THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Fridci , 1'. . arch 3, 1944 Friday, March 3, 1944
THE MICHIGAN DAII V
Brown, Henderson Swing Out Tonight
r r i I t L., I Y i l ,,, 1 1 1 'd 7 /" . I L.l f"\ I L. T
I I
Feet Serve
Music Masters Give Out Tonight
As
the Best
Men, Overrun by B
Pin Brigades, Seek
Les Brown-Sweet and Novel-
Marks '44 V-BalI High Spot
Les Brown, with his sensational
band, and Fletcher Henderson,
"the colored king of swing," with
his famous radio, recording and
dance orchestra, will mark the
highspot of Michigan's 1944 Vic-
tory Ball in the Intramural Build-
ing.
In the top class among band
leaders, Brown will furnish sweet,
swing and novel varieties of mu-
sic to satisfy the tastes of all Uni-
versity students and other college
and servicemen guests attending
the dance. He can please the jit-
terbugs as well as those who pre-
fer old time tunes.
Voted in Top Ten
. One of the top ten musical or -
ganizations in the country, ac-
cording to a national poll of radio
editors in Radio Daily last year,
Brown's band will return to the
University campus for its third'
consecutive appearance. Featur-
ed on the second night of J-Hop
in 1942, he also played for the
V-Ball last year.
The customary arrangement of
the two bandstands on opposite
sides of the I-M Gym will be fol-
lowed.
Brown's orchestra skyrocketed
to fame within a brief time. Back
in his undorgraduate days at Duke
Un:;1-sity he made his first at-
tempts at organizing an orchestra.
In 1936 he led an enthusiastic
group of collegiates, called the
"Blue Devils" on a tour through
the North, but parental interven-
tion broke up the band after only
one season of appearances.
Spent "Hungry" Year
Referring to the following year
which he then spent in New York
doing arrangements as a "hungry"
one, the popular orchestra leader
candidly admits that he did "any-
thing to get money to eat with."
He did, however, gain invaluable
experience for his later career.
Brown organized his second or-
chestra in 1938, spending more
than a year and a half developing
and organizing this new unit be-
fore he felt sufficiently confident
to make public appearances.
The big break came not long
afterward when the "Band of Re-
nown" was booked at Mike Todd's
Theatre-Cafe in Chicago for four
weeks. Engagements at the Log
Cabin in Armonk, N. Y., the
Blackhawk in Chicago, the Palla-
dium- in Los Angeles, the Hotel
Astor Roof in New York City, cli-
4
-
f
maxed with the famous Meadow-
brook in Cedar Grove, N. J., fol-
lowed.
Lessons Begun Early
Brown began his first piano les-
sons when he was only eight years
Two Reporters
Fnd Sad Qhost
Of J -Hops Past
Two Daily .reporters, attracted
to the I-M Building by a rumor
that the place was haunted, found
the spirit of J-Hops past climbing
disconsolately among the rafters.
Unabashed by the spirit's wild
streaming locks, his emaciated,,
evanescent form and his morbid
expression. the journalists per-
suaded him to come down and
talk to them.
Spirit Reveals Name'
Materializing and disappearing
into a thin blue mist by turns, the'
spirit squeaked in a thin, sad voice
that his name was Faulk, Cecil
Cedric Faulk. He wept copiously,
his bitter tears splashing down
and making little puddles on the
floor.
With only a little encourage-
ment, Faulk was persuaded to blow
his nose, dry his tears and relate
a sad, sad tale. "Things aren't.
like they used to be," he lamented.
"Every year -I come back, hoping
to capture that gay, youthful
abandon, the glamour and romance
of my youth." Here he began to
weep again and it was fully five
minutes before he could be coaxed
into continuing.
Past Recalled
"It's no use, no use at all,"
Faulk groaned. His voice was
sepulchral, his expression even
more morose.
"You of the younger generation
don't know what it was like. The
house parties, the wine, the wo-
men, the song-ah, the pity of it
all. Those were the days, the.
good old days. The days of J-Hop
and Senior Ball, of Frosh Frolic
and Soph Cabaret, of 1:30 permis-
sion every Friday night, the days'
of fraternities.,
"And then too, football was the
big thing way back there. One_
year we had a tremendous bell
that we lowered at midnight. It
opened wide and little footballs
came spilling out as dance sou-
venirs. And then there was an-
other time that we had big stars
that unfolded to drop chrysanthe-
mums among the dancers."
Faulk's wispy frame glowed with
enthusiasm while he recounted
many such stories of the Michigan
that was. But then he again
lasped into melancholy.
