Bobby Sherwood was an American guitarist, trumpeter, bandleader, actor and radio host. On his song ‘Yes, Indeed’ he plays ten instruments, sings all four voices of the quartet, sings the solo, and also arranged the song. He’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.

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 1 July and weeks of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

BOBBY

Bobby Sherwood began playing banjo with his parents’ vaudeville orchestra when he was 12 years old.

When he was twenty-two, in 1933, he replaced Eddie Lang as Bing Crosby’s guitarist. He stayed with Crosby until the early 1940s.

He was a studio musician in Hollywood for MGM.

From 2 October 1940, he was bandleader for Eddie Cantor’s NBC radio program. During the same year, he was a regular on the Hillman Hour on KFWB Los Angeles.

Sherwood married Dorothy Virginia Gumm, the sister of Judy Garland,  and worked as a bandleader for Garland during her sessions at Decca Records.

He started a big band which you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer that included singers Dave Pell and Kitty Kallen. It recorded for Capitol Records. Its first single, The Elk’s Parade, was a million seller.

His big band was featured in a couple of 1940s film and he had uncredited actor roles in the 1930s.

In the mid-1940s, he hosted the radio program, Bobby Sherwood Orchestra, on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

In 1953, he had a daily early morning program on WJZ in New York City. For the latter part of his career, he worked as a disc jockey.

In 1950, Sherwood was master of ceremonies on Variety Quiz (later titled Midnight Snack), a late-night variety program on WCBS-TV in New York City.

He was a regular performer on The Red Buttons Show on TV in the 1950s. He hosted the DuMont Television Network variety show Stars on Parade (1953–54), was the announcer for DuMont’s The Morey Amsterdam Show, and the host for the game show Quick as a Flash from March to May 1953.

In the mid-1950s, he was host of Step This Way, a dance-oriented program broadcast on Saturday evenings on WABC-TV in New York City.

His sons Billy and Michael are both musicians, and his nephew is trumpeter Carl Saunders

1 July PLAY LIST