Lena Horne was an American singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne’s career spanned more than seventy years and covered film, television and theatre. Horne holds the record for the longest-running solo performance in Broadway history. She is the only African-American woman to have a Broadway theatre named after her. She’s your Phantom Dancer feature artist this week.

The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.

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1930s

Lena Horne learnt music from Billy Strayhorn, Billy Eckstine and others.

In 1933, Horne joined the chorus line of the Cotton Club in New York City.

By 1934, she had a featured role in the Cotton Club Parade starring Adelaide Hall, who took Lena under her wing.

Horne made her first screen appearance as a dancer in the musical short Cab Calloway’s Jitterbug Party (1935).

A few years later, Horne joined Noble Sissle’s Orchestra, with which she toured and made her first records.

Horne toured with bandleader Charlie Barnet in 1940–41, but disliked the travel and left the band to work at the Cafe Society in New York.

She replaced Dinah Shore as the featured vocalist on NBC’s jazz series The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street.

The show’s resident maestros, Henry Levine and Paul Laval, recorded with Horne in June 1941 for RCA Victor.

Horne left the show after six months when she was hired to perform in a Cotton Club-style revue on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood

MOVIES

Lena Horne’s earliest movies were the low budget musical features, The Duke is Tops (1938, later reissued with Horne’s name above the title as The Bronze Venus); and a two-reel short subject, Boogie Woogie Dream (1941), featuring pianists Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons.

Horne’s songs from Boogie Woogie Dream were later released individually as soundies.

In 1942, she was signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She made her debut at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Panama Hattie (1942) and performed the title song of Stormy Weather (1943) based loosely on the life of Adelaide Hall, for 20th Century Fox, while on loan from MGM. She appeared in several MGM musicals, including Cabin in the Sky (1943) with an entirely African-American cast.

Horne was the first African-American person elected to serve on the Screen Actors Guild board of directors.

In November 1944, she was featured in an episode of the popular radio series Suspense, as a fictional nightclub singer, with a large speaking role along with her singing.

In 1945 and 1946, she sang with Billy Eckstine’s Orchestra.

In Ziegfeld Follies (1946), she performed “Love” by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane.

Horne lobbied for the role of Julie LaVerne in MGM’s version of Show Boat (1951), having already played the role when a segment of Show Boat was performed in Till the Clouds Roll By, but lost the part to Ava Gardner, a friend in real life. Horne claimed this was due to the Production Code’s ban on interracial relationships in films, although MGM sources state she was never considered for the role. In the documentary That’s Entertainment! III, Horne stated that MGM executives required Gardner to practice her singing using Horne’s recordings, which offended both actresses. Ultimately, Gardner’s voice was overdubbed by actress Annette Warren (Smith) for the theatrical release.

Horne became disenchanted with Hollywood and increasingly focused on her nightclub career. She made only two major appearances for MGM during the 1950s: Duchess of Idaho (1950, which was also Eleanor Powell’s final film); and the musical Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956). She said she was “tired of being typecast as a Negro who stands against a pillar singing a song. I did that 20 times too often.”

She was blacklisted during the 1950s for her affiliations in the 1940s with communist-backed groups. She would subsequently disavow communism.

She returned to the screen, playing Claire Quintana, a madam in a brothel who marries Richard Widmark, in the film Death of a Gunfighter (1969), her first straight dramatic role with no reference to her colour. She later appeared on screen two more times as Glinda in The Wiz (1978), which was directed by her then son-in-law Sidney Lumet, and co-hosting the MGM retrospective That’s Entertainment! III (1994).

AFTER HOLLYWOOD

Horne established herself as one of the premier nightclub performers of the post-war era.

She headlined at clubs and hotels throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, and the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.

In 1957, a live album entitled, Lena Horne at the Waldorf-Astoria, became the biggest-selling record by a female artist in the history of the RCA Victor label at that time.

In 1958, Horne became the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Tony Award for “Best Actress in a Musical”, for her part in the “Calypso” musical Jamaica (which, at Horne’s request featured her longtime friend Adelaide Hall).

