ANDRE KOSTELANETZ SHOW 'Eleanor Steber, Percy Faith"

 

Conductor Andre Kostelanetz specialized in “light classical” music which was accessible to the everyday listener. CBS (“The Tiffany Network”) gave the maestro his own weekly show to spread this less than high-brow form of cultural enlightenment. This episode was aired on August 13, 1944 with conductor Percy Faith and soprano Eleanor Steber. The host is David Ross.

ANDRE KOSTELANETZ SHOW 'Nikolai Alexander'

 

This episode aired on CBS Radio Sunday afternoon November 5, 1944. Andre Kostelanetz (photo) conducts. David Ross is host and the guest artist is Nikolai Alexander.

ANDRE KOSTELANETZ SHOW "Ethel Smith"

 

Aired April 11, 1946 on CBS Radio. Guest is Ethel Smith (born Ethel Goldsmith; November 22, 1902[ – May 10, 1996). She was an American organist who played primarily in a pop or Latin style on the Hammond organ. She had a long recording career and appeared in many films. WIKIPEDIA BIO

Andre Kostelanetz Show with Eleanor Steber

 

Andre Kostelanetz Show aired May 21, 1944 on CBS Radio and transcribed for Armed Forces Radio. Host is David Ross and the orchestra is conducted by Percy Faith. Guest artist is soprano Eleanor Steber (July 17, 1914 – October 3, 1990) an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success on the American opera stages.

ANDRE KOSTELANTEZ "Kenny Baker"

 

From 1944 episode 35 on CBS Radio. Kenny Baker was born on September 30, 1912 in Monrovia, California, USA. He was an actor an d singer, known for Silver Skates (1943), Hit Parade of 1941 (1940) and The Mikado (1939). He died on August 10, 1985 in Solvang, California. Baker first appeared on Jack Benny's weekly radio program on November 3, 1935, having been hired to replace singer Frank Parker. Parker had been very popular on the Benny program, and with his departure, it was widely believed that Benny would lose a large part of his audience; however, Kenny Baker is said to have won audiences over almost instantly, even surpassing Parker in popularity. Baker portrayed a high-voiced, innocent young man on the show, who would frequently cause the Jack Benny character frustration with his "silly" remarks. Baker's final regular appearance on Benny's radio show aired on June 25, 1939, leaving the $3,000 per week job because he no longer wanted to play the character. He was subsequently replaced by singer Dennis Day. After his four-year stint on the Benny program.

ANDRE KOSTELANETZ SHOW "Jane Froman"

 

Ellen Jane Froman (November 10, 1907 – April 22, 1980) was an American singer and actress. During her thirty-year career, Froman performed on stage, radio and television despite chronic health problems due to injuries sustained in a 1943 plane crash.

ANDRE KOSTELANETZ SHOW "Rose Brampton"

 

Aired October 25, 1943. Rose Bampton (November 28, 1907 in Lakewood, Ohio – August 21, 2007 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) was an American opera singer who had an active international career during the 1930s and 1940s. She began her professional career performing mostly minor roles from the mezzo-soprano repertoire in 1929 but later switched to singing primarily leading soprano roles in 1937 until her retirement from the opera stage in 1963.

ANDRE KOSTELANETZ SHOW "Irma Gonzalez"

 

Episode from September 20, 1943 on AFRS transcription with Mexican soprano Irma Gonzalez born 8 October 1916 in Mexico City, Mexico and died 4 December 2008.

ANDRE KOSTELANETZ SHOW "Robert Weede"

ROBERT WEEDE

From an AFRS transcription around August 23, 1943. Born Robert Wiedefeld in Baltimore, Maryland, Weede studied voice at the Eastman School of Music and in Milan. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1937, as Tonio in Pagliacci. His other roles at the Metropolitan included the name part in Rigoletto (opposite Jussi Björling), Amonasro (Aïda), Manfredo (L'amore dei tre re), Shaklovity (Khovanshchina) and Baron Scarpia (Tosca). It was with Rigoletto that he made his debuts in Chicago (1939), San Francisco (1940), and at the New York City Opera (1948). At the New York City Opera, Weede also sang in Pagliacci and in the world premiere of William Grant Still's Troubled Island, opposite Marie Powers, Marguerite Piazza and Robert McFerrin. In Mexico City, the baritone appeared with Maria Callas in 1950, in Aïda and Tosca. Later, he sang again with Callas in Chicago, in Il trovatore and Madama Butterfly. In 1956, he scored a great success on Broadway as Tony Esposito in the original production of Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella, which was recorded by Columbia Records. He was also seen on Broadway in Milk and Honey (1961–63, also recorded) and Cry for Us All (1970).

ANDRE KOSTELANETZ "Nadine Connor"

 

AFRTS transcription of CBS Radio broadcast July 18, 1943.

Nadine Conner (born Evelyn Nadine Henderson; February 20, 1907 - March 1, 2003) was an American operatic soprano, radio singer and music teacher.

ANDRE KOSTELANETZ SHOW "Oscar Levant"

Aired May 8, 1943 with pianist Oscar Levant. (December 27, 1906 – August 14, 1972) He was an American concert pianist, composer, music conductor, author, radio game show panelist, television talk show host, comedian and actor. Though awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for recordings featuring his piano performances, he was as famous for his mordant character and witticisms, on the radio and later in movies and television, as for his music.

ANDRE KOSTELANETZ SHOW "Lily Pons"

 

April 25, 1946 (AFRTS Transcription) André Kostelanetz specialized in “light classical” music which was accessible to the everyday listener. CBS President William S. Paley gave the maestro his own weekly show to spread this somewhat high-brow form of cultural enlightenment. Kostelanetz was then married to famed soprano Lily Pons from 1938 to 1958, when they divorced.

ANDRE KOSTELANETZ SHOW "Dorothy Kirsten"

 

An Orchestral Treat from a master of easy listening music. May 1, 1943 broadcast. Kostelanetz specialized in “light classical” music which was accessible to the everyday listener. CBS (“The Tiffany Network”) gave the maestro his own weekly show. Andre Kostelanetz was born on December 22, 1901 and passed away on January 13, 1980. He was a Russian-born American popular orchestral music conductor and arranger who was one of the major exponents of popular orchestra music. Dorothy Kirsten born July 6, 1910, Montclair, New Jersey passed away on November 18, 1992, in Los Angeles, California. She was an American operatic soprano.