ERNIE "BUBBLES" WHITMAN THE HIP TALKING HOST OF "JUBILEE"
JUBILEE
Simple Simon met a pie man going to a ball,
He bought a custard, filled it with mustard,
And wound up at Hot Horn Hall.
That's how everyone will say, "I agree",
Except for the hot mustard, and that's JUBILEE!
- Show opening rhyme, Jubilee, 4/30/48
Jim Crow was alive and flourishing in the early days of wartime America in 1942. Segregation extended into the Armed Forces where black servicemen - 15% of the population in khaki and bell bottoms - were relegated to non-combat, (I.e. non-thinking), duties in mess halls and motor pools behind the lines. Those were the days before the famous Tuskegee Airmen and Red Ball Express plus several standout all-black artillery and tank divisions. As a result of this exclusionary treatment blacks were resentful. (1)
Among the first to sense this feeling among the 270,000 blacks serving their country in the spring of 1942 were the Special Services Division of the War Department and the newly established Armed Forces Radio Service. Inspired by the success of Command Performance, the weekly variety show directed to service personnel, they envisioned Jubilee to become its companion show featuring black musicians, vocalists and comedians. Like Command Performance, it would be produced exclusively for the entertainment of Armed Forces personnel serving overseas. (2)
An unusual secondary purpose of Jubilee was directed to civilian listeners in foreign lands where the show was heard, assuming the listeners could understand the statement read in English: “We ask our men from the United States to get to know you and your country better, and we would like you to know more about ours. This series of broadcasts, like many more you will hear, is dedicated to that purpose.” The statement was dropped after just a few exposures.
Jubilee was launched by Special Services on October 9, 1942. The first half hour show was a disjointed revue of black headliners, Ethel Waters, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson with Mantan Moreland and Duke Ellington’s orchestra, all hosted by Rex Ingram. (3) The 30 minute assemblage of jazz, comedy, pop music and sermonizing was obviously constructed by committee with little sense of program structure. Nevertheless, it was a start.
The second Jubilee episode in this collection, December 18, 1942, was hosted by character actror Mantan Moreland. (4) The show featured Benny Carter’s orchestra with Savannah Churchill, comedian Demetrius Nicodemus, The Halleluiah Four gospel quartet and novelty vocalist Rose Murphy. The show had picked up pace from its original outing but still lacked the polish AFRS would deliver with its directors who were recruited from the networks.
Jubilee hit its stride in late 1942 when it found its semi-permanent host for the next four and a half years. Ernie (Bubbles) Whitman, 49, brought much needed energy into the role targeted to men half his age. The Jubilee episode from May 24, 1943 provides a good example of Whitman’s style with Louis Armstrong, members of his band and vocalist Theresa Harris.
Ernie Whitman was no stranger to radio. Following a brief New York stage career in the early 1930’s he joined the cast of NBC’s notorious 39-week flop, The Gibson Family in September, 1934. (5) He then focused on a screen career that stretched from 1934 to 1953, peaking in 1940-41 when he appeared in 18 films. However, of his career total 45 films, over half of them, (24), were uncredited.
Whitman is best known today for his seven years as Bill Jackson on the successful CBS revival of Beulah as a weeknight serial sitcom running from 1947 to 1954. (6) He also appeared as Bill in eight episodes of the television adaptation of Beulah, in 1952.
By November 8, 1943, the Jubilee episode featuring Louis Jordan‘s band, The Nat King Cole Trio and vocalist Ida James was sounding more like Command Performance with its many dedications to service personnel around the world and its slick scripting evidenced by Ernie Whitman’s over-the-top rhyming jive talk. The focus of the show was music as was the show from December 27, 1943 with Louis Armstrong, the Mills Brothers, clarinetist Barney Bigard and vocalist Thelma Carpenter. (7)
Jubilee introduced white entertainers to its guest list in early 1944 with seemingly forced appearances by Johnny Mercer, Jack Benny and Bob Crosby. An example of this misguided trend was in the show of February 14, 1944, starring Cab Calloway and Nat King Cole’s trio when George Burns & Gracie Allen popped in to define "jive talk". Bob Crosby sang on the Jubilee of March 6, 1944, but that show stands out as one of the few broadcast appearances by Andy Kirk’s Twelve Clouds of Joy orchestra and vocalist June Richmond - great artists nearly lost in the shuffle of time.