From the late 1950s through to the 1960s, Horne was a staple of TV variety shows, appearing multiple times on Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Dean Martin Show, and The Bell Telephone Hour. Other programs she appeared on included The Judy Garland Show, The Hollywood Palace, and The Andy Williams Show.

Besides two television specials for the BBC (later syndicated in the U.S.), Horne starred in her own U.S. television special in 1969, Monsanto Night Presents Lena Horne. During this decade, the artist Pete Hawley painted her portrait for RCA Victor, capturing the mood of her performance style.

In 1970, she co-starred with Harry Belafonte in the hour-long Harry & Lena special for ABC.

In 1973, she co-starred with Tony Bennett in Tony and Lena. Horne and Bennett toured the U.S. and U.K. in a show together.

In the 1976 program America Salutes Richard Rodgers, Lena Horne sang a lengthy medley of Rodgers songs with Peggy Lee and Vic Damone.

Horne also made several appearances on The Flip Wilson Show.

Horne played herself on television programs such as The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, and Sanford and Son in the 1970s, as well as a 1985 performance on The Cosby Show and a 1993 appearance on A Different World.

In the summer of 1980, Horne, 63 years old and intent on retiring from show business, embarked on a two-month series of benefit concerts sponsored by the sorority Delta Sigma Theta. These concerts were represented as Horne’s farewell tour. Her retirement lasted less than a year.

On April 13, 1980, Horne, Luciano Pavarotti, and host Gene Kelly were all scheduled to appear at a Gala performance at the Metropolitan Opera House to salute the NY City Center’s Joffrey Ballet Company.

Pavarotti’s plane was diverted over the Atlantic and he was unable to appear.

James Nederlander was an invited Honoured Guest and observed that only three people at the sold-out Metropolitan Opera House asked for their money back. He asked to be introduced to Horne following her performance.

In May 1981, The Nederlander Organization, Michael Frazier, and Fred Walker went on to book Horne for a four-week engagement at the newly named Nederlander Theatre on West 41st Street in New York City. The show was an instant success and was extended to a full year run, garnering Horne a special Tony award, and two Grammy Awards for the cast recording of her show Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music.

The 333-performance Broadway run closed on Horne’s 65th birthday, June 30, 1982. Later that same week, she performed the entire show again to record it for television broadcast and home video release.

Horne began a tour a few days later at Tanglewood (Massachusetts) during the weekend of July 4, 1982. The Lady and Her Music toured 41 cities in the U.S. and Canada until June 17, 1984. It played in London for a month in August and ended its run in Stockholm, Sweden, September 14, 1984.

In 1981, she received a Special Tony Award for the show, which also played to acclaim at the Adelphi Theatre in London in 1984.

Despite the show’s considerable success (Horne still holds the record for the longest-running solo performance in Broadway history), she did not capitalise on the renewed interest in her career by undertaking many new musical projects.

A proposed 1983 joint recording project between Horne and Frank Sinatra (to be produced by Quincy Jones) was ultimately abandoned, and her sole studio recording of the decade was 1988’s The Men in My Life, featuring duets with Sammy Davis Jr. and Joe Williams. In 1989, she received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 1995, a “live” album capturing Horne’s Supper Club performance was released (winning a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album).

In 1998, Horne released another studio album, entitled Being Myself. Thereafter, Horne retired from performing and largely retreated from public view, though she did return to the recording studio in 2000 to contribute vocal tracks on Simon Rattle’s Classic Ellington album.

