The Peggy Lee Bio-Discography:
The Summer Electric Hour
(On The Radio, Part II)

Dave Barbour And His Orchestra (acc), Henry J. "Heinie" Beau (cl), Dave Barbour (g), Phil Stephens (b), Edwin "Buddy" Cole (p), Unknown (d), Woody Herman (v, spk), Peggy Lee (v)

Personnel

1. Woody Herman
"The Lady From 29 Palms" and "Cecilia" are vocal duets, both of them featuring Peggy Lee with Woody Herman. Sung by Peggy Lee only, "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" is preceded by a spoken introduction from Herman.

2. Guest
Pianist Andre Previn was the episode's guest. For his solo spot, he played "Back Home Again In Indiana."


Issues

1. The Woody Herman Collection; 20 Golden Greats [LP]
This 20-track compilation erroneously lists "Four Brothers" as its last track. Instead of "Four Brothers," the 20th track is this date's rendition of "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," sung by Peggy Lee solo, after a spoken introduction from Woody Herman.


Photos

In this row of pictures, we are treated to one extra electric ad and two very musicianly shots. From a periodical issued in the summer of 1947, the advertisement describes itself as "published by the business-managed, tax-paying Electric Light And Power Companies - because it is to your benefit to know the value of your electric service, and to ours to have you know it." The four so-called "small things of great value" are diamonds (valuable to "a woman's eye" but coming at a cost of at least $900 per carat), a child (valuable and costly to parents, though Uncle Sam was allowing them to annually claim a $500 income tax exemption, on behalf of the child's "board and keep"), radium (valuable to doctors but demanding an astronomical cost of $700,000 per ounce) and, of course, electricity (which not only "saves you time, work, money" but also "lights, heats, cleans and entertains" at a mere cost of "a few cents a day!") ...

The other two above-seen shots present to us the three big and valuable leads of Electric Summer Hour, each one next to the instrument that he or she was known to play. In Peggy Lee's case, she is seen handling multiple instruments: not only the microphone but also a drum kit. Although the singer was probably striking poses for these particular photos, she is known to have professionally played percussion at least once -- and at a recording date, no less. (The Capitol session in question took place on October 13, 1947, and featured various artists, all of them having fun playing instruments different that the one for which they were known.) Lee also had a basic, non-trained understanding of piano playing, which she often put to use during her labors as a prolific songwriter.

Dave Barbour And His Orchestra (acc), Henry J. "Heinie" Beau (cl), Dave Barbour (g), Phil Stephens (b), Edwin "Buddy" Cole (p), Unknown (d), Woody Herman, Peggy Lee (v)

Sources

1. Availability
My only source for this particular episode was a newspaper clip, dating from the same period as the broadcast. If the episode is extant, I have yet to come upon any hints. Note also that the newspaper probably listed just a few of the show's performances; Lee is likely to have sung more numbers.


Personnel

1. Woody Herman
"The Lady From 29 Palms" is a vocal duet, featuring Woody Herman with Peggy Lee. Furthermore, it might have been billed as an audience request; the pair had sung the number in the previous episode.

2. Guest
Deemed a rising comedy star back then, Jack Paar guested on this August 3 installment of the show.





Performances

1. Songs By Other Performers
During this episode, Woody Herman did a solo version of "Am I Blue?"


Photos

Shots of Dave Barbour, Woody Herman, and Peggy Lee, alternately rehearsing and posing for the camera. Note the background presence of both a sitting audience and standing personnel. In the middle photo, Lee, Barbour, and Herman are in the company of producer/director Richard "Dick Dunn. The four of them appear to be having a table discussion about the script.

Presumably taken at the Columbia Square Playhouse, prints of these photos can be found on the web with a July 29, 1947 dating claim, for which I cannot vouch. It is worth pointing out that the 29th was a Tuesday. Since the show was broadcast on Sundays, that Tuesday fell between the episodes that aired on July 27 and August 3, 1947. I do not know if the episodes of The Electric Summer Hour were recorded in advance of their broadcast date. (However, it is my belief that the more common practice for Old-Time-Radio variety programming was to rehearse on the same day on which the episode was set to be broadcast and/or recorded.)

Dave Barbour And His Orchestra (acc), Henry J. "Heinie" Beau (cl), Dave Barbour (g), Phil Stephens (b), Edwin "Buddy" Cole (p), Unknown (d), Woody Herman, Peggy Lee (v)

Personnel

1. Woody Herman
Peggy Lee duets with Woody Herman on "When The Red, Red Robin Comes Bob-Bob-Bobbin' Along," "On The Sunny Side Of The Street," and "Up A Lazy River."

2. Guests
Each episode of The Summer Electric Hour featured a guest. Comedian Eddie Bracken is known to have guested on one of the episodes. Diane Lynn, Jack Paar, and Andre Previn have already been mentioned. The identities of the summer's other four guests remain unknown to me.

3. Numbers By Other Acts
Also from these same episodes, two non-Lee performances have been commercially released: "Pancho Maximillian Hernandez" (sung by Woody Herman) and "Go Away!" (comedy routine by Eddie Bracken, with some interjections from Herman and Lee).





Performances And Issues

1. "I Don't Know Enough About You"
Peggy Lee discographer Ron Towe contended that the above-listed version of "I Don't Know Enough About You" was the exact same one which is identified in the Fonit Cetra LP Le Voci Indimenticabili, Volume 1 as originating in a V-Disc. "Not only is the verse, heard on no other known recording of the song, intact," Towe asserts, "Peggy's vocal performance, the instrumental arrangement behind her, the guitar figures and riffs, are exactly the same from beginning to end." I will be evaluating the validity of Towe's claim when I work on completing this discography's page for War And Government Shows. (As can already be seen in that unfinished page, one major difference between this session's version and the V-Disc version is the credited accompaniment: the Les Paul Trio on the V-Disc, Dave Barbour And His Orchestra herein.)


Photos

Of the six pictures featured under this session, the first two accompanied an aforementioned article, published on the July 13, 1947 issue of Radio Life magazine. The caption under the first photo alerts us to the following: "Employees only says the sign that blocks this corridor at CBS from trespassing by spectators. Here three famous employees, Woody Herman, Peggy Lee and Dave Barbour, stroll toward rehearsal." The text under the second photo describes the scene in view as follows: "Woody, Peggy and Dave make plans for their appearance on the summer Electric Hour under the row of star portraits at CBS. Scheduled to join that row of stars -- Woody, Peggy and Dave." If the text of those captions is to be trusted, the artists were being photographed on their first day of rehearsal -- or, at least, one of the earliest rehearsal days. Below, the photo of Lee and Herman is from that same day, while the others from above and below are additional publicity shots, date unknown to me. (Online, two dates have been claimed for them: May 1 and May 6, 1947.)