeline shutdown threatens fuel prices and exposes pattern of failure

Critic’s Notebook: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and Trump, Reunited

How Actually Crazy is This Mess?

An Experiment in Recklessness: The global trading system is only one example of the administration tearing something apart, only to reveal that it has no plan for how to replace it.

Tariffs: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

What to Learn (and not Learn) from Trump’s Tariff Blunders

Jon Stewart on The Botched Tariff Rollout & The Stock Market’s Meltdown | The Daily Show, especially from 15:35 to the end

He’s not very bright; Inside his dumb lifelong obsession with tariffs and trade deficits

Why Lutnick Displaced Musk As ‘Most Loathed’ Adviser. Lutnick: “The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones — that kind of thing is going to come to America.”

I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.– Will Rogers

**Former President Harry S Truman appeared on Jack Benny’s television show in 1959, when the show was filmed from the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, MO.**

Was Binghamton unavailable?

Rhode Island plays a starring role in the forthcoming Rod Serling documentary:

“The state’s Film & Television Office… touted how the Ocean State is playing a starring role in a forthcoming documentary on the life of Rod Serling, the legendary mastermind and iconic narrator behind the pioneering, 1950s and ‘60s science-fiction television series, ‘The Twilight Zone.’

“The film, authorized by Serling’s two daughters, Jodi Serling and Anne Serling, is being produced by Verdi Productions, an East Greenwich, R.I.-based production company. State officials announced… that Leonardo DiCaprio’s company, Appian Way Productions, has also joined the production…

“Although Serling, who died in 1975 at the age of 50, hailed from upstate New York, the documentarians used locations in East Greenwich, Providence, and Wakefield — the village in South Kingstown, R.I. — to help recreate moments in Serling’s life, ‘mirroring the same cinematic black and white style’ of his signature show, officials said.”

MUSIC

My Spine Is The Bassline: Dave Allen (1955-2025)

Fees, Fees, Fees – A Randy Rainbow Song Parody

Everybody Plays The Fool – The Main Ingredient

Lonely -Justin Bieber & benny blanco

Locust Laced – Sleigh Bells

Manic Monday – Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day feat. Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles

The Lady of Shallot – Loreena McKennitt

Coverville 1528: The AC/DC Cover Story IV and 1529: The Pixies Cover Story III

Girl – Beck

The Parables by Bohuslav Martinů

We Got The Beat – The Go-Go’s

Chuck Mangione’s Land Of Make Believe

Fool In The Rain – Led Zeppelin

Sergei Rachmaninoff Vocalise

The Bank of Harmony with a medley of three Hanna-Barbera theme songs

All Day and All of the Night – The Kinks

One More Night – Phil Collins

What A Fool Believes – The Doobie Brothers

William Tell Overture – Rossini

#1 hits of 1935, part 1

Blue Moon

There were 27 #1 hits of 1935. Rather than list them all here, I’ll break them in half.

Some notes about the charts. They were partly compiled from these sources: the weekly record-label bestseller charts ran in Variety until 1935. Billboard picked up these charts from November 1935 until early 1938. Metronome carried the charts until the end of 1938.

By 1934, Billboard and Variety began publishing rankings of the top songs for radio airplay and sheet music. Your Hit Parade launched its famous radio-broadcast song rankings in April 1935.

Cheek To Cheek – Fred Astaire with Leo Reisman and his orchestra (Brunswick), 11 weeks at #1. Written by Irving Berlin for the movie Top Hat; here are Astaire and Ginger Rogers from the film

Isle of Capri– Ray Noble and his Orchestra, Al Bowlly on vocals (Victor), 7 weeks at #1

When I Grow Too Old To Dream – Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, Kenny Sargenton on vocals (Decca), 4 weeks at #1. Composed by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II for the 1935 film musical “The Night Is Young.”

Red Sails In The Sunset – Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, Carmen Lombardo on vocals (Decca), 4 weeks at #1

Lovely To Look At – Eddy Duchin and his orchestra, Lew Sherwood on vocals (Victor) 4 weeks at #1. Written by Hammerstein II-Fields-McHugh-Kern for the 1935 film treatment of “Roberta.” The song was not in the 1933 stage version.

She’s A Latin from Manhattan – Victor Young and his orchestra, Hal Burke, on vocals. (Decca), 4 weeks at #1. From the 1935 Warner Brothers film “Go Into Your Dance” starring Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler, score by Harry Warren-Al Dubin.

In A Gypsy Tea Room – Bob Crosby and his orchestra, Crosby on vocals (Decca) 3 weeks at #1

Simply because you’re near me

I’m In The Mood For Love – Little Jack Little and his orchestra (Columbia), 3 weeks at #1. From the 1935 Paramount musical “Every Night At Eight” starring George Raft

I Won’t Dance – Eddy Duchin and his orchestra, Lew Sherwood on vocals (Victor) 3 weeks at #1. Written by Hammerstein II-Fields-McHugh-Kern for the 1935 film treatment of “Roberta.” The song was not in the 1933 stage version.

