WAYNE KING'S ORCHESTRA PLAYS FOR THE CLOSING NIGHT AT CHICAGO'S ARAGON BALLROOM..
THE ARAGON’S LAST STAND
It was a weekend to remember - February 7, 8 and 9, 1964. The Aragon Ballroom on Chicago’s north side was about to join it’s south side twin, the Trianon, and close its doors for dancing. The Karzas brothers, who built both showplaces, shuttered the Trianon nine years earlier and planned to convert the Moorish-styled Aragon, that could accommodate 5,000 dancers, into a roller skating rink. (1)
Radio played a major role in the success of both the Aragon and Trianon as well as their Chicago competitors - the White City Ballroom, Midway Gardens, the Beachwalk at the Edgewater Beach Hotel were just a few of the largest. Remotes were regular features on Chicago stations KYW, WBBM, WCFL, WENR, WGES, WGN, WJKS (later WIND), and WMAQ by the late twenties. WMBB in suburban Homewood even established studios at the Trianon for a short period in 1926, claiming that the call-sign stood for “World’s Most Beautiful Ballroom.”
In their heyday on a Saturday night, half a dozen remotes filled Chicago’s air simultaneously, providing free advertising for the venues and creating new fans for the bands playing there. Henry Busse, Jan Garber, Tiny Hill, Eddy Howard, Dick Jurgens, Art Kassel, Hal Kemp, Kay Kyser , Guy Lombardo, Freddy Martin, Frankie Masters, Clyde McCoy, Ted Weems, Lawrence Welk and Griff Williams were among the band leading elite who spent extended time in Chicago.
Chicago broadcasts with the Weems, Martin, Jurgens and Ozzie Nelson bands can be heard on this site at the post Big Band Remotes.
But no Chicago-based band leader was more closely associated with the Aragon and WGN than Wayne King. As recorded on this site at the post The Waltz King, his 12-piece orchestra first played for Aragon dancers in 1927, and broadcast hundreds of remotes from its bandstand on the Chicago Tribune‘s mighty clear channel station over the years.
With a bow to nostalgia, King returned for its closing weekend and WGN broadcast its tribute from the Aragon on Saturday night, February 8th.
Our thanks go to Elton Smith of Bay City, Michigan, who sent us a copy of the broadcast which is posted as Part One and Part Two below. It’s cut at 40 minutes as Wayne King and WGN’s Cliff Mercer are discussing the famous King recording featuring Franklyn MacCormack’s narration that, “…saved many marriages.” The song is obviously the 1941 RCA-Victor million seller, Melody of Love. Although the tape runs out before King and MacCormack recreated it for this broadcast, the original recording is posted at The Waltz King. It’s a classic.
So, in its own way, this is a classic broadcast - yet another reminder of the countless hours that bandsmen across America filled the airwaves, “...for your listening and dancing pleasure,” during Network Radio’s Golden Age and beyond.
(1) The Trianon, built in 1922 at 6201 South Cottage Grove Avenue, was demolished in 1967. The Aragon, built in 1926 at 1106 West Lawrence Avenue, remains a venue for special events.
Copyright © 2015 Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
It was a weekend to remember - February 7, 8 and 9, 1964. The Aragon Ballroom on Chicago’s north side was about to join it’s south side twin, the Trianon, and close its doors for dancing. The Karzas brothers, who built both showplaces, shuttered the Trianon nine years earlier and planned to convert the Moorish-styled Aragon, that could accommodate 5,000 dancers, into a roller skating rink. (1)
Radio played a major role in the success of both the Aragon and Trianon as well as their Chicago competitors - the White City Ballroom, Midway Gardens, the Beachwalk at the Edgewater Beach Hotel were just a few of the largest. Remotes were regular features on Chicago stations KYW, WBBM, WCFL, WENR, WGES, WGN, WJKS (later WIND), and WMAQ by the late twenties. WMBB in suburban Homewood even established studios at the Trianon for a short period in 1926, claiming that the call-sign stood for “World’s Most Beautiful Ballroom.”
In their heyday on a Saturday night, half a dozen remotes filled Chicago’s air simultaneously, providing free advertising for the venues and creating new fans for the bands playing there. Henry Busse, Jan Garber, Tiny Hill, Eddy Howard, Dick Jurgens, Art Kassel, Hal Kemp, Kay Kyser , Guy Lombardo, Freddy Martin, Frankie Masters, Clyde McCoy, Ted Weems, Lawrence Welk and Griff Williams were among the band leading elite who spent extended time in Chicago.
Chicago broadcasts with the Weems, Martin, Jurgens and Ozzie Nelson bands can be heard on this site at the post Big Band Remotes.
But no Chicago-based band leader was more closely associated with the Aragon and WGN than Wayne King. As recorded on this site at the post The Waltz King, his 12-piece orchestra first played for Aragon dancers in 1927, and broadcast hundreds of remotes from its bandstand on the Chicago Tribune‘s mighty clear channel station over the years.
With a bow to nostalgia, King returned for its closing weekend and WGN broadcast its tribute from the Aragon on Saturday night, February 8th.
Our thanks go to Elton Smith of Bay City, Michigan, who sent us a copy of the broadcast which is posted as Part One and Part Two below. It’s cut at 40 minutes as Wayne King and WGN’s Cliff Mercer are discussing the famous King recording featuring Franklyn MacCormack’s narration that, “…saved many marriages.” The song is obviously the 1941 RCA-Victor million seller, Melody of Love. Although the tape runs out before King and MacCormack recreated it for this broadcast, the original recording is posted at The Waltz King. It’s a classic.
So, in its own way, this is a classic broadcast - yet another reminder of the countless hours that bandsmen across America filled the airwaves, “...for your listening and dancing pleasure,” during Network Radio’s Golden Age and beyond.
(1) The Trianon, built in 1922 at 6201 South Cottage Grove Avenue, was demolished in 1967. The Aragon, built in 1926 at 1106 West Lawrence Avenue, remains a venue for special events.
Copyright © 2015 Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
| wayne_king-_aragon_farewell_show.mp3 |
| wayne_king_part_2.mp3 |