George Olsen And His Music #1 MC351A
George Edward Olsen, Born in Portland, Oregon, 1893 played the drums and was drum major at the University of Michigan, where he formed his band, George Olsen and his Music, playing around Portland, before making a the trip to Broadway, and becoming the pit orchestra for Kid Boots, the Ziegfeld Follies of 1924, Good News, Eddie Cantor's 1928 Broadway hit Whoopee!,and in the 1930 movie version of the show. In the Follies, George had met singer Ethel Shutta and they soon married.She contributed vocals, starting in 1928.Vocals were quite often by Fran Frey who also played alto,Erwin McGee(Irving Mills?),Billy Murray, Jerry Baker,Dave Marshall, Bob Rice, Bob Borger, Fred MacMurray, Paul Small and Donald Novis. Olsen opened a restaurant in Paramus, New Jersey. His recording affiliations began with victor in 1924, until he moved for a year to Columbia in 1933. In 1936, Olsen became leader of Orville Knapp's band after Knapp died in a plane crash in 1936. One session with Decca followed - 2 titles are on disc 4 of this series , some sides were recorded on the Varsity label, and with Majestic - 2 titles are on disc 4.
General personnel:Red Nichols-Donald Linley-t/Bill Bardo-t-vn-tb-p/Fred MacMurray-ts-v/Rudy Wiedoeft-as/Floyd Rice-t-mel-as/Chuck Campbell-tb/George Henkel-ss-as-f/Buck Yoder-cl-as/Dick Gardner-cl-as-v/Milton Nuel-cl-ts/Adrian Freiche-Henry Schlossberg-vn/Paul Kruse-vc/Dave Phennig-ts-vn/Lou Raderman-vn/Lou Busch-Jack Gifford-p/Eddie Kilfeather-p-a/James Kern-Larry Murphy-p-v/Billy Priest-bj-as/Leslie Sheriff-bj/Bob Rice-bj-g-v/Jack Hansen-bb/Eddie McKinney-sb/John Jacobs-d
Disc #1 CD351A Recorded 1924 - 1927
FOLLOW THE SWALLOW VIC 19428 08/20/24 30660 ROSE-DIXON-HENDERSON
TOODLES/MY BABY'S BABY BLUE EYES VIC 35748 10/22/24 30882 SPENCER/LEWIS-COOPER
SAVE YOUR SORROW BILLY MURRAY VIC 19715 06/23/25 32740 DE SYLVA-SHERMAN
LONESOME ME-LAND OF LA-LO-LA VIC 19817 10/16/25 33573 STONEHAM-MALLEN
JUST A LITTLE THING CALLED RHYTHM FRAN FREY VIC 19834 10/30/25 33832 ENDOR-WARD
SUNNY VIC 19840 11/06/25 33855 HAMMERSTEIN II-KERN
WHO? FRAN FREY-BOB RICE-JACK FULTON VIC 19840 11/06/25 33856 HAMMERSTEIN II-KERN
SHE WAS JUST A SAILOR'S SWEETHEART FRAN FREY VIC 19938 01/15/26 34332 BURKE
HORSES FRAN FREY-GEORGE OLSEN VIC 19977 03/04/26 34676 WHITING-GAY
WHAT'S THE USE OF TALKING? BOB BORGER-FRAN FREY VIC 20089 06/04/26 35623 HART-RODGERS
JUST A LITTLE DANCE BOB RICE-FRAN FREY-BOB BORGER VIC 20099 06/16/26 35335 GROSSMAN-ASH-OLMAN
BYE BYE BLACKBIRD FRAN FREY-BOB RICE-BOB BORGER VIC 20089 06/16/26 35693 DIXON-HENDERSON
KATINKA FRAN FREY VIC 20100 06/30/26 35732 RUSSELL-TOBIAS
WHERE'D YOU GET THOSE EYES? FRAN FREY VIC 20112 07/16/26 35777 DONALDSON
HI DIDDLE DIDDLE FRAN FREY-BOB RICE-BOB BORGER VIC 20112 07/16/26 35778 COON-KEIDEL
LEANDER BOB BORGER-FRAN FREY-B.RICE VIC 20289 10/29/26 36882 GRAHAM-GILBERT
DO DO DO BOB BORGER-FRAN FREY-B.RICE VIC 20327 11/12/26 36910 GERSHWIN
MEADOW LARK F.FREY-B.RICE-B.BORGER VIC 20352 11/22/26 36953 FIO-RITO-KEIDEL
I'VE GOT THE GIRL FRAN FREY VIC 20359 11/22/26 36954 DONALDSON
FOR YOU AND ME FRAN FREY-BOB RICE-BOB BORGER VIC 20602 01/06/27 37131 DEPPEN-HOLLINGSWORTH
SAM THE OLD ACCORDIAN MAN FRAN FREY VIC 20425 01/06/27 37163 DONALDSON
AT SUNDOWN FRAN FREY VIC 20476 02/04/27 37741 DONALDSON
SOMEBODY ELSE TRIO VIC 20472 02/04/27 37742 CALDWELL-HUBBELL
LUCKY IN LOVE FRAN FREY-RICE-BORGER VIC 20872 08/18/27 39471 DE SYLVA-BROWN-HENDERSON