Truckin’ – Fats Waller (Victor), 3 weeks at #1. From “Cotton Club Parade, 26th Edition.” Written by Ted Koehler-Rube Bloom

Chasing Shadows – Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, Bob Eberle on vocals (Decca), 3 weeks at #1

You Ae My Lucky Star – Eddie Duchin Orchestra, Lew Sherwood on vocals (Victor), 3 weeks at #1. From the film “Broadway Melody of 1936” written by Arthur Freed-Nacio Herb Brown.

Blue Moon – Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, Kenny Sargent on vocals (Decca) 3 weeks at #1. “Lorenz Hart had written THREE previously unsuccessful or unused sets of lyrics for this Richard Rodgers melody. Obviously, his 4th attempt was the charm.” Or not. “Blue Moon was composed in 1931 by a 17-year-old, Edward W. Roman, the son of Polish immigrants, after an evening of moonlit skating on a pond in upstate New York.” in any case, I’m a sucker for the version by the Marcels.

#1 hits of 1925

Irving Berlin

Here are the #1 hits of 1925. But before that, I want to quote something from Joel Whitburn Presents A Century of Pop Music. “For popular music, the most historic event of the 1920s was a switch from acoustic to electric coal recordings, which followed a year of experiments by engineers of Bell Laboratories in 1924-25. Instead of the acoustic process of singers and musicians performing directly into a recording horn, they were now able to record with a condenser microphone in a spacious studio.

“With the use of a vacuum tube amplifier and an electromagnetically-powered cutting stylus, the frequency range of recorded music expanded by two and a half octaves. The Associated Glee Clubs of America’s pairing of ‘Adestes Fideles’ and ‘John Peel’ became the first electrically-recorded hit in July 1925, and within months, every major label record label had gone electric.”

The Prisoner’s Song – Vernon Dalhart (Victor), written by Guy Massey, 12 weeks at #1, gold record

Yes, Sir, That’s My Baby – Gene Austin (Victor), written by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson, “ukulele and jazz effects by Billy (‘Yuke’) Carpenter,” seven weeks at #1

I’ll See You In My Dreams – Isham Jones with Frank Bessinger (vocals) and Ray Miller’s Orchestra (Brunswick), listed as instrumental – seven weeks at #1

If You Knew Susie (Like I Know Susie) – Eddie Cantor (Columbia), written by B. G. Sylva – five weeks at #1

Harlem Globetrotters theme

Sweet Georgia Brown – Ben Bernie and His Hotel Orchestra (Vocalion), written by Bernie/Casey/Pinkard, instrumental, five weeks at #1. It shouldn’t be surprising, but I know these last four tunes, plus Tea for Two, astonishingly well, even though they are a century old.

All Alone – Al Jolson with Ray Miller and His Orchestra (Brunswick), written by Irving Berlin, five weeks at #1

Manhattan – the Knickerbockers (Columbia), from a Rodgers and Hart musical Garrick Gaieties, instrumental, four weeks at #1

Oh, How I Missed You Tonight – Ben Selvin’s Cavaliers (Columbia), instrumental, three weeks at #1; scratchy sound, unfortunately

Tea for Two – Marion Harris (Brunswick), from No, NO, Nannette, three weeks at #1

All Alone – Paul Whiteman and his orchestra (Victor), instrumental, written by Irving Berlin, three weeks at #1

All Alone – John McCormick (Victor), two weeks at #1

Oh, Katharina! – Ted Lewis and his band (Columbia), instrumental, written by Fall and Gilbert, one week at #1

Remember – Isham Jones Orchestra (Brunswick), instrumental, written by Irving Berlin, one week at #1

March rambling: Trimmer

me and Maurice Ravel

Trimmer (def 1): One who adjusts beliefs, opinions, and actions to suit personal interest.

Let There Be Light by Sharp Little Pencil

Fact-checking FOTUS’ address to Congress and CPAC

ICE Detention: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

RFK Jr. Misleads on Vitamin A, Unsupported Therapies for Measles

‘Project 2025 in Action’: Administration Fires Half of Education Department Staff

DEI Is Disappearing In Hollywood. Was It Ever Really Here?

Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True.

Meet Everyone Hates Elon, the U.K.-Based Collective Attempting to Take Down Musk: “Let’s Make Billionaires Losers Again”

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”

― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Also

The “I Am Canadian” commercial returns!

13 Minutes To The Moon, the podcast about how NASA got to the moon. Produced by the BBC World Service and hosted by Kevin Fong from NASA, with fascinating interviews. Hans Zimmer did the music.

