Swing (Jan-Dec 1945)

CHICAGO COMMUNIQUE 57 zi his ability. 7ou can hear him these summer nights over Mutual. Lest this communique begin to sound like Downbeat, let's get on to the rest of the outstanding en;ertainment that's around right now. There's a riot going on in the Empire Room of the Palmer House that's well-woah coming all the way from Kansas City to see. "The Little Commander" — ^which is f/nat they used to call Eddy Peabody when he was running the band out at Great Lakes — is out of uniform and bounding around on that midget-sized stool again — • aided and abetted by Patsy Kelly and Barry Wood. The three of them have already shattered records hung up by Hildegarde — which is some shattering. Eddy, who has been playing the banjo ever since the great Chicago fire, is still the same expert snowman who headed the Navy War Bond show at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City back in January of 1943. And if there's anybody in Kansas City who hasn't seen Patsy Kelly in action, she's a rough and ready comedian who rocks from ringside table to bandstand with her raucous antics. She's fast and funny — and gets wonderful support from Barry Wood and Eddie Oliver's fine orchestra. Oliver and his band certainly rate a deep bow from the waist for playing a superb show, and for keeping the floor crowded with dancers. It isn't a hard floor to keep crowded. The waiters are forever setting up another table for six in the diminishing dancing space. We close the night life department with a salaam in the direction of the very pretty Joanell, who is singing again in the Buttery of the Ambassador West. She'll be there for a long time. Another kind of musical night life is holding forth nightly in Grant Park. In spite of the cool weather, CONCERTS the free concerts are again crowding all available listening space. The last concert we heard featured the Great Lakes Orchestra under the direction of Lieutenant Griff Williams and the incomparable comedy of Bluejacket Bill Thompson. You may not recognize the latter's name, but you've probably missed him on the "Fibber McGee and Molly" show. Bill played the Wallace Wimple, Old Timer, Nick Depopulis and Horatio K. Boomer characters — ^now all retired from the airlanes until he returns to civilian life. The dog days may be upon us, but club life is still flourishing. The latest popular hangout is the reMEMBERS cently orga;nized Actors' ONLY Club on Rush Street. About fifty of the town's most prominent radio actors have taken over one of those old houses dotting the near North Side and have turned it into an exclusive retreat. It is understood that negotiations are now under way to hoist Lou Harrington from behind the Wrigley Building bar and shanghai him to the Actors' Club. A committee of martini lovers is reported to have the situation well in hand. — T^orton Hughes Jonathan. I i ♦ DEFINITIONS Every day is D-Day for mother. It's either dishes, dirt, diapers, disorder, or darned near everything. — Rotary Felloe. • A pre-war gal turned in this description of a bolt and a nut: " A bolt is a thing like a stick of hard metal, such as iron, with a square bunch on one end and a lot of scratches going round and round the other end. A nut is similar to the bolt only just the opposite, being a hole in a little square of iron sawed off short with rings also around the inside of the hole." • The difference between a regular sailor and a Seabee is that while the sailor is looking for a park bench, the Seabee builds one.