By the fall of 1944 Jubilee was a popular weekly feature of AFRS. The program of September 11, 1944, features Count Basie‘s band, vocalists Thelma Carpenter, Earle Warren, Jimmy Rushing and actress Butterfly McQueen. The show is climaxed by Basie’s Jumpin’ At The Woodside featuring the brilliant saxophone work Lester Young. The mini-concert theme continued in Jubilee’s broadcast of January 18, 1945 headlined by Duke Ellington and Lena Horne. The show of November 12, 1945, was an exception to the rule for Jubilee because it starred white artists Stan Kenton and June Christy supported by Harry (The Hipster) Gibson and the Oscar Pettiford Trio. As always Ernie Whitman was on hand for the emcee chores but that role wasn't permanent.
Whitman’s last recorded appearance on Jubilee in this collection is from March 21, 1947 when he hosted Charlie Barnet’s orchestra, the Eddie Heywood Sextette and Rose Murphy. From then on, until the series ceased production in January, 1949, it just wasn’t the same. Dozens of shows featuring great, near great and not so great jazz artists are still available but the show lost its effervescence when it lost Bubbles Whitman. (8)
We're fortunate to have samples of this great series remaining today with their opening rhymes like:
Hi diddle diddle, the cats bought a fiddle
And went out on a spree.
They play hot and sweet with plenty of heat,
Gentlemen, it's JUBILEE!
(1) General Dwight Eisenhower finally allowed the use of black troops as volunteer replacements in formerly all white infantry units on December 26, 1944. President Harry Truman officially ordered the desegregation of the Armed Forces on July 26, 1948.
(2) See Command Performance.
(3) A Phi Beta Kappa scholar in medicine from Northwestern University, Rex Ingram pursued acting and appeared in a career total of 30 films, a dozen Broadway plays and another twelve television programs.
(4) Mantan Moreland had appeared in over 75 films before he became known as Birmingham Brown in a string of 15 Charlie Chan movies from 1944 to 1949.
(5) See The 1934-35 Season.
(6) See Multiple Runs All Time Top Ten.
(7) Closing production credit for Jubilee switched from “The Special Services Division of The War Department” to “The Armed Forces Radio Service” in December, 1943.
(8) Air checks of Jubilee broadcasts are available at www.otrrlibrary.org
Copyright © 2019, Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
Simple Simon met a pie man going to a ball,
He bought a custard, filled it with mustard,
And wound up at Hot Horn Hall.
That's how everyone will say, "I agree",
Except for the hot mustard, and that's JUBILEE!
- Show opening rhyme, Jubilee, 4/30/48
Jim Crow was alive and flourishing in the early days of wartime America in 1942. Segregation extended into the Armed Forces where black servicemen - 15% of the population in khaki and bell bottoms - were relegated to non-combat, (I.e. non-thinking), duties in mess halls and motor pools behind the lines. Those were the days before the famous Tuskegee Airmen and Red Ball Express plus several standout all-black artillery and tank divisions. As a result of this exclusionary treatment blacks were resentful. (1)
Among the first to sense this feeling among the 270,000 blacks serving their country in the spring of 1942 were the Special Services Division of the War Department and the newly established Armed Forces Radio Service. Inspired by the success of Command Performance, the weekly variety show directed to service personnel, they envisioned Jubilee to become its companion show featuring black musicians, vocalists and comedians. Like Command Performance, it would be produced exclusively for the entertainment of Armed Forces personnel serving overseas. (2)
An unusual secondary purpose of Jubilee was directed to civilian listeners in foreign lands where the show was heard, assuming the listeners could understand the statement read in English: “We ask our men from the United States to get to know you and your country better, and we would like you to know more about ours. This series of broadcasts, like many more you will hear, is dedicated to that purpose.” The statement was dropped after just a few exposures.
Jubilee was launched by Special Services on October 9, 1942. The first half hour show was a disjointed revue of black headliners, Ethel Waters, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson with Mantan Moreland and Duke Ellington’s orchestra, all hosted by Rex Ingram. (3) The 30 minute assemblage of jazz, comedy, pop music and sermonizing was obviously constructed by committee with little sense of program structure. Nevertheless, it was a start.
The second Jubilee episode in this collection, December 18, 1942, was hosted by character actror Mantan Moreland. (4) The show featured Benny Carter’s orchestra with Savannah Churchill, comedian Demetrius Nicodemus, The Halleluiah Four gospel quartet and novelty vocalist Rose Murphy. The show had picked up pace from its original outing but still lacked the polish AFRS would deliver with its directors who were recruited from the networks.
Jubilee hit its stride in late 1942 when it found its semi-permanent host for the next four and a half years. Ernie (Bubbles) Whitman, 49, brought much needed energy into the role targeted to men half his age. The Jubilee episode from May 24, 1943 provides a good example of Whitman’s style with Louis Armstrong, members of his band and vocalist Theresa Harris.
