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May 1, 2008 - When Swing Was the Thing:
Diary of a Swing Era Teen
 Sample Audio
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Swing was the thing in 1935—a teenage music craze that erupted on the heels of the Depression, in the years before World War II. Many predicted it would be over in a year, but swing music filled dance floors for almost a decade. And ever since, each new generation has had its cult of jitterbugging swing addicts.
Money was scarce for Americans in the first half of the 1930s. Unemployment rose to 25 percent. It was an era of stickball games in the alley, and Scrabble and stamp collecting in the parlor. By 1934, half the homes in the country had radios. With little money to spend, people turned to the airwaves for low-cost entertainment. Series like the Lux Radio Theater, Fibber McGee and Molly, and The Jack Benny Show crowded the dial. Some of the most popular radio programs were music shows, broadcast live with studio audiences. There was Let's Dance, Saturday Night Swing Club, and the Camel Caravan.
 This week on Riverwalk Jazz, we time-travel back to 1930s Manhattan to hear what the Swing Era was like from the perspective of a young fan, thanks to the teenage diaries of Bob Inman, collected in his Swing Era Scrapbook published by Scarecrow Press. Special guest, San Francisco actor Darren Bridgett joins us with excerpts from Bob Inman's diaries.
Inman was 14 years old, living in Bronxville, New York with his family when his older brother introduced him to jazz on the radio. With easy access by subway from his home to a hotbed of jazz in Manhattan, Bob Inman and his high school “swing pals” lived for Saturdays and weekly trips into the city to browse the record shops, hang out at stage doors collecting autographs, and cadging free tickets for live radio broadcasts.
 The Jim Cullum Jazz Band and an all-star cast, including vibist John Cocuzzi; trumpeters Clark Terry, Duke Heitger and Bob Barnard; and trombonists Bob Havens and Russ Phillips fill the airwaves with music from the "Age of Swing." Featured are pieces made famous by Benny Goodman, Harry James, The Casa Loma Orchestra, Bunny Berigan, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie.
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CDs
Allan Vaché
Duke Heitger
Bob Barnard and Jim Cullum
Benny Goodman
Duke Ellington
Benny Goodman On The Air 1937-1938, Columbia Jazz Masterpieces
Bob Crosby, His Orchestra & Bob Cats Jazz Archives
Best of Artie Shaw, RCA Victor
Books
Swing Era Scrapbook: The Teenage Diaries and Radio Logs of Bob Inman, 1936-1938, Ken Vail
Bunny Berigan: Elusive Legend of Jazz, Robert Dupuis
Swing, Swing, Swing: The Life and Times of Benny Goodman, Ross Firestone
The Swing Era, Gunther Schuller
Swing Era New York: The Jazz Photographs of Charles Peterson
On the Web
Sites
Scarecrow Press
The Official Site of Benny Goodman, King of Swing
Bunny Berigan
Duke Ellington
Count Basie
Streaming Video
One O'Clock Jump, Count Basie
Roll 'Em, Benny Goodman
Medley (1937), Benny Goodman
Bunny Berigan in 1936
Streaming Audio
Rockin' in Rhythm, Duke Ellington and HIs Orchestra
Benny Goodman Radio Shows
Text based on Riverwalk Jazz script by Margaret Moos Pick Photos
Top: Swing dancing at Elks Club in Washington, DC, in April 1943. Photo: Library of Congress
Middle:
Take the A Train Sheet Music, c. 1941 Image: New York Transit Museum
Radio listening in the 40s. Photo: Time Life Books, 'They Called it Swing'
Bottom: The Benny Goodman Orchestra. Photo www.drummerworld.com
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