Leader Freddie Rich was born in Warsaw in 1898. He was trained as a pianist but became a bandleader and composer from the 1930s through the 1950s. He was a recording star for OKEH, Vocalion, Victor, Columbia and Paramount. His band saw its peak from 1929 to 1931 when he recorded jazz numbers with such notables as Bunny Berigan, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. His biggest hit was I Got Rhythm. He also stayed busy recording piano rolls for Aeolian in the 1920s. Rich was badly injured in 1945 which left him partially paralyzed. He had to adjust his career to only lead studio orchestras and compose. He died in California in 1956 after a long illness.
Vera Van gained her fame as a radio singer and was known as The Queen of Radio. She was born in 1908 in Ohio as Vera Webster and passed away in Vancouver, Washington in 2006. From 1934 to '42 she was in 13 movies, 10 of those being short soundies.
The Eton Boys were Charlie and Jack Day, Art Gentry, and Earl Smith. They all grew up around St. Louis. Charlie and Jack toured the vaudeville circuits as acrobats and became popular in 1923 when they added songs to their act. They became so popular that they ended up in film and on Broadway in musical comedy. Art Gentry was an announcer at KMOX in St. Louis and joined the quartet as lead. Earl Smith left vaudeville to join the Day Brothers act in New York. The Eton Boys were well known to CBS listeners where they performed on Borden's 45 minutes in Hollywood, were on the Columbia Varieties Show, made Paramount and Warner short films, toured the Loews Circuit, recorded for Columbia in 1935 and then joined the Socony Weekly Radio Series. Socony became Mobil Oil and then Exxon Mobil.
The show opens with the band playing China Boy where we see solos by Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet and Bunny Berigan on trumpet. Then, Vera Van performs \"I Wanna Be Loved By You\". Next, we have Little Grass Shack in Kealakeku performed by the Eton Boys and 4th, Way Down Yonder in New Orleans also sung by the Eton Boys. Vera Van then returns with Chlo-E, Song of the Swamp, and the show is completed by the song Mardi Gras from Mississippi Suite. Freddie Rich was, of course, the orchestra playing for all the singing numbers.
Freddie Rich Orchestra, Mirrors, Vitaphone 1689, Melody Masters#1 of the 1934-35 season. Mirrors was released September 8, 1934 and is a 12 minute film, 330 Meters mono sound.