Ernie Whitman was no stranger to radio. Following a brief New York stage career in the early 1930’s he joined the cast of NBC’s notorious 39-week flop, The Gibson Family in September, 1934. (5) He then focused on a screen career that stretched from 1934 to 1953, peaking in 1940-41 when he appeared in 18 films. However, of his career total 45 films, over half of them, (24), were uncredited.
Whitman is best known today for his seven years as Bill Jackson on the successful CBS revival of Beulah as a weeknight serial sitcom running from 1947 to 1954. (6) He also appeared as Bill in eight episodes of the television adaptation of Beulah, in 1952.
By November 8, 1943, the Jubilee episode featuring Louis Jordan‘s band, The Nat King Cole Trio and vocalist Ida James was sounding more like Command Performance with its many dedications to service personnel around the world and its slick scripting evidenced by Ernie Whitman’s over-the-top rhyming jive talk. The focus of the show was music as was the show from December 27, 1943 with Louis Armstrong, the Mills Brothers, clarinetist Barney Bigard and vocalist Thelma Carpenter. (7)
Jubilee introduced white entertainers to its guest list in early 1944 with seemingly forced appearances by Johnny Mercer, Jack Benny and Bob Crosby. An example of this misguided trend was in the show of February 14, 1944, starring Cab Calloway and Nat King Cole’s trio when George Burns & Gracie Allen popped in to define "jive talk". Bob Crosby sang on the Jubilee of March 6, 1944, but that show stands out as one of the few broadcast appearances by Andy Kirk’s Twelve Clouds of Joy orchestra and vocalist June Richmond - great artists nearly lost in the shuffle of time.
By the fall of 1944 Jubilee was a popular weekly feature of AFRS. The program of September 11, 1944, features Count Basie‘s band, vocalists Thelma Carpenter, Earle Warren, Jimmy Rushing and actress Butterfly McQueen. The show is climaxed by Basie’s Jumpin’ At The Woodside featuring the brilliant saxophone work Lester Young. The mini-concert theme continued in Jubilee’s broadcast of January 18, 1945 headlined by Duke Ellington and Lena Horne. The show of November 12, 1945, was an exception to the rule for Jubilee because it starred white artists Stan Kenton and June Christy supported by Harry (The Hipster) Gibson and the Oscar Pettiford Trio. As always Ernie Whitman was on hand for the emcee chores but that role wasn't permanent.
Whitman’s last recorded appearance on Jubilee in this collection is from March 21, 1947 when he hosted Charlie Barnet’s orchestra, the Eddie Heywood Sextette and Rose Murphy. From then on, until the series ceased production in January, 1949, it just wasn’t the same. Dozens of shows featuring great, near great and not so great jazz artists are still available but the show lost its effervescence when it lost Bubbles Whitman. (8)
We're fortunate to have samples of this great series remaining today with their opening rhymes like:
Hi diddle diddle, the cats bought a fiddle
And went out on a spree.
They play hot and sweet with plenty of heat,
Gentlemen, it's JUBILEE!
(1) General Dwight Eisenhower finally allowed the use of black troops as volunteer replacements in formerly all white infantry units on December 26, 1944. President Harry Truman officially ordered the desegregation of the Armed Forces on July 26, 1948.
(2) See Command Performance.
(3) A Phi Beta Kappa scholar in medicine from Northwestern University, Rex Ingram pursued acting and appeared in a career total of 30 films, a dozen Broadway plays and another twelve television programs.
(4) Mantan Moreland had appeared in over 75 films before he became known as Birmingham Brown in a string of 15 Charlie Chan movies from 1944 to 1949.
(5) See The 1934-35 Season.
(6) See Multiple Runs All Time Top Ten.
(7) Closing production credit for Jubilee switched from “The Special Services Division of The War Department” to “The Armed Forces Radio Service” in December, 1943.
(8) Air checks of Jubilee broadcasts are available at www.otrrlibrary.org
Copyright © 2019, Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
| jubilee__10-09-42_.mp3 |
| jubilee__12-18-42.mp3 |
| jubilee__5-24-43.mp3 |
| jubilee__11-08-43.mp3 |
| jubilee__12-27-43.mp3 |
| jubilee__2-14-44.mp3 |
| jubilee__3-06-44.mp3 |
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| jubilee__11-12-45_.mp3 |
| jubilee___3-21-47.mp3 |
| jubilee__1-18-45.mp3 |