10 June PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #716
107.3 2SER Tuesday 10 June 2025 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program 5UV Adelaide Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am 2YYY Young Monday 3 – 4am 3WAY Warrnambool 3 – 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 3am – 4 and 6 -7pm 2RDJ Burwood Wednesday 12 – 1pm 2MCE Bathurst Thursday 9 – 10am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Thursday 9 – 10pm Reading Radio (QLD) Friday 1 – 2am 5LCM Mt Lofty Friday 3 – 4pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Saturday 4 – 5am 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 2NVR Nambucca Valley 6 – 7am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm 2DRY Broken Hill Sunday 9 – 10pm 2SEA Sapphire Coast Eden Sunday 9 – 10pm 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 11pm – 12am
Set 1	Boyd Raeburn
Theme + There’s No You	Boyd Raeburn Orchestra (voc) David Allyn	Rose Room Palace Hotel KQW CBS San Francisco 7 Aug 1945
Who Started Love?	Boyd Raeburn Orchestra (voc) Barbara Jane	Rose Room Palace Hotel KQW CBS San Francisco 7 Aug 1945
How Deep is the Ocean?	Boyd Raeburn Orchestra	Rose Room Palace Hotel KQW CBS San Francisco 7 Aug 1945
The Hep Boyd	Boyd Raeburn Orchestra	Rose Room Palace Hotel KQW CBS San Francisco 7 Aug 1945
Set 2	Ted Weems Orchestra
Open + Old Fashioned Swing	Ted Weems Orchestra (voc) Perry Como	Trianon Ballroom WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 3 Aug 1938
When My Dreamboat Comes Home + Goodnight, My Love	Ted Weems Orchestra (voc) Perry Como	Trianon Ballroom WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 3 Aug 1938
My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms	Ted Weems Orchestra	Trianon Ballroom WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 3 Aug 1938
The Doll Dance + Close	Ted Weems Orchestra (whistle Elmo Tanner)	Trianon Ballroom WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 3 Aug 1938
Set 3	Lena Horne
Mad About the Boy	Lena Horne (voc) Fletcher Henderson Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Haunted Town	Lena Horne (voc) Charlie Barnet Orchestra	Aircheck Los Angeles Dec 1945
As Long as I Live	Lena Horne (voc) Fletcher Henderson Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Deed I Do	Lena Horne (voc) Fletcher Henderson Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Set 4	Fred Waring
Sleep (theme) + On Your Toes	Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians (voc) Stella and the Fellas	‘Fred Waring Show’ WABC CBS NYC 14 Apr 1936
Waltzes: A Waltz was Born in Vienna + The Minute Waltz + The Swing Waltz	Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians (voc) Gene Compton + Stella and the Fellas	‘Fred Waring Show’ WABC CBS NYC 14 Apr 1936
Christopher Columbus	Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians (voc) Omnes	‘Fred Waring Show’ WABC CBS NYC 14 Apr 1936
Sweet & Lovely (theme)	Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians	‘Fred Waring Show’ WABC CBS NYC 14 Apr 1936
Set 5	Ted Fio Rito (aka Vincent Valsanti)
Open + You’re Blase + Sophisticated Lady	Ted Fio Rito Orchestra	‘Cocoanut Grove’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1934
Dreaming + Was it a Dream?	Ted Fio Rito Orchestra	‘Cocoanut Grove’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1934
June in January	Ted Fio Rito Orchestra (voc) Phil Thomas	‘Cocoanut Grove’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1934
OK Toots + Close	Ted Fio Rito Orchestra (voc) Don Juan, Two, and Three	‘Cocoanut Grove’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1934
Set 6	Benny Goodman
The Yam	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS LA 30 Aug 1938
Somebody Stole My Girl	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Aircheck 1 Jul 1946
Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS LA 30 Aug 1938
On the Sunny Side of the Street	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Aircheck 1 Jul 1946
Set 7	Les Brown
How High the Moon	Les Brown Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 16 Aug 1945
Coastin’ Along	Les Brown Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 16 Aug 1945
I Wish I Knew	Les Brown Orchestra (voc) Les Brown	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 16 Aug 1945
Show Me the Way to Go Home	Les Brown Orchestra (voc) Butch Stone	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 16 Aug 1945
Set 8	Duke Ellington
Afro-Bossa + Call Me Irresponsible	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ Jul 1964
Hello Dolly	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Birdland WRCA NBC NYC Jun 1956
Danke Schoen	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Birdland WRCA NBC NYC Jun 1956