Sports Betting: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Devin “Legal Eagle” Stone is not quitting

The 6668th Central Postal Battalion

Read an interview with Jim McNeal and J. Eric Smith, the authors of Crucibles: How Formidable Rites of Passage Shape the World’s Most Elite Organizations, now available for preorder

John Green reads Chapter 1 of his new book EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS and is interviewed on the CBC

We Will Eradicate Measles

Joseph Wambaugh, L.A. Cop Turned Novelist and Screenwriter, Dies at 88. I used to watch Police Story.

Kevin Drum, writer of solid political commentary, died

Carl Dean, Dolly Parton’s husband of nearly 60 years, dies at 82

A collection of the Mickey Mouse shorts from 1929, including Mickey speaking his first words in The Karnival Kid

Captain America Co-Creator Jack Kirby Getting Definitive Documentary ‘Kirbyvision’

Now I Know: Bombs Away! (Cat Version) and The Jigsaw Puzzles Worth Their Weight in Gold? and A Whopper of a Way to Pay For Your Wedding and How Homer Simpson’s Comical Gluttony Saved Lives and A Classical Way to Save the Whales and Why 19th Century Britons Lost Their Heads

Albany Public Library

Two Open Seats on APL Board. Albany voters will select two trustees for the Albany Public Library Board in the May 20 election. Both positions carry full five-year terms, which commence on July 1.

The library is hosting the following public forums:

“So, You Want to be a Library Trustee” Information Sessions

March 22 (Sat) | 10-11:30 am | Howe Branch | 105 Schuyler St.
March 26 (Wed) | 6:30-8 pm | Pine Hills Branch | 517 Western Ave.

Hear from current trustees about what it’s like serving as an APL trustee, how to get on the ballot, and tips for a successful campaign.

Meet the Trustee Candidates Forum and Library Budget Session

May 6 (Tue) | 6-7:30 pm | Washington Ave. Branch | 161 Washington Ave.

Bad news for libraries: ALA’s statement on the White House assault on the Institute of Museum and Library Services

Friends and Foundation of the Albany Public Library Author talks/book reviews in April, Tuesdays at 2 pm, 161 Washington Ave, large auditorium:

April 1 | To Be Announced

April 8 | Author Talk | C. M. Waggoner, who as a youngster ‘spent a lot of time reading fantasy novels in a swamp,’ discusses & reads from her mystery, The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society.

April 15 | Book Review | Piranesi, a novel by Susanna Clarke. Reviewer: Sarah Reiter, prolific local fiction writer & artist.

April 22 | Book Review | Tracing Homelands: Israel, Palestine, and the Claims of Belonging by Linda Dittmar. Reviewer: Jim Collins, PhD, professor emeritus, Linguistic Anthropology, U at Albany, SUNY.

April 29 | Book Review | Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies Our Transportation System by Wes Marshall. Reviewer: Jackie Gonzales, PhD, environmental historian & project manager, Capital Streets.

MUSIC

Beethoven’s Opus 72 (Fidelio), Overture, which, of course, is all about me!

In February 2014, my wife and I attended the Albany Symphony Orchestra concert, which included Maurice Ravel’s Bolero. We got the tickets from friends at church who gave them up because one of them hated that piece of music, thinking it was boring. Seeing and hearing Bolero live was exquisite.

Flash forward to March 2025, and blogger buddy Kelly linked to a performance of Ravel’s Bolero despite his long-standing disdain for the piece. He wrote, “This one’s really very good, and the camera work in this video is pretty terrific.” Not incidentally, this being the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth this year, ASO is performing Bolero again on April 5, 2024, at the Palace Theatre in Albany. We are not going because of a conflict, but I recommend it. Incidentally, Maurice and I have the same birthday.

Lisztomania -Phoenix

Bach at Home: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 Movement III by Orchestra of St. Luke’s

Defy Democracy – A Randy Rainbow Song Parody

Bored in the U.S.A. – Father John Misty

Hello, It’s Me – Evan Marks & Rebecca Jade. Vote in this year’s San Diego Music Awards for this song in Category 21 every day through March 27!

Personality Crisis – New York Dolls; Hot! Hot! Hot! – Buster Poindexter. David Johansen, Flamboyant New York Dolls Vocalist and Co-Founder, Dies at 75

Name of God – Mustafa

Mambo Lido – Peter Sprague

Oh! You Pretty Things – Lisa Hannigan

Lupron – Time Wharp

One O’Clock Jump – Buddy Rich

Joy, Joy! – Valerie June

Look What I Found – Lady Gaga (from A Star Is Born)

Bulletproof -La Roux

Death of Samatha – Yoko Ono

Coverville 1525: Cover Stories for Missing Persons and New Bohemians

Intro -The xx

Concern – William Tyler

Pique Dame by Franz von Suppe