"Michigan, Michigan," he lam-
ented. "what has happened to[
Fletcher Henderson-Radio,
Swing King--Shares Spotlight
Fletcher Henderson, famed com-, of the country's "best sellers" for
poser of "Christopher Columbus,"lefnhono r e or co-
his radio theme song, and his leading phonograph recrd com-
swing orchestra which gained' na- panies.
tional fame less than a year ago Called Ace Arranger
through broadcasts and record-
old, continuing with a thorough
study of music. His real interest
in music developed when he took
up the saxophone.
Butch Stone, in the sax section,
one of the best novelty-perfoiq-
ing musicians in the game, Willy
Roland at the keyboard, Dick
Shanahan, hot rhythm drummer,
and the Town Criers, a har-
monizing quartet composed of two
sets of twins, are a few of those
making up the 23 active people on
the stand. Instrumentation is full.
Roberta Lee
Sings with Band
Roberta Lee, five-foot, six-inch,
120-pound enchanting bundle of
dark loveliness, supplies the female
vocal refrains for Les Brown and
his band.
A native of Dayton, 0., Miss
Lee was selected as the best from
a talented group of 43 singers, au-
ditioned for the vocalist spot with
this leading orchestra. She sang
on various radio stations and in
fashionable hotels before joining
Brown's organization.
ings, will share the musical spot-
light at the 1944 Victory Ball.
Henderson and his orchestra of-
fer a great variety of entertaining
novelties, also being the country's
ace exponents of swing music.
Their special arrangement of
"Shoe Shine Boy," "Lime House
Blues," "Down South" and "Jig
Town Blues" are real classics in
the realm of so-called swing mu-
sic. He has made these and scores
you? What degradations have
you suffered? Where are the
friends of yore, the days of my
youth?"
Affected by Faulk's unhappy re-
flections, the reporters joined the
spirit in a quavering chorus of:
"I'll ne'er forget my college days,
Those dear, sincere old college
days."
Henderson is also regarded
throughout the country as the na-
tion's "ace" swing musical ar-
ranger; he spends all of his spare
time making musical arrange-
ments of hit tunes for some of the
nation's best known band leaders
-Benny Goodman, Jack Hylton,
Jimmy Dorsey and the Casa Loma
orchestra.
A native of Georgia, Henderson,
tall suave colored "king of swing"
took up the study of piano at the
age of six, under the tutelage of
his father and continued musical
study during grade school and lat-
er at Atlanta University where he
majored in chemistry and math,
never considering music as a pro-
fession. While in New York furth-
ering his studies in chemistry.
Henderson got a part-time job as
a piano player and demonstrator
for W. C. Handy, famed composer
and writer of "St. Louis Blues."
Formed Orchestra
In 1924 Henderson formed his
own orchestra of ten men. Fol-
lowing his seven week success at
the Congress Hotel in Chicago,
Henderson's engagements includ-
ed the Willow at Oakmont, Pa.,
Castle Farms, Cincinnati, O., and
Crystal Beach at Ontario, Canada,
climaxed by an opening at the
Grand Terrace in Chicago in 1936.
Jimmy Allen on the clarinet and
the Rhythm Debs, featuring Thel-
ma Grissom, with Linton Gardner
at the piano when Henderson di-
rects, are tops. The orchestra plays
predominantly sweet tunes, but it
can step out and jive with the very
best of them, cooking up swing and
boigie-woogie that should not take
second honors in any contest.
Conveyance
Getting to V-Ball can be rela-
tively simple if you just follow a
simple plan. H. Hollingsworth
Smith has perfected one of the
best methods to date. You're sure
to get there if you follow his ad-
vice.
The first necessity is a date.
You can secure one in any num-
ber of ways. In a flustered mo-
ment you will probably ask some
girl and ten minutes later wish
you hadn't. But even that is bet-
ter than resorting to taking some-
one's friend (She will undoubtedly
be a washout, despite the descrip-
tionsagiven by the friend.) Then
you can always import the queen
from back home. She'll be willing
'o come since it's V-Ball, even if
she does have to go with you.
Once you have a date you will
be faced with problems. The nat-
ural thing to do will be to spend
the afternoon before the dance in
some tavern downing beer as fast
as possible. By dinner you will
both probably be under the ta1le
but a cab home and a cold shower
will take care of everything and
you'll be all set for the evening
ahead of you.
If you possess the necessary
capital you will probably take her
out to dinner before the dance.
After dinner make the usual
round of parties and consume
your share of the liquor that will
be around in great quantities.
Don't expect to get a cab to the
dance because there won't be any.
So stay sober enough to walk to
the I.M. Building if you really
want to go to the dance.
