The Peggy Lee Bio-Discography:
Guest Appearances
(On The Radio, Part X)
by Iván Santiago
Page generated on Jul 12, 2021
Peggy Lee As The Featured Guest In Other Artists' Radio Shows
This chronologically arranged page covers Peggy Lee's guest appearances in network radio shows (CBS, NBC, NBC Blue, Mutual) and on syndication. Naturally, the discography's primary source of interest lies in her musical appearances, but non-singing guest spots have also been included. Excluded are radio shows hosted by Lee herself and series on which she was a cast member: those receive ample discussion on their own separate pages. Similarly, programs produced by the Armed Forces Radio network have been skipped, because they are itemized on a separate page. (I should clarify, however, that I am referring only to AFRS' own "fresh"programming, not to the network's re-airings of shows from the aforementioned commercial networks, in edited versions. Such re-airings do receive attention herein.) A more questionable exclusion is Lee's handful of guest appearances in episodes of The Chesterfield Supper Club that were hosted by Perry Como and Jo Stafford. Because Lee later joined the Club as a hostess, that handful of appearances is actually covered in the Supper Club page of the present work. An index of guest appearances can be found at the bottom of the page. (Photos above: Peggy Lee with three famous hosts, on whose radio shows she guested: Al Jolson, Paul Whiteman, and Bob Hope.)
This page is currently under construction. Though it is nearly completed at the time of this writing, I probably won't be able to fully finish and open it for public viewing before 2022. The sample session below should provide a basic understanding of the projected contents.
Date: Sunday, June 25, 1944 (10:30 - 11:00 p.m.)
Label: NBC Network
Program: The Bob Crosby Show
Bob Crosby And His Orchestra (acc), Bob Crosby, Peggy Lee (v)
| a. | ExtantGuest Spot (NBC) | Long Ago (And Far Away)(Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern) |
| b. | ExtantGuest Spot (NBC) | Why Don't You Do Right?(Joe McCoy) |
| Both titles on: | Armed Forces Radio Service 16" Transcription DiscProgram No. 40 — [Bob Crosby] The Bob Crosby Show (1944)
|
The Show
1. The Season, The Soldier, And The Songstress
2. Cross-reference: A Recording Session
The 1943-1944 season of The Bob Crosby Show had its start on June 18, 1943 and its conclusion on June 25, 1944. Facing military duty, the host joined the US Marine Corps soon thereafter. (By October of 1944, he was stationed in Pearl Harbor.) The Bob Crosby Show then went on a long hiatus, having to wait until 1946 to be reactivated -- or so claim the sources that I have followed. Other sources differ as to whether there was an actual hiatus. All sources agree, however, on the matter of Crosby's enlistment with the Marines in the mid-1940s, and on his stay with the Corps for 18 months. (There is also agreement about the fact that Crosby did not remain musically inactive during that period. On the contrary, he is known to have spent much of his military time entertaining the troops, as a member of touring bands and as a host of recruitment radio shows.)
Peggy Lee guested in the very last episode of this show's 1943-1944 edition. Some of the sources state that she was actually a regular member of the program, but the accuracy of such a statement remains highly doubtful. So far, no factual confirmation on the matter has been forthcoming.
Lee's discographical connections with Crosby and his show go beyond this guest appearance. Five days after this broadcast, Peggy Lee and Bob Crosby went to the recording studio. They recorded various masters that were released by the small LA label Ara. Further details about that relatively obscure session are given in the 1944-1945 sessionography and in one of the research-oriented pages of this discography.
Songs
1. Solos And Duets
"Long Ago And Far Away" was performed as a duet between Peggy Lee and Bob Crosby. The other number listed above is a Lee solo.
2. "Why Don't You Do Right?"
For this version of her big band 1943 hit "Why Don't You Do Right?," Peggy Lee sings two lines that are not heard in any other of her many other extant versions. One of the additional lines refers to the song's never-do-well man as "just a rolling stone that rolls no more."
Personnel
1. Episode's Announcer
Les Tremayne.
2. Other Cast Members Participating In This Episode
The Bob Cats (a sub-group from Crosby's orchestra) and The Town Criers. Neither act is believed to have participated in the two numbers under scrutiny.
Patter
1. Sponsor
2. The Old Gold Gal Of The Week
The 1943-1944 edition of The Bob Crosby Show was sponsored by Old Gold. Apparently, any female who guested on the program automatically received the designation of Old Gold Gal Of The Week, and was likely to be subjected to a physical description during the broadcast. Of Peggy Lee, it is said that she is 5'5" and full of jive, with mixed gray eyes. [Elsewhere, Lee was said to actually be 5'6". The height ascribed in the show could simply be approximate rather than precise -- picked, probably, for its musical and alliterative value.] Lee herself adds to her Old Gold profile by describing herself as being very domestic, and by stating that she comes from a family of seven children.
Availability
Extant at the Library of Congress.