Cabinet Leaves
as FDR Stays
(Continued from Page A)
pressed doubt that one could work
tangibly with impossibilities.
Frank Walker, who was at last
reports Postmaster-General, was
seen entering the optometrist's
office this morning to check1
against color-blindness. Accord-!
ing to his secretary, Postmaster
Walker has spent weeks working
out a new color scheme for post-
age stamps to suit the fancies of
the new Republican president.
"Mr. Walker was so taken back
that he fears for the safety of his1
vision," his secretary said. Walker
submitted his resignation to the
President a few hours earlier.
The President received along
with the ten, resignations a state-
ment signed by all cabinet mem-
bers stating that "a cabinet divid-
ed cannot stand . . . We can no
longer decide on which term we
were born in," the ftatement said
in part.
The President, though remorse-
ful concerning the resignations,
said optimistically that "greater
calamities happen in Europe every
day." He then called his faithful
Fala in from the Pekingese Ken-
nels for consultation and indi-
cated that new cabinet posts
would be announced soon.
GOOD FOOD
AMIABLE
SURROUNDINGS
ANN ARBOR'S MOST
CHFERFUL HOST
LEO PING'S '
THE TOWN CRIERS ... feature
attraction of Les Brown's Band.
ABE MAST
. . . toots 'em sweet and low
and hot on his clarinet with
Les Brown's band.
RALPH YOUNG
.tickles the ivories for the
crowning touch when Les
Brown gives forth tonight.
1
Tom Collins Has
Some
Ideas
By HOMER SNERD
WT OMEN without men. Men
without women. That these
two themes have been the plots
of the most exciting, the most
pulsating, the most captivating
books of all time cannot be de-
nied. To think that the very
thing is happening right here,
now,- there on the diagonal, in
the Parrot, at Martha Cook, or
better yet down at the P-Bell or
at the Arb-
This man's school is overrun
with bare legs and bobby pins.
But not only the school is over-
run; the men are too.
The service schools here have
formed a new way of walking to
classes called marching. Accord-
ing to Pfc. Joseph Blfsk of Com-
pany J this measure was taken
for defensive protection to save
the helpless and uniformed
males from being swarmed on by
the particularly vicious females
known to live in the vicinity of
the U. of M.
Pfc. Blfsk also stoutly main-
tained that he doesn't go to the
USO because he couldn't find a
date otherwise (as has been ru-
mored) but that: "I go because
I know I'll be safe there as
there are always chaperones
For Mixing, Fixing and linking
close by in
to in case
men from
have agree
NROTC's d
cause, acc
sources, th-
shadows w
Some pe
as to say
changed.
, for the day
"There su:
more won
must be b
schools.) A
it be said
here for ar
a purely ac
"academic'
exciting qu
esting indi
what life
the profess
The mos
wartime c
the colorfu
sporting.
about a gi:
sergeant's
ture tank,
blem all o
makes one
tism.
My name is Tom Collins, but
I'm not a very good mixer. At
least that's what my friends say.
I'm really quite sociable, but
somehow when I have a choice be-
tween talking about nothing in a
bull session or learning something
out of a textbook, I usually choose
the textbook. I don't know why,
I'm just different, I guess.
However, there's one thing peo-
ple like about me. I get these good
ideas all the time. For instance,
one day last semester there was
a bluebook at 3 p.m. that I hadn't
studied very much for so I just
stopped all the clocks at five min-
utes past two and it was a whole
day before B&G men got around
to fixing them. So they didn't
give the bluebook and everyone
was happy. Nobody could beat
my time.
And then there was once when
University authorities got mad be-
cause people walked on the grass
all. the time. They racked their
brains for days, but couldn't think
of a single way to prevent the
wanton destruction of the gay
young blades. Finally I conceived
the idea of letting everyone walk
KLINI
D E P A R T M E N T S
on the grass and wear down beau-
tiful dirt paths. No one walks on
the grass anymore because there
isn't any. My idea.
The best one of all, I haven't
got all thedetails quite worked
out. You see, I figure this here
town needs a good hangout for all
the kids. I mean some place with
very few lights, soft music and no
rstrictions. A place where you can
go and pay 50 cents and get a
good meal. A place where you
can dance and hold her close.
But the beer in this place would
be the big attraction. It would
come in tall glasses and would be
smooth and wouldn't taste like
last year's dish water that some-
body had-well, never mind.
And tnen there would be a sign
on the door where everybody could
see it: TO ENTER THIS PLACE
YOU MUST BE UNDER 21 AND
PROVE IT.
But all this is pretty much in
the realm of fantasy and I guess
nothing will ever come of it. May-
be if I ever get so I can talk to
people, somebody will consider my
idea.
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